The Football Advisory Committee will meet with CIF San Diego Section officials in two weeks.

The football playoffs — and how brackets were determined — will be at the top of the agenda.

Contrary to popular opinion, the CIF Office does not determine the playoff brackets or how teams are selected. The Football Advisory Committee meets with CIF officials, then determines the best plan to seed the playoffs and reports the recommendation to the coaches.

This season, it was decided that the predetermined divisions would be abolished and teams would be seeded Nos. 1 through 64 based on the computer rankings from CalPreps.com. The teams ranked Nos. 1-4 were put in the Open Division, with Nos. 5-16 in Division 1, 17-28 in Division 2, 29-40 in Division 3, 41-52 in Division 4 and 53-64 in Division 5.

This year’s seedings created a buzz, in part because of who made the playoffs. Three winless teams made the field, and both a 2-8 team and 3-7 team earned No. 1 seeds.

Robert Hartunian, a former high school coach, researched this season’s playoffs. He noted that seven of the 12 teams that advanced to championship games played in a higher division a year ago.

Open Division champion Lincoln was in the Open Division final last season. Cathedral Catholic was in Division 1.

In Division 1, champion Granite Hills moved down from the Open Division while San Marcos remained in Division 1. Mount Miguel moved up three divisions and lost in the quarterfinals. Santa Fe Christian moved up two levels and lost in the first round.

In Division 2, champion Poway and runner-up Mater Dei Catholic moved down from Division 1. Helix moved down two levels and lost in the semifinals.

In Division 3, St. Augustine, the 2023 Division 1 champion, moved down two levels and won again. San Pasqual moved down one level. Army-Navy moved up three divisions, losing in the first round. Holtville moved up three levels, losing in the quarterfinals.

In Division 4, champion El Capitan moved down a division while runner-up Westview stayed the same. Ramona, a No. 1 seed at 2-8, moved down three divisions and lost its first game. Mira Mesa, which was 0-10, moved down three divisions and won a game, then lost in the semifinals.

Division 5 played somewhat true. Champion Monte Vista was a Division 4 team last season while runner-up Bonita Vista moved down a level. Vista, a No. 1 seed at 3-7, lost in the semifinals. West Hills moved down two levels and lost in the quarterfinals. Fallbrook was 0-10, moved down two divisions and lost a 34-33 decision in the first round.

Thoughts from the finals

The crowd for the Open Division championship at Snapdragon Stadium between Lincoln and Mater Dei Catholic drew an estimated crowd of 6,800. The estimated crowd for Saturday’s Division 1 championship at Southwestern College was 5,500.

More:

• Palomar College hosted the Division 5-AA championships, the 8-man title contest and four girls flag football championship games. The new facility drew rave reviews.

• Granite Hills has won three championships in a row — Division 2 in 2022, the Open Division in 2023 and Division 1 this season. St. Augustine repeated as a champion after winning Division 1 last season

• The best performance of the five games at Southwestern College belonged to Monte Vista senior running back Alexander Villanueva. Villanueva rushed 46 times for 297 yards and five TDs as Monte Vista won the Division 5 championship. The performance pushed his single-season total to a CIF San Diego Section-record 3,006 yards. Villanueva set the tone early, carrying the ball on 12 of Monte Vista’s first 13 plays.

• Saturday’s win in the Division 5 final moves Monte Vista coach Ron Hamamoto to 245-193-4 in his coaching career. Hamamoto, the former head coach at USDHS, Rancho Bernardo and Lincoln, ranks third all-time in the San Diego Section behind Herb Meyer and John Carroll.

• Including penalties that were declined, Poway and Mater Dei Catholic were flagged 44 times.

• Poway scored 125 points in its last two playoff games. Quarterback Ty Hurst and running back Luke Jorgensen are the real deal.

All-Star Game set

The annual Alex Spanos All-Star Game, the longest-running high school all-star football game in California, will be played Dec. 21 at noon at Mira Mesa High School. Again, it will be a North vs. South format.

Originally Published: December 2, 2024 at 3:15 PM PST