Southern Section Playoffs Offer Plenty of Intrigue

A coin flip turned the Southern Section playoff bracket for the area’s biggest and most elite programs into disarray.

When pairings were released Sunday for the section’s 12 divisions, the Division I bracket raised the most eyebrows among coaches. A three-way tie for first place in the Sunset League was the root of the problem.

When the committee met Sunday morning to set the brackets, it faced a particular problem in Division I. The Sunset League tie-breaker had been decided by a coin flip with Fountain Valley finishing first with a 7-3 overall record, Anaheim Esperanza second at 8-2 and Los Alamitos third at 9-1.

“Esperanza and Los Alamitos have been ranked high in our poll all year, but all of a sudden we have to give Fountain Valley the best draw from that league and they haven’t been rated all year,” said Bill Clark, the Southern Section administrator in charge of football. “Our top priority is to protect our seeded teams, and when you have a team like Los Alamitos as the third- place entry, that presents a challenge.”

The result was tough first-round games, including Los Alamitos against Moore League champion Long Beach Poly and Esperanza against Redlands, the second-place team in the Citrus Belt League.

First-round games will be played Friday and Saturday. The second round is Nov. 29-30, the semifinals Dec. 6-7 and the finals Dec. 13-14.

In Division I, parochial schools fared well. Santa Ana Mater Dei (10-0) is the top-seeded team, Loyola (9-1) is seeded third and Bellflower St. John Bosco (8-1-1) fourth. Fontana (9-0-1), a public school, is seeded second.

Another tough bracket for the committee to set was Division II, primarily because Compton Dominguez (9-1) finished second to Paramount in the San Gabriel Valley League but was still ranked high. Dominguez was one of the few teams that finished second in its league and was still seeded.

The Dons, seeded fourth, host Burbank Burroughs (8-2) in the first round. Their placement resulted in a tough top-half of the bracket, which includes such powers as Lancaster Antelope Valley (7-2), Palmdale (8-2) and top-seeded Palos Verdes Peninsula (10-0).

Other top-seeded teams include Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (9-1) in Division III; Corona Centennial (9-1) in IV; Anaheim Servite (9-1) in V; Arroyo (9-1) in VI; Bloomington (9-1) in VII; Aliso Niguel (10-0) in VIII; Beverly Hills (10-0) in IX; Ojai Nordhoff (9-0-1) in X; Big Bear (9-1) in XI and Redlands Arrowhead Christian (10-0) in XII.