This year’s San Diego Section playoff seeding certainly appears to have rewarded South County teams for their excellent play during the regular season.
Besides nationally-ranked Hilltop receiving the No. 2 seed in the Division II boys tournament, the South Bay League champion Southwest Raiders (16-4-1) secured the No. 2 seed in the Division III playoffs, with last year’s Division III champion Castle Park (18-3-1) earning the No. 4 seed in this year’s divisional field.
Mater Dei Catholic (7-10-3) received the No. 3 seed in the Division IV playoffs.
Both the Raiders and Trojans received byes to Friday’s boys quarterfinals. Southwest will host seventh-seed La Jolla (10-8-3) while Castle Park will host fifth-seeded Canyon Crest Academy (12-7-2). Both games are slated to kick off at 5 p.m.
Southwest captured this season’s league title with an 11-1-0 record; Castle Park dropped from a first place tie in the league standings following a 1-0 loss to visiting Sweetwater in the final league game for both teams. Both the Raiders and Trojans split their season series, with Southwest claiming a 5-2 victory on Jan. 27 and CP opening league play with a 4-3 win on Jan. 4.
Alfredo Rodriguez leads the Trojans with 16 goals while Francisco Ramirez has 15 goals for Southwest.
St. Augustine (12-3-5) is seeded first among Division III teams.
Bonita Vista (16-6-1) enters Friday’s Division II boys quarterfinals as the No. 4 seed and will host El Cajon Valley (12-7-2) in a match-up starting at 5 p.m. at Olympian High School.
Chula Vista (14-7-3) defeated visiting Escondido, 3-1, in Tuesday’s opening round of the Division I playoffs and will travel to meet third-seeded San Pasqual (18-3-2) in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Chula Vista High Tech (13-5-2) shut out the Preuss School, 3-0, in Tuesday’s Division IV opener to draw Mater Dei Catholic in Friday’s quarterfinals.
In other boys openers, Otay Ranch (6-13-3) fell, 3-1, to Granite Hills (12-4-9) in Division I play while Montgomery (11-11-3) dropped a 2-0 Division III decision to visiting University City (11-8).
In girls openers on Wednesday, Eastlake (10-3-5) fell, 1-0, to visiting Grossmont (6-10-4) while Otay Ranch (10-8-6) succumbed to a loss in kicks from the mark against Granite Hills (11-6-1) following a scoreless overtime draw, both in Division I. South Bay League champion Southwest (14-5-2) ended its season after a 6-0 loss to Mission Bay (15-6-3).
For updated playoff brackets, visit the Web site at www.cifsds.org.
