State’s Nos. 1, 2 are not a match

In the most recent state rankings by CalHiSports.com, Long Beach Poly is ranked No. 1 and Corona Centennial checks in at No. 2.

Guess who won’t be playing each other this weekend in the CIF state championship bowl games?

Centennial will play Concord De La Salle in the Division I game Friday at the Home Depot Center. Poly will play Sacramento Grant on Saturday in the new open division game, which actually features plenty of built-in exclusivity.

Only one team from Northern California and one from Southern California can participate in a format designed to match the state’s top team from each geographical region regardless of enrollment. But what if the two best teams are from the same region?

“I don’t think you can ever figure this out,” Poly Coach Raul Lara said Monday during a media event at the Home Depot Center. “It’s kind of like the BCS.”

Well, at least the BCS tries to match the top two teams in its constituency.

Marie Ishida, executive director of the California Interscholastic Federation, said the state’s football advisory committee initially discussed pitting the top two teams against each other in the open division game regardless of their location.

“We may eventually evolve into that,” Ishida said, “but right now it was still important to try to be inclusive and keep the North and South interaction going.”

Centennial Coach Matt Logan said he wouldn’t complain about the bowl system because the Huskies might not have even been involved this year had state officials not added the open division game.

“I’m just glad they have that because I think it rewards teams for doing well,” Logan said.

Advocates for a Poly-Centennial matchup could point to Grant’s weaker schedule than its Southern California counterparts and the fact that De La Salle barely defeated Los Angeles Loyola, a team that lost to Mission Viejo, 37-7, in the first round of the Pac-5 Division playoffs.

“I figured this was going to end up happening,” said Lara, who would like to see a 16-team playoff. “Then again, it doesn’t mean anything if Corona Centennial loses against De La Salle and we lose on Saturday.”

He’s back

Harry Welch will become the first coach to guide different programs to state bowl games Friday when he leads San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s against Hamilton City Hamilton in the newly created small-schools game.

Welch took Canyon Country Canyon to the 2006 Division I game, where it defeated De La Salle, 27-13.

“It’s as if I have died and been reborn,” said Welch, 63, who is in his second year at St. Margaret’s, where he teaches Shakespeare.

Welch said there were similarities between his 46-game winning streak at Canyon and the Tartans’ current 42-game streak, which is an Orange County record.

“It’s like having two sons,” he said. “I love them both.”

But you’ve been around for only 28 of the 42 victories at St. Margaret’s, right?

“OK, so one’s a stepson,” he said, “but I love my stepson too.”

Suits him fine

Grant Coach Mike Alberghini looked GQ-cool in a black pinstripe suit Monday, a development that was considered breaking news in Sacramento.

A camera crew from a local television station met Alberghini at the mall to document the purchase of the suit by someone who had previously been a candidate for a worst-dressed list.

“I’m generally in a Grant shirt, Grant coat, shorts or sweat pants and a baseball hat,” Alberghini said. “I’m not really a suit-and-tie type of guy.”

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ben.bolch@latimes.com