Dear CIF-Southern Section, …

… We at the SGVN realize you are very busy people these days. With so many divisions for you guys to decipher, we would like to offer our help as it pertains to the Mid-Valley Division and its at-large berths, strength of league ratings and top-four seeds.

You see, we are very familiar with the Mid-Valley Division participants and can aid you in making a fair field of 16. We won’t offer our help in terms of the overall bracket and its first-round matchups. But we would like to offer our advice on the structure of the top-four seeds and who the at-large berths should be. We believe our methods follow your formula, so there is no reason not to adopt our suggestions.

Without further delay …

The top-four seeds should be:

1. Covina (9-1)
2. San Dimas (8-2)
3. Monrovia (7-3)
4. Arroyo (9-1)

It is our opinion that Covina and San Dimas have proven to be the top-two teams in the division. Monrovia, by virtue of its loss to San Dimas, should be seeded below San Dimas, but on the same side of the bracket. Arroyo has certainly had a nice season at 9-1, with its only loss coming to Hart, but we rate the Knights below the three teams we have above them based on partly on observation, partly on overall body of work and partly on comparative scoring. The last two factors being the two of the three that you can consider.

The four at-large teams should be (in this order):

Pomona (6-4)
Maranatha (8-2)
South El Monte (7-3)
South Pasadena (6-4)

It is our opinion that the final at-large berth should be between South Pasadena and Sierra Vista. Given Sierra Vista’s nonleague schedule of Salesian, Keppel and Mountain View, we favor South Pasadena. The Tigers have a win nonleague win over playoff team Alhambra. They have losses against a league champ in San Gabriel and Maranatha, which should be a playoff team. South Pasadena’s league is stronger than Sierra Vista’s, in our opinion.

We rank the leagues in the following order:

1. Valle Vista
2. Olympic
3. Mission Valley
t4. Almont
t4. Rio Hondo
6. Montview

The Valle Vista has proven to be the class of the division this year. The Olympic is arguably the deepest, with little separating the top-four teams. The Mission Valley League’s overall body of work against the leagues we rank below it make it a slight choice as the division’s third-best league. Rosemead, a non-playoff team from the MVL beat Almont champ San Gabriel and the MVL, as a whole, did well against the Almont and Rio Hondo. The Rio Hondo League is largely supported by Monrovia’s prowess. Other than La Puente’s win over El Monte, we don’t find much to rank the Montview League higher than No. 6 when compared to its peers. Azusa’s nonleague losses to San Dimas and Maranatha bear this out.

Thank you for reading (assuming you did). We look forward to seeing this year’s Mid-Valley bracket.

Yours truly,
The SGVN Prep Sports Dept.

Amat QB Rio Ruiz status in doubt for next week’s PAC-5 playoffs … …

I spoke to Bishop Amat QB Rio Ruiz’s (Nine) father Rudy in the wake of Amat winning the coin toss to reach the PAC-5 playoffs and Nine’s status remains in doubt for Friday’s first round.

“It’s up to his therapist,” Rudy Ruiz said. “He feels good. He feels a helluva lot better than he did last Friday. I don’t know if he’ll get released by his doctor, but he’s been talking all week about how he wants to be out there.”

Ruiz hasn’t played since suffering a sprained knee against Loyola on Oct. 28. Sophomore Koa Haynes got the start last week against Notre Dame.

Aram’s take: Time for Amat to unveil the Santiago Offense. Nine in the shotgun. Very little moving around, gets ball out quick. Folds up like a cheap chair if there’s some heat on him. Hands off to Jalen most of the night. Anyway, just very happy Amat got in no matter who they play. It wouldn’t be a postseason in the SGV without the Lancers in it. This team deserved a little luck and got it.

Mid-Valley Division Playoffs Update: Whittier Christian loss likely makes Covina, Arroyo, San Dimas, Monrovia the top-four seeds … IN THAT ORDER …

Whittier Christian’s loss to Village Christian likely means that your top-four seeds in the Mid-Valley Division will be 1. Covina, 2. Arroyo, 3. San Dimas and 4. Monrovia.

Maranatha needs a win over L.A. Baptist on Saturday morning to clinch third place in the Olympic League. Maranatha would likely be one of the four at-large teams.

The at-large battle is between (in no particular order):

Maranatha (if they beat L.A. Baptist)
Village Christian (if Maranatha loses to L.A. Baptist)
Sierra Vista
South El Monte
South Pasadena
Pomona

The open letter to CIF will be coming tomorrow ….