CdM, Eagles earn seeds
Last week, four local football teams played for league titles.
Those same four teams are playing in the first round of the CIF Southern Section playoffs this week.
Three are trying to move past what happened last week, falling short of a league crown.
One is trying to use winning a league title as momentum in hopes of ending a long playoff drought.
Estancia last won a playoff game 31 years ago. Coach Mike Bargas believes this might be the program’s best shot at snapping a 10-game losing streak in playoff openers.
“I told our kids, ‘My goal is to hopefully be practicing on Thanksgiving Day,’ ” Bargas said. “I don’t want to think past [the first round], but that’s my one selfish personal goal as a head coach, to get to that second round.”
Estancia might be competing after Thanksgiving.
The Eagles earned the No. 4 seed in the Southern Division playoffs after closing out their second straight undefeated Orange Coast League title. Estancia (8-2) opens at home Friday against Magnolia (4-6) at 7 p.m.
While CdM failed in its Pacific Coast League title showdown last week against Beckman, the Sea Kings are the No. 2 seed in the Southern Division. The Sea Kings (8-2) open against Westminster (4-6) Friday at Newport Harbor High at 7 p.m.
Costa Mesa missed on a possible seed after the Mustangs lost the Orange Coast League title at home against Estancia, 28-14. The Mustangs (8-2) travel to face Los Amigos (8-2) Friday at Garden Grove High at 7 p.m.
Newport Harbor (5-5) has the toughest first-round game, playing in the Pac-5 Division against third-seeded Long Beach Poly (9-1). The Sailors might not have had to travel to Veterans Stadium in Long Beach if they had beaten Edison in the regular-season finale and shared the Sunset League title with the Chargers and Huntington Beach.
Newport Harbor, Costa Mesa and CdM look to bounce back after not finishing in first place in their respective leagues.
Of the four local teams, only CdM and Newport Harbor have won a first-round game in the last four years.
It has been awhile for both Estancia and Costa Mesa. The Mustangs last won a playoff game in 1997, three years after Costa Mesa’s current coach, Wally Grant, left his alma mater as an assistant coach.
He is now in his first year in charge at Costa Mesa and the Mustangs have a chance at beating Los Amigos, the second-place team out of the Garden Grove League. They are going to need running back Mario Smith, whose shoulder is hurt. Smith left the Battle for the Bell game against Estancia in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve got more weapons than Mario,” Grant said after his senior rushed for 71 yards and one touchdown last week against Estancia, giving him 1,913 yards and 28 touchdowns for the season.
“If he feels good and the doctor clears him, he’ll play.”
The Sailors are hoping they get a couple of injured standout seniors back for the playoffs.
Coach Jeff Brinkley said after the Sailors lost to Edison, 35-7, that he’s unsure whether Grant Frazier (foot), a linebacker and fullback, and Kory Cablay (ankle), a cornerback and wide receiver, can return in time to face Long Beach Poly, the Moore League champion.
Newport Harbor faced the Jackrabbits in the second round in 2007, after upsetting Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, 7-3. That’s the Sailors’ lone playoff win since they joined the robust Pac-5 Division playoffs five years ago.
“We’ve been there a few times now,” said Brinkley, who has guided Newport Harbor to its third straight Pac-5 Division playoff appearance. “We know what it’s like going to the playoffs in this division. We’re happy to be there. The kids did a great job pulling through the league and putting themselves in a position to make the playoffs.”
Teams are now trying to position themselves for a section title run.
CdM makes the best case locally.
The Sea Kings have a new coach, Scott Meyer, but in one year he has them on track to contend. The team features senior quarterback Brent Lawson (1,998 yards and 21 touchdowns passing) and senior outside linebacker Aaron White (12.5 sacks).
The Sea Kings, who have reached the semis in two of the past three years, shouldn’t have a problem against Westminster, which received the Golden West League’s third playoff berth.
Meyer said CdM has gotten back to work after Beckman ruined the Sea Kings’ hopes of back-to-back unbeaten league titles.
“They know where we made our mistakes,” Meyer said of his Sea Kings, who rallied late, only to lose to the Patriots, 42-37, at home. “We want to get another shot at those guys.”
Beckman is the top seed, and if CdM wants to see the Patriots again, it will have to come in the section title game.
Estancia might have a say in that. The Eagles are on the same side of the bracket as Beckman, a team Estancia almost beat on Oct. 6. Beckman played without standout running back Jeff Kim and held on for a 12-10 win at Jim Scott Stadium.
The programs can meet in the semifinals. Kim (892 rushing yards and 14 TDs) and Estancia’s Robert Murtha (1,639 rushing yards and 13 TDs) are two of the division’s top tailbacks.
Bargas isn’t looking that far ahead, not with how the Eagles have dropped their last 11 playoff games.
“We got a pretty good draw,” Bargas said, referring to Magnolia, a third-place team from the Orange League.
The draw will look much better if Estancia can finally win its first opening-round game since 1980.
Twitter: @DCPenaloza