The562’s standings, schedule, and rankings stories are sponsored by International City Plumbers.
We’re entering the third year of the new CIF-SS playoff format, and Long Beach teams made five CIF-SS championship appearances over the last two years under the competitive equity system. Clearly it’s been a big benefit to local schools with several teams making historic first title game appearances.
The trick with the new system is that divisions are decided at the end of the year, with a team’s CalPreps ranking used to determine which division they’re in. Those rankings go up and down each year, so we’re aiming to help keep you updated on where a team’s fortunes currently lie on a week by week basis.
No team will know what playoff division they’re going to be in until that last day of the year–but following the rankings gives a good ballpark. This is not an exact science since not every team in the rankings makes the playoffs, and there’s no set number of teams in Division 1–if it’s a four team bracket versus an eight team bracket that will change how many teams are taken off the top before the 16-team brackets Division 2-14 are assembled.
We’ll go off a 10-team Division 1, which is how many teams made that bracket last year. Remember the top three Moore League teams qualify for the playoffs, while anyone else has to apply for an at-large. St. Anthony is in the Del Rey League, where they’d need to finish in the top two to get an automatic qualifier for the playoffs.
A final reminder that these are not our rankings but the rankings taken from CalPreps.com’s power rankings–these are the numbers used to assemble CIF-SS playoff Divisions at the end of the year. You can see the whole list here.
Remember, these numbers will go up and down a lot this year–wins will move them up, losses will move them down. We’ll keep you updated and break down what the weekly changes mean.
Long Beach Poly: No. 10
The Jackrabbits are currently right at the bottom of last year’s Division 1 size. If the CIF-SS opted for a four, six, or eight team D1 this year Poly’s current position would have them in Division 2. The Jackrabbits started the year with an out-of-state win against Konawaena in Hawaii and play nationally ranked Bishop Gorman, No. 5 Mission Viejo, and No. 8 Serra to round out their nonleague schedule.
Millikan: No. 39
The Rams continue to close the gap between them and Poly, and ahead of their first game on the road in Hawaii they open up at No. 39, in Division 3, which would be a new high for them in the current playoff format. The Rams finished last year at No. 48 so open this season nearly 10 spots higher.
Lakewood: No. 82
Making another big move is Lakewood, who open this season more than 40 spots higher than they finished last season. At 82, they’d currently be in Division 6, a step up from where they were in the playoffs last year.
Jordan: No. 119
Another team that took a big jump in the offseason is Jordan, which rose 22 spots from last year’s finish to 119, which would put them in Division 8. If the Panthers make the playoffs in such a low division, the pattern has been clear over the last two years: look out. Jordan Washington and the other playmakers in North Long Beach would be a tough matchup for other teams in that division.
Compton: No. 177
Compton also took a step up by nine spots over the offseason, and would be in Division 12 if they made it into the playoffs in this spot.
Wilson: No. 204
The Bruins are up 19 spots from last year and are right on the cusp of making it out of Division 14, the lowest division the CIF-SS has had.
St. Anthony: No. 219
St. Anthony is down 14 spots from the end of last year and would be in Division 14 if they make the playoffs at this number.
Cabrillo: No. 292
The Jaguars rose 16 spots last year and begin this season at 292, in Division 14.
