A one-on-one interview with one person asking the questions and the same person providing the answers about what happened in the CIF-SS playoffs:
Question: What was the most improved team in the county, from Week 0 to championship week?
Answer: Mission Viejo. The Diablos thought their 0-2 start was not indicative of how good they would be. They proved they were right when they put together their best game of the year in a 21-10 win over Vista Murrieta in the West Valley Division final at Angel Stadium.
Question: What was the biggest first-round upset?
Answer: El Toro’s win over Los Alamitos in the West Valley first round. Not the win itself, but the 38-point margin.
Question: Which league flubbed the most in the playoffs?
Answer: All three Sunset League playoff teams – Edison, Los Alamitos and Newport Harbor – were eliminated in the first round. Last year, three of this league’s teams played in the Southwest Division semifinals. The difference in quality from one division to another can be quite substantial.
Question: Should JSerra be disappointed by losing in the Pac-5 second round?
Answer: No. The continuing improvement against Trinity League and playoff competition under Coach Jim Hartigan has been amazing.
Question: What happened to Mater Dei, which beat Westlake in the first round and then lost to eventual champion Centennial of Corona by three points in the second round?
Answer: The Monarchs’ offense was not as good as their defense.
Question: What about Santa Margarita, which was eliminated in the first round by Crespi of Encino?
Answer: The Eagles’ defense was not as good as its offense.
Question: Did Servite deserve to be in the Pac-5 Division playoffs?
Answer: Yes. Servite, which finished fifth in the Trinity League and got an at-large berth, lost by one point to Long Beach Poly in the first round. The Friars almost scored what would have been the biggest upset of the first round.
Question: Which young county football coach is most likely to become a college football head coach?
Answer: Tony Henney of Trabuco Hills, who led the Mustangs to a 44-37 win over San Clemente in the Southwest Divsiion final.
Question: Was San Clemente High’s Thalassa Stadium good enough for the championship game?
Answer: It was like watching a big-budget action movie on a cell phone – you can follow the story OK, but a proper theater would be so much better.
Question: Besides JSerra, which other county team is on a rapid upward trajectory?
Answer: Buena Park. The Coyotes advanced to the semifinals where they ran into hot Trabuco Hills, which knocked out Buena Park, 38-7. Buena Park’s Anthony White is a candidate for county coach of the year.
Question: Was the Pacific Coast League ready for the move up from the Southern Division to the Southwest Division?
Answer: Nope. Three of the four PCL teams that qualified for the playoffs were eliminated in the first round. Top-seeded Corona del Mar from the PCL lost to Trabuco Hills in the second round.
Question: Which school has the only undefeated team in county football?
Answer: St. Margaret’s, whose Tartans are 14-0. And they might become the first county team to win two state championships, too.
Question: What was the weirdest postgame quote of the playoffs?
Answer: After Garden Grove beat Rancho Alamitos in the championship game, a Grove player said “Nobody believed in us.” Kid, the prediction here was that your Argonauts would win the division title and our 2014 season preview had your team winning the Garden Grove League.
It’s like Santa Claus consuming the milk and cookies left out for him and then he complains, “Nobody believed in me.” Well, big guy, then why did I leave the milk and cookies on the coffee table?
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
