Senior Ryan Griffin (10) is among those going nuts for Corona del Mar after team was presented with CIF Southern Section Southern Division title plaque. Photo by Mark Tennis.
Saturday’s Division III regional final: Monrovia vs. Madison (San Diego) at Monrovia.
Controversial choice? Right up there as the most heated in the state with Edison over Oceanside and others in D2 South and McClymonds over Ferndale in D4 North. At 13-0, Wasco didn’t get the nod. It’s not surprising given the history of these picks for first-timers on the board that lack the strength of schedule of other teams on the committee that the voters have heard of before.
Bowl History: Monrovia is making its first bowl appearance. Madison is playing in its second bowl (lost in 2010 State Division III to Escalon).
Early Prediction: San Diego Madison 22, Monrovia 21. Guess you could call this an upset with the game at Monrovia. Madison’s win over St. Augustine on Saturday was pretty impressive and 3-point loss to Valhalla also has grown in significance.
Here are the Week 15 CIF Division IV North bowl game rankings (completed before this year’s bowl selections were made; after games of Saturday, Dec. 1; previous rank in parentheses):
DIVISION III SOUTH
1. (3) Monrovia 12-2*
2. (5) Madison (San Diego) 12-1*
3. (4) Wasco 13-0*
4. (9) Corona del Mar (Newport Beach) 11-3**
5. (1) Paraclete (Lancaster) 12-2
6. (2) St. Augustine (San Diego) 10-3***
7. (7) Nordhoff (Ojai) 13-1*
8. (8) Rim of the World (Lake Arrowhead) 12-2*
9. (6) North (Torrance) 11-3
10. (NR) San Dimas 11-2
*Indicates eligible for bowl game, section champion.
**Indicates eligible for bowl with forfeit win not included.
****Indicates ineligible for bowl with forfeit win not included.
Drops: Previous No. 10 Garden Grove lost to Corona del Mar (Newport Beach) 35-10.
Bubble Teams: Banning 11-2, Brawley 10-2, Garden Grove 11-3, Jurupa Hills (Fontana) 8-4, Laguna Beach 11-1-1, Mission Oak (Tulare) 9-3, San Marino 10-2*, Salesian (Los Angeles) 11-2, Valley Center 7-5.
*Indicates forfeit loss not included plus season complete, ineligible for bowl game. All others season complete and ineligible.
Case for Monrovia: Coach Ryan Maddox’s team won its third straight CIFSS title with its 23-7 triumph over previous No. 1 Paraclete in Friday’s Mid-Valley Division final. Ge Vontray Ainsworth rushed for 125 yards on 19 carries and scored once while Blake Heyworth connected on a 85-yard TD pass to Anthony Craft. The Wildcats do have two losses, but one was by one point in the first game to Ayala of Chino Hills with the second one by three points to South Hills of West Covina. Both Ayala and South Hills are Division I teams. Key wins in addition to the one against Paraclete were by 35-23 vs. San Dimas (9-1 regular season), 21-16 vs. San Marino (9-1 regular season) and 42-31 vs. Sierra Canyon (last year’s D4 state champion).
Case for San Diego Madison: It was an impressive 35-21 win for the Warhawks when they faced previous No. 2 St. Augustine in Saturday morning’s CIF San Diego Section Division IV final. Coach Rick Jackson’s team dropped its only game to Valhalla of El Cajon in week two, then reeled off 11 straight. Valhalla was a team good enough to have lost by just 31-28 to Oceanside in the San Diego D2 semifinals. The team features one of the top running backs in the state in Pierre Cormier, a Pac-12 recruit headed to Arizona.
Case for Wasco: The Tigers will go up on the board on Sunday morning as the only unbeaten team and also are the only unbeaten team in the CIF Central Section. They only won in their section final, though, 29-22, over Bakersfield Christian, which is a team that lost 31-7 to Ontario Christian in September. Earlier, Wasco beat Bakersfield Christian 49-0 and dominated against its opposition. In fact, the team will make the state record book in two categories with a current 688-151 scoring margin in its 13 games. While some who have seen the Tigers play say they are legit, there are no scores against tougher teams (unlike Washington of Easton last year) to look at. Both Monrovia and San Diego Madison have those scores.
Case for Corona del Mar: After watching the Sea Kings dismantle Garden Grove 35-10 in Saturday’s CIFSS Southern Division final at Anaheim Stadium, it’s obvious they belong in the mix for one of the two berths in this division as well. Three early losses (one was later changed to a forfeit win) will be tough to overcome for the selection committee, but all three were to teams that would be D1 or D2 for the bowl games. Plus, the way in which CdM rolled through its division was impressive. The first TD the defense gave up in four playoff games came when the Sea Kings were already leading Garden Grove 35-3 midway in the fourth quarter. Note: Griff Amies tied the state record for most field goals in a season with a 43-yard boot in the fourth quarter. He tied the record of 22 set in 1994 by Chris Sailer from Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks. Amies later tried a 57-yarder that would have broken the record but it was short.
Why not Nordhoff or Rim of the World: While we’ve had these teams higher in our rankings than Corona del Mar for most of the season, they just don’t have the strength of schedule against D2 or D1 teams that Monrovia, San Diego Madison or Corona del Mar has. Note: Nordhoff topped North of Torrance topped 31-14 in Saturday’s CIFSS Northwest Division final. This came one week after North Torrance defeated D4 SoCal No. 1 Bishop Diego 28-14 in the semifinals, which was the team that handed Nordhoff its only loss. Rim of the World won the CIFSS East Valley Division crown Friday 34-31 against Ontario Christian. Scots’ running back Jacob Taylor had 41 carries for 260 yards and three TDs and became just the second player in state history to rush for more than 4,000 yards in one season.
Comments or corrections? Email markjtennis@gmail.com.
14 Comments
As I said in my comments about D2 South CIF Bowl Rankings, you are certainly to be congratulated on your Bowl Rankings articles and team analysis this soon after the section championships.
However, I’m afraid I disagree with you about Nordhoff. In non-league, the Rangers beat San Joaquin Memorial 28-3 on the road, Pacifica (Oxnard) 45-7, Grace Bretheren (Simi Valley) 48-7, Nipomo 56-13 on the road, 1000 Oaks 29-21, and San Marcos(Santa Barbara) 55-7 on the road. All but Grace Bretheren are in much higher divisions. TO is a Pac 5 team that finished 2-3 in the Marmonte West League.
I think it’s fair to say the Northwest playoffs were the toughest Cal Bowl D3 playoffs in the state after SJS D4, NCS D3, and SDS D4 this season.
Without a doubt, Madison belongs in the regionals. However, Nordhoff should be strongly considered too. I believe they’re the best of the rest, however its’s hard to keep the only undefeated team, Wasco(13-0) out. (I don’t think CIF needs to throw CS “a bone” this year, however. Clovis North is certain to get a D1 or even Open South regional bid. And, the “folks” in the Central Coast area haven’t forgotten what happened to Lompoc last year!).
If you saw CORONA del MAR play this season, this playoff run and especially yesterday at ANAHEIM STADIUM there is NO doubt they are the best team in Division III. Their league is the toughest and their loss to Newport Harbor was on a last second play hail mary in a game they actually dominated. I’ve watched Monrovia here in the San gabriel Valley as well like Garden Grove they would get shut out and rolled by a team like CDM.
Correction concerning Monrovia. Ayala and South Hills are both Div 2 teams, not Div 1. Ayala finished with a 6-4 record not making playoffs, and South Hills finished 6-5 and exited playoffs in the first round. Not exactly Div 2 elite teams. So scores against these 2 teams mean absolutely nothing. Zip, nada.
Monrovia will get the nod over undefeated Wasco due to CIF politics and nothing less. Last time I checked a 13-0 record trumped a 12-2.
I forgot to add this thought to my previous post, thought? Fact. The kicking game and this kicker Griff Amies of CORONA del MAR is so far and above anything you will possibly witness in any High School Football Division I, II or III. It’s actually Division I, NCAA or even NFL! This high octane hurry up offense w/ 6’4″ and 6’5″ receiving core, a vaunted tested shut out oriented defense and a kicking game far superior to any high school team in maybe the nation. No way, no how can CDM be left out of the regional.
Yup..Monrovia vs Madison @ Monrovia
So is monrovia in or not class of 89 #2
Monrovia is in.
Ridgeview should be in there!!!!
Like the BCS…… a guessing game and I assure you the Sea Kings of Corona del Mar would win this regional against anyone here mentioned. Shame on the small school for trying to open the season against teams like Capistrano Valley and Newport Harbor.
With every other game officially being neutral, how did Monrovia get a literal home game in this?
“With every other game officially being neutral, how did Monrovia get a literal home game in this?”
CIF SS doing everything they can to try and get Monrovia a state championship. Like the 3 out of 4 home games in the playoffs.
overlooking wasco makes this a farce. no longer state chamionship
You guys need to check the nonleague games…..Nordhoff scheduled San Juaqin Memorial and Thousand Oaks and beat them both. Both were preseason select power houses in their divisions. Thousand Oaks was supposed to compete with Oaks Christian for the division title. It was not Nordhoffs fault that San Juaqin and Thousand Oaks went into the tank after they lost. In fact, it is know that several key players for Thousand Oaks quit after they lost to Nordhoff thus causing their demise. Remember Thousand Oaks whooped Camrillo the week before they lost to the Rangers. And look at how good Camarillo turned out. Nordhoff had a bad game against Bishop thats it. Those boys deserved to compete against Madison. Monrovia would get beat 35 to 7 if they played Nordhoff. Bank on that….NO question who the better team is. It is just sad that the Bowl selection all comes down to politics…Really sad.
I saw Thousand Oaks and Oaks Christian play on the same day to start the season and those two teams were not comparable at all. It was a good win for Nordhoff to beat TO, but that loss to Bishop Diego was what killed them not politics. Bishop Diego didn’t even win in its “smaller” division.