While the Orange County top 10 does not affect playoff seedings or bracketing – the CIF-Southern Section polls provide that impact – the county rankings are fun and raise interest in county football.
The O.C. top 10 is culled from the votes of 10 media members, a group that includes some people on our staff and some Internet and TV folks.
Many county teams have played half of their 10 regular-season games. Mission Viejo already has played six games.
We have a better idea now of what’s going on in Orange County football.
If you’re thinking that San Juan Hills should be ahead of La Habra in the county top 10, because San Juan Hills beat Los Alamitos by 28 points and La Habra beat Los Alamitos by five on the final play of the game, well, this voter is with you. I got out-voted. Every married American male knows the feeling.
Servite still is in the top 10 and deserves to be included. No team ranked below Servite would beat Servite. Only one team ranked below Servite, Edison, is willing to play Servite. Servite would rather play in Orange County against Orange County teams than travel to the Bay Area or Las Vegas for a game, but most county coaches would prefer that Servite travel to Bay Area or Las Vegas than play their teams here.
San Clemente got the No. 10 vote here because the feeling is that the Tritons would beat Edison or Los Alamitos if they played them.
PANTHER PRIDE
Orange was 0-10 last year (a win over Savanna became a forfeit loss). This year, the Panthers went 3-2 in nonleague games and take a three-game winning streak into Golden West League play on Oct. 8 when they play at Segerstrom after a bye this week.
They are not beating great teams – the combined record of the three teams Orange defeated is 2-13-1. But Orange lost to those three teams, Santiago, Savanna (by forfeit) and Santa Ana Valley, last season, so any progress is wonderful.
MARCHING SAINTS
Another Golden West League team is off to a strong start. Santa Ana is 4-0.
The Saints are averaging 45 points a game. Their average margin of victory is 37 points.
Last year, Santa Ana was 6-5 overall, 3-2 in league and made the playoffs. In 2013, Santa Ana was 0-10 and the average margin of defeat was 36 points.
If Santa Ana makes the playoffs again, and, by the way, the Golden West League is better than it’s been in a long time, we will be looking at Saints coach Charlie TeGantvoort as a coach of the year candidate.
MARINERS MADNESS
Another team having a terrific resurgence is Pacifica. Having finished 2-8 last year, the Mariners are 3-1. They beat Aliso Niguel, 37-20, last week largely because of red-zone efficiency.
Pacifica scored on five of seven red-zone trips against Aliso – four touchdowns, one field goal made, one field goal missed and one failed fourth-down conversion attempt. A team will win plenty of games with that sort of production.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
