How will Santa Ana do against Temecula Valley in tonight’s CIF football playoff? One coach has an opinion

Santa Ana’s football team, shown taking the field against Orange, plays at Temecula Valley tonight in the quarterfinals of the CIF Division 8 playoffs. (File photo: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)

One of the CIF football playoff games we will be keeping an eye on tonight will be the Santa Ana vs. Temecula Valley quarterfinal round playoff game in Division 8. Santa Ana has high hopes for a CIF title but it could be a challenging night for the Saints.

Santa Ana, the third seed in Division 8, will be the favorite but the game figures to be close.  Temecula Valley showed it is very talented in a 42-17 victory over Woodbridge last week.  Woodbridge, which finished 7-4, was plagued by nine turnovers.

Woodbridge coach Rick Gibson also led his team against Santa Ana in the regular season. The Saints won 40-21 Sept. 13 and that was before they had their talented all-purpose back Patrick McMorris, who transfered from Godinez.

Gibson talked about the match-up earlier this week and had an interesting comment:

“That’s a good football team too,” he said of Temecula Valley, which is 6-5. “I think they’re going to give Santa Ana all they need next week. I think Santa Ana will win but I think it’s going to be a very tight game.”

Please check our website tonight for updates on some of the games on our score tickers and for full reports on some games too.

TUSTIN WATER POLO TEAMS WELL REPRESENTED IN FINALS

It’s going to be an exciting day for Tustin water polo fans on Saturday as two teams from the city are in the CIF finals.

Foothill faces Mira Costa in the Division 2 finals at 12:10 p.m. and at 1:30 p..m., Tustin meets Valley View in the Division 6 finals at the Woollett Aquatics Complex in Irvine.

It was a good move by CIF officials to stagger the times so fans of both teams can see both matches.

Foothill won the Division 2 title last year while Tustin is shooting for its first CIF crown since 1982.

There is plenty of parking in adjacent lots around the center, and best of all, it’s free.

FOOTHILL GETS READY FOR NEXT CHALLENGE

Shortly after watching his squad defeat Corona del Mar 12-10 in the CIF semifinals, Foothill Coach Jim Brumm began to focus on his team’s meeting with Mira Costa in the finals.

“We played them earlier and they beat us by three,” Brumm said. “So we have to look at the tape and see what we can improve on from the last time we played them.”