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State bowl games at stake for two O.C. teams
State bowl games at stake for two O.C. teams
St. Margaret's and Tesoro could earn CIF State berths with championships this week.
Two Orange County teams are in position to earn berths in state football bowl games if they can win their CIF-Southern Section championship games this week.
Yes, there are five county football teams still in action, but only St. Margaret's and Tesoro are under consideration for the state bowl games that will be played Dec. 19 and 20 at Home Depot Center in Carson.
The selections for the state games will be made Sunday by CIF section commissioners, but section championship contests this weekend will have a huge impact on the selection process. After all, only divisional champions are eligible for selection.
St. Margaret's is in good shape to be picked for the inaugural small schools bowl game if it beats Twentynine Palms in the East Valley Division championship game Saturday at St. Margaret's. The Tartans are the only undefeated team in the Southern California small schools rankings and enter Saturday with the state's longest current winning streak (a county record-tying 41 games).
The only negative for St. Margaret's is a lack of competition, which could hurt in comparison with a team such as Parker of San Diego. The analysts at calhisports.com are saying it could essentially be a coin flip between the two teams if both win impressively this weekend.
Tesoro almost certainly will earn a berth in a state bowl game if it beats Long Beach Poly in the Pac-5 Division championship game Saturday at Angel Stadium. But which game?
The Titans can be selected to the Division I game or could move all the way up to the open division game, which is designed to match the top overall bowl-eligible team in Southern California against the best from Northern California.
The guess here is it could be tough to move past Centennial of Corona, if the Huskies win the Inland Division championship, but the Titans would enter the open division discussion with a victory over Poly.
Click on the following links to find the CalHiSports state football rankings entering this weekend's games:
• CIF State open division rankings
• CIF State Division I rankings
• CIF State Division II rankings.
• CIF State Division III rankings
• CIF State small schools rankings
Go to calihisports.com for more details and analysis.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
