Heritage is in for football playoffs; Paloma, Santa Rosa out

Heritage running back Kenny Teter was pressed into service at quarterback when Tyler Basham was injured on Friday. Photo by Amber Garcia

The Heritage High football team has been paired with Edison High of Huntington Beach for a road game in the first round of the CIF Southern Section playoffs next Friday. Menifee's other two teams with playoff hopes were not as fortunate, however, learning that their teams were not included in the playoff brackets.

While the 7-3 Patriots prepare to hit the road to face a 7-3 Edison squad in a battle of second-place teams in Division 3, the football seasons at Paloma Valley High and Santa Rosa Academy have officially ended. That was a big disappointment to coaches of those schools -- especially the coaches at Paloma Valley, who say they were led to believe they would be selected as an at-large team.

Playing in the four-team Ivy League, Paloma Valley finished 1-2 in league, losing to league champion Rancho Verde and Heritage and beating last-place Valley View. Overall, the Wildcats finished with a 4-6 record -- a mark better than other division teams with losing records. But when the playoff pairings were released on Sunday, Paloma Valley was left out while three other teams with worse overall records -- Loyola (3-6), Murrieta Mesa (3-7) and El Toro (1-9) -- were included in the playoff draw.

"When I saw that they took El Toro over us, I figured it was a mistake," said Paloma Valley coach Tom Tello. "We believed we would be in because of the wording in the Oct. 25 CIF Bulletin [regarding playoff selections]. "They're not honoring what they said."

The complaint Paloma Valley school officials took to the CIF office on Sunday referred to a paragraph in the CIF Bulletin -- a copy of which can be found on the CIF-SS website -- which states that "in order to alleviate byes, if there are no .500 teams entered or all .500 or better teams have been taken, then the next best record as submitted by leagues will be taken."

In the eyes of Tello, his assistant coaches and athletic director Ryan Sharp, that means that a 4-6 Paloma Valley team that finished third in its league would at least be taken over a 1-9 El Toro team that finished last (0-4) in the five-team South Coast League.

"CIF told us we misinterpreted the CIF Bulletin, that they use a formula based on strength of schedule and strength of league in placing at-large teams," Tello said. "That contradicts the paragraph we read. If they want us to follow this Playoff Bulletin, then that verbiage should've been removed. Now they're saying we just read it wrong."

Sharp said a CIF official referred him to another section in the CIF Bulletin that describes the system giving points to at-large teams in the formula -- two points for strength of schedule and one point for strength of league. Using that formula, Sharp said, El Toro received the maximum three points because of the highly competitive South Coast League and El Toro's nonleague schedule. Paloma Valley received just one point for strength of league. The explanation given Sharp was that "the next best record as submitted by leagues" is used only when the tie is between teams from the same league.

"We're frustrated and disappointed," Sharp said. "At 4-6, we got jumped by three teams with lower records. I can understand a 3-7 team going ahead of a 4-6 team because of strength of schedule, but a 1-9 team?"

Tello was equally frustrated as he prepared to address on Monday his players, who assumed they were in after Friday's 24-21 win over Valley View.

"By that formula, even if El Toro had gone 0-10, they would go over us," Tello said. "That's not a knock on El Toro, but the system."

Until four years ago, the CIF playoff brackets were much easier to predict. All teams from a league were placed in the same division, with first-place teams opening against third-place teams and second-place teams meeting each other. Since switching to what is known as a "competitive equity" system, things are more complicated. For instance, Rancho Verde is in Division 2 for playoff purposes, Heritage is in Division 3 and Paloma Valley is in Division 4, even though they are in the same league for the regular season.

Heritage coach Kraig Broach was as confused as anyone about the CIF's snub of his city rival Paloma Valley.

"Paloma Valley without a doubt deserves to be in the playoffs," Broach said. "There isn't any kind of logic about them not being in. It's ridiculous."

While disappointed not to make the playoffs, Santa Rosa Academy coach Perry Jones said his team's situation was somewhat different than Paloma Valley's. In Division 14, where Santa Rosa Academy finished third in the South Valley League and was 4-6 overall, the Rangers were left out.

"We have the largest pool of teams from the largest pool of leagues," Jones said about the division. "That said, first-place teams from our large pool all get seeded first, then second-place team from all of those leagues get seeded. This year after that, there were no more spots.

"Our destiny was in our own hands against CMI and we came up short," he added, referring to the Rangers' 34-14 loss to CMI on Oct. 25.

Heritage will have to bounce back from a 44-0 loss to Ivy League champion Rancho Verde last Friday in which starting quarterback Tyler Basham left the game just before halftime after taking a shot to the head on a late hit out of bounds, Broach said. Basham's condition will be re-evaluated on Monday.

"He was held out of the game out of an abundance of caution," Broach said about Basham. "We'll find out tomorrow."

Running back Kenny Teter, who has rushed for more than 1,500 yards this season, took over at quarterback for the rest of the game.

"He's been working [at quarterback]," Broach said. "He's the type of kid who's willing to do anything."

The Patriots will be facing an Edison team that won its last three regular-season games by a combined score of 154-29. That will be a challenge for a team that suffered one of its worst losses in recent memory.

"I just told the players, 'You've got to own it,'" Broach said about his message to the Patriots after Friday's loss. "We all had a hand in it and we all have to own it. Thank God we have a chance to play another week."

Friday's game will be played at Huntington Beach High School with a 7 p.m. kickoff.