Co-Champions Tie Up Playoff Spots

City Section football teams discovered the importance of winning or sharing league championships when playoff pairings were announced Saturday.

The selection committee determined before the season that all league champions and co-champions would be placed in the 16-team Championship Division regardless of record or strength of schedule. And because of ties in four of the section’s eight leagues, including two three-way ties, San Pedro of the Marine League and Dorsey of the Coliseum League are the only second-place teams that made the Championship bracket.

Marine League champion Carson (8-2) is the top-seeded team and will open the playoffs Thursday against Sunset Six League co-champion North Hollywood (5-5).

Northern League champion Franklin (10-0) is the second-seeded team and will play host to Sunset Six co-champion Canoga Park (6-4).

Third-seeded Crenshaw (8-2), champion of the Coliseum League, plays host to Eastern League co-champion Bell (6-3-1). Fourth-seeded Westchester (9-1), the Western League champion, plays at home against Eastern League co-champion Roosevelt (7-3).

Dorsey (8-2), which finished second in the Coliseum League, is seeded fifth and can thank Carson for making its appearance in the Championship division possible. If Carson had lost to Banning on Friday night, there would have been a three-way tie for first place in the Marine League. Dorsey would have been put into the Invitational division because 16 teams would have finished first or tied for first.

Among schools dropped into the Invitational playoffs are Palisades (8-2), Eagle Rock (8-2) and Banning (4-5), which played one of the toughest schedules in the Southland.

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PAIRINGS, PAGE 16