FOOTBALL NOTES: CIF playoff pairings coming but final week of league play memorable

Cypress quarterback Aidan Houston had a big game Thursday night leading the Centurions to a victory over Crean Lutheran. (Photo: OC Sports Zone, Tim Burt)

We realize many of you are looking ahead to Sunday morning when the CIF football playoff pairings are announced.

CLICK HERE FOR PLAYOFF NOTES AND BRACKETS

Here are a few notes from the last week of the regular season:

Aidan Houston stars for Cypress

Aidan Houston has been stepping up all season at quarterback for Cypress High School. He did it again scoring a career-high four touchdowns, rushing for 164 yards and passing for 226 yards in the Centurions 42-7 victory over Crean Lutheran that clinched the league title for Cypress.

“I think God really blessed us this whole week,” Houston said after Thursday’s game. “He’s been giving us the strength to persevere this whole season so really, all my thanks goes to Him first and second to the coaching staff. The coaching staff put a great game plan together all the season, all 10 weeks and my line has been going really hard and it makes it really easy for me to be able to throw the ball around and be able to run and make mistakes because my defense is backing it up on their side of the ball.

“Overall, we’ve been clicking and we’ve been playing as a team and really playing together.”

Houston is definitely a double threat and the Centurions thrive with him leading the team.

“I think it’s definitely hard for the defense to plan around,” Houston said. “I’ve just been blessed in that area and I’ve been blessed by the coaching staff to put game plans around that as well.”

“You see a lot of quarterbacks, I don’t know one I would take over him as a dual threat,” said Cypress Coach Rick Feldman.

Segerstrom battles, reaches playoffs

In the CIF playoffs, football teams are rewarded for battling until the end of the season. Segerstrom played a very tough non-league schedule. One of the losses came to Kaiser 35-33 at Segerstrom.

But Coach Joseph Tagaloa, dejected but still proud of his team after that tough loss, kept his players battling and the Jaguars, 3-7 overall, earned a playoff berth with two consecutive victories including Friday’s 36-24 win over Katella that improved their league mark to 2-1.

Adam Harper could not be stopped

Fans have seen Northwood’s Adam Harper have some amazing games. Friday’s game, in which he scored four touchdowns and rushed for 342 yards, topped it all. And it came when the Timberwolves needed it most against a talented Dana Hills team.

Dana Hills would have earned a share of the league title with the win but Northwood with the hard-fought 37-20 victory won the title outright.

Making it even more memorable, Adam Harper’s younger brother Joseph had a big game on defense.

“He’s a tough kid and he gets his work in and he was able to get a few big-time sacks that we needed,” Adam Harper said.

Warriors earn second playoff berth

Woodbridge High’s football team earned the No. 2 spot from the Pacific Hills League with a 28-6 victory over University Friday night.

Woodbridge had a pretty good run in the CIF Division 12 playoffs, winning two games after struggling during the regular season last year. Warrior assistant coach Rick Gibson said he had no idea which division the Warriors will be in for the playoffs.

Portola will be the top-seeded team from the league for the playoffs since it defeated Woodbridge.

Cypress looks tough in CIF playoffs

Cypress is projected to go anywhere from Division 3 to 4 in the CIF playoffs. The Centurions, coached by Rick Feldman, were very impressive in the win over Crean Lutheran, which helped the the team defend its league title.

“They’re all special, this one is extra special because we ended up undefeated, we got a bunch of new guys on our team, who haven’t won the league title before so they got to experience what it’s like. We’ve won four in a row, but this league is hard every year. There are a bunch of good coaches and a bunch of good young teams. It’s going to get tougher and tougher, we’re going to try and enjoy it while we can.”

As for a playoff projection:

“I hope we moved up enough to get a home game in D-4,” Feldman said.

Two game breaking rushers in Orange County

Friday night, Troy Leigber of Laguna Hills had a 96-yard TD run to open the game and Northwood’s Adam Harper had an 80-yard TD run.

Imagine if those teams somehow wind up in the same playoff division. That would be quite a match-up.

Laguna Hills clinched second place with a victory over Irvine Friday night.

Home sweet home for Crean Lutheran football

Crean Lutheran officials worked hard to get final approval for their on-campus stadium and the community in Irvine certainly responded. The stands were packed and students in the Blue Zone showed plenty of support for the Saints in their Empire League showdown with Cypress. Crean Lutheran has enjoyed a 9-1 season led by Coach Rick Curtis.

The place was packed with attendance announced by Athletic Director Eric Olson at 1,200.

Curtis went on social media Friday to thank the community and school officials for their support. Curtis is hoping the Saints get a home game in the CIF playoffs.

Curtis said the future of the Crean Lutheran program is bright.

Mixed reactions coming on CIF playoff Sunday

It happens every year. Some football teams will rejoice about being selected for the CIF playoffs. Others will wonder how their squads were left out of the post season party.

It will happen again no doubt. There will be 3-7 teams, 2-8 teams and possibly 1-9 teams in the playoffs. But the new playoff system, approved by coaches, is based on the regular season.

Remember what CIF Commissioner Rob Wigod said in an interview with OC Sports Zone in August 2021:

“It’s going to be a culture change, but the important thing I hope people remember is that this is the most accurate way that we can evaluate our teams,” Wigod said. “There can be nothing more accurate than using this current regular season and only this current regular season to formulate divisions to place schools in the appropriate place and then let them compete for the opportunity to win championships, because that’s what it’s always about, it’s the competition and are you playing at the level you should be playing at against teams that are at the same level basically as you are.”

We’re looking forward to Sunday morning and we will have the playoff pairings here at OC Sports Zone. So please join us!

VISIT OCSPORTSZONE.COM SUNDAY MORNING FOR PLAYOFF PAIRINGS

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@bshaver