HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS WEEK 9…AND WITH ONE WEEK LEFT IN THE REGULAR SEASON A LOOK AT THE NCS PLAYOFFS
November 5th, 2007 . by JoetheSportsGuyNot much of a change as we move into the last regular season game of the 2007 season. Below the ratings is how the seedings for the NCS 3A playoffs look.
No. 1–CARDINAL NEWMAN (7-1-1)…Santa Rosa forced Newman to play until the last minute. Cardinal Newman defense win the game for them…a bright side to the win as they head into the playoffs.
No. 2–RANCHO COTATE (7-2)….Rancho’s two losses are to teams with a combined 15-2-1 mark.
No. 3–CASA GRANDE (7-1-1)….Congrats to the Gauchos for getting at least a share of the SCL title for the fifth straight year.
No. 4–SONOMA (7-1-1)….Nice win out of league for Sonoma. Three of their wins have been by four points or less.
No. 5–HEALDSBURG (8-1)…Rebounds from loss to Casa with a win over Petaluma…the most entertaining game of the season in the area.
MY SEEDINGS FOR THE PLAYOFFS (AT THE MOMENT)…
1..CARDINAL NEWMAN…Even if they should lose to Ukiah they would get the No. 1 Seed.
2..SONOMA…This is based on them beating Windsor Friday Night. Give them the nod over Rancho because of deeper league and they would be co champions.
3..RANCHO COTATE…Five game winning streak. Give them the nod over Casa to set up no regular season rematches in the 2nd round should they all win.
4..CASA GRANDE…Lost to Sonoma cost them the No. 2. For a team as good as Casa to be No. 4 tell you have good of season the teams above them have had.
5..MONTGOMERY…Can’t avoid rematches in the first round. This would set up the week 3 rematch with Casa that ended in a 17-17 tie.
6..SANTA ROSA…This could change if (see No. 7)
7..REDWOOD….Would move Redwood up to No. 6 if they beat a good Justin Siena team this week…and that would avoid another rematch in Round 1 between Santa Rosa and Rancho.
8..PETALUMA…If their is such thing as a good loss Petaluma has had them in their last three game losing to Sonoma and Healdsburg by a combined four points. To make sure they better beat El Molino this week. Again even though they have a head to head over Redwood would place them here to avoid a first round rematch with Sonoma. (Like to avoid regular season rematches when at all possible)
THREE OTHER HOPEFULS…
Eureka…They have the numbers to make a case but not much of a schedule. Could sneak in though if Petaluma gets beat by El Molino, but their only 3A game was a one sided loss to Ukiah. It would be hard to ignore that.
Ukiah….To be considered they would have to beat Cardinal Newman this week. If they did that and already having a tie with Sonoma they would be hard to ignore. Having said that they lost head to head to Petaluma. If Ukiah beats Cardinal Newman and Petaluma loses to El Molino would move Ukiah to No. 7 and Redwood to No. 8 again to avoid regular season rematches. Petaluma would be out.
Windsor…the hard luck team of the season. Those two losses to Redwood and Healdsburg at midseason were brutal. To be considered they need to beat Sonoma this week, which would be their only good win to have a leg to stand on. They lost to Santa Rosa, Casa Grande and Petaluma by an average of 25 points a game.
