There was a lot of relief and some head scratching after the release of the CIF-SS football playoff brackets Sunday morning.
After the final regular-season ratings were determined by the Calpreps.com computer and the teams were grouped into 14 playoff divisions, three local teams made the cut to continue their seasons.
Santa Barbara, San Marcos and Dos Pueblos will be playing first-round playoff games this weekend.
After losing a 34-28 heartbreaker to Thousand Oaks for the third automatic berth from the Conejo Coast League on Friday, the Dons (6-3-1) were feeling relieved Sunday morning as they received an at-large bid for the 16-team Division 4 playoffs. Ranked 61st in the final Calpreps.com regular season rankings for the Southern Section, they received the No. 15 seed and play at No. 2 El Modena (8-2) on Thursday night.
San Marcos and Dos Pueblos both were automatic playoff qualifiers after finishing second and third, respectively, in the Tri-County League. San Marcos (6-3-1) was seeded second in 16-team Division 10 and will host No. 15 Chino (4-6) on Friday. It will be the Royals’ first playoff game since 2005.
Dos Pueblos (4-6) was seeded ninth in 16-team Division 12 and will travel to No. 8 Crescenta Valley (5-5) on Friday. The Chargers are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
In this era of competitive-equity in high school sports, the football playoff entries showed that strength of schedule played a key factor in the postseason fate of teams.
For example, Santa Barbara was aided by playing nine teams that made the playoffs (non-league opponents Valencia, Camarillo, Moorpark, Dos Pueblos and San Marcos and league teams Newbury Park, Rio Mesa, Calabasas and Thousand Oaks).
However, the schedule didn’t work in Bishop Diego’s favor. The Cardinals went 4-5-1 overall (all five losses to playoff teams), 1-4 in the rugged Marmonte League and were ranked 64th in the Calpreps’ ratings of Southern Section teams, but they didn’t get a spot in Division 4 or 5. The at-large teams in those divisions (two in D4 and three in D5) have records of .500 or better.
Bishop Diego last missed the playoffs in 2009.
“With the new system you can’t really predict much,” said Santa Barbara coach Nate Mendoza.
Camarillo, which lost to Bishop Diego, went 0-5 in the Marmonte League and 2-8 overall, received a playoff berth. The Scorpions, who beat two non-playoff teams, were seeded eighth in Division 7 and play 7-3 Oak Park. Camarillo’s Calpreps ranking is 110.
Bishop Diego coach Tom Crawford said he was told by CIF that based on the Cardinals’ power ranking they were among a group of teams considered for Division 5 at-large berths. Three teams with 5-5 records got those spots.
He pointed out that Camarillo’s lower power ranking placed them in a division where there were not three teams with .500 records.
“In that circumstance, CIF awards at-large based on the higher power ratings within that division group,” Crawford explained in an email to Noozhawk.
“We are disappointed, of course, that we did not qualify for the playoffs as we played competitively vs. opponents on a tough schedule, including five opponents who were put into the top four playoff divisions — which explains our power rating.
“Clearly, the ‘competitive equity’ system now in use does not reward that in all circumstances nor does it consider league finish (except for automatic qualifiers) or overall records to an extent as it depends on what division you are considered for. I hope that will be evaluated going forward.
“All this being said, we had opportunities to win a couple of close games in both our non-league and league contests which would have gotten us to the .500 mark, so we take accountability for not taking matters into our own hands to avoid this outcome.”
Mendoza is excited to take the Dons to the playoffs for the second straight year and continue the school tradition of playing as the Golden Tornado in the postseason.
“We’re happy to be in. I think it says a lot about our program,” he said. “We’re a Division 4 team, and we made it through some ups and downs this year. We’re healthy and we’re coming off a game where we played a really good opponent. It came down to the last possession.
“I think our strength of schedule is going to have us well prepared for our first-round game.”
