The Centennial football team earned the No. 2 seed in the Division 1 bracket and a rematch against Servite when the CIF Southern Section unveiled its playoff pairings Sunday morning.
This is the highest seeding Centennial has received for the playoffs since 2018, when the Huskies were the No. 2 seed in a 16-team Division 1 bracket. This year, the Division 1 playoffs only has eight teams.
Centennial (9-1) will be hosting the team it opened the season against. The Huskies cruised to a 42-14 victory over Servite (6-4) back on Aug. 22. The rematch will be played Friday. Nov. 14.
“It’s never ideal in high school football to be playing the same team twice,” Centennial coach Matt Logan said. “It’s been a long season. Both teams have lost some players because of injuries and gained players after the sit-out period. Both teams have changes, so we can’t think about at what happened back in August.”
Murrieta Valley received the No. 1 seed in the Division 2 bracket for the second straight year. The Nighthawks won two games in overtime to advance to last season’s championship game. Murrieta Valley (7-3) opens the playoffs at home this Friday against No. 16 Corona del Mar (9-1).
“We’re pretty confident but also are aware that there are never any easy games in Division 2,” Nighthawks coach George Wilson said. “It’s nice to be the No. 1 seed, but that does not come with any guarantees. You look at the teams in the bracket and pretty much anyone can win it.”
Chaparral (6-4) is seeded No. 2 in Division 1 and will host Chaminade (5-5) in the first round.
“We’ve had some great regular seasons in recent year but come up a short in the playoffs,” Pumas coach Andrew Ramer said. “The whole point of our schedule this year was to prepare for November. I think our kids are battle-tested and that’s always important for this division.”
Rancho Cucamonga lost four of its five nonleague games on the field before going unbeaten in the Baseline League. The Cougars (7-3 because of a forfeit win over Orange Lutheran) is the No. 8 seed in the Division 2 bracket and opens at home Friday night against Tustin (9-1).
“There’s going to be a lot of talk about what’s right and what’s wrong in the playoffs. I believe they (CIF-SS) got Division 2 right,” Rancho Cucamonga coach Alex Pierce said. “This is the definition of competitive equity when you look at how evenly-matched some of these game are.
“It’s nice be starting out at home. In this division, we’ll take any kind of advantage we can get.”
Three other Inland teams are in the Division 2 bracket, with two pitted against one another in the first round. Vista Murrieta (7-3) is the No. 6 seed and hosts No. 11 Damien (8-2) on Friday. Beaumont (8-2) is the No. 14 seed in the bracket and will travel to No. 3 San Clemente (6-4).
A total of 60 Inland 11-person football teams qualified for the playoffs either by securing an automatic berth from their respective leagues or by receiving a handful of available at-large entries.
Which teams didn’t make the playoffs this season was another talking point Sunday morning.
Norco and San Juan Hills both forfeited multiple wins last week, which caused the records of both teams to fall to 1-9. There were three at-large berth available in the Division 2 bracket. Los Alamitos and Vista Murrieta received the first two because they had records of .500 or better. San Juan Hills got the third because the Stallions finished higher than Jserra and Norco in the computer system used by the section (hsratings.com).
Perhaps the most stunning omission from this year’s playoffs was Rim of the World, which finished with a 9-1 record and tri-champion of the San Andreas League. The Fighting Scots found themselves on the wrong end of a tie-breaking coin flip and needing an at-large entry.
When the brackets were revealed, Rim of the World’s name was nowhere to be found in Division 10 or 11.
“I’m incredibly disappointed and angry,” Rim coach Joe Jurado said. “The one human element in the selection process is where lines are drawn between the divisions, and I disagree with how some of that is being done.”
“It frustrating to think the only way we could have got in the playoffs this year was to go 10-0.”
The Southern Section also released its 8-person playoff pairings Saturday afternoon, and seven Inland teams were among those selected to compete in the two divisions.
Cornerstone Christian is the No. 2 seed in Division 1. The Crusaders (9-0) have a bye in the first round and host Santa Maria Valley Christian (7-1) in the quarterfinals Nov. 14.
California School of the Deaf-Riverside has won three straight section titles and is the defending Division 1 champion. The Cubs (8-1) are the No. 6 seed this season and will travel to Faith Baptist (7-1) for a quarterfinal game Nov. 14. Those programs are familiar with one another, having squared off in section championship games in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Calvary Baptist is the No. 1 seed (7-1) in the Division 2 bracket and will host Noli Indian (0-9) in a first-round game this Friday.
