Golden West Gets Top Playoff Seeding

Golden West is the top-seeded team in the 16-team Southern California playoff pairings, which were announced Sunday.

The Rustlers (29-4), who won the Orange Empire Conference title, were one of five conference teams to make the playoffs, which start at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Riverside, Cypress, Orange Coast and Fullerton also made the field.

Golden West plays host to No. 16 Oxnard (8-20) in a 7 p.m. contest. The winner plays the winner of No. 9 Fullerton (19-14) at No. 8 San Diego Mesa (19-8).

In another bracket: No. 15 Santa Monica (12-15) is at No. 2 Los Angeles Harbor (26-6) and No. 10 Southwestern (16-8) is at No. 7 Cerritos (20-10).

In another bracket: No. 14 Canyons (18-12) is at No. 3 Riverside (25-9) and Chaffey (19-11) is at No. 6 Orange Coast (19-12).

In another bracket: No. 13 Chaffey (14-8) is at No. 4 Ventura (25-5) and No. 12 Los Angeles Trade Tech (19-8) is at No. 5 Cypress (22-9).

The winner of each bracket advances to the State tournament March 3-5 at Solano College in Suisun City.

Golden West, which has won five consecutive conference titles, have advanced to the last seven State tournaments.

The Rustlers have reached the final four the last four years, winning State titles in 1990 and 1991.