Division 6
Seeded teams
1. Grand Terrace (20-2-3)
2. Paloma Valley (11-7-4)
3. Maranatha (16-4-4)
4. Gabrielino (15-4-1)
County representatives: Whittier Christian, Savanna, Santa Ana Valley, Katella
Rapid reaction: Savanna, the Orange League champ, was the only local school to draw a first-round home match. Whittier Christian and Santa Ana Valley will travel to take on Pacific Christian and South El Monte, respectively, while Katella makes the trek to Paloma Valley for what’ll be its second match of the week. The Knights needed a win over Santa Clarita Christian in the wildcard round on Tuesday to get into the first round.
The Rebels will host Summit, another wildcard winner, in Thursday’s first round. Savanna went 5-0-1 down the stretch, but on the season, only put together an overall record of 10-10-3. To their credit, the Rebels schedule included the likes of Aliso Niguel, Esperanza and Tesoro – all Division 1 playoff teams. We’ll find out soon enough just how much playing those county powers helped this team in the long run.
Keep an eye out for Whittier Christian’s Natalie Oronoz. The Cal State Fullerton commit gives the Heralds one of the division’s best playmakers up top. Oronoz has a four-goal game under her belt this season. Anything remotely close to that kind of an effort could win the Whittier Christian a match or two here in mid-February.
