Poly, El Camino Real Draw Strong Starting Positions

Poly High earned the No. 3 seeding and El Camino Real the No. 4 seeding Tuesday night when the City Section’s 32-team boys’ soccer playoff draw was decided at Hamilton High.

Poly, champion of the Valley Pac-8 Conference, will host No. 30 Hamilton in a first-round game Friday.

El Camino Real, the Northwest Valley Conference champion, will host No. 29 Elizabeth Street Learning Center.

Manual Arts, which won the Coastal Conference championship with an 11-0-2 record, earned the No. 1 seeding. Belmont, two-time defending City champion and winner of the Northern Conference, is No. 2.

Three other Valley Pac-8 teams and four from the Northwest Valley earned postseason berths.

Reseda (No. 8), Birmingham (No. 11) and Monroe (No. 13) will host first-round games. No. 17 North Hollywood, No. 24 Chatsworth, No. 26 Kennedy and No. 27 San Fernando must travel in the opening round. There are no matchups of regional teams.

Chatsworth, winner of seven City Section girls’ titles in nine years, earned the No. 1 seeding in the eight-team 4-A Division playoffs and is scheduled to host No. 8 Grant in the first round.

Cleveland, the West Valley League’s runner-up, earned the No. 1 seeding in the 16-team 3-A Division playoffs and will host No. 16 North Hollywood in the first round.

West Valley League champion Birmingham was moved up to the 4-A bracket, where it earned the No. 5 seeding and will play at No. 4 Granada Hills.

Chatsworth girls’ Coach Jack Sidwell said while first-round girls’ games are tentatively scheduled for Feb. 25, City officials have encouraged schools to play earlier to avoid potential rainouts.

In the 4-A Division, No. 2 El Camino Real, Coast-Valley League runner-up, hosts West Metro League champion Hamilton. The Yankees, who won last season’s 3-A title, were moved up to 4-A.

City Section championship games are scheduled for March 7 at East Los Angeles College.

The Southern Section boys’ and girls’ playoffs begin today with wild-card matches involving nine teams from the region.

In girls’ games, Quartz Hill hosts Valencia and Thousand Oaks hosts Highland in Division I action.

In Division II, Moorpark travels to Canyon.

In the boys’ Division I, Simi Valley hosts Santa Maria and Crescenta Valley travels to Santa Monica.

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City Soccer Seedings

BOYS’ DIVISION

(1) Manuel Arts* vs. (32) San Pedro

(16) Jefferson* vs (17) North Hollywood

(9) Palisades* vs. (24) Chatsworth

(8) Reseda* vs. (25) Los Angeles

(5) Banning* vs. (28) Lincoln

(12) Locke* vs. (21) Washington

(13) Monroe* vs. (20) University

(4) El Camino Real* vs. (29) Elizabeth Street

(3) Poly* vs. (30) Hamilton

(14) Foshay* vs. (19) Franklin

(11) Birmingham* vs. (22) Marshall

(6) Roosevelt* vs. (27) San Fernando

(10) Bell* vs. (23) Gardena

(7) Narbonne* vs. (26) Kennedy

(15) Hollywood* vs. (18)Garfield

(2) Belmont* vs. (31) Venice

GIRLS’ 4-A DIVISION

(1) Chatsworth* vs. (8) Grant

(4) Granada Hills* vs. (5) Birmingham

(3) San Pedro* vs. (6) Palisades

(2) El Camino Real* vs. (7) Hamilton

GIRLS’ 3-A DIVISION

(1) Cleveland* vs. (16) North Hollywood

(8) Roosevelt* vs. (9) Manual Arts

(5) Garfield* vs. (12) Verdugo Hills

(4) Monroe* vs. (13) Marshall

(3) Belmont* vs. (14) Sherman Oaks CES

(6) Westchester* vs. (11) Bell

(7) Narbonne* vs. (10) Poly

(2) Kennedy* vs. (15) Banning

Seeds in ()

*Home Team