Prep Rally: A closer look at the high school football pairings
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. It’s playoff time in high school football. Let’s review the pairings.
Trinity League domination
Five of the six Trinity League teams made the eight-team Southern Section Division 1 playoff bracket. Does it really matter? It’s still shaping up as a rematch between No. 1-seeded St. John Bosco and No. 2 Mater Dei at the Coliseum on Nov. 24.
Sierra Canyon was given the No. 3 seed, and it’s the first time in school history the 10-0 Trailblazers have made the Division 1 playoffs. Corona Centennial is No. 4, and its offense has been surging behind quarterback Husan Longstreet after struggling against top teams early on.
First-round games in Division 1 will be on Nov. 10.
By having an eight-team Division 1, it creates a powerful, entertaining 16-team Division 2 bracket. Rancho Cucamonga received the No. 1 seed. Action begins on Friday. Here’s a look.
There are 14 divisions. Here are the complete playoff pairings.
Birmingham is team to beat
Birmingham hasn’t lost to a City Section opponent since 2017, a streak of 39 consecutive victories. The Patriots are seeded No. 1 in the City Section Open Division playoffs and are coming off scoring a school-record 83 points in an 83-6 win over Taft.
Coach Jim Rose said he thinks this team is better than last year’s unit that blew out Garfield in the City final, but he needs to make sure his team does not overlook opponents. “We just can’t be complacent,” he said.
Receiver-safety Peyton Waters, defensive end Maynor Morales and running back Ronnell Hewitt have been outstanding all season.
Garfield is seeded No. 2 and has been preparing for a year looking for a repeat. We’ll see if it happens.
The Open Division playoffs begin on Thursday, Nov. 9. The rest of the tournament for other divisions begins Friday.
Here’s the pairings.
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Football rewind
Upland had the biggest upset of last week, handing Rancho Cucamonga its first defeat with a 17-14 victory to share the Baseline League championship.
Chaparral had the most interesting victory, 59-57, over Eastvale Roosevelt on a 35-yard field goal by Ezra Johnson with three seconds left off a free kick. Yes, Chaparral called for a fair catch after a punt, allowing Johnson to boot the field goal for the win with no pass rush.
Los Alamitos went unbeaten in the Sunset League for the fourth consecutive season, holding off Edison 21-10. Here’s the report.
Dorsey earned a share of the Coliseum League title with Crenshaw after a 20-12 win over King/Drew at the Coliseum.
In the 88th East L.A. Classic, Garfield came away with a 49-16 win over Roosevelt. Here’s the report.
Here are the top performers from Week 10.
Here’s the final regular season top 25 rankings by The Times.
Here’s Week 10 scores.
Flag football
The first City Section girls’ flag football championship tournament begins Wednesday. San Pedro is seeded No. 1 in the Open Division with Crenshaw No. 2. There’s also a Division I championship. Here’s the playoff pairings.
The Southern Section won’t have a section championship this year, but Esperanza finished off a 25-0 season by winning a tournament in Orange County, defeating Orange Lutheran in overtime, 28-27.
Royal won the Ventura County championship.young coach on the rise
Young coach on the rise
Burbank was once one of the most famous cities in America. Five nights a week, “The Tonight Show” starring Johnny Carson, then Jay Leno, let everyone know Burbank was the place to see Hollywood stars.
Jesse Craven, the youthful 30-year-old football coach at Burroughs High, might have been invited to make a cameo appearance if the show hadn’t moved to New York in 2014.
Craven has given Burbank natives something to cheer. When the Southern Section playoff pairings were released Sunday, Burroughs (9-1) still was celebrating its first Pacific League title since 2015.
The Bears are in Division 7 hosting Agoura in their Friday playoff opener between neighborhood teams, far away from Division 1 top seeds St. John Bosco, Mater Dei, Sierra Canyon and Corona Centennial. Craven’s story is compelling, showing how a school took a chance, placed its confidence in an untested young coach and was rewarded by finding someone willing to listen, learn and grow.
Here’s his story.
Girls’ volleyball
It will be Mira Costa taking on Mater Dei to decide the top team in Southern Section girls’ volleyball.
The highly anticipated showdown between the top two seeded teams in the Southern Section Division 1 girls’ volleyball playoffs will take place on Saturday at 7 p.m. when No. 1 Mater Dei meets No. 2 Mira Costa for the championship at Cerritos College.
Mira Costa advanced Saturday night with a 25-22, 25-18, 25-22 victory over No. 3 Huntington Beach, overcoming early deficits in each set to reach the finals for the second year in a row. The Mustangs were swept by Sierra Canyon in the championship match last fall.
Here’s the report.
Here are the complete championship matchups for all divisions.
The City Section will hold its championships on Friday at CSUN. Here’s the brackets, with semifinal matches Monday.
Tennis
Having come up just short in the final last year, the Granada Hills girls’ tennis team left nothing to chance in a City Section Open Division rematch versus top-seeded Palisades at Balboa Sports Center in Encino.
Breanna Nguyen took all three of her sets at No. 2 singles and the top two doubles teams both swept as the second-seeded Highlanders (14-0) won 16 to 11½ to capture their 13th City Section crown and first since 2019.
Here’s the report.
Break out the costumes
With Halloween set for Tuesday, high school athletes are going all-out on their costumes.
Sierra Canyon girls’ basketball standout Mackenly Randolph said she will be Wonder Woman.
El Camino Real girls’ soccer standout Ava Tibor will be Alice as in Alice in Wonderland.
St. Francis basketball player Kennedy Mitchell-Egbo said he will dress up as Steve Urkel.
Granada Hills running back Darrell Stanley has given deep thought to Halloween. He usually dresses up as a football player. Not Tuesday.
“This year I’m thinking of switching it up,” he said. “I’ve been using my helmet as a trick or treat basket and wearing my jersey. This year I’m kind of feeling in my horror mood. I’m going to be Freddy Krueger.”
Happy Halloween.
Mission League basketball
It’s going to be tough to top the 2022-23 high school boys’ basketball season for Mission League teams since Harvard-Westlake won the state Open Division championship and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame took the Division 1 title.
Based on Wednesday’s Mission League basketball media day, there’s lots of talent returning, so the league could be the best in Southern California again for 2023-24.
The league has already added a high-profile head coach in former Lakers guard Derek Fisher, the new coach at Crespi. In his first public appearance, Fisher, who used to coach the New York Knicks and L.A. Sparks, admitted that one of his new experiences as a high school coach was cleaning the practice jerseys.
Fisher will get to work with his son, Drew, and his stepsons, freshmen Isaiah and Carter Barnes.
Here’s a look at notes from the boys and girls teams at Mission League media day.
Notes . . .
Diamond Bar has been forced to forfeit four football games for using an ineligible player. . . .
Laguna Beach junior quarterback Jackson Kollock has committed to Washington. . . .
David Goosen has resigned as basketball coach at Northridge Academy to become head coach at Malibu. . . .
Sophomore point guard Rodney Westmoreland III has transferred to Santa Margarita from Daugherty High in Northern California. . . .
Junior infielder Gavin Lauridsen of Foothill has committed to USC. . . .
Defensive back Prince Williams from Oaks Christian has committed to San Diego State. . . .
Pitcher Walker Calvo from La Mirada has committed to Army West Point. . . .
Infielder Braden Ruiz of Mater Dei has committed to St. Mary’s. . . .
Rocky Moore, a former Muir head coach, is the new basketball coach at South Hills. . . .
Harvard-Westlake pitcher Duncan Marsten has committed to Wake Forrest. . . .
Gardena Serra running back Cincere Rhaney has committed to San Jose State. . . .
Sophomore defensive back Brandon Lockhart of Loyola has committed to USC. . . .
Pitcher Kaden Youmans from Westlake has committed to Army at West Point.
From the archives: Dominic Smaldino
It hasn’t taken long for former JSerra first baseman Dominic Smaldino to let people know at his new school, Cal, that he’s a pretty good baseball player.
The freshman had a walk-off home run in a winter game.
While Smaldino has graduated from JSerra, his younger brother, Max, a pitcher, has arrived.
Here’s a story from April on Smaldino’s baseball and family legacy.
Recommendations
From Towntalkradio.com, a look at Texas considering a shot clock in high school basketball.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on former Leuzinger and UCLA basketball player Russell Westbrook looking forward to the NBA season.
From USAB.com, a story on former Oak Park basektball player Kareem Maddox going from journalist to three on three star.
From the562.org, a story on Long Beach Poly’s “TikTok boy.”
Tweets you might have missed
Until next time...
Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.
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Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
