Cole Dubots looks for running room during Vista Murrieta’s 38-24 win over No. 21 Bishop Amat in CIF Southern Section D1 playoffs. Photo: Patrick Takkinen/SoCalSidelines.com.
It’s not too surprising that two state-ranked teams – No. 9 Serra of Gardena and No. 21 Bishop Amat of La Puente – lost in the first round of the CIF Southern Section D1 playoffs due to the strength of the first 12 to 14 teams. But it was more of shocker that state No. 14 Oaks Christian also fell in D2 to La Habra. For most other teams, it was one lopsided win after another.
Here is a look at scores through Saturday night, Nov. 12. Check back Monday for the new rankings. Thanks to Paul Muyskens for looking up info on many of these teams.
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1. Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 11-0
Defeated Tesoro (Las Flores) 69-0 in CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs. One of the first TDs the Monarchs scored was on a blocked punt return.
2. Centennial (Corona) 10-1
Defeated JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 55-24 in CIFSS D1 playoffs. Nico Ross had a 35-yard pick six in second quarter that helped to break it open.
Mater Dei’s JT Daniels gets ready to throw during Nike Elite 11 event. Photo: Tom Hauck/StudentSports.com.
3. St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 9-2
Defeated Upland 47-20 in CIFSS D1 playoffs. This game was perhaps a little closer than anticipated. Up next won’t be Serra of Gardena as anticipated in the quarterfinals but instead league rival Santa Margarita.
4. Mission Viejo 11-0
Defeated Servite (Anaheim) 49-28. Since Servite had lost by huge margins to both Mater Dei and St. John Bosco and of course had that two-point loss to De La Salle in September, this score was one to watch throughout Friday night.
5. Rancho Cucamonga 11-0
Defeated Lutheran (Orange) 27-7 in CIFSS D1 playoffs. A 49-yard TD run by Jaylonn Redd closed the scoring. Cougars will meet No. 4 Mission Viejo next.
6. Narbonne (Harbor City) 11-0
Defeated Arleta 85-7 on Thursday in first round of CIF L.A. City Section D1 playoffs. Gauchos, who play Crenshaw next, led 72-0 at halftime.
7. Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 10-0
Did not play. Dons are in eight-team bracket for CIF San Diego Section Open Division and don’t start until next week vs. Torrey Pines.
8. De La Salle (Concord) 9-1
Did not play. Spartans are in four-team bracket for CIF North Coast Section Open Division and don’t start until next week vs. No. 18 Clayton Valley of Concord.
9. Serra (Gardena) 7-4
LOST to bubble team Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 27-14 in first round of CIFSS D1 playoffs.
10. Freedom (Oakley) 10-0
Did not play. Falcons are in four-team bracket for CIF North Coast Section Open Division and don’t start until next week vs. No. 13 Pittsburg, a team they beat 41-38 two weeks ago.
11. Murrieta Valley (Murrieta) 9-2
Defeated St. Bonaventure (Ventura) 63-34 in CIFSS D2 playoffs. Nighthawks, seeded No. 2 in the bracket, will play Norco next.
La Habra’s Prince Ross makes leaping catch during CIFSS D3 playoff upset vs. Oaks Christian. Photo: Paul Luna/SoCalSidelines.com.
12. Calabasas 11-0
Defeated Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 56-28. The Coyotes overcame some early struggled and moved on in CIFSS D5 playoffs. They played without several starters, including Keyshawn Johnson Jr. and Brendan Radley-Hiles.
13. Pittsburg 9-1
Did not play. Pirates are in four-team bracket for CIF North Coast Section Open Division and don’t start until next week vs. No. 10 Freedom (Oakley), a team they lost to 41-38 two weeks ago.
14. Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) 8-3
LOST to La Habra 35-28 in CIFSS D2 playoffs. This was the upset of the night since the Lions are a team with many high-scoring wins, including one against Chaminade. La Habra, although a CIFSS champion last season, was only 6-4 and one of its losses was to Tesoro.
15. St. Mary’s (Stockton) 10-1
Defeated Modesto 64-7 in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 playoffs. The Rams, No. 2 seed behind Folsom, will play 10-1 Pitman of Turlock next.
16. Helix (La Mesa) 8-2
Did not play. Highlanders are in eight-team bracket for CIF San Diego Section Open Division and don’t start until next week vs. Valhalla of El Cajon, same team they ended regular season by beating 40-13.
17. Folsom 10-1
Defeated Kennedy (Sacramento) 78-6 in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 playoffs. The Bulldogs, No. 1 seed in that bracket, got going early, especially with 65-yard kick return TD from Eric Davis.
18. Clayton Valley (Concord) 10-1
Did not play. Ugly Eagles are in four-team bracket for CIF North Coast Section Open Division and don’t start until next week vs. No. 8 De La Salle (Concord). Clayton Valley won NCS D2 title last season.
Clayton Valley head coach Tim Murphy and team will take a crack at De La Salle next week. Photo: Harold Abend.
19. Cathedral (Los Angeles) 11-0
Defeated Hart (Newhall) 34-17 in CIFSS D3 playoffs. Phantoms looked good in matchup many in SoCal probably thought was going to be tougher for them.
20. Monte Vista (Danville) 10-1
Defeated Irvington (Fremont) 52-0 in CIFNCS D1 playoffs. Mustangs, the top seed in the bracket but not in the NCS Open Division after their 45-17 loss to De La Salle, may have taken out some frustration on the Vikings.
21. Bishop Amat (La Puente) 7-4
LOST to Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 38-24 in CIFSS D1 playoffs. Having a week off after the Lancers beat Chaminade in OT two weeks ago might have cost them some sharpness in season-ending loss to the Broncos.
22. Chaminade (West Hills) 8-3
Defeated Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 50-14. This was projected to be the best matchup in first round of CIFSS D1 playoffs since Poly was practically in the State Top 25 as well. Instead, it was a second-half blowout behind T.J. Pledger’s five touchdowns.
23. La Mirada 9-2
Defeated Paso Robles 49-6 in CIFSS D3 playoffs. Matadores, seeded No. 1 in the bracket, will play La Serna of Whittier next.
24. Heritage (Menifee) 11-0
Defeated El Toro (Lake Forest) 42-14 in CIFSS D2 playoffs. The Patriots, seeded No. 1 in the bracket, also provided the 100th career win for head coach Kraig Broach.
25. Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 10-0
Did not play. Broncos are in eight-team bracket for CIF San Diego Section Open Division and don’t start until next week vs. Oceanside, which won the SD Division I title last season.
TEAMS ON THE BUBBLE
FROM LAST WEEK’S RANKINGS
Antelope 11-0
Defeated Central Valley (Ceres) 28-14 on Thursday.
California (San Ramon) 9-2
Defeated Foothill (Pleasanton) 35-7 on Saturday.
Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 9-1
Did not play. Bye in NCS D4 playoffs.
Central (Fresno) 9-1
Did not play. Bye in Central Sec D1 playoffs.
Del Oro (Loomis) 9-2
Defeated Laguna Creek (Elk Grove) 79-0.
Dorsey (Los Angeles) 7-3*
Defeated South East (South Gate) 58-7.
Edison (Huntington Beach) 10-1
Defeated Newbury Park 49-24.
Elk Grove 10-1
Defeated Gregori (Modesto) 49-8.
Hawkins (Los Angeles) 11-0
Defeated Cleveland (Reseda) 32-3.
JSerra (SJ Capistrano) 5-6
LOST to No. 2 Centennial (Corona) 55-24.
Lompoc 11-0
Defeated Carter (Rialto) 65-0.
Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 7-4
LOST to No. 22 Chaminade (West Hills) 50-14.
Los Altos (Hacienda Heights) 11-0
Defeated San Marino 35-7.
Lutheran (Orange) 5-6
LOST to No. 5 Rancho Cucamonga 27-7.
Madison (San Diego) 8-2
Did not play. Bye in San Diego Sec playoffs.
Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) 9-2
Defeated River City (West Sacramento) 44-14 on Thursday.
Palma (Salinas) 9-2
Defeated Saratoga 55-27.
Sacramento 10-1
Defeated Stagg (Stockton) 54-14.
Sanger 10-0
Did not play. Bye in Central Sec D2 playoffs.
Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 7-4
Defeated No. 9 Serra (Gardena) 27-14.
Serra (San Mateo) 7-4
Defeated Leigh (San Jose) 45-14.
Servite (Anaheim) 4-7
LOST to No. 4 Mission Viejo 49-28.
St. Francis (Mountain View) 10-1
Defeated Mountain View 56-27.
Sutter 11-0
Defeated Yreka 49-0 on Thursday.
Valencia 9-2
Defeated Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 34-3.
Valley Christian (San Jose) 10-1
Defeated Burlingame 41-0.
Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 9-2
Defeated No. 22 Bishop Amat (La Puente) 38-24.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
20 Comments
Again, Pac 5 teams started play in a four round bloodbath against almost all your opponents in top 25. Should be Open as runner up at least should get to move on. SLS only thing close. Open divisions in CCS and NCS put at advantage because of runner up (which I am not knocking, think it’s smart). Rewarding top teams it does. For example while Pac 5 teams all had to play a solid team (even Tesoro is good), De La Salle got to rest their players after a hard fought regular season and just two wins from State Bowl. Their opponent will have already fought through 3 top ten teams just to get there. Advantage DLS….
De La Salle wanted an eight-team NCS Open Division and really does not want to have three separate weeks off during the postseason.
That’s going to hurt them somewhat because high school teams need to keep playing to keep getting better.
Bishop Amat being off for a week prior to playing last night maybe wasn’t good for them.
On the other hand, for the state Open final, give that DLS coaching staff two weeks to get ready can be hard to beat. The SoCal team at least has had the same time to prepare. This year, DLS just doesn’t have enough talent and experience in my view to get to the MD, Centennial, Bosco level.
Mark, Fooseball,Edward Bernays, and Paul Johnson 884;
I pretty much agree with all of you.
First of all, CIF should make it a minimum of a team playing 3 section division playoff games to be eligible for the State Open. A team that plays only 2 section division games would have to win a “play-in” game against another section division champ to move on to the regionals.
Second, if sections are going to have open divisions, then the open playoffs should start the weekend following the regular season and the other divisions the next weekend. That way the 1st round open losers could move into the 1st rounds of their pre-season determined regular divisions. This would require that that section’s division playoffs be no more than 3 rounds, but with the exception of LACS, SJS, and SS (none of which have open divisions) nearly all of the other sections’ 4 rounders are loaded with way too many empty 1st round brackets, anyway.
Third, CIF should ban section division runner-ups from moving on to the regionals and allowing the section to “dead end” other divisions in the section. The brouhaha that developed in NCS between a few teams and their coaches during and right after the final regular season games was because D1 was dead ended and the competition for one of the four Open spots was mandatory for a chance at a post sectional spot.
Four, CIF should allow a section only one open division. CCS’s 3 open divisions are way too watered down to be even close to being considered “true” opens, and the dead ended CCS D4 and 5 divisions are even more watered down as a result.
right TinyTim. WE need to move to an Open State playoff. The top tiers are much better than the rest- even in the Pac5. It is proven year after year that only a couple of Pac5 teams are capable of winning so lets go for the Open playoff for the elite teams. The rest of the teams can play for their section and state Bowl games.
A 16 team North (8)/South Open (8) playoff would be the best in the country.
Forget the North vs the South. A real state championship puts the best teams from the state 1 thur 16, 32, 64 or 128, Six rounds and you are a true state champ. Look at Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. No sections games only state playoff games. It work. So if the best teams are in the North or the south the 2 best teams will play for the state championship. The teams will be seeded base on Calpreps ranking. Top teams stays home until they are beaten. That’s the reward for playing hard.
These are all solid ideas. Don’t disagree with any of them. It’s just the reality of the way the CIF is set up (10 sections, etc) that make actually doing anything like that impossible. All of the sections need as many as four weeks of the football playoffs to make a lot of the money they need for the entire year. Not one of them is going to give up any of its games for a state playoff system. Also, not even Texas and Florida seed teams 1 thru 64, etc. The travel would be insane and ridiculous. Texas breaks them into four regions. Florida similar.
the sections would give up a handful of their elite teams if the deal was structured correctly. one thing the sections like is money and an Open playoff would generate lots of it which could be shared with the sections. Those first 2 rounds of playoffs dont bring in much money in the current format anyway
never understood how a weak playoff prepares any team for the state championship game. Reality is the PAC 5 champs play one or two tough games… the first two or three weeks might as well be byes.
Byes?? Centennial first round opponent JSerra soundly beat #1 ranked Sac team this year, with and Tesoro (Mater Dei) and Upland (Bosco) would content for D2 title and Servite (Mission Viejo) lost by 1 point to DLS. And that was round 1. LMAO.
Yes byes. The PAC 5 champs routinely beat their first 2 or 3 opponents by at least 4 or 5 scores. May as well have a bye. It is high time that CA go to a playoff for the state elite. These multiple blow outs don’t do anyone any good.
I will write the CIF commissioner and they will rearrange the playoff brackets for you. But De La Salle wont apologize for essentially owning the Pac-5 and California hs football for the last 73 years.
My point was Pac 5 should be more like NCS and CCS and there is no questioning DLS greatness. But if you want to discuss on DLS bye week automatically going to CIF section semifinals against a team shut out by a San Diego section team, DLS really dominated PAC 5 Servite by 1 point earlier this year. Servite, who was blown out last night in first round by a public school.
The first couple of rounds of Pac-5 are not even competitive. You are using propaganda. Something I do know a little about………
Haha. Your right, , they are sure not juggernauts like Kennedy of Sac., Modesto high, Irvington, or the always tough nobody in the first round.
Let me clear up. I am speaking to the variance in section structures. Teams/programs like DLS, St. Mary’s, Folsom, etc., etc., play the teams they are scheduled and have shown in past that they can beat anyone, anywhere. I just feel SS D1 is an open division dressing up like a standard sectional playoff robbing chance of some of best teams in state to move on to a bowl.
As a St Marys guy, I agree with you 100%. 1st round games for St Mary’s, Folsom & Pac 5 elite are a joke. 16 team open brackets not for section but for NorCal & SoCal would probably be best. Take top 8 teams in north & south and let them get down!
It is all ” smoke and mirrors. Bishop Amat, Upland, and J Serra are simply practice fodder. No different than Modesto HS, Irvington, and Turlock HS.
It may seem the same based on the scores but Bishop Amat, Upland and JSerra would beat those teams like a drum, except maybe Turlock. The difference is that MD, Centennial and Bosco and probably Mission this year are just way, way better than everyone else so they’re going to blow out every other team except each other and likely would blow out every team in the north this yr too. The last few years there’s often been one or two CIFSS teams at what I’d call the super-elite level and that’s the level that DLS gets to almost every season as well. We’ll see in the next two games if DLS can get close to that level this time. The coaches sure know they’re not there yet and know what it would take to beat any of the three or four from SoCal because they’ve done it before and really have never lost big to any of them (even Bosco of 2013). Rollinson also has Mater Dei in a very good place, it seems, because his team doesn’t seem to be getting bored or stale with the huge wins. Focused and improving every week.
“JSerra is not practice fodder” – sincerely 10-1 Sacramento High.
another year, another gross over ranking of Oaks Christian football.