Skip to content
 JSerra beat Servite last week and is now seeded second the the CIF-SS Pac-5 Division playoffs.
JSerra beat Servite last week and is now seeded second the the CIF-SS Pac-5 Division playoffs.

REGISTER O.C. MEDIA POLL

1. JSerra, 9-1 (100 points)

The Lions are the Orange County regular-season champions, if the polling of 10 media members is evaluated that way. They finished second to St. John Bosco, the only team to beat them, in the Trinity League. A historic win over Mater Dei was part of the process. Nonleague wins over Chino Hills and St. Bonaventure of Ventura gave an indication of the even better things to come. JSerra, which beat Servite, 38-21, last week, is seeded second in the Pac-5 Division playoffs in which it plays host to Santiago of Corona in the first round.

2. Mater Dei, 8-2 (90)

A 49-13 winner over Orange Lutheran last week, the Monarchs were No. 2 on the ballots of very media member who votes on the top 10. They finished third in the Trinity League. Mater Dei may have fixed its red-zone scoring issues. The Monarchs scored six touchdowns six red-zone visits against Lutheran. They play a Pac-5 first-round game at Westlake, which Mater Dei beat by one point at Westlake last month.

3. Santa Margarita, 6-4 (80)

They lost to St. John Bosco, 58-34, last week, but the Eagles still were No. 3 on every ballot. Their other losses were nationally-ranked Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, JSerra and Mater Dei. Santa Margarita, which finished fourth in the Trinity League, got into the playoffs as an at-large team in the Pac-5 Division. The Eagles play at Crespi of Encino in the first round.

4. Servite, 4-6 (66)

One can sense the outrage – a 4-6 team ahead of all those teams with seven wins, eight wins, nine wins! Those teams got those seven, eight and nine wins without playing Servite or any of the other Trinity League teams that have a few losses on their ledger. Servite finished fifth in the six-team Trinity League. The Friars play fourth-seeded Long Beach Poly in the first round Friday.

5. Mission Viejo, 8-2 (55)

A public school finally broke into the top 5 that had been occupied by Trinity League teams for weeks. And Mission Viejo didn’t even play a game last week. The Diablos were idle, but enough voters thought the South Coast League champions are better than Orange Lutheran which went 0-5 in the Trinity League. Mission Viejo, which has won eight in a row since a 0-2 start, is seeded second in the West Valley Division. The Diablos open the playoffs with a home game against Temecula Valley.

6. Orange Lutheran, 4-6 (48)

We sense even more outrage. Lutheran went 0-5 in the Trinity League to finish last in last place. They concluded the regular season with a 49-13 loss to Mater Dei. Respect for the Lancers is not restricted to county top 10 panelists; they have remained in the state top 25 all season. Lutheran is the only top 10 team that is not in the playoffs.

7. Los Alamitos, 9-1 (42)

The Griffins’ 35-14 win over Edison last week earned them outright possession of the Sunset League championship. That moved Los Alamitos up one position from last week’s No. 8 ranking. Los Al went 5-0 in league after its only defeat, a four-point loss to Narbonne of Harbor City. The Griffins play El Toro on Thursday in a West Valley Division first-round game at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

8. Tesoro, 8-2 (39)

A week off did not slow down Tesoro. Fresh off of their bye week, the Titans beat San Juan Hills, 45-14, to finish second in the South Coast League. Their losses were to league champions La Mirada, by three points, and to Mission Viejo by two. Tesoro, which beat Corona del Mar and San Clemente, was seeded fourth in the West Valley Division playoffs in which they play host to Newport Harbor in the first round Friday.

9. Corona del Mar, 9-1 (15)

The streaks continued for the Sea Kings. They beat Beckman, 35-13, to win their third consecutive Pacific Coast League championship. Corona del Mar has won 14 league games in a row. The Sea Kings, who won the Southern Division championship the past three years, is in the Southwest Division. The Sea Kings are in a familiar position in the new division: seeded No. 1. They play Tustin in the first round Friday.

(tie) San Clemente, 9-1 (15)

The Tritons beat Aliso Niguel, 56-15, to end the regular season with a 4-0 record in the Sea View League to take the league championship. San Clemente, averaging 47 points a game, lost only to Tesoro. The Tritons never scored fewer than 38 points in a regular-season game. They are seeded second in the Southwest Division playoffs in which they play host to Fullerton in the first round.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com