The562’s standings, schedule, and rankings stories are sponsored by International City Plumbers.
We’re entering the third year of the new CIF-SS playoff format, and Long Beach teams made five CIF-SS championship appearances over the last two years under the competitive equity system. Clearly it’s been a big benefit to local schools with several teams making historic first title game appearances.
The trick with the new system is that divisions are decided at the end of the year, with a team’s CalPreps ranking used to determine which division they’re in. Those rankings go up and down each week via CalPreps’ computer formula, so consider this a snapshot after the first third of the season to see where a team’s fortunes currently lie.
No team will know what playoff division they’re going to be in until that last day of the year–but following the rankings gives a good ballpark. This is not an exact science since not every team in the rankings makes the playoffs, and there’s no set number of teams in Division 1–if it’s a four team bracket versus an eight team bracket that will change how many teams are taken off the top before the 16-team brackets Division 2-14 are assembled.
These projections go off a 10-team Division 1, which is how many teams made that bracket last year. The top three Moore League teams qualify for the playoffs, while anyone else has to apply for an at-large. St. Anthony is in the Del Rey League, where they’d need to finish in the top two to get an automatic qualifier for the playoffs.
A final reminder that these are not our rankings but the rankings taken from CalPreps.com’s power rankings–these are the numbers used to assemble CIF-SS playoff Divisions at the end of the year. You can see the whole list here.
Remember, these numbers will go up and down a lot this year–wins will move them up, losses will move them down. We’ll keep you updated and break down what the weekly changes mean.
Long Beach Poly: No. 6
The Jackrabbits are up five spots to No. 6 after a televised landmark win over Mission Viejo, their second in two years. Poly is also No. 7 in the State of California in CalPreps’ rankings, and if they beat Serra this week, they’ll put themselves in a good spot to make the Division 1 playoffs for a second consecutive year. The Jackrabbits trail only Mater Dei, St. John Bosco, Corona Centennial, Sierra Canyon, and Orange Lutheran in the Southern Section, and are currently the No. 2 public school program in the state behind Centennial.
Millikan: No. 20
The Rams are up another six spots after a win on the road against St. Francis, and they’re in rarified air. This is the highest any non-Poly Moore League school has been ranked in the CalPreps rankings since Thadd MacNeal was coaching at Lakewood in the late 2000s. Millikan has earned a high placement with a quality nonleague schedule that they’re currently 2-1 in. With a 10-team Division 1, the Rams would currently be in Division 2, the highest placement for a non-Poly Moore League team under the new playoff format. If they beat Upland (ranked No. 21) this week they could find themselves sticking in a high division even after playing in the strength-of-schedule-lowering Moore League.
Jordan: No. 89
The Panthers dropped a few spots after their shortened win last week, but are still in a good spot, currently projecting in Division 6 if they qualify for the playoffs. That’s a big jump from where the Panthers program had been in the new playoff model.
Lakewood: No. 107
Lakewood drops down 20 spots after losing last week, and are now in Division 8, where they could certainly make a run as they did last year, earning their first CIF-SS title game appearance.
St. Anthony: No. 206
The Saints have been up and down this year and drop 20 spots to 206 after a loss to Dominguez; they’d currently be in Division 14 if they made the playoffs.
Wilson: No. 235
The Bruins moved down 17 spots after losing their second game of the year and currently project in Division 14.
Compton: No. 258
Compton dropped 28 spots after a loss to Paramount and currently project in Division 14.
Cabrillo: No. 312
The Jags moved up five spots after a nonleague win and currently project in Division 14.
