Prep Rally: Which teams are on the verge of being in the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs?

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. It’s week nine of the high school football season and time to see which teams are on the verge of being in the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

Division 1 contenders

Barring late-season collapses or major upsets, the Southern Section Division 1 playoff teams are looking pretty easy to identify.

It starts with No. 1 Santa Margarita (8-0), which is in the driver’s seat to win the Trinity League championship after a 21-7 win over St. John Bosco last week. No. 2 Sierra Canyon (8-0) remains on a path to finish 10-0 and win the Mission League title.

After that, it’s St. John Bosco (6-2), Corona Centennial (5-3), Mater Dei (6-2), Orange Lutheran (5-3), San Clemente (7-0) and Mission Viejo (6-1). JSerra (4-4) and Servite (3-5) meet on Oct. 30 to decide what might be a final spot. Bishop Amat (7-1) is also in the picture with a game against Sierra Canyon on Oct. 30.

Does it really matter which teams make it? Maybe not the way Santa Margarita, the defending champion, is improving on a weekly basis similar to last season when the Eagles separated themselves and cruised to victory.

The Eagles have added receiver Grant Mosley, brother of Trent, to the offensive attack, and in his third game back against St. John Bosco, he showed off the Mosley family speed and big-play skills.

Sierra Canyon, of course, wants its chance to challenge the powers in the playoffs. With a dominant defensive line and the ability to run the ball, the Trailblazers certainly deserve respect. Centennial finally got back its best player, safety/kicker Jaden Walk-Green, so the Huskies will be dangerous come playoff time.

King/Drew took a giant step toward winning its first Coliseum League championship with a 39-6 win over Crenshaw. Quarterback Gerald Torres completed 16 of 23 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns. Damico Martin had six receptions for 123 yards and two touchdowns.

Cleveland (8-0) and Marshall (8-0) remained unbeaten in the City Section. The Cavaliers had two running backs rush for more than 100 yards in a win over Taft. Quarterback Nathaniel Cadet passed for 256 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two touchdowns in Marshall’s win over Lincoln.

Carson and San Pedro routed Narbonne and Gardena, respectively, setting up a Friday showdown at Carson to decide the Marine League championship.

Birmingham, with a new starting quarterback in former Sierra Canyon JV quarterback Delvin Young, rolled to a 32-8 win over Granada Hills. The Patriots will finish second in the West Valley League and could be an intriguing first-round matchup in the City Section Open Division playoffs.

Palisades picked up a huge win over Hamilton to move closer to a Western League title. Here’s the report.

In the Southern Section, the big upset was Capistrano Valley handing Corona del Mar its first defeat 21-17 in a Saturday game after the Norte Fire in San Clemente forced a change in days and also caused several games to be canceled, including San Clemente vs. Mission Viejo.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.

Here’s top individual performances from this past week.

Here’s the Week 9 schedule.

The Southern Section flag football playoffs begin this week. Can anyone defeat unbeaten JSerra (24-0)?

The Lions are seeded No. 1 in the Open Division tournament and begin action Wednesday at home against Sierra Canyon, which happens to have former Orange Lutheran quarterback Makena Cook, who lost to JSerra in last year’s final.

There are seven divisions, with divisions 1 through 6 beginning Tuesday.

The JSerra passing duo of Kate Meier and Tessa Russell has been unstoppable. Seven points is the closest an opponent has gotten to JSerra, with Orange Lutheran losing 19-12 in a regular-season finale last week.

The City Section regular season doesn’t end until the day before Halloween. The big competition is in the Northern League, where Eagle Rock is 3-0 and L.A. Wilson is 3-1.

Here’s the final regular season top 10 flag football rankings from The Times.

Girls volleyball

McKennah Iamaleava, the sister of UCLA quarterbacks Nico and Madden Iamaleava, has been a big-time player for Long Beach Poly entering this week’s playoffs. Here’s a profile.

Southern Section playoff pairings were released Friday.

Divisions 2-4-6-8-10 begin on Tuesday. Divisions 1-5-7-9-11 start on Wednesday. The finals for all divisions will be Nov. 7.

In Division 1, there will be pool play for the eight teams, with Mater Dei seeded No. 1 and Sierra Canyon No. 2.

Looking back: Joe Hillman

Former Hoover High basketball standout Joe Hillman averaged 41.3 points his senior year in 1984. Then he became an experiment — the first player west of the Mississippi River to play for coach Bob Knight at Indiana.

The rest is history. He won an NCAA championship in 1987 and got to tell lots of stories about Knight. He returned to the area last week.

Here’s a report on what Hillman said.

Prep talk

Every day, I write about something positive happening regarding high school sports. Here’s a couple of last week’s stories.

Former Fremont High basketball coach Dave Yanai keeps enjoying basketball at the age of 83.

John McLellan, 13, a Redondo Beach teenager, is driving kart cars in Italy and competing against the best in the world for his level.

Southern California is full of future college and NFL officials starting out as high school officials.

Sophomore Matti Di Maggio of Dos Pueblos came home with a gold medal playing for the U15 national baseball team.

Notes . . .

At the Orange County cross-country championships, Trabuco Hills won the boys title and JSerra continued its domination in girls. The boys’ individual winner was Woodbridge’s Aidan Antonio in 14:10.4. The girls’ winner was Reese Holley of JSerra in 16:18.3…

At the Ventura County championships, Viggo Bortolin of Foothill Technology won the boys’ individual final in 15:15.1. Sabina Cruz of Westlake won the girls’ title in 17:67.2….

The Memorial Coliseum will be the site for the Southern Section Division 1 championship football game Friday, Nov. 27. The Rose Bowl was used last season….

Former Crespi teammates De’Anthony Melton and Brandon Williams are having fun being teammates with the Golden State Warriors…..

Guard Josiah Nance of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has committed to SMU, where former USC coach Andy Enfield is head coach….

Joseph Saenz is the new baseball coach at Wilmington Banning….

Junior Emilio Young of Mater Dei has committed to UCLA for baseball….

Receiver Gavin Honore of Mater Dei has committed to Oregon State….

From the archives: Aidan Chiles

Former Downey quarterback Aidan Chiles is the starting quarterback for Northwestern. He has passed for 1,398 yards and nine touchdowns. He signed with Oregon State, then transferred to Michigan State, then Northwestern.

Here’s a story from 2022 on Chiles beginning to receive recognition in high school.

Recommendations

From Substack, a story on San Mateo Serra’s long time football coach announcing he is staying indefinitely.

From Yahoo Sports, a story on a high school football coach in Oregon being fired for his team’s onside kicks in a game that wasn’t close.

From ESPN, a story on pro athletes coaching their sons and daughters in youth sports.

From Oaks Christian, a story on former Lions quarterback Nate Bennett at Baylor.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on how a baseball coach led a tennis team to a JC championship.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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