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Orange County showed its strength in girls flag football on Saturday by claiming the top four seeds in Division 1 for the inaugural CIF Southern Section playoffs.
With the seedings based on the computer-generated Massey power ratings, No. 1 Orange Lutheran (9.681 rating), No. 2 Newport Harbor (9.441), Huntington Beach (8.822) and JSerra (8.786) lead the field of 16 teams in Division 1.
JSerra coach Brian Ong traced the impressive showing to the influence of Matt Leinart Flag Football. The Orange County-based youth league ran a high school girls league before flag football became an official CIF-SS sport last school year.
“(The) league’s support of girls flag football is a huge reason for Orange County is occupying the top four seeds,” said Ong, who is not associated with the Matt Leinart league. “Also, Orange County truly values females in sports and it’s showing on the flag football field.”
Santa Margarita’s Fiona Agius pulls in a pass against Orange Lutheran in a flag football game in Orange on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Santa Margarita (8.78), an at-large entry in Division 1, finished fifth in final Massey rankings.
The rankings were used to craft the brackets of teams that qualified from their leagues or received an at-large berth.
Orange Lutheran (19-2) shared the Trinity League title with JSerra (20-6). Newport Harbor (22-2), ranked No. 1 by OCVarsity and winners of 21 straight games, outdistanced runner-up Huntington Beach (18-7) for the Sunset League title.
The first round in Division 1 is Saturday, Oct. 26.
Orange Lutheran plays host to Roosevelt (18-2) while Newport Harbor takes on visiting Camarillo (19-7). Huntington Beach will play host to Western Christian (24-3). JSerra faces visiting Canyon (16-2), the Freeway League champion that has won 12 straight.
Division 1 includes Corona del Mar and Aliso Niguel.
Corona del Mar (17-9), the third-place team from the Sunset League, opens at undefeated St. Joseph of Lakewood (21-0) in one of the top first-round games. South Coast League champion Aliso Niguel (24-4) plays at Dos Pueblos (17-4).
The section playoffs will feature five divisions. Division 2-5 are 32-team brackets that begin games on Tuesday.
Cypress (19-7) and Woodbridge (19-6), a pair of O.C.-ranked teams, are seeded third and fourth, respectively, in Division 2.
Troy (12-3-3) and La Habra (8-8) of the North Hills League also earned high seeds. North Hills champion Troy is slotted second in Division 3 to Linfield Christian while La Habra is No. 1 in Division 4, one spot ahead of Fullerton (14-6).
Orange League champion Santiago (16-9) is seeded fourth in Division 5.
All five divisional finals will be played at El Modena High on Nov. 9.
Top 2024 tournament champions
Chargers tournament: Orange Lutheran
Beckman tournament: Newport Harbor
El Toro tournament: Newport Harbor
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