Prep Rally: Here are the most intriguing matchups in the high school football playoffs
- Share via
See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. The high school football playoff pairings are out. What are the most intriguing matchups?
Playoff intrigue
The computer has spoken. The eight-team Southern Section Division 1 playoff bracket will begin in two weeks with the following schedule: No. 8 Orange Lutheran at No. 1 St. John Bosco; No. 7 Servite at No. 2 Corona Centennial; No. 6 Mission Viejo at No. 3 Mater Dei; No. 5 Santa Margarita at No. 4 Sierra Canyon.
Sierra Canyon (10-0) is the lone unbeaten team. Everyone seems to want to question the Trailblazers, including the computer rankings. But this much is clear: They routed Orange Lutheran and JSerra in nonleague games, have five shutouts and are motivated to prove they belong.
It’s been a strange season with more than 40 transfer players declared ineligible for two years for violating CIF rule 202, providing false information to the Southern Section on transfer paperwork. Last week, Norco forfeited six victories when an investigation found a violation of CIF rule 510, undue influence with prior contact before enrolling several players. San Juan Hills forfeited nine games but still made the Division 2 playoffs. Long Beach Poly, which had six players declared ineligible, decided not to enter the playoffs despite finishing second in the Moore League. Here’s the report.
Then came the news on Saturday that Victor Santa Cruz was no longer the head coach at JSerra after three seasons. The team finished 3-7. Special teams coach Gabe Higerd will be the interim coach for the playoffs. Santa Cruz is a former Azusa Pacific head coach and former Hawaii defensive coordinator. The Lions got rid of popular head coach Scott McKnight and replaced him with Santa Cruz. Before that, Pat Harlow was head coach since 2017.
Here’s a commentary on where things stand for the playoffs.
Here’s the Southern Section playoff pairings.
Southern Section football
Mater Dei, the defending Division 1 champions, continues to be the most unpredictable team this season. With losses to Corona Centennial and Santa Margarita but a win over Bishop Gorman, the Monarchs rose up to hand St. John Bosco it first defeat 36-31, creating a three-way tie for first place in the Trinity League with Santa Margarita and St. John Bosco. The Monarchs trailed 24-3. Here’s the report.
Luke Fahey of Mission Viejo set a school record with 569 yards passing in a 76-49 win over Los Alamitos. Here’s the report.
Here’s a look at top individual performances for the past week.
Here’s the final regular season top 25 rankings by The Times.
City Section football
Carson was seeded No. 1 for the City Section Open Division playoffs and will open at home against King/Drew on Nov. 14. Birmingham, with a 54-game unbeaten streak against City opponents, is No. 2. Here’s the City playoff pairings.
The most intriguing opening game matches the running attack of Garfield against the passing attack of unbeaten Palisades.
Carson earned its No. 1 seeding after beating San Pedro on the road behind quarterback Chris Fields III. Here’s the report.
The play at the quarterback position has been outstanding this season. Here’s a report on the quarterbacks coming through in the City Section.
Three Carter brothers are starting at Kennedy. Here’s the report.
Flag football
It will be unbeaten JSerra against Trinity League rival Orange Lutheran on Saturday at Fred Kelly Stadium to decide the Southern Section Division 1 flag football championship. Each recorded a shutout victory in the semifinals, with JSerra beating Dos Pueblos 20-0 and Orange Lutheran defeating Huntington Beach 33-0.
Orange Lutheran is 0-2 against 27-0 JSerra this season, but quarterback Makena Cook has learned a lot from those games.
Here are the semifinal results.
The City Section released its flag football pairings, with San Pedro getting the No. 1 seed in the Open Division. Here’s the pairings.
Girls volleyball
The Southern Section girls’ volleyball championships are set for Saturday at Cerritos College. Mater Dei and Sierra Canyon will battle for the Division 1 championship after the Monarchs defeated San Juan Hills on Saturday night and Sierra Canyon took a five-set win over Marymount.
Here’s a look at Marymount’s sweep of Mira Costa in pool play.
Here are the semifinal results.
The City Section continues with semifinals this week and finals on Saturday.
Tennis
Coach Bud Kling of Palisades lost his home and lots of memorabilia in the Palisades fire, but he hasn’t let that slow him down.
Last week, the Dolphins’ girls’ tennis team won the City Section Open Division championship. It was Kling’s 54th City title overall and 22nd as girls coach. Here’s the report.
The Southern Section tennis playoff pairings were released.
Elias Redlew shines
A three-sport standout at San Pedro, Elias Redlew has become the Pirates’ star receiver after not playing football until his freshman year.
Here’s the report.
Notes . . .
Junior infielder Jordan Kurz of Orange Lutheran has committed to South Carolina baseball. . . .
Receiver Jack Cunningham of Ventura has committed to Western Colorado. . . .
Punter Matt O’Boyle from Loyola has committed to Kenyon College. . . .
Junior pitcher Jonah Cohen of Palos Verdes has committed to UCLA. . . .
Agoura baseball standout Tyler Starling has committed to UC San Diego. . . .
Sophomore guard Cameron Anderson has transferred back to Eastvale Roosevelt after earlier transferring to St. John Bosco, who also lost Tajh Ariza. . . .
Harvard-Westlake’s $200 million sports complex is about a year away from completion. Here’s a video and an update. . . .
Standout senior guard Joe Sterling from Harvard-Westlake has committed to Texas. . . .
Just before the basketball season begins, Campbell Hall announced it is replacing head coach David Grace with former Fresno State assistant Von Webb as interim coach for the 2025-26 season. . . .
Bryan Fournier has been named St. Margaret’s first flag football team coach. . . .
Junior pitcher James Venick of Harvard-Westlake has committed to USC. . . .
Newport Harbor continues to roll in the water polo playoffs. Here’s the pairings. . . .
Tight end Kaden Glover from Thousand Oaks has committed to Navy. . . .
Long Beach Veterans Stadium is about to be torn down and will be replaced by a new 10,000 seat stadium and 2,000 seat arena. . . .
From the archives: Zevi Eckhaus
The long road to play Division 1 football for former Culver City quarterback Zevi Eckhaus is impressive. He’s now the starting quarterback at Washington State.
He set records at Culver City, had no D1 offers and ended up at Bryant University, where he did well.
Then he transferred to Washington State last season and finally got the starting job last month and completed 24 of 31 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-21 loss to Mississippi.
Here’s a story from 2021 when he became Culver City’s all-time passing leader.
Here’s an interview from 2021.
Recommendations
From Edlaw4students.com, a Transfers 101 about California high school sports.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on former Corona Centennial guard Donovan Dent and why he transferred to UCLA.
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.
Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? To sign up and get it in your inbox, click here.
