Matchup doesn’t seem like first round

Jason Hitchens makes his coaching playoff debut in his first year at Corona del Mar High tonight.

On paper, the No. 2-seeded Sea Kings (8-2) open with a first-round game, just as the rest of the schools in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs.

Hitchens said the game against La Mirada (4-6) at Newport Harbor High at 7 p.m. feels more like a quarterfinal game.

“You kind of need to get past the formula and look at the team itself,” said Hitchens, referring to La Mirada earning the Suburban League’s third playoff entry despite sharing second place with two others teams.

“La Mirada has turned it on late [by winning three straight games] and this won’t be an easy opponent. If we play the way we did [in a 20-10 victory] against Beckman, we’ll lose.”

Teams seeded so high aren’t so supposed to drop out so fast.

The Sea Kings aren’t the only team out of the Pacific Coast League getting a tough first-round opponent.

Top-seeded Laguna Hills (9-0), the team beating out CdM for the league crown, opens with Artesia (7-3).

La Mirada shared second place with Artesia in the Suburban League.

Hitchens said don’t rule out any first-round upsets.

The Sea Kings look to avoid one. They were able to get past the opening round in 2006.

Hitchens’ last playoff appearance came that same year. He guided St. Margaret’s to a 14-0 season and capped it with a CIF Southern Section Northeast Division title.

That season was Hitchens’ only one at St. Margaret’s. He plans to stick around CdM for a while.

The Sea Kings have won three straight games since losing to Laguna Hills, 34-7, on Oct. 17. This year’s eight regular-season victories are the most for CdM in a regular-season since 1988.

That year CdM won a section title, the first of back-to-back crowns.

The Sea Kings have a chance to match the 1988 championship team’s 12-game win record, the best in school history, if the Sea Kings win out in the playoffs.

“I try not to peek over the fence,” Hitchens said. “My feeling is if we’re playing our best, we can compete with anyone.”