HS FOOT: Points After Touchdown

When the Southern Section playoff committee releases its pairings Sunday in Los Alamitos, everyone is wondering who will be seeded No. 1 in the Northern Division because three teams have a legitimate claim - Valencia (10-0), St. Bonaventure (9-1) and Westlake (10-0).

The situation is in flux because Moorpark, ranked No. 1 in the most recent Southern Section coaches/writers poll, lost to Westlake 38-14 on Friday.

Westlake remains undefeated and now holds the distinction of knocking off the top team, so the Warriors have every right to be the top seed -- though that would mean leapfrogging the other two based on this past week's poll that had Valencia at No. 2, St. Bonaventure third and Westlake No. 4.

Valencia was closest to the top and has not lost a game, so it would be only logical for the Vikings to be No. 1.

And then there is St. Bonaventure, perhaps No. 1 in the court of public opinion because it is the defending Northern champion - and the two-time defending CIF State Div. III champion - combined with the fact the Seraphs have won eight section titles over the past 10 years. Plus, St. Bonaventure's only loss was to Serra League champion Bishop Amat of La Puente, which competes in the Pac-5, the section's most competitive division.

It's easy to make an argument for any of the three.

"Yes, it's possible we would be No. 1 but all three are great teams," Valencia receiver Zach Tartabull said.

-- It must have been something in the air on Friday the 13th, because, like Moorpark, Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks suffered a rare loss, too -- and a costly one. Entering as the Pac-5's No. 4 team, the Knights (8-2) lost 31-14 at Bishop Amat of La Puente for the league title.

"I'm extremely disappointed because I felt like we had the ability to win that game," Notre Dame quarterback Ryan Kasdorf said. "Hopefully, we never have to feel this way again. We want to come out strong in the playoffs and take it all the way."

Worse off is league mate Crespi of Encino. One week after handing Bishop Amat its first loss, the visiting Celts (5-5) blew a 22-point lead in a 41-37 loss to last-place Loyola of L.A. in a finale Crespi had to win to make the playoffs.

Since advancing to the Pac-5 in 2007, this is the second season in a row that underachieving Crespi has failed to qualify for the playoffs.

-- Another big issue in terms of playoff seeding is what might happen to Campbell Hall of North Hollywood in the East Valley Division.

The Vikings (7-3, 5-2) finished in a three-way tie for second place with Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth (8-2, 5-2) and Brentwood (6-4, 5-2) in the eight-team Alpha League. But for playoff purposes, Campbell Hall is the league's No. 4 team because Brentwood won a three-way coin flip for an automatic berth as the second-place team, and Sierra Canyon defeated the Vikings head to head.

What happened was, the Alpha League added two teams this season (Sierra Canyon and Montclair Prep, both of which graduated from eight-man) but was not granted additional playoff spots because the 2009-10 school year is not a league realignment year.

Thus, the Alpha League is California's only eight-team league with just two automatic playoff spots. The other sticking point is there are six leagues in the East Valley League but only four at-large berths to go around.

So it's looking like Campbell Hall, ranked sixth in the coaches/writers poll, is not going to make the 16-team field.

"We could get screwed," Campbell Hall coach Russell Gordon said. "I wouldn't say it's impossible to get in, but it doesn't look good for us. But it's our fault because we didn't take care of business."

-- Gerry Gittelson