Garden Grove’s football team was 23-4 overall, including 7-1 in the playoffs, over the 2014 and ’15 seasons.
Over the same two football seasons, Servite went 8-13 overall and was 0-1 in the playoffs.
So, will Garden Grove be in a higher playoff division than Servite in the 2016 football season?
A new way for placing teams into CIF-Southern Section playoff divisions in many sports goes into effect with the 2016-17 school year.
Instead of the long-running system of having playoff teams from the same league go into the same playoff division, teams will be placed into playoff divisions according to a formula based upon regular-season records, CIF-SS playoff performance and strength of schedule over the previous two seasons.
Back to the question: Will Garden Grove be in a higher playoff division than Santa Margarita or Servite in the 2016 football season?
That was asked of CIF-Southern Section commissioner Rob Wigod on Wednesday after the CIF-SS Council, the section’s legislative body, voted overwhelmingly to bring the new playoff system into action.
Wigod said teams like Garden Grove’s football team that have enjoyed much success in lower playoff divisions won’t leapfrog higher-division teams that have struggled. Garden Grove has played in the Southern Division, essentially the second-lowest division in CIF-SS 11-man football, while Servite is in the Pac-5 Division, football’s highest division.
“There will be weight placed on the fact Garden Grove has done this in the Southern Division and Servite has been in the Pac-5,” Wigod said. “Strength of schedule will be weighted, too.”
No first-round football playoff games like Garden Grove vs. St. John Bosco are coming.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• As for what the CIF-SS office would do if Mission Viejo football coach Bob Johnson followed through on his threat to boycott the playoffs if Mission Viejo is placed in the top division, that would be in the hands of the South Coast League. Leagues submit their playoff representatives. If Mission Viejo’s football team or any other team wishes to not participate in the playoffs, the league can exclude that team when it submits its playoff representatives to the Southern Section.
• A student-athlete whose 19th birthday occurs on or after June 15 is eligible for CIF athletics. That should be changed to a much-later date – and that change can occur if a CIF-SS member league crafts a proposal and brings it to the CIF-SS Council. Student-athletes repeating a grade for later athletic advantage is becoming too common.
• If sportswriters facing deadlines had their way, overtime games would be eliminated from lower-level basketball. Get those varsity games started on time, please.
• If a proposal to move up the first-game dates for several sports had not been defeated Wednesday at the CIF-SS Council meeting, we would have had events like baseball’s Loara Tournament starting as early as Feb. 11 instead of its usual early-March starting date.
• MJ Cage played for Mater Dei in its 74-48 boys basketball win over Servite on Wednesday. He blocked six shots, which probably means he was into it. So, calm down, everybody.
• Tomas Soto, a 6-foot-4 sophomore basketball player, withdrew from Saddleback Valley Christian and enrolled at Santa Margarita where he became eligible last week. He was the Warriors’ second-leading scorer at 10 points a game.
• Former Garden Grove football coach Willy Puga has been hired as offensive coordinator at Los Alamitos. Puga coached Garden Grove for four seasons, ending with the 2013 season. The Argonauts advanced to CIF-SS championship games in three of Puga’s four seasons as coach.
• Matt McDonald, a junior who was Mater Dei’s starting quarterback this past fall until he suffered a wrist injury in September, has withdrawn from Mater Dei, and he might enroll at Mission Viejo, according to information received. JT Daniels, a freshman, replaced McDonald as the Monarchs’ quarterback and retained the starting job for the remainder of the season. He was named to the All-County third team.
• Daniels already has scholarship offers from Arizona State, Cal, Notre Dame, UCLA and Washington. San Clemente All-County offensive lineman Donte Harrington switched his commitment this week from Army to Boise State. La Habra All-County quarterback Eric Barriere committed to Eastern Washington where he will set all sorts of records.
• An endorsement of Rich Fisher, new football coach at Santa Margarita: “After knowing ‘Fish’ for years, I can say the school couldn’t have picked a better coach, person or mentor to lead the young men of Santa Margarita.” That came from New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
• The first day that high school football players can sign letters of intent with college is Wednesday. As usual, massive coverage will be available at ocvarsity.com all that day.
• Orange Lutheran baseball coach Eric Borba will manage the USA Baseball 12-and-under national team this summer.
• Membership in the Sea View and South Coast leagues for the 2016 football season will be: Mission Viejo, San Clemente, San Juan Hills, Tesoro and Trabuco Hills in the South Coast League; Aliso Niguel, Capistrano Valley, Dana Hills, El Toro and Laguna Hills in the Sea View League.
• Football players who did not get Division 1 offers can participate in the California Showcase at the Great Park in Irvine on Feb. 20. Presented by former UCLA coach Terry Donahue and the National Football Foundation, the event, in its fourth year, is an opportunity for seniors to show their skills to Division II and III and NAIA coaches. Visit cashowcase.org for information.
• A documentary about former Mater Dei and St. John Bosco basketball star Schea Cotton will be shown on Fox Sports West soon. Few Orange County athletes were as advanced in their sport as Cotton was. Nice young man who followed some bad advice.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
