The guy who predicted that Los Alamitos would win the West Valley Division is going to give it one more shot.
Forget about the Los Al pick, and ignore that this same fellow was certain JSerra and Westminster would be playing this week in CIF-Southern Section championship games.
Here is a finals forecast for games involving Orange County teams:
West Valley, Mission Viejo vs. Vista Murrieta: Mission Viejo has won two close ones in a row to get to this championship game. Surviving those games makes a team stronger. Winner: Mission Viejo.
Southwest, San Clemente vs. Trabuco Hills: Yours truly was right about these two teams getting this far. We’re sticking with San Clemente in what could be another high-scoring game just like it was five weeks ago when San Clemente beat Trabuco, 42-35. Winner: San Clemente.
Southern, Garden Grove vs. Rancho Alamitos: Passing teams have an advantage in the playoffs, and Rancho with quarterback Nick Brown is one fine passing team. But blocking and tackling superiority gives Grove the advantage. Winner: Garden Grove.
East Valley, St. Margaret’s vs. Grace Brethren of Simi Valley: The day the prediction here had St. Margaret’s beating Brethren Christian in this division’s final, a couple of emails arrived that provided an accurate assessment of how good Grace Brethren would be in these playoffs. Still, we like the Tartans in this battle of 13-0 teams. Winner: St. Margaret’s.
SEE THE SITES
The location for the Southwest Division championship game – Trabuco Hills vs. San Clemente on Friday – was still listed as “at TBD” by the CIF-SS on Monday.
San Clemente is the host school and wants the game at its on-campus venue, Thalassa Stadium, which has a capacity of 5,000. Trabuco Hills wants the game played somewhere else.
Nine of the 13 11-man football championship games were played at on-campus venues last season (two were at Angel Stadium, one at Orange Coast College and one at Cal State Fullerton). San Clemente was more than large enough to accommodate the spectators that attended Trabuco Hills-San Clemente at Thalassa on Oct. 30.
Orange Coast College is available Friday, and would be a better venue in many ways. Parking is superior at OCC, sight lines are superior, locker rooms are superior, lighting is superior, and media space (if anyone cares) is superior, too.
If Trabuco Hills could prove that its supporters would be too numerous for Thalassa then a site change should be considered. But Trabuco Hills is a south county school. South county schools don’t draw well when they have to play a game north of Lake Forest. It’s like they think Orange County north of the El Toro “Y” is Detroit.
Garden Grove is the host school for its Southern Division game against Rancho Alamitos. Its on-campus stadium, Jason Field, has a playing surface that is about 50-50 grass-dirt, the media facility is a canvas canopy and parking is inadequate. Grove wisely secured Orange Coast College last week even before it advanced to the finals.
St. Margaret’s has seating for fewer than 2,000, but has been host of a CIF football final there before and can do so again by bringing in temporary bleachers. It wants to host its East Valley final against Grace Brethren on Saturday, and it probably will get the “OK” from the CIF-SS office.
FRYER’S TOP 25
Here is how I rank county teams 1-25: 1. JSerra (10-2); 2. Mater Dei (9-3); 3. Santa Margarita (6-5); 4. Mission Viejo (11-2); 5. Servite (4-7); 6. Orange Lutheran (4-6); 7. Tesoro (9-3); 8. San Clemente (12-1); 9. Trabuco Hills (8-4); 10. Corona del Mar (10-2); 11. El Toro (8-4); 12. Capistrano Valley (9-3); 13. Los Alamitos (9-3); 14. Edison (7-4); 15. Buena Park (11-2); 16. Villa Park (9-3); 17. La Habra (7-4); 18. Valencia (10-2); 19. Newport Harbor (5-6); 20. Cypress (8-3); 21. Troy (7-4); 22. Huntington Beach (3-7); 23. Fountain Valley (5-5); 24. Garden Grove (12-1); 25. Rancho Alamitos (11-2).
FRYER’S EXPLANATION
Most of the 10 members of the media panel that votes on Register’s top 10 have El Toro on their ballots but not Corona del Mar. Corona del Mar was on my ballot instead of El Toro because Corona del Mar beat El Toro by 17 points.
Some of the readership goes nuts when they see teams that have been eliminated ranked higher than teams still playing. There is a lack of understanding that the quality of football varies greatly from playoff division to playoff division.
A good example was on view at the CIF-Southern Section football championships luncheon on Monday. Several quarterbacks on the large-school teams were bigger than the linemen on some of the smaller-schools teams.
Orange Lutheran, which went 0-5 in the Trinity League and did not make the playoffs, beat Vista Murrieta by 34 points. Mission Viejo plays Vista Murrieta in the West Valley Division final Saturday. If Mission Viejo wins by more than 34, then the people who say Orange Lutheran is ranked too high have a point. If Mission loses, or wins by less than 34, well …
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
