Game Night will be posted later this week with times and predictions. The Finals are scheduled for Friday November 29 and Saturday November 30.
DIV 5
La Serna at Palos Verdes – Friday
DIV 6
Murrieta Mesa at Glendora – Saturday
DIV 7
Warren at Rio Hondo Prep – Friday
DIV 11
El Rancho at Portola – Friday
DIV 13
Gahr at Pasadena -Saturday
DIV 14
San Gabriel at Pioneer – Saturday
@ Low Profile: You’re welcome, but I wouldn’t be so hard on Sports Man; I believe that he’s sincere and does his best. No one is always right.
I just happened to remember that 2019 was the final year of the old playoff format; Alhambra made it all the way to the Division 13 semifinals and finished 12-1 that season.
The current system was scheduled to take effect in 2020, but its debut got delayed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many teams played an abbreviated schedule, some teams didn’t play at all, and there were no football playoffs during the 2020-21 school year.
I was rooting for South Pas and Bonita, but I didn’t have any other favorites in the playoff hunt. Happy Holidays to you as well!
@Just the Facts,
According to his Bio, Coach Cab is an El Rancho High Grad, started coaching at El Monte, had stints at Workman, & Citrus JC.
He won 2 CIF Titles while at HH Wilson (96-97) where he helped engineer a 35 game winning streak.
He has been the OC at La Serna since 2010.
La Serna is 150-40, winning 2 CIF titles, and 1 State Championship, and have reached the CIF Finals 7 times in that time span. He has more than 50 years of coaching experience.
A true coaching legend.
Thanks Ron for the concise recap. Sports Man’s lack of precision and accuracy are commentary on his previous spurious takes .
I agree with your synopsis of current playoff format . Happy Thanksgiving and hope your teams win !
@ Sports Man & Just an Ol’ Has Been: The old playoff system was discarded after the 2019 season. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a lot better than the current format, which I believe devalues quality football. That argument can certainly be made concerning the lower playoff divisions in the CIF Southern Section.
Have a happy holiday season, guys.
Make NO mistake Coach George took control of a precarious situation after Coach Beltran left. Coach George had all his I’s dotted and t’s crossed prior to taking over…He and the staff have never looked back. I know because I was there on day one of this beautiful run!!! There were haters back then and haters now..as long as we keep practicing on Thanksgiving Day …haters can keep hating
Juggarnaut,
I coached with a Coach Caballero 30 years ago where he ran a pretty good offence . Do ou know where he has coached?
“Anonymous
November 27, 2024 – 10:51 am | Permalink
Beltran has been gone since 2015 let it go man lmao”
Your right, Beltran has been gone a while and George is just smart enough to not change anything and sit back and play dressup and pretend to be a head coach. Cab, the real brains.
Forget thanking LS coaches. The real ones to thank is the WUHSD School Board. They are the ones letting all the ringers in. CIF’s version of L.A. City football Narbonne.
Beltran has been gone since 2015 let it go man lmao
La Serna Football trying to Repeat as CIF maybe even State Champs…..
Kudos to Coach LaVigne for breathing life back into the program..
Then Coach Beltran for elevating LS into a yearly title contender…
And then you have Coach George who has elevated the program to an even a higher level.
Kudos to all 3 men, as well as longtime
legendary Assistant Coach Caballero (hope I spelled his name right).
@detached observed I’ve been trying to educate you on this the last 3 years. Finally you get it. Some coaches have known this system.
Anyone could Coach an All star team with hired hands from out of state. Let’s stop kidding ourselves.
LS, almost a decade of dominance led by Margarito Beltran’s coaches and coordinators running the show. No brain head coach.
No problem. I thought it was a great question . I’m sure many others had similar questions, and didn’t understand the big picture of how things have evolved.
No system is perfect , and there are flaws in every model I guess. Personally, I think going by CalPreps CPR is good , but I abhor the classification of divisions at the end of the season . This leads to too much “jockeying “ and the devaluation of “ bad losses”. The difference between winning a game or two by 17 vs. by 31 can mean a divisional placement , first round home game , etc Don’t think savvy coaches don’t know this !
Happy Thanksgiving
Hope ur still playing and good luck to all !
Is the what happens when you recruit rather than develop ? Wasn’t there…..just wondering ….
Just An Ol’ Has Been hope you are doing well. The ‘pre-set divisions’ , I believe , just ended in the past year or two.
Drops it! Some coaches miss the point of coaching, yet some think that thats the way to be. Get of his back Baldwin Park coach.
With such a detailed explanation, I would imagine you are more “attached” than “detached”.
Thank you for your time and efforts to explain.
Best wishes to your team this week.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all and “Thank You” to Tim for running this chat forum.
This is the history as best I can recall
2001-2015 : Playoffs were organized by leagues; the leagues were largely determined by school size so that D13 ( then the lowest ) was formed of small private schools and remote public schools with low student populations such as Boron or Mojave . Schools did not move divisions independently , but leagues would gradually move up or down depending on league performance in playoffs. Rivalries were often created as divisions remained fairly stable over course of 3-5 years .
2016: CalPreps becomes the source for creating division. In this first year , the average CPR over past 3 years with most recent weighted more heavily , was taken before the season to create divisions . You knew what division you were in when the season started. For the first time, teams were placed independent of their league .
2017-2019. Last years performance takes more prominence in equation determining division placement ; but still happens in preseason.
2021: For the first time , divisions are formed and created following last game of season . The ranking is directly determined by CPR . Seedlings and home games randomly assigned by where ranking falls . The only caveat is that a #1 seed has to be an automatic qualifier
2022-2024: This is the current system in place .
As far as assignment of home games in playoffs remains the same as always . The seeding has changed because top 8 seeds are only dependent upon where team falls in 16 team “ wheel of fortune “. A 5-5 wild card could host a 9-1 league winner if that’s how CORs lined up .
But top 8 seeds get first home game . After that CIF strives to even the pie , so to speak, and if even there is coin flip to determine home field . So for example this week , if team A already has had 2 home games and team B only one , then team B gets home game this week. If team B already had two home games, there would be a coin flip.
Hope that helps and your teams win.
Warren vs Rio is Dream Game 2.0
Go Kares!
Congrats to all of our local area teams in advancing to their Southern Section divisional finals.
I do have a question if someone can explain this to me. Back in the 70s to the early 2000s, CIF had preset divisions. It was the same teams/leagues usually in those divisions. The Championship/Final game would usually be at a neutral site. Lower divisions would sometimes be at one of the schools participating.
With the new ranking and playoff layout, what dictates which of the teams playing in the championship gets the home field advantage? I would think the better record or ranking but that doesn’t appear to be the case for El Rancho and La Serna.
Just wondering if someone can enlighten me since I’m stuck in a different century.”
Anyone who’s ever been to a Downey-Warren game knows that the atmosphere is completely off the charts, with the stands packed and fans yelling an hour BEFORE kickoff. Can you imagine what a Downey-Warren CIF title game might be like? It would be crazy, so of course the computers that arrange things these days won’t make it happen.
Hi Jerry Miller: Definitely a new ‘power trend’ with the 3 Del Rio League teams (two now since Pioneer moved out into a different league that suits them better. ): obviously LS is just not only ‘the league powerhouse’ but a CIF Powerhouse! If they win the state again , or earn the final four , I rate them as a State Power’ also. They are a great team (and I don’t give a darn, about a couple bloggers here, If D1 and D2 and some teams in higher divisions could beat LS good) with ??? a decade of very steady coaching staff and are kicking all competitors in the playoffs butts! Of course they are not a Mater Dei , St John Bosco, Corona Centennial type club, but one thing is definite and very clear to me. They are a great football team proven with all their victories versus D5 teams. I too give great respect to The Ranch and Pioneer (Ramon Juarez can coach / too bad he had to become Offensive Coordinator, I believe, at Loara HS for a few years after PHS Principal Oviedo pulled her power play and let him go so she could hire her St Paul alumni brothers to take over) , but both ER and PHS I will not classify them as a ‘power trend’ yet because they are beating teams that have pretty much failed over time
If you live in Whittier, Ca. It is nice to see La Serna, Pioneer, and El Rancho all local teams going for CIF Championships. That is showing a new power trend locally in high school football
“Our guy missed the ball. Thats a swing in the score right there. We have a touchdown and then don’t have a touchdown…and then we give up a touchdown”. I think your guy feels bad enough already Baldwin Park coach.
Fun Fact: Only two teams beat Cal Preps favorites calls. Portola and El Rancho. Both underdogs.
I’m taking La Serna to roll PV, because LS is always in a division lower than is proper; I’ve got Murrieta Mesa over Glendora, because any team with the word Murrieta in its name is a tough out; and I’ll side with Warren over RHP because the Bears need some love after Pearson bailed. As for the double-digit clubs, I offer my sincere best wishes as they battle to achieve positive power ratings next season.