2019-20 Week 17: Road to State Championships Starts Here

No teams in the boys’ Open Division looks like a break for San Diego Section teams, which were assigned some  favorable seeds in other divisions of first-round play that gets under way in the Southern California regional tournament Tuesday night.

Two girls teams are seeded No. 1 and have byes to the quarterfinals. Open Division La Jolla Country Day goes in not only with the top seed but is ranked first in California and in the Country, according to some voting entities.

Thirty-three boys’ and girls’ squads were invited, compared to 31 last season, and with no opposing Central Section squads most travel will be no more than (hopefully) a three-hour bus ride.

DONS FIRST IN GIRLS  D-I

Cathedral, which lost to La Jolla Country Day in the San Diego Section girls Open final, also received a first-round bye in D-I.

Francis Parker, a 2 seed in D-II, is the highest seeded boys squad.  Cathedral,  El Camino, and Foothills Christian have No. 3 rankings, and Torrey Pines got a desired 4.

Based on seeds 1 through 8, San Diego teams are favored in 16 of 30 opening-round games. Game 31 is not counted because it matches two San Diego Sections squads, University City and Calexico, in D-III.

If history holds, some of those lower seeded, visiting Southern Section teams will be more difficult than expected.

San Diego clubs were 16-14 against Southern, Los Angeles City, and Central section clubs in the first round in 2018-19, but not without disaster.  L.A. University, No. 16 in boys D-III, scratched out a 78-74, overtime win at No. 1 Montgomery.  No. 12 Temecula Linfield upset No. 5 Grossmont, 63-55, in girls D-IV.

BOYS

DIVISION TEAM RECORD OPPONENT RECORD
I 3 Cathedral 24-7 14 Altadena Renaissance 24-9*
4 Torrey Pines 26-5 13 West Hills Chaminade 26-8*
7 St. Augustine 24-6 10 Riverside Poly 26-6*
II 2 Francis Parker 22-5 15 Riverside Hillcrest 24-5*
3 Foothills Christian 20-9 14 L.A. Salesian 28-4*
8 Poway 24-5 9 Lake Balboa Birmingham 19-9^
10 Mater Dei 22-6 @7 L.A. King/Drew 23-8^
11 Christian 21-6 @6 Eastvale Roosevelt 24-8*
13 Santa Fe Christian 23-9 @4 Hesperia 24-7*
16 Carlsbad 24-8 @1 La Canada St. Francis 26-8*
III 3 El Camino 24-6 14 Adelanto 27-5*
6 San Marcos 18-11 11 Burbank Providence 25-7*
7 San Diego 21-10 10 L.A. Price 24-10*
IV 6 University City 20-9 11 Calexico 27-3
7 San Ysidro 24-8 10 L.A. View Park 17-8^
9 Coronado 21-10 @8 Harbor City Narbonne 20-12^
V 12 Classical 24-8 @5 Redlands Arrowhead 17-12*

 

*Southern Section. ^Los Angeles City Section.

GIRLS

DIVISION TEAM RECORD OPPONENT RECORD
Open 1 La Jolla Country Day 30-1 Bye
I 1 Cathedral 20-11 Bye
9 Bonita Vista 21-9 @8 Garden Grove Orangewood 26-6*
14 La Costa Canyon 22-6 @3 Lynwood 21-8*
15 Westview 26-3 @2 Fullerton Rosary 19-12*
II 5 The Bishop’s 17-10 12 Granada Hills 20-11^
6 Mater Dei 18-9 11 L.A. Hamilton 21-7^
13 Serra 20-9 @4 Santa Monica 26-7*
15 Mission Hills 18-9 @2 L.A. Pacific Palisades 22-9^
III 8 Mount Miguel 21-8 9 West Covina 23-7*
10 Poway 19-12 @7 Calabasas Viewpoint 18-9*
13 Lincoln 23-7 @4 Menifee Paloma Valley 30-3*
IV 12 Point Loma 22-2 @5 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 27-5*
V 6 San Diego 20-8 11 L.A. Central City Value 24-5^
7 Madison 15-17 10 Santa Barbara Bishop Diego 23-9*
8 Hoover 28-3 9 San Bernardino 18-12*

SEED PODS

Eastvale Eleanor Roosevelt, the D-II opponent of Christian, is the alma mater of San Diego State star Matt Mitchell…San Diego Section teams open play against 22 Southern Section and 10 Los Angels City Section squads…after posting a 16-14 record in the 2018-19 first round, local clubs were 6-10 in the quarterfinals…Torrey Pines, runner-up in San Diego this season, was the 2018-19 Open Division champion and got in as a No. 8 seed, sentenced to play at No. 1 Chatsworth Sierra Canyon…the result was an 83-38 loss for the Falcons…only Southern Section teams occupy the six-team Open Division bracket this season…seven San Diego teams, almost half of the 16, are in D-III…Cathedral will try to recover from the emotional shock of losing star Obinna Anyanwu, who sustained serious injuries in an automobile accident over the weekend…San Ysidro has won 15 games in a row but a challenging early schedule that left the Cougars 9-8 at the turn of the year worked against them…they’re a 7 seed in the competitive D-III and maybe deserved a better opportunity in D-IV…Francis Parker and Foothills Christian have played three times during the season (Parker won two) and could meet again…they’re 2 and 3 seeds in D-III…St. Augustine is 1-0 against Riverside Poly, the Saints’ D-1 opponent…they defeated the Bears, 75-59, in the Torrey Pines Christmas tournament….