HIGH SCHOOLS

Royal redraw: When the Southern Section Division I-A girls’ basketball playoff pairings were drawn Monday, Marmonte League co-champion Royal was scheduled to host Channel League runner-up Santa Barbara on Saturday, a tough draw for the 23-3 Highlanders.

Even worse, Royal most likely would have had to face two-time defending division champion Buena in a second-round game.

Royal Coach Mike Kohl appealed to section Commissioner Dean Crowley.

“I’m not against playing Buena,” said Kohl, whose Highlanders have not won a postseason game since 1983. “Just not that early.”

Royal, originally seeded fourth in the eight-team Region II, was switched with third-seeded Righetti. The Highlanders now will host Century in the first round and would meet the winner of the game between Westminster and Littlerock in the second round.

Soaring stats: Oak Park center John Murphy, who averages 14 points and 14.2 rebounds for the Eagles, increased his output in the team’s final four games of the regular season.

In that span, Murphy averaged 20 points and 17 rebounds. He averaged 16 rebounds in Oak Park’s eight Tri-Valley League games.

WRESTLING

Top of the charts: Cristobal Gonzalez of Ventura and Chad Troxler of Simi Valley, both third in the state as juniors, are seeded first in their respective weight classes for the Southern Section wrestling finals today and Saturday.

Gonzalez, 44-2 at 189 pounds, leads 11 Ventura wrestlers into the Division I finals at Canyon Springs High. Senior Dustin Clocherty is seeded first at 135 pounds and senior heavyweight Joe Martinez is seeded second. Rio Mesa’s Ramon Rodriguez, seeded third at 140, is among 13 Channel League wrestlers in the top eight.

Troxler, 40-6, three-time Marmonte League champion, will compete in the Division II finals at Westlake High. Larry Schneider of Thousand Oaks (145) is seeded second. Josh Berman of Camarillo (152) and Dylan Hull of Agoura are seeded third.

Stuart Young (152) and John Garfinkel (140), both seeded first, lead 10 Highland wrestlers in the Division IV finals at Garden Grove Santiago High. Alex Herrera of Alemany is seeded first at 135 pounds.

SOCCER

In limbo: Zoran Lomic, the coach of the Oak Park High boys’ team the past four seasons, said Wednesday he does not know if he will return next season but will soon meet with Athletic Director Dick Billingsley to discuss his future.

Oak Park was removed from the Southern Section playoffs last week by school officials for a string of incidents that included the team’s captain being ejected last Thursday for spattering a referee with blood.

The buildup to the school’s decision stretches back more than a year. Three Oak Park players were ejected last Wednesday during a fight with St. Bonaventure. Two of those players had also been ejected from earlier games. Another player had been removed from the team last season for cursing a referee.

Lomic said he was always in control of his team.

“Some things happen on the field you can’t control and . . . it had a lot to do with the refereeing,” he said. “A lot of referees are not up to this level of play and they don’t do the job.”