Now that playoff divisions have been established for the Sac-Joaquin, Central, Southern, Los Angeles City, and San Diego sections, I thought we could start to parse out the placement for the CIF State and Regional bowl divisions. No predictions are made here as to who will win these divisions, rather the teams listed are only the top seeds. For the Northern, San Francisco, Oakland, and North Coast sections, I merely took the highest rated teams from each division on Calpreps.com. For the Central Coast Section, I have borrowed the great work of
@PAL Booster to position teams within divisions, again only taking the top seeds. A lot can happen over the next four weeks, but I figure that even if these particular teams don't end up in these spots, the divisional placements should be pretty close. I did not take into consideration whether some of the very small schools would opt out of the regional games, so that could also alter these moving forward.
Interestingly, as I crunched the numbers, it became apparent that (believe it or not) the south needed the help of the Central Section more than did the north. As such, I have 4 CS teams in the south region and only two in the north. I think as you look at how things fall out, you'll see why I chose this path.
Open Division (Section Division, Calpreps ratings)
North: Serra (CCS Open, 70.2) vs.
South: St. John Bosco (SS D-I, 90.8)
D-1AA
North: De La Salle (NCS Open, 58.1) vs. Folsom (SJS D-I, 58)
South: Lincoln (SDS Open, 62.9) vs. Clovis North (CS D-I, 62.6)
D-1A
North: San Ramon Valley (NCS D-1, 54.4) vs. St. Marys (SJS D-II, 53.6)
South: Rancho Cucamonga (SS D-2, 59) vs. Torrey Pines (SDS D-I, 42.3)
D-2AA
North: St. Francis (CCS D-I, 43.1) vs. Marin Catholic (NCS D-3, 36.6)
South: San Juan Hills (SS D-3, 41.3) vs. Loyola (SS D-4, 34.9)
D-2A
North: McClymonds (OAL, 33.5) vs. San Marin (NCS D-4, 33.5)
South: Del Norte (SDS D-II, 31.7) vs. Central Valley Christian (CS D-II, 29.7)
D-3AA
North: El Cerrito (NCS D-2, 33.2) vs. Grant (SJS D-III, 32.3)
South: Newbury Park (SS D-5, 25.7) vs. Ontario Christian (SS D-6, 21.4)
D-3A
North: Escalon (SJS D-IV, 28.8) vs. Twelve Bridges (SJS D-V, 27.4)
South: Birmingham (LACS Open, 18.9) vs. Shafter (CS D-IV, 18.4)
D-4AA
North: Chico (NS D-II, 25.5) vs. Salinas (CCS D-II, 23.3)
South: Mount Miguel (SDS D-IV, 16.8) vs. Chino (SS D-7, 16.7)
D-4A
North: Sutter (SJS D-VI, 19.9) vs. Menlo-Atherton (CCS D-III, 11.5)
South: Mission Prep (CS D-III, 13.5) vs. Brentwood (SS D-8, 12.9)
D-5AA
North: University Prep (NS D-III, 7.9) vs. Ripon Christian (SJS D-VII, 7.7)
South: Mission Bay (SDS D-III, 7.7) vs. Rio Hondo Prep (SS D-9, 7.5)
D-5A
North: Miramonte (NCS D-5, 7.4) vs. Moreau Catholic (NCS D-6, 4.5)
South: Torrance (SS D-10, 2.8) vs. Quartz Hill (SS D-11, 0.1)
D-6AA
North: Colusa (NS D-IV, 1.2) vs. King's Academy (CCS D-IV, 0.8)
South: Banning (LACS D-I, -0.8) vs. Holtville (SDS D-VAA, -4.6)
D-6A
North: Bishop (CS D-V, -4.9) vs. Portola (NS D-V, -6.3)
South: Coachella Valley (SS D-12, -6.5) vs. Vincent Memorial (SDS D-V, -10.6)
D-7AA
North: Greenfield (CCS D-V, -9.8) vs. bye
South: San Gabriel (SS D-13, -17.6) vs. Arleta (LACS D-II, -21.5)
D-7A
North: Arvin (CS D-VI, -17.6) vs. Lincoln (SFS, -17.8)
South: Artesia (SS D-14, -30) vs. Bell (LACS D-III, -37.7)
I chose the put a bye at D-7AA because Arvin and Lincoln so closely matched on Calpreps, as are Bishop and Portola. Greenfield seemed to fall right in between these two divisions. You could make an argument for giving Sutter a bye and moving teams downward, some close games start to get altered and I don't think the CIF will want to do the CCS and a big school like Menlo-Atherton any favors.
