Trying to make sense of all the Marmonte madness

Thank goodness for Thousand Oaks, Agoura and Newbury Park.

At least three of the four automatic playoff berths for the Marmonte League have been determined following Wednesday night's results.

As for determining the last area girls' soccer team to join that impressive trio for the upcoming Southern Section Div. II playoffs, in a week that began with seven of the league's eight teams still being in postseason contention, let's just say anything is possible.

Westlake continued its miraculous turnaround from an 0-5 start and winning one of its first seven league matches to improve to 6-6-1 following Wednesday's 2-0 victory at Calabasas (0-11-2).

The Warriors are currently tied with Moorpark (4-4-5), which played Agoura (7-2-4) to a 1-1 draw Wednesday.

The Musketeers and Warriors play at 6 p.m. Friday at Westlake High, with the teams having battled to a scoreless tie in their first meeting Jan. 25.

"How many teams can say they've had to play seven must-win games in a row," said Westlake coach Frank Marino, who has never missed the playoffs in his previous seven seasons as coach. "We've done a lot of work to get to this point, but we still have one more to go."

With Newbury Park (6-4-3) having clinched its first playoff berth since 1990 following Wednesday's 2-1 win over Royal of Simi Valley (4-5-4), the Highlanders went from being in third place at the start of the week to sixth place entering Friday's match against rival Simi Valley (2-6-5), which was officially eliminated from postseason contention following Wednesday's 3-0 loss to Thousand Oaks (10-1-2).

Thousand Oaks and Agoura have locked up the league's top two entries, regardless of their results Friday.

But the league's next two spots are still in question, as Newbury Park can still finish fourth with a loss Friday against Thousand Oaks, combined with a Westlake victory over Moorpark.

Newbury Park has 15 points, Westlake and Moorpark are tied at 13 and Royal has 12.

The simple scenario is Westlake or Moorpark win, and the four representatives are secure.

"This is what I wanted and we put ourselves in position to do it," said Moorpark coach Frank Paletta, whose team is seeking its third consecutive playoff berth. "I was hoping it would come down to the last day against Westlake. Now, we control our own destiny."

If Westlake and Moorpark tie, combined with a Royal loss to Simi Valley, then Westlake would have the tiebreaker against Moorpark, based on a victory over league-champion Thousand Oaks.

However, if Westlake and Moorpark tie, combined with a Royal victory, then all three teams would finish with 14 points, causing the league to determine a three-way tiebreaker.

"We could finish anywhere from third to sixth. That pretty much says it all," Marino said.

Westlake and Royal split their head-to-head meetings, while Royal defeated and tied Moorpark in their two contests.

"This is the most competitive the league has been in my time here," Paletta said. "In the past, maybe you had five teams fighting it out in the last week, but never seven."

To find out who's in and who's out, check back on the Daily News blog Friday night.