The four-team field for the CIF San Diego Section Open Division football playoffs is set, and Carlsbad, Mission Hills, Cathedral Catholic and La Costa Canyon are in. The bracket will be a two-round playoff to decide the best team in San Diego, even though the pairings will not be announced until Sunday afternoon.
That is why the search interest is spiking now: the top of the board has been settled before the section finishes the regular season Friday. La Costa Canyon earned its place by beating Carlsbad last week and still sits No. 1 in the section heading into the finale, while the other three schools complete the four-team field that sits above the rest of the bracket.
The section is using MaxPreps.com to rank teams on a 1-through-64 basis, with the top four going to Open Division, the next eight into Division 1, teams 13-24 into Division 2, teams 25-36 into Division 3, teams 37-48 into Division 4 and teams 49-64 into Division 5. MaxPreps weighs win-loss record, strength of schedule and margin of victory, and head-to-head results matter only when teams are back-to-back in the rankings. League champions are guaranteed playoff spots, but not home games.
Todd Cassen said the system gives coaches a role in recommending how the playoffs are seeded, and he said the process is open enough that teams can track where they stand and which division they are headed toward. That transparency is part of why the final Friday results still matter so much, even with the Open Division field already locked.
The one team that keeps the bracket from feeling finished is unbeaten Santa Fe Christian, which has slipped from the final Open Division spot to the top seed in Division 1. Friday night’s Grossmont Hills League showdown between Granite Hills and Helix will decide whether Granite Hills can jump past it, though Helix is unlikely to climb even with a win after losing to Santa Fe Christian to open the season. Division 1 is likely to include Santa Fe Christian, Helix, Granite Hills, Lincoln, Oceanside, San Marcos, Rancho Bernardo and Torrey Pines.
There is similar movement lower in the bracket. Division 2 is a 12-team field with first-round byes for the top four, and Poway, Del Norte, St. Augustine and Point Loma are in line for those spots heading into Friday’s games, with Mater Dei Catholic and Holtville unlikely to break in. San Pasqual, La Jolla, San Diego and Escondido Charter hold the top four in Division 3, while Palo Verde, Central Union, Bishop’s and West Hills sit in the top four for Division 4. Vincent Memorial, Hoover, Bonita Vista and Fallbrook currently lead Division 5, though La Jolla Country Day is close enough to jump over Fallbrook.
There is also a broader threat to the 64-team field. Canyon Hills and Foothills Christian are on the outside now, but both could still win league championships and force their way in, knocking out the bottom two teams. Patrick Henry is one of only two unbeaten teams left in the section, along with Santa Fe Christian, and is likely to make the Division 2 bracket after Friday’s trip to Mira Mesa. For now, the Open Division is done; what remains is the order beneath it, and Sunday afternoon will show how much Friday changed the rest of the CIF San Diego Section football playoffs.
