Corona del Mar and Marina earn top-two seeds in CIF football playoffs
Corona del Mar High’s football team earned the top seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs on Sunday, marking the 10th straight year the Sea Kings have been a top-four seed. Marina is the No. 2 seed in Division 11.
The Sunset League champion Sea Kings (10-0) are one of six local programs qualifying for the postseason. Sunset League runner-up Edison (7-3) also made it in Division 3.
Huntington Beach (2-8) and Newport Harbor (7-3) received at-large berths, the Oilers in Division 7 and the Sailors in Division 9. Huntington Beach, which finished fifth in the Sunset League, qualified for the playoffs for the second straight year, while fourth-place Newport Harbor advanced for the first time since 2014.
The Big League champion Vikings (8-2) will be making their first postseason appearance since 2001.
Ocean View (7-3), the Pac 4 League runner-up, returns to the playoffs for the second year in a row. The Seahawks are in Division 12 this season.
Coach Brett Brown wasn’t surprised to see his Huntington Beach team in the Division 7 field when the section unveiled the brackets, even with the Oilers finishing the regular season six games below .500.
The math had been on Huntington Beach’s side for a couple of weeks. Only 13 of the 21 teams angling for 16 first-round berths qualified automatically, and there was just one at-large bid from a .500-or-better school, so two spots were going to teams with losing records, and the Oilers made a strong case.
“Our strength of schedule and strength of league are probably the toughest in our division, so that gives us some points there,” said Brown, whose team dropped games to four teams with eight, nine or 10 wins and two others with seven. “Two weeks ago I told our team that if we win our [last] two games, we could get in.
“And then after [losing to Los Alamitos] in Week 9, I said, ‘You know, I really believe that if we beat Fountain Valley, we’re in.’ [They’re a] divisional opponent, and that will go a long way, and there’s not a ton of [eligible] at-large teams.”
The 9-0 victory last Friday over the Barons (3-7), another at-large option in Division 7, cemented Huntington Beach’s third postseason trip in four seasons under Brown and gave the Sunset League five playoff entrants.
High School Roundup: Huntington Beach football shuts out Fountain Valley for first Sunset League win
Friday’s results involving Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Los Amigos and Brethren Christian.
For a couple of hours Sunday, it appeared that Estancia (3-7), after beating rival Costa Mesa 27-21 last Friday and finishing fourth in the Orange Coast League, was in the playoffs, too. The Eagles were on the list of at-large entrants the section released Sunday morning, but when the brackets were posted shortly after noon, they were nowhere to be found in Division 13.
Turns out it was an error.
“That was a typo ...,” assistant commissioner Thom Simmons, the section’s chief media officer, said in an email. “It should have been Esperanza.”
CdM, seeking its fourth CIF championship and sixth title-game appearance since 2011, hosts Corona Santiago (3-7) in a Division 3 opener at Newport Harbor High on Friday at 7 p.m.
The Sea Kings could get a rematch with second-seeded Simi Valley Grace Brethren (9-1), which beat the Sea Kings in last year’s Division 4 final, but coach Dan O’Shea isn’t about to look that far ahead.
“The depth of this division is very unique,” said O’Shea, whose team could advance to the quarterfinals and play San Bernardino Cajon, the Division 3 runner-up last year, should it dispense of Santiago, which faced powerhouses Corona Centennial and Norco in the Big VIII League, finishing fourth. “In years past, there might have been two or three of four teams [you wouldn’t be surprised to see as champion], but I’m looking at this thing right now, and I see nine teams.”
Edison will also be home in the Division 3 first round, facing Ivy League runner-up Romoland Heritage (7-3) at Huntington Beach High on Friday at 7 p.m.
The Chargers come in with momentum after one-sided wins over Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Newport Harbor, following the blowout loss to CdM last month.
“I feel like our team has come together in the last three weeks, for sure, after a significant bump in the road against CdM,” Chargers coach Jeff Grady said. “That was a tough loss against a really good team, but our kids certainly responded in a positive way.”
The Chargers score on their first 10 possessions in a 57-7 win, securing at least second in the Sunset League and a spot in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 postseason.
Newport Harbor visits Del Rey League runner-up Long Beach St. Anthony (5-5) at Clark Field in Long Beach in a Division 9 opener on Friday at 7 p.m. The Sailors have lost three in a row, by big margins against the Sunset League’s three best teams, but they haven’t lost confidence, according to their coach.
“The kids are thrilled to have the opportunity to play in the playoffs,” Sailors coach Peter Lofthouse said. “I feel like we’ve learned a lot from [the losses] about ourselves, and now we’ll be a stronger team because of it.”
Huntington Beach, rewarded with a Division 7 first-round showdown against Empire League champion Cypress (10-0), the No. 4 seed, at Western High on Friday at 7 p.m., can see parallels with the Oilers team that won the Southwest Division title six years ago. The 2013 champs finished fifth in the Sunset League and received an at-large berth, knocked off a 10-0 team in second-seeded Yorba Linda in the first round, then rolled to the title, beating Edison in the semifinals and Newport Harbor in the title game.
No league foe awaits this time, if the Oilers knock off Cypress.
“I’m not saying we’re the same team as that year,” said Brown, who was Huntington Beach’s offensive coordinator in 2013. “But [like that team] we came from a tough league, we played some tough games, and our kids are going to play hard.”
Marina gets a rematch with Laguna Hills, the Vikings’ first foe this season, in a Division 11 first-round game at Westminster High on Friday at 7 p.m. Vikings coach Jeff Turley says his players won’t be awed by the program’s first postseason appearance in 18 years, especially after beating Laguna Hills 33-20 on Aug. 23.
“We’ve stressed to the kids that every week is just one more week toward getting where we want to get to, and we’ve got to look at this week as just another week of the season and go forward,” Turley said. “It may help us that we’re playing a team we’ve already played, help with the mindset that it’s just another game.
“That’s the biggest thing, keeping them focused on ‘we’ve just got another game, let’s go play that one.’”
Ocean View faces the toughest task among area playoff teams in a Division 12 opener at top-seeded El Monte (10-0) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
El Monte, the Mission Valley League champ, has two 1,000-yard rushers and average 11.8 yards with every offensive snap. How confident are the Seahawks that they can be successful against the double-wing?
“I have confidence we’ll have a good game plan,” Seahawks coach Luis Nuñez said. “We’re huge underdogs, but I think our kids are going to be ready, and hopefully we can execute our game plan and give them a battle. ... We’re going to have to keep their offense off the field and just try to eat as much clock [as we can]. Obviously, we’ve got to score and hopefully we get a few turnovers.
“That’s playoffs. Last year [as Pac-4 League champions] we lost to Irvine [in our Division 11 playoff opener], and on paper, we were the better team. Weird things can happen.”
CIF Southern Section first round
Friday
Division 3
No. 1 Corona del Mar (10-0) vs. Corona Santiago (3-7) at Newport Harbor High, 7 p.m.
Edison (7-3) vs. Romoland Heritage (7-3) at Huntington Beach High, 7 p.m.
Division 7
Huntington Beach (2-8) vs. No. 4 Cypress (10-0) at Western High, 7 p.m.
Division 9
Newport Harbor (7-3) vs. Long Beach St. Anthony (5-5) at Clark Field in Long Beach, 7 p.m.
Division 11
No. 2 Marina (8-2) vs. Laguna Hills (5-5) at Westminster High, 7 p.m.
Division 12
Ocean View (7-3) at No. 1 El Monte (10-0), 7:30 p.m.
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Updates
6:28 p.m. Nov. 3, 2019: This article was updated with additional information and quotes from coaches Dan O’Shea (Corona del Mar), Jeff Grady (Edison), Brett Brown (Huntington Beach), Peter Lofthouse (Newport Harbor), Jeff Turley (Marina) and Luis Nuñez (Ocean View).
This article was originally published on Nov. 3 at 2:14 p.m.
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