The teams in the Southern California Division 6-AA playoffs tonight play the long game.

The Quartz Hill Royals (9-4), located 70 miles north of Los Angeles and on the upper edge of the Southern Section boundary, will travel almost 250 miles, a distance not  unfamiliar to their opponent, Blythe Palo Verde Valley.

The Yellow jackets have represented the furthest  point in the San Diego Section since they joined in 2000, 216 miles from the city and 173 miles from Desert League rival Mountain Empire.

The Yellow jackets sustained 11 losing seasons in the next 14 after posting 10-2 record  and 20-12 loss to Santa Fe Christian in 2004 in the D-IV championship.

Enter Wally Grant in 2019.  Blythe was 6-6 in Grant’s first season as coach, followed by a 3-1 record in 2020, and 11-2 this season, including a  41-19 victory over Mission Bay and D-V title last week.

The ‘Jackets come to run the ball, averaging as few as three passes a game, putting the ball in the hands of running backs Zavier Bejarano and Marcus Macon, who’ve rushed for almost 3,200 combined yards and 42 touchdowns.

Quartz Hill defeated once-powerful Compton, 43-8, for the Southern Section D-XII championship last week and depends on quarterback Chalin Crawford, who has rushed and passed for 2,500 yards and 18 rushing touchdowns.

Resurgent Patrick Henry, 19-9 in three seasons under coach J.T. O’Sullivan and 10-2 in 2021, takes on visiting Lake Balboa Birmingham Saturday night in the Southern California Division III-A playoffs.

San Diego Section schools don’t often play those from the Los Angeles City Section, usually only in postseason matchups such as this.

Birmingham (8-5), which has the same Van Nuys address as when the school opened in 1953, is now identified as representing the district neighborhood of Lake Balboa.

That’s not the only change. Originally known as the Braves but now as Patriots, Birmingham’s mascot is the same as Patrick Henry’s.

Each school also can claim at least one famous Hollywood actor among its alumni. Birmingham has Sally Field from the class of 1963 and Henry has Annette Benning from 1975.

Football fortunes at Henry were decidedly different until O’Sullivan, a former NFL quarterback and University of California-Davis graduate, arrived in 2019.

The Henry Patriots had a combined record of 21-44 from 2013-’18.

Birmingham has been a West Valley League representative and is 62-40 since 2013. Most important,  these Patriots are on an eight-game winning streak and averaging 48 points a game following a 44-0 loss to Westlake Village Oaks Christian of the Southern Section.

Cal Preps.com awarded Henry a 28.5 grade and Birmingham 27.1.  Max Preps ranks Patrick Henry No. 113 in the state and Birmingham No. 124.  Cal-Hi Sports’ rankings stop at 50.

Scripps Ranch and the rubber will hit the road Saturday for a 6 p.m. game in the Southern California Division II-A playoffs at Santa Clarita Valencia, 160 miles away.

Coach Marlin Gardinera’s team,  11-1 and averaging 44 points after a 42-0 win over La Jolla in the San Diego Section finals last week, are on a 31-6 roll since 2018.

The Falcons veered from the path of the historically middling program since the school opened in 1993.

Gardinera (33-14) took over in 2017, when the Falcons were in the midst of a six-losing-seasons-in-seven funk and went 2-8.

The unsuccessful birds of prey flapped their wings with a 6-4 record in 2018 and took flight in 2019, when the Falcons were 12-1, losing in the section finals to La Jolla, 17-10.

Running back Jalen Shaw had 170 yards and three touchdowns in 25 carries last week. Quarterback Jax Leatherwood, a 6-foot, 7-inch junior, has thrown for more than 3,000 yards.

Valencia, not be confused with the school of the same name in the Southern California community of Placentia, is 8-4, on a five-game winning streak, having defeated Westlake Village Oaks Christian, 28-14, in a Southern Section final last week.

Scripps Ranch has a 40.0 rating from Cal Preps.com, Valencia 40.5. Valencia is 56^th and Scripps Ranch 58^th in the state, according to Max Preps. Neither team is in Cal-Hi Sports’ top 50.

The CIF came up with an unusual pairing this week: teams representing the same section and which should have intimate knowledge.

Intimate knowledge was denied, because COVID canceled a Highlanders-Crusaders match in Week 3.

There is shared common knowledge, however. Mater Dei defeated Otay Ranch, 41-7, and St. Augustine, 35-0. Helix beat the former, 29-14, and the latter, 35-14.

The Highlanders (9-3) are a legendary program in the San Diego Section. Less visible in the South Bay, Mater Dei (12-0) also has compiled an impressive resume.  The the teams will match up Friday night at Mater Dei.

The Crusaders have won two-thirds of their games since 1992, with a 224-122, .667) record under three coaches, Mike David (88-33) from ’92-2001, Bill White (51-28) from ’02-08, and John Joyner (85-61) since ’09.

Helix is 295-77-6 (.789) over the same period, mentored by Jim Arnaiz, Gordon Wood, Donnie Van Hook, Troy Starr, and Robbie Owens, who is 53-19 since 2016.

Helix slumped to 2-4 in 2020 and was 3-3 this season before winning six in a row. It came from behind to defeat Lincoln, 28-21, last week.

Mater Dei likely will get a dose of Christian Washington, who carried the Scots with 191 yards, and 4 touchdowns in 41 carries. “They rode their horse,” Hornets coach David Dunn told Don Norcross of The San Diego Union.

Mater Dei, which averaged 41 points a game, got four touchdown passes last week from sharpshooter Dominick Nankil in a 37-10 win over Ramona.

Cal-Hi Sports ranks Helix 18^th and Mater Dei 24^th in California. Max Preps says Mater Dei is 33^rd and Helix 40^th. Cal Preps.com gives ‘Dei a 49.6 grade, Helix 45.0.

Cathedral has won its last two Southern California Division I-AA playoff games, 35-28 in 2016 and 24-21 in 2018, each time at home against Harbor City Narbonne.

In attempting to win a third the Dons will head 70 miles North Friday to play Orange Lutheran, a four-loss team that was fifth in its league, at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

In this case, records lie.

The Lancers were 1-4 in the Trinity League, a miniature NFL circuit arguably the best in California, maybe the U.S.

“O-Lu”, as insiders call it, is 10-4 overall and played seven teams with Cal Preps.com ratings of at least 61.

Cathedral is 10-2 and coming off impressive wins in the San Diego Section playoffs, 38-10 over Mission Hills and 48-19 over Carlsbad.

The teams faced one common opponent. Lutheran lost, 48-0, to Corona Centennial, which beat Cathedral, 57-14.

Cathedral is ninth and Orange Lutheran 10^th in Cal-Hi Sports’ weekly ratings. Max Preps says the Lancers are fifth and Cathedral ninth. Cal Preps.com gives Lutheran a 71.1 grade and Cathedral 67.4.

Next, D2-A, D3-A, DVI-AA.

RATINGS GAME, FINAL

Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
El Camino (6-7, 10 points), Ramona (9-4, 10 points), Palo Verde Valley (11-2, 3 points), La Costa Canyon (5-6, 2 points), La Jolla (5-8, 2 points), Mt. Carmel (10-2, 1 point), Santa Fe Christian (10-1, 1 point).

VOTING PANEL
Twenty-four sportswriters and sportscasters throughout San Diego County.

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
• Steve Brand, Thomas Gutierrez, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, freelance contributors.
• John Carroll, Nick Pollino, KUSI Ch. 51.
• John Kentera, Braden Suprenant, 97.3-FM The Fan).
• Adam Paul, ECPreps.com.
• Bodie DeSilva, scorebooklive.com.
• Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com.
• Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
• Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego.
• Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net.
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez, Mike Dolan, CIF San Diego Section.
• Ramon Scott, Eastcountysports.com.
• Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country, 107.9-FM.

We’re on holiday, in the process of enriching the Las Vegas economy, so this will be short, in more ways than one.

This week’s fearless, if not peerless, Division I-V predictions:

D-I, Lincoln 31, Helix 20.  Can’t go against my alma mater.

D-II, Scripps Ranch 38, La Jolla 35. I live in the community of three million eucalyptus trees and my daughter went to school there.

D-III, Mater Dei 26, Ramona 21. Bulldogs have bite but this is coach John Joyner’s best Crusaders team since 2015 state champion.

D-IV, Patrick Henry 49, University City 42. Gotta’ roll with club coached by J.T. O’Sullivan, friend of my son-in-law’s since their days at University of California-Davis.

D-V, Mission Bay 35, Blythe Palo Verde Valley 14. Yellowjackets travel more than 200 miles for first championship game since 2015. Buccaneers beat Mountain Empire, 49-0.  Blythe measured the Red Hawks, 34-21.

And congratulations to Cathedral and coach Sean Doyle, who coached his 11^th San Diego Section championship, a 48-19 win over Carlsbad.

Have a happy Thanksgiving.