Who’s Who Among the Region’s Best

It’s championship weekend in high school football, and for once, no one really knows who is the best team in Southern California.

Long Beach Poly’s elimination from the Southern Section Division I playoffs last week leaves a void at the top.

If there were a bowl championship series for high schools in the Southland, choosing the teams to play for the championship would be no easy task.

Taking into consideration strength of schedule, won-loss record, talent and head-to-head comparisons, the BCS version for high school would come down to four teams: Los Alamitos (12-0-1), Mission Viejo (13-0), Newhall Hart (12-0-1) and Woodland Hills Taft (13-0).

That leaves out Santa Ana Mater Dei (10-3), which deserves plenty of respect for beating Poly, 21-20. But three defeats leave the Monarchs out of consideration.

First, let’s take up the case for Taft, which plays Lake Balboa Birmingham tonight for the City title at the Coliseum. The usual argument is that City teams can’t compete against top Southern Section teams. Taft, though, is not your typical City team.

“Their skill people are as good any skill people in Southern California,” Hart Coach Mike Herrington said.

Taft possesses more speed than any school playing for a championship. In a one-game situation, with the likes of receivers Steve Smith and Noah Smith, quarterback Cary Dove and linebacker Lance Broadus, the Toreadors would be a formidable opponent.

The best game of the weekend is Saturday’s Division II final between Hart and Mission Viejo at Edison Field. The winner deserves a spot in the BCS final. Hart has a 35-game unbeaten streak; Mission Viejo’s winning streak is at 27.

“You have two teams going out on the field who know how to win and expect to win,” Mission Viejo Coach Bob Johnson said.

Hart is the USC of high schools because it has played perhaps the toughest nonleague schedule. Among its opponents were City finalist Lake Balboa Birmingham, Division IV finalists Westlake Village Westlake and Ventura St. Bonaventure and Division I finalist Los Alamitos. A tie to Los Alamitos in the opening game is the lone blemish.

Mission Viejo owns a victory over Mater Dei and has the most dominating offensive lineman in Southern California in USC-bound Drew Radovich. The Diablos have the consensus No. 1 defense, and the offense has become unpredictable with the emergence of scrambling quarterback Marty Tadman.

Like Hart, Los Alamitos has improved each week and enters its Division I final Saturday against Mater Dei in peak form. Coach John Barnes has two players who will go down as among the best in school history -- junior defensive back Randy Estes and sophomore receiver Jeremy Childs.

Now it’s time to poke holes in the arguments for the individual teams.

Taft gave up 34 points to San Fernando, the fifth-place team in Valley Mission League. “They play a schedule like Kansas State,” said one coach.

Hart was only six points ahead in the final minute against Birmingham, a team Taft defeated, 30-6.

Mission Viejo’s offense has sputtered against quality teams, leaving little room for error if the Diablos’ rock-solid defense has a bad night.

Los Alamitos barely got past Carson, 34-26. Taft beat Carson, 39-0.

So who belongs in the high school final? The matchup should be the Hart-Mission Viejo victor against Los Alamitos.

Of course, in the end, no one would be able to shout, “We’re No. 1,” because that title belongs to Concord De La Salle, the Northern California school that has a 138-game winning streak.

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Halftime entertainment for tonight’s City Championship game should be a mud wrestling contest at midfield between Coach Ed Croson of Birmingham and Coach Troy Starr of Taft. Birmingham Athletic Director Rick Prizant could serve as Croson’s tag-team partner.

All week, the two schools have been exchanging charges instead of exchanging films. Check that, they did exchange films -- Taft turning over tape of Birmingham fighting in the semifinals and Birmingham revealing tape of Taft hosting a prized eighth-grader on its sideline.

The childish behavior of the adults has distracted from what should be the most exciting athletic moment for everyone involved.

“We’re not happy about the climate between the two schools,” City Section Commissioner Barbara Fiege said.

Tonight’s game is an opportunity for the kids to show the adults how to act with dignity and class.

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Jimmy Clausen, the most highly touted incoming freshman quarterback since Todd Marinovich, said Thursday he plans to attend Westlake Village Oaks Christian.

Clausen’s brothers are college quarterbacks. Casey Clausen plays for Tennessee and Rick Clausen for LSU.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com