Prep column: The more ($) the merrier

CIF Southern Section staff members have a gargantuan task. If you

don’t believe me, try to run a rotisserie league for more than 500 teams

in about two dozen sports, virtually without a break from August through

June.

For the most part, the section staff of about 14, including a

commissioner and three assistant commissioners, run the prep athletic

show, most specifically playoff competition, in a first-rate manner that

makes the Southern Section nationally renowned for excellence and

efficiency.

If you’ve spent any time observing the inner workings of section

employees, as I have, you’d appreciate this a great deal more than the

peanut gallery critics who invariably have a better way.

But -- and you knew this was coming -- there are, inevitably, vestiges

of rust in the well-oiled machine. And, casting off from aforementioned

peanut gallery, I’d like to point out a few grinding gears that were

unveiled Sunday and Monday, when playoff pairings for winter sports were

revealed at section headquarters in Cerritos.

Paul Castillo, an assistant commissioner in charge of basketball, said

the reason all 57 at-large candidates were admitted into the boys

basketball playoffs was that the section believes it is there to

accommodate student-athletes by creating as many competitive

opportunities as possible.

Sounds good, right? A little like coming out in favor of the American

flag.

All but one of these at-large candidates fit into either 16- or

32-entry brackets. In 16-team brackets, most at-large entries simply

became first-round fodder for league champions, with the four seeds

usually first in line to consume these “cupcakes.”

In Division III-A, however, there were already exactly 16 automatic

qualifiers (having finished in the upper half of their league), so

Estancia, the lone at-large school, was accommodated only by creating a

wild-card game with Burroughs High of Ridgecrest. This meant the Burros

would have to play their way into the 16-team field by defeating the

Eagles tonight at home.

Estancia and, surprisingly, Burroughs Coach Robert Campbell, were both

big fans of the move.

For Estancia, it enables a 13-13 team to experience the postseason,

albeit after a three-hour-plus bus ride.

The move also allows Burroughs to avoid a week layoff between games, a

constant concern for coaches this time of year.

But a precedent has clearly been set. If, eventually, there arises a

situation in which at-large entries are impractical, their complaints

about being denied participation have a built-in justification.

Now, flash forward about 24 hours to Monday, when the soccer pairings

were distributed. Since there are only five divisions in boys and girls

soccer, exactly half the amount in boys and girls basketball,

opportunities for at-large entries are significantly diminished.

Hence, Crespi’s boys team, ranked No. 1 in Division V for most of the

season, was turning in its gear Tuesday, rather than preparing to compete

with the division’s 41 automatic qualifiers for a Southern Section

championship.

Crespi (11-7-5) finished fourth in the seven-team Mission League,

behind Loyola (Division II), St. Francis (seeded No. 2 in Division IV)

and Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks (Division IV).

The Mission League meat grinder also left fourth-place girls finisher

Flintridge Sacred Heart (9-9-1) out of the playoff picture.

The Tologs were beaten out for a guaranteed berth by Mission rivals

Harvard-Westlake (seeded No. 1 in Division IV), Chaminade (No. 3 in

Division IV) and Louisville. A Mission representative has won at least a

share of a section crown the last five years (four straight by Chaminade,

before Louisville and Harvard-Westlake shared last year’s Division IV

crown).

Glendale News-Press reporter Erik Boal said a Tologs coach told him

that this year’s seniors have 29 losses in their four-year varsity

careers, 21 to the aforementioned big three.

Boal also points out of 187 teams in this year’s girls soccer

playoffs, only two are at-large entries.

So, clearly, the section is not there to accommodate soccer athletes

like they are for basketball. Could this have something to do with the

fact that basketball is a revenue sport and soccer is not?

The more basketball games, and, subsequently, more tickets sold, the

more money rolls into section coffers. The section takes half the gate

receipts from every playoff contest. Since soccer generally does not

charge for playoff games, other than the finals, there is no money to be

made from more early round contests.

Estancia boys basketball coach Chris Sorce said he celebrated the

Sunday morning news that the Eagles had made the playoffs by going on a

short bike ride with 4-year-old son Nicholas.

Sounds like a new superstitious pairings day ritual has been born.

One longtime Orange County boys basketball coach, who does not coach

in the Newport-Mesa District and shall remain nameless, predicted Sunday

that Newport Harbor would upset No. 3-seeded Villa Park in Division II-AA

second round Tuesday.