Fryer on football: Top teams keep their distance
How many games have been played this season involving two teams in the Orange County Top 10?
One, and it was Edison 6, Servite 0 this past Friday.
Getting an explanation for that is like getting an explanation for what happened to the dinosaurs – you get all sorts of answers, and it is a maddening back-and-forth that goes like this: "That team refuses to play us" vs. "What do you mean, that team refuses to play us!"
So Edison-Servite is the game that so far this season has made the biggest influence on the poll of 10 media members.
My vote this week: 1. Santa Margarita; 2. Mission Viejo; 3. Mater Dei; 4. Tesoro; 5. Edison; 6. Servite; 7. El Toro; 8. Orange Lutheran; 9. San Clemente; 10. Tustin.
THE BEST LEAGUE IS ...
The Trinity League's six teams have a collective won-loss record of 19-2. The South Coast League's five teams are 19-1.
The Trinity League has three teams in the state top 25 – No. 2 Santa Margarita, No. 22 Mater Dei and No. 25 St. John Bosco of Bellflower. The South Coast has two in the state top 25 – No. 7 Tesoro and No. 8 Mission Viejo.
Trinity teams have beaten seven teams that going into this week are over .500. South Coast teams have four victories over teams .500 or better.
The South Coast League is very good, but the Trinity League remains the best league that includes Orange County teams.
LEAGUE ACTION
Most leagues have a couple of more weeks of nonleague play, which has given us some good matchups and others few care about.
The heart races for games like this week's El Toro vs. Valhalla of El Cajon.
The private-school San Joaquin League, which includes county schools Capistrano Valley Christian, Fairmont Prep and Saddleback Valley Christian, has played some league games.
Two all-county public-school leagues, the Century and Empire leagues, begin league play this week. They are the county's only seven-team leagues, thus putting them into the league portion of their season earlier than the county's five- and six-team leagues.
Three interesting league openers this week: Cypress vs. Western and Tustin vs. Yorba Linda in the Empire League, and Esperanza vs. Foothill in the Century League.
So far, it looks like Tustin could go 6-0 in the Empire League, and Foothill and Villa Park are the teams to beat in the Century.
That Cypress-Western game Thursday is a crucial one for these two teams that look like playoff-berth contenders.
GAMES OF THE WEEK
Aside from the previously mentioned Century and Empire league openers, we have these: Mater Dei vs. Edison at Orange Coast College, Friday (another rankings changer); Chaparral at Tesoro, Friday (Tesoro is No. 7, Chaparral No. 20 in CalHiSports' state rankings); St. Bonaventure of Ventura vs. Santa Margarita at Saddleback College, Friday (St. Bonaventure is No. 14, Santa Margarita No. 2 in the state rankings); Fountain Valley at Trabuco Hills, Friday (looks like an even matchup); and Woodbridge at Segerstrom, Friday (this one will give us a better idea of how the Southern Division lines up).
