State regional basketball and soccer playoff pairings set. Here’s where your team is playing
The Clovis West girls basketball team’s shot at a second state Open Division championship in three years will once again go through Southern California.
The Golden Eagles, who won their seventh straight Central Section Division I championship Saturday night at Selland Arena, are the top seeds in Southern California and play No. 8 Redondo Union on Wednesday night at Clovis West.
Windward-Los Angeles is the No. 2 seed. Windward eliminated the Golden Eagles in the SoCal regional final last year but lost to Clovis West 64-54 this year in an MLK holiday game.
Clovis North, the section runner-up, is the No. 6 SoCal Open seed.
Archbishop Mitty-San Jose, which Clovis West beat for the 2017 state title, is No. 1 seed in NorCal.
Action begins Tuesday
Regional playoffs for the rest of the basketball divisions and all soccer divisions begin Tuesday. Most of the Central Section’s basketball teams are in NorCal brackets, while soccer is split between the regions; that’s per a California Interscholastic Federation plan to use the Central Section as a flex for better balance between the regions.
Also in the CIF playbook: Sliding teams into divisions other than what they played in during section playoffs. For instance, the Immanuel boys won the section D-III championship but dropped into NorCal D-IV at the No. 5 seed. Their section final opponent, Dinuba, fell to D-V as the No. 2 seed.
Central Section D-I boys champ Clovis West is the No. 3 seed in NorCal D-I, and section runner-up Bullard got a home game, too, as the NorCal D-I No. 7 seed.
The San Joaquin Memorial boys, who drew a tough Open Division assignment at Sheldon-Sacramento last year, were placed in NorCal D-I this season after winning their second straight section D-II crown. The Panthers are the No. 13 seed.
Each section ranks its eligible teams by division and the Central Section submitted Clovis West, Bullard and Memorial 1-2-3 in Division I, assistant commissioner Jeff Cardoza said. That was based on Clovis West (29-3) and Bullard (26-5) having better records than Memorial (21-10) and Memorial beating D-II teams with a collective poor strength of schedule.
Too, Memorial played five out-of-state teams that weren’t factors in seeding strength.
Last season Memorial jumped into the Open Division with a 25-6 record including a sweep of Bullard, which was the section D-I runner-up in 2018, too.
Central Section basketball semifinal teams and soccer finalist teams are eligible for regionals.
Basketball teams are playing toward the state championships March 8-9 in Sacramento. Soccer stops at regional finals, which are set for Saturday, March 2.
Regional first-round games involving Central Section teams (follow the links to full brackets):
Basketball
Open Division first-round games (quarterfinals) are Wednesday at 7 p.m. All other division first-round games (round of 16) are Tuesday.
Boys
Northern California
No. 13 San Joaquin Memorial at No. 4 Dublin
No. 14 Menlo-Atherton at No. 3 Clovis West
No. 10 Sacred Heart Cathedral-San Francisco at No. 7 Bullard
Northern California
No. 13 Rocklin at No. 4 Clovis North
Southern California
No. 12 Bakersfield Christian at No. 5 Pacific Christian-Newport Harbor
No. 11 Bakersfield at No. 5 Crescenta Valley
Northern California
No. 12 Leigh-San Jose at No. 5 Immanuel
Southern California
No. 10 Lemoore at No. 7 Independence
No. 9 Central Valley Christian at No. 8 Valhalla-El Cajon
No. 11 San Luis Obispo at No. 6 San Diego
Northern California
No. 12 Nueva-San Mateo at No. 5 Liberty-Madera Ranchos
No. 15 Sacramento Adventist at No. 2 Dinuba
Southern California
No. 11 Western Christian-Upland at No. 6 Kerman
No. 10 Hueneme-Oxnard at No. 7 Firebaugh
No. 16 Bassett-La Puente at No. 1 Foothill
Girls
Southern California
No. 8 Redondo Union at No. 1 Clovis West
No. 6 Clovis North at No. 3 Sierra Canyon-Chatsworth
Southern California
No. 13 Bakersfield at No. 4 Granada Hills
Northern California
No. 9 Aptos at No. 8 Central
No. 12 San Joaquin Memorial at No. 5 Montgomery-Santa Rosa
No. 13 Yosemite at No. 4 Eastide College Prep-East Palo Alto
No. 15 Elk Grove at No. 2 Clovis
Northern California
No. 11 Selma at No. 6 Woodside Priory-Portola Valley
Southern California
No. 13 Diamond Ranch-Pomona at No. 4 Porterville
No. 16 Oxnard at No. 1 McFarland
Northern California
No. 9 Monterey Trail-Elk Grove at No. 8 Fresno
Southern California
No. 10 Hillcrest-Riverside at No. 7 Tehachapi
No. 13 Van Nuys at No. 4 Sierra Pacific
Division V
Northern California
No. 14 Woodland Christian at No. 3 Caruthers
Southern California
No. 14 Western Christian-Upland at No. 3 Coalinga
Tuesday: Tulare Union at Sierra, play-in game for No. 6 seed
Wednesday: Tulare Union-Sierra winner at No. 11 Locke-Los Angeles
Tuesday quarterfinals, 4 p.m. unless noted
Boys
Division I
No. 5 De La Salle-Concord at No. 4 Central
Division II
No. 6 Ridgeview at No. 3 San Fernando
Division III
No. 6 Ceres at No. 3 Madera South, 6 p.m.
No. 5 Alta Loma at No. 4 Tulare Western, at Bob Mathias Stadium
Division IV
No. 7 George Washington-Los Angeles at No. 2 Foothill
Division V
No. 8 Exeter at No. 1 Garces
Girls
Division I
No. 7 Clovis North at No. 2 Carondelet-Concord
No. 8 San Luis Obispo at No. 1 JSerra Catholic-San Juan Capistrano
Division III
No. 5 Vista Del Lago-Folsom at No. 4 Edison, 5 p.m. at McLane Stadium
No. 5 Culver City at No. 4 Mission Oak
Division IV
No. 5 Miramonte-Orinda at No. 4 Kingsburg
Division V
No. 8 Washington Union at No. 1 Lowell-San Francisco, 3 p.m.
No. 5 Venice at No. 4 Arvin
This story was originally published February 24, 2019 at 9:47 PM.