The Southern Section football playoffs provide a...

The Southern Section football playoffs provide a smorgasbord for county high school football fans, with 22 first-round games scheduled Friday night and three more Saturday.

Mater Dei, the county’s top-ranked team, is the top-seeded team in Division I. The Monarchs (10-0) open the playoffs Friday at Santa Ana Stadium against Long Beach Jordan (5-5), a team they beat, 37-0, in the second week of the season.

The county’s other undefeated teams--Aliso Niguel and Rancho Alamitos--are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in Division VIII. In Division V, which has only county teams, Servite (9-1) is seeded No. 1 and Santa Margarita (9-1) is No. 2. In Division X, Orange Lutheran (9-1) is seeded second behind Frontier League champion Ojai Nordhoff (9-0-1).

Here’s a division-by-division look at the playoffs:

Division XII

Defending champion: This is a new division made up of former eight-man teams that have moved up, 11-man freelance teams and some teams that were in Division XI.

Seeded teams: 1. Redlands Arrowhead Christian (10-0), 2. Lucerne Valley (9-1), 3. Pasadena Poly (5-2), 4. Boron (7-3).

Dark horse: Palos Verdes Peninsula Chadwick (8-1). The Dolphins lost, 16-14, to Pasadena Poly in the next-to-last game of the regular season.

Notes: Capistrano Valley Christian earned a rematch with La Canada Flintridge Prep in the first round. Capistrano Valley Christian won the first time around, 16-7. The Eagles held Flintridge Prep to 63 yards on the ground. Andrew Jennings of Capistrano Valley Christian returned a kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown. Eagle running backs Waylan Williams and Bryant Wolfsberger have combined to gain 1,906 yards and score 30 touchdowns. Early this season, the Eagles switched to the Wing-T offense from the I-back. The winner of this one will more than likely get top-seeded Arrowhead Christian in the quarterfinals. . . . St. Margaret’s advances to the playoffs for the second consecutive season in only its second year of 11-man football. In comparing schedules, the Tartans lost to Brentwood, 29-0, while Chadwick beat Brentwood, 6-0. Quarterback Dylan Gilbert leads St. Margaret’s with 1,052 yards and 19 touchdowns. Running back Justin Jameson has been his main target. St. Margaret’s has won three in a row.