Central Catholic, Escalon get No. 1 seeds; 2 divisions delayed by legal fights over bans
Playoff football is officially here.
On Sunday afternoon, the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section announced the 2021 football playoff brackets via online selection show hosted by Section Assistant Commissioner Will DeBoard and Sacramento Bee high school sports reporter Joe Davidson.
Playoff participants were determined by league champions and CalPreps rankings. After they were selected, a committee of current section staff and former athletic directors determined seeds and matchups.
(Click here for first-round pairings)
Divisions I-VI feature 12-team brackets while Division VII has a field of eight.
Absent from the afternoon’s selection show was the announcement of Divisions III and VII brackets. Some teams in those divisions, including Ripon Christian, are in a court battle with the section over a postseason ban issued earlier this year tied to their program’s alleged ties to a spring club team.
The Division III bracket will be released on the section’s Twitter account and website on Monday because of Capital Christian Center’s legal issues. DeBoard said that teams are scheduled to play on Saturday, but may agree to play Friday on a short week.
Teams in Division VII, including Ripon Christian, will have to wait as well, as a result of an anticipated ruling on its temporary restraining order against the Section.
In fact, games in that division were delayed a week.
The court hearing will be on Thursday, Nov. 4. The entire Division VII playoffs will be pushed back one week to allow teams adequate time to prepare.
Central Catholic and Escalon were among the teams to be awarded a No. 1 seed.
Meanwhile, Rocklin went a perfect 10-0 and earned the top seed in Division I after winning the Sierra Foothill League. Turlock and Enochs snuck in at No. 9 and No. 10 in Division I, respectively. The Bulldogs travel to Sheldon and the Eagles play at Del Oro.
Central Catholic earned the top spot in Division II after going 9-1 and 5-0 in the Valley Oak League and will have a bye. They will await the winner of No. 9 Lodi and CCAL champion, No. 8 Downey in what could be a battle for best team in Modesto.
CCAL runner up Gregori was awarded the No. 11-seed in Division II and will travel to No. 6 Elk Grove.
After a near-perfect season, 9-1 Waterford earned the sixth spot in Division VI and will host Summerville, who they beat 35-28 on Sept. 7.
The TVL sends five schools to the postseason, highlighted by league champ Escalon, who earned the top seed in Division V.
Ripon earned the fifth seed and hosts No. 12 Ceres, which makes it first playoff appearance since 2004 and Hilmar was awarded a sixth seed. Livingston and Hughson earned first-round byes as the third and fourth seeds in Division VI.
All first-round games are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m., with the exception of divisions put on hold because of legal issues with a few of those schools.
