Oakland Bishop O’Dowd’s players react after winning 2016 CIF NorCal title in D5AA. The Dragons are one of several CIF North Coast Section teams in a tough spot heading into the NCS semifinals. Photo: Twitter.com.
With the South board in place and games happening this weekend to determine one state finalist in each division, more of a focus this week is on the north. We could have a big disruption if Valley Christian were to upset St. Francis in the CIF Central Coast Section Open 2 title game and one possible coin flip in the CIF North Coast Section also could cause a problem. Whether those coin flips will take place in even one division of the impacted NCS divisions, however, is a big question. This will force the CIF to have several different NorCal board scenarios involving byes where the NCS teams would sit or whether an NCS team has coin-flipped its way onto the board. We explain each division in this week’s edition of this feature, go over the South teams one more time and we give a predicted score for the CIF Open Division state final involving state No. 1 Mater Dei.
RELATED: To see Facebook Live video of how this board looked this week, CLICK HERE.
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Note: These are matchups for Northern California based on projected winners and rankings of teams according to their various placements into CIF section playoffs. We’re going to go by our own state rankings system to project matchups as much as possible, and they’ve proven over the years to be just as accurate and sometimes show more attractive matchups than the computer. Consider each team listed as a placeholder for that particular section playoff division, which also is indicated. The biggest change in the format this year is the addition of another division at the bottom of the lineup. This was done, according to Ron Nocetti of the CIF, because there is no longer going to be any play-in games in the north. The addition of another division at the bottom also enabled the CIF to let both of the CIF L.A. City Section lower division champions into the field. Previously, only one of the L.A. City’s D2 or D3 champions was involved. This board was completed after games of Saturday, Nov. 24.
