Fred’s explanation: Doing the Southwest and Mid-Valley brackets are easy by comparison because there are games you absolutely can’t miss, shouldn’t miss, so you have the ability to pick a lot of winners, which is why I can go 18-0 or 17-1 sometimes when I pick games every Friday. The Pac-5 isn’t like this. No. 16 can beat no. 1 and it’s not that huge of an upset as we saw last year with Bishop Amat, nearly knocking off No. 1 Long Beach Poly in the first round on the road. The best thing we can say about Bishop Amat in the first round is that if they beat Mater Dei, it is not an upset. The Lancers are back competing for titles at the highest level, so get use to it. The good times are back. It doesn’t mean they’re going to win it this year, but they’re going to compete. I have watched them enough times to know they’re going to leave their hard-hats on the field, so, how far can they advance? Who knows, but I will tell you what, I’m not surprised anymore at who they beat. I witnessed St. Bonny and Notre Dame, so nothing this team does surprises me.

Pac-5 Division Predictions
Top Seeds: 1. Edison (10-0), 2. Mission Viejo (10-0), 3. Servite (9-1), 4. Lakewood (9-1).
Unseeded Sleepers: Bishop Amat, Mater Dei, Notre Dame, Orange Lutheran.

Top Bracket
Millikan 6-4 (Moore 4) at Edison 10-0 (Sunset 1)
Orange Lutheran 6-4 (Trinity 2) at Dana Hills 8-2 (South Coast 2)
Mater Dei 6-4 (Trinity 3) at Bishop Amat 9-1 (Serra 1)
Newport Harbor 6-4 (Sunset at-large) at Lakewood 9-1 (Moore 1)
Bottom Bracket
San Clemente 6-4 (South Coast 3) at Servite 9-1 (Trinity 1)
Long Beach Poly 5-5 (Moore 2) at Los Alamitos 8-2 (Sunset 2)
Fountain Valley 8-2 (Sunset 3) at Notre Dame 8-2 (Serra 2)
Long Beach Wilson 6-4 (Moore 3) at No. 2 Mission Viejo 10-0 (South Coast 1)

Quarterfinals
Top Bracket
Orange Lutheran vs. Edison
Bishop Amat vs. Lakewood
Bottom Bracket
Servite vs. Long Beach Poly
Notre Dame vs. Mission Viejo
Semifinals
Edison vs. Bishop Amat
Servite vs. Mission Viejo
Championship
Mission Viejo over Edison