While surfing the net this morning, I opted to go to the C.I.F. - San Diego Section to check out their upcoming football playoffs for a possible weekend trip for myself and my bride Laurie.
What I found was a bit disturbing.
I know that C.I.F. playoffs have been watered down quite a bit in the last 30 years. Back when I was in high school their were only five playoff divisions (AAAA, AAA, AA, A and Small Schools) in the C.I.F. Southern Section with only the league champions qualifying for the playoffs. Occasionally, one or two second place teams might qualify but only if a division had less than 16 leagues.
My senior year in high school, the 1964 season, Servite and Mater Dei squared off for their league title on the last night of the regular season. One of them, Mater Dei, entered the game a perfect 7-0 and had recorded shuouts in ALL SEVEN of their games. Servite won the game 7-0 and got the league's AAAA playoff bid, 7-1 Mater Dei did not make the playoffs that year despite only allowing only SEVEN points in their eight game schedule!
Today, in 2009, the C.I.F Southern Section holds football playoffs in 11 different divisions, each a 16 team affair with an occasional losing record in the mix when a team gets hot in their league games after a losing non-league season. In most divisions, the top three teams in each of the five leagues that make up a division earn automatic bids to the playoffs and one Wild Card team is picked to bring a total of 16 squads into the tournament.
With this as a background, here is what is going on in the C.I.F. San Diego Section's 2009 football playoffs:
Each of their five playoff divisions is a 12 team affair with the top four seeds in each division earning a first round BYE.
Division I
For the 19 schools with enrollments
of 2541 or more
Teams in the Division I playoffs include:
Torrey Pines 4-5-1 Overall (2-2-1 League)
Otay Ranch 3-6-1 (2-3)
Fallbrook 2-8 (1-4)
Carlsbad 3-7 (2-3)
El Camino 3-7 (3-2)
Division II
For the 18 schools with enrollments
between 2125 and 2540
Teams in the Division II playoffs include:
Mt. Carmel 4-6 (3-3)
Westview 3-7 (1-5)
Orange Glen 4-6 (0-6)
Division III
For the 18 schools with enrollments
between 1725 and 2124
Teams in the Division III playoffs include:
San Marcos 4-6 (2-4)
Division IV
For the 18 schools with enrollments
between 790 and 1724
Teams in the Division IV playoffs include:
Clairemont 4-6 (3-3)
La Jolla 4-6 (1-3)
Santana 2-8 (0-4)
Division V
For the 20 schools with enrollments
between 175 and 789
Teams in the Division V playoffs include:
Horizon 2-8 (0-4)
That is 13 teams out of the 60 in their playoffs with losing overall records!
How on earth can you justify the three teams (Orange Glen, Santana and Horizon) being in the playoffs with a combined 0-14 league records?
For a real playoff treat, check out the Orange Glen 4-6 (0-6) at Scripps Ranch 5-5 (1-4) opening round Division II game this Friday night. Two teams that went a combined 1-10 in their leagues!!!
Sorry 1964 Mater Dei Monarchs
3 comments:
No football team left behind?
SOOOOO P.C.!
More like it's so BIC (Bring in Cash). There's a reason the Southern Section has 13 divisions in football, nearly as many in basketball — and only five or six in non-revenue sports like tennis — and it's not because they like marching bands so much.
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