CIF-SS playoff seeding: Bishop Amat avoids top tier; La Habra qualifies at large
The Southern Section placed 14 teams into separate brackets, leaving some San Gabriel Valley schools with difficult road trips while others secured home-field advantages.
By James Anderson ·
The CIF Southern Section released high school football playoff brackets on Sunday, creating 14 distinct divisions for the postseason.
The organization relied on computer rankings from HSratings.com at the end of the regular season to determine these groupings. Teams entered the field either by winning their league championships or by earning at-large berths.
Bishop Amat received the No. 2 seed in Division 2 after the Section opted for an eight-team format in Division 1. The Lancers, who finished the regular season with an 8-2 record, will host Oxnard Pacifica, the Marmonte League champion, in the first round. Pacifica also holds an 8-2 record. This matchup serves as a rematch of last season’s Division 3 second-round game, which Bishop Amat lost 28-7. Pacifica won that division’s title last year.
Five San Gabriel Valley schools secured top seeds in their respective brackets. La Serna leads Division 3, while St. Francis heads Division 6. San Dimas controls Division 7, Nogales tops Division 10, and San Gabriel holds the top spot in Division 14.
La Habra earned a place in the playoffs through an at-large berth despite finishing 5-5. The Highlanders, who won the Division 4 title last season, return to that bracket and will host Etiwanda. Both teams finished with 5-5 records. In contrast, Damien did not receive an at-large spot. The team finished 4-6 and placed fourth in the Baseline League.
St. Francis faced a tiebreaker situation after finishing in a three-way tie for second in the Angelus League. The school won a coin flip to claim an automatic playoff spot and subsequently received the top seed in Division 6. St. Francis will host Valley View, the Sunbelt League runner-up.
Nogales completed an undefeated 10-0 regular season, the first such campaign for the school since 1990. The team will host Royal, the Tri-County League runner-up, to open the playoffs. Arcadia won the Crest League title but landed as the No. 16 seed in Division 12. The Apaches will travel to play Ontario, the Montview League champion.
All first-round games are scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m., though some venues may move their contests to Thursday.
