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 week via CalPreps’ computer formula, so consider this a snapshot after the first third of the season to see where a team’s fortunes currently lie.
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.
These projections go off a 10-team Division 1, which is how many teams made that bracket last year. 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. 7
Long Beach Poly soundly defeated Wilson 46-0 but still drop a spot thanks to a low power rating for the Bruins. The Jackrabbits are now moving towards the lower end of the likely Division 1 pool, and only lead No. 8 by 0.7 and No. 9 by 1.4.
Millikan: No. 30
Millikan rose three spots thanks to a big win over Lakewood, and remain the highest-ranked non-Poly team in the current playoff format era. They’d be No. 4 in Division 3 at their current number.
Lakewood: No. 104
Lakewood’s down one spot after their loss to Millikan and would be at the bottom of Division 7 if they get into the playoffs.
Jordan: No. 105
The Panthers dropped are down a few spots as well and would now be No. 15 in Division 7.
St. Anthony: No. 126
The Saints have been big movers lately and are once again up big, rising 18 spots to 126, where they’d be a middle-of-the-road Moore League team (a big accomplishment given where the program was last year) and where they’re now ranked No. 4 in Division 9.
Wilson: No. 180
Wilson moved up eight spots after their loss to Poly since the Jackrabbits’ higher ranking raised their strength of schedule. They’re currently in Division 12.
Compton: No. 270
Compton rose three spots and currently project in Division 14.
Cabrillo: No. 326
The Jags moved down a few spots and currently project in Division 14.
