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Two of Orange County’s five undefeated teams meet Friday when Segerstrom plays Orange at El Modena High. That’s a Golden West League game between two 6-0 teams that won their league openers last week.
O.C.’s other undefeated teams are Katella (6-0), Mater Dei (6-0) and Mission Viejo (7-0).
In the Pacific Coast League last week, Beckman beat then-undefeated University. Corona del Mar beat Woodbridge, the team expected to be Corona del Mar’s biggest challenger for the league title. Corona del Mar (5-1 overall, 1-0 in league) plays Beckman (3-3, 1-0) at Tustin High on Thursday.
The Sea View League championship almost certainly will be decided Friday when El Toro (2-5, 1-0) plays at Capistrano Valley (6-1, 1-0). El Toro played a challenging nonleague schedule so don’t be deceived by that 2-5 record.
Can San Juan Hills give Mission Viejo a game? The Stallions (6-1, 1-0), one of the more-surprising teams in county football, is at the home field of the Diablos (7-0, 1-0) on Friday.
Edison (5-1, 1-0) and Los Alamitos (4-2, 1-0) are clearly the two best teams in the Sunset League. They hook up Friday at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach. That place has more parking than the Coliseum.
The Trinity League weekly wildness continue Friday with these three: Santa Margarita (4-2, 0-1) vs. St. John Boco (5-1, 1-0) at Cerritos College; Servite (3-3, 0-1) vs. JSerra (4-2, 0-1) at Saddleback College; and Orange Lutheran (3-3, 0-1) plays Mater Dei (6-0, 1-0) at Santa Ana Stadium.
The Century Conference teams still are a week away from league games. There is a good conference matchup this week. El Modena (5-1) of the North Hills League plays the Crestview League’s Foothill (5-1) on Thursday at El Modena High.
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PLAYOFFS
Although the CIF-SS 2016 Football Preview states that all six-team leagues will get three guaranteed entries into the playoffs, it is possible that some six-team leagues’ No. 3 teams won’t be in the playoffs.
The CIF-SS office will first places a league’s No. 1 playoff team into that team’s 16-team divisional bracket, then places the league’s No. 2 team into its divisional bracket if there is room in that bracket for that No. 2 team. If room then still exists for more playoff teams in a bracket, No. 3 teams are then placed into the bracket.
There could be a division that has so many Nos. 1 and 2 teams in it that there will be no room in the 16-team bracket for all of the No. 3 teams in the division. And there could be a bracket or several brackets that don’t have enough Nos. 1, 2 and 3 teams in them to fill the bracket and then at-large teams would then be placed in unoccupied berths.
Teams must finish .500 or better overall to be eligible for at-large berth consideration. If, after all of the .500-or-better teams have been placed in a division’s bracket and berths still remain unoccupied, teams that finished below .500 would fill those berths.
Keep in mind, that if one six-team league’s No. 4 team is 4-6 and another league’s No. 5 team is 5-5, and both of those teams are in the same division vying for the same at-large berth in that division, the CIF-SS must by rule must give that berth to the No. 5 team that is 5-5 because the No. 4 team at 4-6 does not have the .500-or-better record.
Most of the county’s leagues are six-team leagues.
TRENDING
If freshman scores are good indicators, which they usually are, it looks like the St. John Bosco and Mater Dei programs are going to be good for a while.
Last week in Trinity League freshman football: Mater Dei 63, Santa Margarita 13; and St. John Bosco 68, Servite 0.
MD VS. BOSCO
Mater Dei will sell advance tickets for the Mater Dei-St. John Bosco game that will be played Oct. 21 at Cerritos College. Tickets will be available at the school’s athletics ticket window on on Oct. 18 and 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Transactions are cash only.
Prices are $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens (65 and older) and $3 for children (5-14). Mater Dei and St. John Bosco students are admitted free with valid student identification. Children aged 4 and younger are admitted free.
It will be a 7:30 p.m. game televised live by Prime Ticket.
LIVE COVERAGE
Fox Sports West’s Prep Zone will carry live streaming Friday of Orange Lutheran-Mater Dei and San Clemente-Tesoro. Prime Ticket will televise Friday’s Edison-Los Alamitos game live at 7:30 p.m.
THAT’S BETTER
Yes, Cypress lost to Tustin last week in the Empire League opener for both. That likely means Cypress won’t win the league championship.
Still, Cypress is one of the county’s more-improved teams. The Centurions are 4-2. Last year, they were 2-8 and went 0-5 in league.
ON TOP
Orange County teams are No. 1 in four CIF-SS playoff divisions: Mater Dei in Division 1; St. Margaret’s in Division 7; Katella in Division 11; and Segerstrom in Division 12.
Santa Ana was No. 1 in Division 13 last week. The Saints lost to Orange, which was No. 4 in Division 13 last week. Campbell Hall of North Hollywood replaced Santa Ana at No. 1 while Orange moved to No. 2.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
