It was an interesting Monday for the five media members who vote in the Orange County football top 25 poll.
Mater Dei has been No. 1 in the county rankings all season. JSerra was the OCVarsity preseason No. 4 team. The Lions became the No. 2 team in the O.C. top 25 a couple of weeks ago.
The only on-field loss for JSerra and Mater Dei was to St. John Bosco.
Mater Dei has a forfeit loss to Bishop Amat of La Puente. The Monarchs had their 42-14 win over Bishop Amat changed to a forfeit because they used an ineligible player in that game. The ineligible player was not a player of consequence, so top 25 voters are not factoring the forfeit into their evaluation of Mater Dei.
This voter did take a look at how Mater Dei and JSerra fared against St. John Bosco. JSerra lost to St. John Bosco by seven points, 35-28. Mater Dei lost to St. John Bosco by 23 points, 41-18.
Yet all five top 25 voters, including this one, on this week’s ballots kept Mater Dei at No. 1 and JSerra at No. 2.
The thinking here was that Mater Dei can play better than it did against St. John Bosco. And the thinking here also is that the Monarchs will prove that against JSerra this week and beat the Lions in their Trinity League game at JSerra on Friday.
THEY SHOULD HAVE PLAYED
Corona del Mar and Los Alamitos decided to leave their lightning-interrupted game Friday at Cerritos College as a 7-7 tie. The schools could not agree on where and when to resume the game that was Los Alamitos’ home game.
The schools also can’t agree as to why they could not agree on where and when to resume the game.
Los Alamitos said the game could have been played Saturday at its on-campus football field.
Corona del Mar said logistically that would not work for the Sea Kings.
The football field at Los Alamitos is more suitable for a freshman or junior varsity game. Still, it would have been an acceptable last-resort venue to make sure the game would be completed. That game could have been played Saturday.
EXTRA POINTS
•Coaches can prevent officials or officiating crews in football and other sports from working their teams’ games. The practice is called “redlining.” Well, officials can redline a team, too, if they feel the team’s coach goes too far in criticizing officiating.
•Although most games were postponed Friday because of the lightning storm, a few Orange County football games were played Friday. The Orange County Football Officials Association is working this week to find out why some officials and school athletic directors concluded that those games could be played.
•It’s possible that some Mater Dei players took St. John Bosco too lightly Saturday when St. John Bosco beat Mater Dei 41-18. Getting soundly beaten by Bosco should wake up the Monarchs and even make them angry. JSerra, an excellent team, should be ready for a furious opponent Friday when the Lions play at home against Mater Dei.
•If Mater Dei loses to JSerra then the Monarchs would at best be the Trinity League’s No. 3 playoff representative when the CIF-Southern Section playoffs begin in two weeks. If Mater Dei is the leagues No. 3 team, the Monarchs would be an unwelcomed opponent in the Division 1 bracket for the league championship team that plays them in the first round.
•The regular season has one more week remaining after this week. But there are games this week that almost certainly will decide league championships. In the Academy League, Capistrano Valley and Fairmont Prep, both 2-0 in league, play each other Thursday at Yorba Linda High, Fairmont’s home field. Katella and Savanna take 3-0 league records into their Orange League contest Thursda at Glover Stadium.
•Katella is 7-0 with an average margin of victory of 41 points. Six of their games have had a running clock in the fourth quarter. A running clock goes into effect in the fourth quarter once the margin has reached 35 points and continues throughout the fourth quarter even if the margin becomes fewer than 35 points.
•It’s rivalry week at a few schools. Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor play their annual Battle of the Bay, football version, Friday. This time it’s a league game as Corona del Mar now is in the Sunset League with Newport Harbor. Corona del Mar is the home team Friday Davidson Field on the Newport Harbor campus.
•And the Battle of the Bell, Edison vs. Fountain Valley, is this week. The “Bell Game” is Friday at Orange Coast College. It is Fountain Valley’s home game.
•Edison used three quarterbacks in its 40-10 win over Newport Harbor.
•Western is having a fine season. But the Pioneers better clean up the penalties if they want to go far in the Division 11 playoffs. They were penalized 16 times for 159 yards Saturday in their 47-35 win over Laguna Beach.
