Now that I’ve had a chance to digest the brackets (and some other things) … it’s time to pull out the crystal ball. Bracket by bracket picks for every RELEVANT division to this area.
PAC-5
First Round
St. John Bosco
St. Bonaventure
Santa Margarita
LB Poly
Centennial
Mater Dei
Bishop Amat
JSerra
Second round
St. John Bosco
LB Poly
Mater Dei
JSerra
Semifinals
St. John Bosco
Mater Dei
Final
St. John Bosco
The lowdown: It’s very clear the Trinity is the top league in this division. Contention runs deeper than the top Trinity teams, though, with Corona Centennial and LB Poly also in with big shots. It’s hard to know what to make of the Mission League. Competitive? Yes. But Alemany, Chaminade and Serra ALL weren’t as good as last year. Bishop Amat was way better. Crespi was somewhat better. Amat showed it’s the true class of the league, but the Lancers have QB questions at the wrong time of year. The top Trinity teams played a lot of close games against each other and that should set them up well for a huge showing.
CENTRAL
First round
Colony
Summit (if no Fink)
Charter Oak
San Marino
Kaiser
West Covina
Los Altos
Monrovia
Second round
Summit
Charter Oak
West Covina
Monrovia
Semifinals
Charter Oak
Monrovia
Finals
Monrovia
The lowdown: All bets are off now with Glendora QB Matt Fink highly questionable. With Fink, the Tartans are a clear favorite. Without him, a case can be made for a number of teams. Give me Monrovia, though. The Wildcats can play any style of game. They played a grinder vs. Los Altos and pulled it out. They played a shootout vs. San Marino and pulled that out. They gave a good account for 3 1/2 quarters against St. Francis, too. If Charter Oak wasn’t so banged up, they might get the nod. But the Chargers are winning on coaching and good medical care. Still, the skill players are there to do damage. Like Glendora, all bets are off with Colony, which also lost its stud QB. West Covina is my darkhorse. If that WestCo-Monrovia semifinal match-up materializes, it’s gonna be a coin flip.
MID-VALLEY DIVISION
First round
Paraclete
El Monte
La Puente
Northview
Pomona
San Dimas
Rosemead
Sierra Canyon
Second round
Paraclete
Northview
Pomona
Sierra Canyon
Semifinals
Paraclete
Sierra Canyon
Finals
Sierra Canyon
The lowdown: Despite the outstanding seasons by Northview and to a lesser degree Pomona, you have to really like the top-two seeds in this division. Sierra Canyon is more athletic than just about everyone but Pomona. Paraclete is physical, seasoned and owns a huge home-field edge. Northview appears to have the best chance of any locals to make a serious title bid. In theory, though, you’re not supposed to like frosh QBs in these spots. If the predicted semifinals games do happen, they’re close enough calls to think anything could happen.
SOUTHEAST
First round
St. Francis
Dominguez
Paramount
Crescenta Valley
Cathedral
Downey
El Rancho
La Mirada
Second round
St. Francis
Crescenta Valley
Cathedral
La Mirada
Semifinals
St. Francis
La Mirada
Finals
La Mirada
The lowdown: This division is simply loaded. And I’ve had extensive exposure to it this season having covered La Mirada, St. Francis, Muir, La Serna, California and Crescenta Valley all in the flesh. First off, I’m worried about CV. They have explosive capabilities, but this team is very finesse in what could be a physical bloodbath for four weeks. If CV lost in the first round, I wouldn’t be shocked. The SGV League are the x-factors. Cathedral is good enough to reach the finals, but that would probably mean beating La Mirada in the semis, but before that landmines await in Muir and then Paramount or Norwalk. St. Francis is certainly a deserving favorite. The Knights played in a much more difficult league than La Mirada did. But La Mirada had the much more difficult nonleague schedule and the win over Tesoro is arguably the best win by any team in the entire division this season. Although both team could get an upset scare along the way, St. Francis looks like the surer bet to reach the finals. But if La Mirada emerges as the opponent, then we’re sitting one on of the best finals matchups anyone could ever hope for. Slightest of leans to the Matadores.
NORTHWEST
I’m not going to pick this one because of lack of familiarity with the other teams beside RHP, Maranatha, Cantwell and Poly. But I will say that I think both Maranatha and Poly are somewhat vulnerable based on SOS. However, that implies the competition has some SOS to speak of. Which I’m not sure about.