Upset Alerts Across The State

We’re sticking with two this week and have chosen La Habra and American Canyon as the most likely ranked teams to get knocked off.

It’s easy to pick winners in high school football. Just a tiny bit of homework and almost anyone can hit 70 percent.

But what about trying to pick upsets? We move into another week of this new feature by taking a look at two games from around the state in which a higher ranked team or favored team is picked to take a loss. Every team we are pointing at in this post has to be at least on the bubble in the various CIF state bowl game divisions.

Here are this week’s Cal-Hi Sports Upset Alerts:

Newport Harbor (Newport Beach) over La Habra

After Huntington Beach of the Sunset League put a 31-14 thumping on previously unbeaten Yorba Linda in the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division playoffs, we’ll go out on a limb and say that another Sunset League team that has played a tough schedule will do the same against La Habra.

The Highlanders are not unbeaten like Yorba Linda was, but they are the top seed in the division, have risen to No. 23 overall in our state rankings and have lost only to No. 5 Mission Viejo.

The Sea Kings, under veteran coach Jeff Brinkley, are only 6-5, but they’ve been good enough this season to get wins against Palos Verdes (top seed in the CIFSS Northern Division), Los Alamitos and Fountain Valley. Newport Harbor won its playoff opener 32-13 over Dana Hills of Dana Point.

Christian Brothers (Sacramento) over American Canyon

It’s been a year to remember for Christian Brothers. The Falcons have not only have won more games in a season than they have in the last 10 years but they also won a playoff game for the first time since 1986 last week when they defeated Pacheco of Los Banos 54-20.

Now that their 12-game postseason losing streak is done, we are going to say they start a new postseason streak with a road win against the top-seeded Wolves in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs.

The Falcons have averaged 43.5 points a game during a four-game winning streak after a tough stretch that saw them go 1-3 with losses to schools like Jesuit of Carmichael (D1), Whitney of Rocklin (D2) and Rio Linda (D2). They also have an impressive win over Casa Roble of Orangevale.

American Canyon’s lone loss this season was by a 36-35 to Stagg of Stockton, but the Wolves have been giving up a lot of points in recent weeks. They’ll score a lot against CBS, too, and should be favored. We just think CBS will score at least one point more.

Last week’s top upsets

1. Los Gatos 55, Milpitas 34
2. West (Torrance) 35, Canyon (Canyon Country) 27
3. Huntington Beach 31, Yorba Linda 14

Upset Alerts So Far This Season: 10-14 (we picked Long Beach Poly and Carmel last week; Poly won 18-16 over Orange Lutheran; Carmel won 40-35 over Pacific Grove)

Note: Pick your own upset alerts in the comments section below. Anybody think Mater Dei knocks off Mission Viejo? An upset alert contest also may be coming soon.