Salesian of Richmond head coach Bill Mellis may be looking at his talented young squad moving up this year to the NorCal Open Division. One sub-par season last year isn’t enough to make Salesian ineligible to be selected. Photo: salesian.com.
As the section playoffs reach critical stages this week and teams stamp their tickets for the upcoming NorCal and SoCal regional playoffs, here’s a breakdown of how certain teams stack up in projected CIF state divisions. We also project which eight teams in the North and which eight teams in the South are on track to be in the Open Division.
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NorCal Open Division Projections
(Based on our own state rankings)
1. Modesto Christian
2. De La Salle (Concord)
3. Sacramento
4. Folsom
5. St. Francis (Mountain View)
6. Moreau Catholic (Hayward)
7. Salesian (Richmond)
8. Serra (San Mateo)
Note: Both Jesuit (Carmichael) & Sheldon (Sacramento) ineligible for Open Division based on established criteria.
SoCal Open Division Projections
(Based on our own state rankings)
1. Chino Hills
2. Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth)
3. Bishop Montgomery (Torrance)
4. Mater Dei (Santa Ana)
5. Foothills Christian (El Cajon)
6. Westchester (Los Angeles)
7. Cathedral Catholic (San Diego)
8. Narbonne (Harbor City)
Note: Redondo (Redondo Beach) would be the fifth CIF Southern Section team and will be clearly ranked higher than the second team from San Diego or the second team from the L.A. City Section, but indications are that the CIF will not choose a fifth CIFSS team unless there are no qualified teams from another section. The runner-up teams from San Diego and L.A. City Open Divisions aren’t as strong as Redondo, but are qualified. It’s basically hard to know how this possible fifth CIFSS slot for the SoCal Open Division is going to be handled because we haven’t seen it before.
DIVISON I
(including projected Open Division teams with asterisk)
1. Chino Hills 30-0*
2. Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 26-3*
3. Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 26-2*
4. Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 27-4*
5. Foothills Christian (El Cajon) 22-4*
6. Modesto Christian 28-1*
7. Redondo (Redondo Beach) 24-5
8. De La Salle (Concord) 26-2*
9. Westchester (Los Angeles) 25-6*
10. Centennial (Corona) 23-7
11. Folsom 26-3*
12. Sheldon (Sacramento) 22-4
13. Jesuit (Carmichael) 25-4
14. Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 19-5*
15. Narbonne (Harbor City) 23-6*
Next Teams From SoCal Not Projected For Open Division: 1. Fairfax (Los Angles) 28-4; 2. Damien (La Verne) 25-5; 3. Crespi (Encino) 26-4; 4. Alemany (Mission Hills) 23-7.
Next Teams From NorCal Not Projected For Open Division: 1. Monte Vista (Danville) 22-6; 2. Oakland Tech (Oakland) 26-2; 3. Menlo-Atherton (Atherton) 25-3.
Others To Watch: Bellarmine (San Jose) 17-7, Central (Fresno) 20-6, Clovis North (Fresno) 19-8, Compton 19-10, Inglewood 21-7, Roosevelt (Eastvale) 22-8, St. Augustine (San Diego) 22-5, Torrey Pines (San Diego) 24-4.
DIVISION II
(including projected Open Division teams with asterisk)
1. Sacramento 27-1*
2. St. Francis (Mountain view) 23-2*
3. Santa Monica 28-2
4. Serra (San Mateo) 21-4*
5. J.W. North (Riverside) 26-4
6. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 14-11
7. Lutheran (Orange) 21-9
8. Los Alamitos 23-7
9. Newark Memorial (Newark) 20-8
10. Cantwell-Sacred Heart (Montebello) 16-12
Next Teams From NorCal: 1. Mt. Eden (Hayward) 27-4; 2. St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 15-10.
Next Teams From SoCal: 1. Temecula Valley (Temecula) 24-4; 2. Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 17-12; 3. Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 20-9; 4. Ridgeview (Bakersfield) 27-1.
Others To Watch: Antelope 22-7, Lemoore 24-3, Pleasant Valley (Chico) 21-6.
Note: It’s unclear how Open Division teams from San Diego and L.A. City sections that do not get chosen for the SoCal Open Division will be placed into the other regional divisions. Those placements also will impact which SoCal divisions that the San Diego & L.A. City divisional champions will be placed. We did not rank any of those teams, but those to watch include El Camino (Oceanside) 26-5, Dorsey (Los Angeles) 24-7, Taft (Woodland Hills) 26-6, Birmingham (Lake Balboa) 20-8, Grossmont (La Mesa) 22-5, Army-Navy (Carlsbad) 20-9, Mission Bay (San Diego) 19-8, Bernstein (Hollywood) 26-5, Poway 23-7, West Hills (Santee) 22-6, Brawley 21-9, Ramona 26-5 and Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 18-12. It would make sense that Open Division teams from those sections will be placed higher in the regional/state divisions than teams that did not play in those Open Division brackets.
Jalen Ragsdale of Stockton Weston Ranch has been one of the top point guards in the Sac-Joaquin Section this season. Photo: Mark Tennis.
DIVISION III
(including projected Open Division team with asterisk)
1. Moreau Catholic (Hayward) 23-4*
2. Ayala (Chino Hills) 28-3
3. Weston Ranch (Stockton) 25-4
4. Santa Barbara 30-1
5. Oak Park 25-6
6. Manteca 24-5
7. Burlingame 19-8
8. Lynwood 23-5
9. Edison (Huntington Beach) 21-7
10. Albany 24-5
Next Teams From NorCal: 1. Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 14-13; 2. Vista del Lago (Folsom) 21-78; 3. Enterprise (Redding) 18-8.
Next Teams From SoCal: 1. Bonita (La Verne) 21-5; 2. Roosevelt (Fresno) 23-7.
Others To Watch: Calabasas 24-6, Loyola (Los Angeles) 14-16, Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 10-13.
Note: Ayala is playing in the CIFSS Division 2AA championship vs. Huntington Beach Edison, but for the SoCal regionals and state rankings the winner of that division will be Division III. This is according to selection protocols in the CIFSS playoff handbook. Basically, just like in football, the section division that a team competes in will no longer match the state division in some cases.
DIVISION IV
(including projected Open Division team with asterisk)
1. Salesian (Richmond) 26-4*
2. Immanuel (Reedley) 23-5
3. Viewpoint (Calabasas) 25-6
4. Diamond Ranch (Pomona) 23-8
5. Serra (Gardena) 15-14
6. Central Catholic (Modesto) 23-5
7. Liberty Ranch (Galt) 29-0
8. Chaminade (West Hills) 15-15
9. Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 15-12
10. Palma (Salinas) 22-3
Next Teams From NorCal: 1. Half Moon Bay 25-3; 2. Santa Cruz 21-6; 3. St. Patrick/St. Vincent (Vallejo) 18-10.
Next Teams From SoCal: 1. Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 21-7; 2. Rancho Mirage 29-1.
Others To Watch: Campbell Hall (North Hollywood) 15-15, Corning 21-6, Gridley 22-5, La Salle (Pasadena) 23-7, Pacific Grove 21-4.
DIVISION V
1. St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 28-3
2. St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 20-9
3. St. Bernard (Playa del Rey) 15-15
4. Flintridge Prep (La Canada) 21-4
5. Saddleback Valley Chr. (SJ Capistrano) 19-11
6. Urban (San Francisco) 22-8
7. Mariposa County (Mariposa) 23-4
8. Rancho Christian (Temecula) 16-11
9. University (San Francisco) 22-8
10. Brookside Christian (Stockton) 25-4
Next Teams From NorCal: 1. Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) 17-8; 2. Liberty Christian (Redding) 19-5.
Next Teams From SoCal: 1. Renaissance Academy (Altadena) 19-10; 2. Kern Valley (Lake Isabella) 19-2.
Others To Watch: Central City Value (Los Angeles) 25-4, Price (Los Angeles) 17-13, Redding Christian 24-3, St. Francis CC (Watsonville) 20-6.
CIF Southern Section Teams
That Already Have Been Chosen
For At-Large Berths In SoCal Divisions:
(Division 3) Calabasas, Hart (Newhall)
(Division 4) Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood), Rancho Mirage.
(Division 5) Capistrano Valley Christian (SJ Capistrano), Saddleback Valley Christian (SJ Capistrano).
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
8 Comments
Looks like a murderers’ row shaping up in D1 South. And D2 ain’t far behind.
So Central section doesn’t get a Open bid for SoRegion?
Doesn’t look like it to me. What’s the point of putting Immanuel in there? Making them travel hundreds of miles to get killed by Chino Hills?
Your list does not take into account the Central Section’s new state playoff seeding format.
Sorry, didn’t see that mentioned anywhere but not surprised. Why wouldn’t the Central Section start screwing around with its format just like every other section? We don’t spend time actually doing rankings anymore. Instead, we have to spend more and more time poring through the language of all of these new bylaws in every section. You can misinterpret one new bylaw and it can throw everything off. I know some people like divisional rankings, but in the future we may just skip the insanity and wait until the pairings come out on Sundays. Trouble is if you don’t follow it earlier you can’t then see when the CIF screws some team out of a playoff spot like what happened last year to Horizon Christian girls in San Diego.
Sorry, I in no way meant to imply you did not do a great job. I think you guys do an awesome job covering the whole state and your rankings and predictions are very accurate. Thanks for all you do for the student-athletes in our state.
The CS will rank all of its state playoff eligible teams in order of who the section office thinks are the best teams. As of this year, the section division has no bearing on state division placement.
The Fresno Bee today has a quote from Central Section Commissioner Jim Crichlow that Immanuel will be “no lower than D-II.)
Say goodbye to Immanuel’s chances for winning a state title. It’s not like they’ve won a bunch in a row like Central Catholic for football. Stupid new rule.