For those interested in the San Diego section, here’s where things stand going into the last week of the regular season. (As I see it, anyway).
- Cathedral Catholic. Losses to Miramonte, Newport (thrice), Harvard-Westlake and Oaks Christian, but beat Bishop’s (thrice) and La Jolla by 6, so clear No. 1.
- Bishop’s. Losses to Newport, LaSalle, Cathedral (thrice), Mater Dei, J. Serra, and Oaks, and split with SHP. Beat La Jolla 13-11 so No. 2.
- La Jolla. Losses to J. Serra, Redwood, and Rio Americano. Lost to Cathedral and Bishop’s.
- Torrey Pines. Now it gets somewhat harder, but only somewhat. Lost to La Jolla (7-13), but hasn’t lost to any other San Diego team, with close wins over Helix (9-7), LCC (10-9), Santana (10-9), and Vista (16-14), plus wins over Poway (11-8) and Pt. Loma (16-11). Vulnerable, but an impressive No. 4 for now.
- Santana. Lost to TP by 1, but wins against CCA (13-10), Valhalla (15-13), Pt. Loma (13-12), and Coronado (12-6). When you beat all the other SD teams you’ve played except for No. 4, you’re generally No. 5.
- Valhalla. Now we can start to dicker. Lost to higher-ranked LJ (6-14) and Santana (13-15), but beat lots of other well-regarded SD teams, including Pt. Loma (20-14), 'Nado (12-10), and Carlsbad (15-10). I’m putting CBad at No. 7, which Valhalla beat fairly soundly, so Valhalla gets No. 6, but Sultan-backers should be wary of their 7-9 loss to Pt. Loma, their two one-goal wins over Helix, and two-point win over Granite Hills.
- Carlsbad. Lost to Bishop’s and Valhalla, but beat Poway (twice), Coronado and Vista. Also a sweet win over Huntington Beach (15-9). That should get them into the Open Division barring some end-of-season losses.
- Poway. The “honor” of playing Cathedral in the first round of Open would right now arguably – see below for important caveat – go to Poway. Lost to Cathedral (7-16), Bishop’s (2-13), Torrey Pines (8-11) and Carlsbad twice (7-10 and 13-21), all of whom I rank slightly higher. But beat Vista (13-9), CCA (12-5) and Classical (9-5). Caveat: Poway’s CIF Power Rankings also has them beating Valhalla 16-13 on Sept. 16, but Valhalla’s counter-listing contains no such game. I might seed Nos. 6-8 differently if Provisional No. 8 Poway indeed beat Provisional No. 6 Valhalla.
- Canyon Crest Academy. That’d leave CCA as the (allegedly) top seed in D1 at the present, though SD CIF uses Power Rankings for D1 seeding. Lost to No. 4 Torrey Pines (8-14), No. 5 Santana (10-13) and No. 8 Poway (5-12), but beat (though not necessarily convincingly) Mt. Carmel (13-10), Vista (12-10), LCC (11-9), and SDA (11-10). Still, a win’s a win, so CCA would be No. 9.
- Vista. Lost to higher seeds Torrey Pines (14-16), Carlsbad (8-15), Poway (9-13) and CCA (10-12). Also had a bad loss to Mt. Carmel (16-18), but still good enough (IMO) to round out the San Diego Top Ten.
Also competitive in the race for the last few spots in the Open Division – or a high seed in D1 – are (in no particular order) San Dieguito Academy, Classical, Mt. Carmel, and Pt. Loma. This group tends to bunch up with some other schools as well in D1, so that should be a very competitive playoff race.
We’ll know more in the next week or so, so stay tuned for more San Diego boys water polo fun.
