Mission Prep players (l-r) Andrew DeSeca, Conrad Ochotorena, Calvin Levisay, Patrick Laird, Trevor Fernandez and Tyler Baty hope their team plays Bishop Diego in a 9-0 vs. 9-0 regular season finale. Photo courtesy of school.
Note: The top 10 teams that would be ranked by CalHiSportsFootball for the CIF Open Division in Southern California would be:
1. Santa Margarita (Rancho SM); 2. Vista Murrieta (Murrieta); 3. Narbonne (Harbor City); 4. Bakersfield; 5. Mission Viejo; 6. Tesoro (Rancho SM); 7. St. Bonaventure (Ventura); 8. Centennial (Corona); 9. Alemany (Mission Hills); 10. St. John Bosco (Bellflower).
With assistance from Harold Abend and Paul Muyskens, here are the Week 6 rankings for each of Southern California’s CIF bowl game divisions (previous ranking in parentheses):
DIVISION I SOUTH
1. (1) Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 5-0
2. (2) Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 5-0
3. (3) Narbonne (Harbor City) 5-0
4. (4) Bakersfield 5-0
5. (5) Mission Viejo 6-0
6. (6) Tesoro (Rancho SM) 5-0
7. (7) St. Bonaventure (Ventura) 5-1
8. (8) Centennial (Corona) 4-1
9. (10) Alemany (Mission Hills) 5-1
10. (12) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 5-0*
11. (11) Upland 5-0
12. (9) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 4-1
13. (14) Chaparral (Temecula) 4-1
14. (NR) Crespi (Encino) 6-0
15. (15) Central (Fresno) 5-0
*Does not include forfeit losses.
Drops: Previous No. 13 Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) lost to Chaminade (West Hills) 35-27.
Bubble Teams: Bishop Amat (La Puente) 5-0-1, Chino Hills 3-1-1, Clovis North (Clovis) 5-0, Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 4-1, El Toro (Lake Forest) 6-0, JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 5-0, Loyola (Los Angeles) 5-1*, Lutheran (Orange) 5-0, Mission Hills (San Marcos) 3-2, Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 4-2, Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) 5-1, Rancho Cucamonga 4-1, Servite (Anaheim) 2-3, Westlake (Westlake Village) 3-3.
*Does not include forfeit win.
No. 1 Team Result: Santa Margarita did not play.
Race for No. 1: A lot of attention will be on Santa Margarita’s matchup with Servite of Anaheim as it will be the first game for the Eagles without standout quarterback Johnny Stanton. Even with Stanton, who is out for the year with an ACL knee injury, Servite topped Santa Margarita last season. In fact, the last time the Eagles beat the Friars was 25-20 in 2004. With almost all ranked teams either winning or inactive, the only questions for this week’s rankings surrounded where to drop Mater Dei – if at all – after its one-point loss to Narbonne and which team needed to go in for previous No. 13 Notre Dame. Both questions didn’t take long to answer. Mater Dei fell naturally right behind St. John Bosco (which won a big game against an out-of-state foe) while 6-0 Crespi was an easy choice to replace Notre Dame.
DIVISION II SOUTH
1. (1) Serra (Gardena) 4-1
2. (3) Oceanside 4-1
3. (2) Lompoc 5-0
4. (4) Hart (Newhall) 4-1
5. (5) Edison (Huntington Beach) 4-1
6. (6) Tustin 6-0
7. (9) Chaminade (West Hills) 4-1
8. (7) Citrus Hill (Perris) 5-0
9. (8) Garces (Bakersfield) 4-1
10. (10) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 4-1
11. (11) Serrano (Phelan) 5-0
12. (12) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 3-2
13. (13) Helix (La Mesa) 3-1
14. (14) La Serna (Whittier) 4-1
15. (15) La Mirada 5-1
Drops: None.
Bubble Teams: Carter (Rialto) 5-0, Los Alamitos 4-1, Kaiser (Fontana) 5-0, Kingsburg 5-0, Olympian (Chula Vista) 5-0, Palmdale 5-0, Poway 3-2 Summit (Fontana) 4-1, Villa Park 4-1, West (Torrance) 5-0.
No. 1 Result: Serra lost to Narbonne (Harbor City) 22-9.
Race for No. 1: There was a flip of teams in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions this week. With Lompoc idle, Oceanside followed up an impressive win over Poway with another strong outing in a 26-17 win over Mission Hills of San Marcos. Despite the loss, Mission Hills still could be the top D1 South team this year in San Diego. The flip still does nothing to change the possibility of the SoCal D2 bowl game being a matchup between the CIF Southern Section Western Division champ (Serra, Lompoc, Chaminade, etc.) and the CIF San Diego Section Division II champ (Oceanside, La Costa Canyon, Helix). Of course, if either Hart, Edison or Citrus Hill goes on a roll in their CIFSS divisions or if even Garces (close loss to Bakersfield) does same in Central Section D2 bracket, this choice could end up being wide open and very difficult for the section commissioners. Chaminade also was given a boost over Citrus Hill and Garces this week due to its win over state-ranked Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks. The Eagles also are taking on No. 1 Serra this week in one of the biggest games of the week in Southern California.
DIVISION III SOUTH
1. (2) Paraclete (Lancaster) 5-1
2. (4) Nordhoff (Ojai) 6-0
3. (3) Segerstrom (Santa Ana) 5-0
4. (1) Mission Oak (Tulare) 4-1
5. (6) St. Augustine (San Diego) 4-1
6. (7) Monrovia 3-2
7. (8) Wasco 5-0
8. (5) Valley Center 3-2
9. (9) Madison (San Diego) 4-1
10. (10) Laguna Beach 4-0-1
Drops: None.
Bubble Teams: Big Bear (Big Bear Lake) 5-0, Gladstone (Covina) 5-0, Imperial 4-1, La Salle (Pasadena) 5-0, Mendota 5-0, Rim of the World (Lake Arrowhead) 5-0, San Dimas 5-1, Woodbridge (Irvine) 2-3.
No. 1 Team Result: Paraclete defeated Kilpatrick (Malibu) 62-0.
Race for No. 1: Well, we wanted to give Mission Oak a shot at the top because we knew the team was playing a very tough opponent last week. The Hawks played D2 South Mt. Whitney of Visalia down to the wire, but came up short in a 28-21 defeat. That loss only dropped Mission Oak down to the No. 4 position this week and left open the No. 1 ranking. Segerstrom didn’t play so it wasn’t a good week to move up the Jaguars. In the end, we still like Paraclete ahead of Nordhoff. Both teams have posted quality wins over strong D1 programs in recent weeks – Paraclete over Dorsey of Los Angeles and Nordhoff over Thousand Oaks – but it looks to us that Paraclete will have a tougher CIFSS playoff division to win than Nordhoff. The Spirits not only will potentially have to deal with league rival and defending CIF Division IV state bowl champ Sierra Canyon but they also have Monrovia (just beat St. Francis of La Canada), San Dimas and other bigger schools that could be in their playoff division.
DIVISION IV SOUTH
1. (1) Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 5-0
2. (2) Bishop Diego (Santa Barbara) 5-0
3. (3) Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) 6-0
4. (4) Ontario Christian 5-0
5. (5) Rio Hondo Prep (Arcadia) 4-1
6. (7) St. Margaret’s (SJ Capistrano) 4-1
7. (6) Santa Fe Christian (Solana Beach) 2-3
8. (8) Francis Parker (San Diego) 3-2
9. (9) Christian (El Cajon) 4-1
10. (NR) Calvary Murrieta (Murrieta) 5-0
Drops: Previous No. 10 Poly (Pasadena) lost to Bell-Jeff (Burbank) 50-49.
Bubble Teams: Aquinas (San Bernardino) 3-2, Bakersfield Christian 4-1, Boron 5-1, Capistrano Valley Christian (SJ Capistrano) 5-0, Windward (Los Angeles) 3-2.
No. 1 Team Result: Sierra Canyon defeated Windward (Los Angeles) 49-21.
Race for No. 1: The CIF San Diego Section may have been knocked out of contention for a bowl berth in this division when Bishop Diego came from behind to beat Santa Fe Christian 13-8 in a key section vs. section matchup last weekend. The Cardinals went on a 80-yard drive in the fourth quarter to overcome an 8-6 deficit. Jack Gregson scored the game-winning touchdown on a 16-yard run with 41 seconds left. San Diego’s Francis Parker already had lost to the Southern Section’s Rio Hondo Prep earlier in the season. Bishop Diego will have to play Nordhoff of Ojai (see D3 South) and No. 3 Mission Prep to end the regular season and may have to play Nordhoff again in the CIFSS Northwest Division playoffs. Mission Prep would be in the CIFSS Northeast Division (same as Rio Hondo, Boron) and clearly not as strong as the divisions that Sierra Canyon or Bishop Diego will be in. Beating Bishop Diego on Nov. 2, therefore, would go a long way toward getting Mission Prep into the D4 SoCal bowl game.
Comments or corrections? Email markjtennis@gmail.com.
