Prep playoff groupings: Postseason roads get twists and turns

Barry Faulkner

CIF Southern Section playoff pairings announced Monday should add

difficulty to the postseason roads of Back Bay high schools, while Costa

Mesa and Estancia, shifting to the Golden West League, figure to face

weaker playoff competition in virtually all sports, beginning next fall.

In football, Newport Harbor remained in Division VI, which will retain

the Century, Empire and Suburban leagues. However, the Miramonte League,

which has produced its division champion the last six years (Division VII

the last four, after two Division VI crowns in 1996-97), including the

Division VII title-game combatants the last three seasons, Los Altos and

Charter Oak, will replace the Golden West League.

The Golden West League, which will also include Ocean View,

Saddleback, Santa Ana, Westminster and Orange, will shift to Division

VII, joining the Almont, Del Rio, Mission Valley and San Antonio leagues.

The PCL, including Corona del Mar, will remain in Division IX for

football. The division retains its five current leagues, including the

Freeway, Garden Grove, Orange and Valle Vista.

The change was not a surprise to Newport Harbor High football coach

Jeff Brinkley, who said he was happy to be left in Division VI. The

Sailors have reached their division title game five times the last 10

seasons, including titles in 1994 and ‘99, and have gone to the

semifinals two other times during that span.

The Sea View had produced nine straight division champions, before

Mayfair defeated Suburban League rival La Mirada for the Division VI

crown last fall.

“I thought there would be some jockeying around with Hart being moved

(from Division III to Division II),” Brinkley said. “With them looking

for someone to fill that hole (in Division III), there was the

possibility of us moving up. I think (the Miramonte League) is a very

comparable group to some of the (playoff) teams we’ve been playing. I

know La Mirada (which eliminated the Tars in the semifinals, 13-10, in

overtime) beat Los Altos last year (20-13 in Week 3).”

In addition to Los Altos (the Division VII champion in 1999 and 2000

and runner-up last year), Charter Oak (which won Division VII titles in

2001 and 1998 and lost in the final the two years in between), and Wilson

High of Hacienda Heights (the Division VI winner in 1996 and ‘97), the

Miramonte League will include Bonita and Garey next year.

News of tougher postseason competition was greeted with excitement by

CdM boys tennis coach Tim Mang and Newport Harbor boys and girls

volleyball coach Dan Glenn, who, until a change in playoff procedure

passed by the Southern Section Council last week, were relegated to

playing in divisions based on enrollment and not competitive equity.

Mang’s Sea Kings, which won the CIF Division V crown last spring and

are among the Division V favorites this season, will be in Division I

next season.

Glenn’s boys volleyball program, currently in Division II, will rejoin

the Division I arena next spring.

“It’s the way it should be,” Glenn said.

Newport will compete in Division I in girls tennis, boys and girls

swimming, girls soccer, as well as boys and girls water polo.

CdM will be Division I in boys water polo, as well as boys and girls

tennis. The Sea Kings will be Division II in boys volleyball, girls water

polo, as well as boys and girls swimming.