Friday on my mind for SoCal prep playoffs

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Oh, yes . . . we’ve now entered the realm of the very good games, across the board realm of the high school playoffs on the CIF Southern and L.A. City sections.

The Southern Section’s divisions 1 and 2 are into the quarterfinals Friday night, with the remainder of the Southern Section’s divisions are into their semifinals, as is the City Section’s Division I.

Let’s take a look at some of those Friday night matchups, all of which are scheduled to tip at 7, as well as the City Division I semifinals that will be played Saturday evening at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson:

SOUTHERN SECTION

 1AA: No. 9 Moreno Valley Rancho Verde at No. 1 Santa Ana Mater Dei; No. 4 Mission Viejo at No. 12 Inglewood; No. 14 Victorville Silverado at No. 6 Etiwanda; No. 2 Long Beach Poly at No. 7 L.A. Loyola.

Frank Says: Top seeds Mater Dei (a margin of 62 points) and Poly (92 points) advanced to the quarterfinals with the absurd ease that was anticipated in the first two rounds. Things should be considerable tougher Friday night, especially for Poly.

The Jackrabbits are on the road in the hostile environment which will be the Loyola gymnasium, and the Cubs’ sparkling junior point guard, Parker Jackson-Cartwright, appears to be in prime condition after missing the better part of a month because of a sore foot.

Keys to a possible Loyola upset: 1) Can Trey Mason be freed up to hit a lot of jumpers against the Jackrabbits’ man-to-man? 2) Can the Cubs’ Thomas Welsh and Mtume Armour hamper the ability of Jordan Bell and Roschon Prince to dominate in the lane, at both ends of the floor?

Silverado recorded the biggest stunner of the Southern Section playoffs Tuesday night, stunning Centennial on its home court – about two months after losing to the Huskies by 34 points in the third-place game of a tournament.

But the sweet ride ends Friday night at Etiwanda. The Eagles’ man-to-man defense has held a couple of league champions (Highland and Temecula Great Oak) to a combined 89 points. The Eagles should be able to meet their commitment for a Tuesday night semifinal against Loyola or Poly without a lot of fuss or muss against the Hawks (who I saw lose by 27 points to Rancho Cucamonga at that same Inland-Empire Tournament in Fontana during December).

Inglewood, the runner-up to Santa Monica (the No. 2 seed in the 1A) in the Bay League, whacked Sunset League champ Fountain Valley and Baseline co-champ (and No. 5 seed) Rancho Cucamonga by a combined 54 points.

Things should be considerably tougher in Inglewood Friday night against South Coast co-champion (and No 4 seed) Mission Viejo, which is led by 6-foot-3 guard Evan Zeller and 6-1 Notre Dame-bound football stud Max Redfield.

But if there truly remains a sleeper, of sorts, to win this division then its Coach Pat Roy’s Inglewood squad, which suffered a surprising nine losses during the regular after returning the bulk of a squad that won the 2AA title last spring.

Perhaps there was a chemistry issue as the program adjusted to the addition of Playa del Rey St. Bernard transfers Brandon Randolph (who signed with Xavier in November and is one of the best half-dozen or so seniors in Southern California) and Mike Garcia. Whatever the problem was it obviously doesn’t exist anymore.

1A: No. 1 Lake Forest El Toro at No. 9 Corona Santiago; No. 12 Long Beach Millikan at No. 4 La Crescenta Crescenta Valley; No. 3 Valencia West Ranch at No. 6 Dana Point Dana Hills; No. 2 Santa Monica at No. 7 Aliso Viejo Aliso Niguel.

Frank Says: El Toro may have been a tad fortunate to get out of its first round game with Long Beach Cabrillo (rallying from 10 points down to win by three) but I think this division is still shaping up to have a final of El Toro against Santa Monica or West Ranch.

The sleeper in these quarterfinals is Millikan, which finished in third place (behind L.B. Poly and Compton) in the Moore League but has played a dynamic brand of hoops in the Rams’ first season under Chris Francis. The Rams have lost just three times in the 2013 portion of the season – twice to Poly and once to Compton (by three points).

  2AA: No. 8 Leuzinger Lawndale at No. 1 Riverside JW North; No. 5 Manhattan Beach Mira Costa at No. 11 Temecula Valley; No. 2 Villa Park at No. 6 Murrieta Valley; No. 7 Camarillo at No. 2 Thousand Oaks.

Frank Says: The first of these matchups could be the most compelling of the evening, although the last figures to draw the most shoulder-to-shoulder jammed crowd.

Mike Bartee’s JW North Huskies, after winning by margins of 30 and 26 points, respectively, should finally face a competitive opponent in the quarterfinals. But the Huskies should be game enough to advance to a semifinal Tuesday night.

The sleeper in this field is No. 11 Temecula Valley, led by 6-7 senior Brandon Rosser, which handled No. 4 Fullerton Sunny Hills by 18 points Tuesday night.

  2A: No. 8 Beaumont at No. 1 Westlake Village Westlake; No. 13 Goleta Dos Pueblos at No. 5 Las Flores Tesoro; No. 3 Anaheim Canyon at No. 11 Arroyo Grande; No. 2 Redondo Beach Redondo at No. 10 Glendora.

Frank Says: Redondo (a margin of 44 points) and Canyon (51 points) have rolled in the lower part of the bracket but both are on the road Friday night – obstacles which shouldn’t be too much for the teams to overcome.

Dos Pueblos stunned No. 4 Elsinore Tuesday night but the sledding will come a lot tougher in Orange County Friday night against a Tesoro team that competed against the likes of Mission Viejo, El Toro and Aliso Niguel – all still in contention for trips to the Anaheim Convention Center Arena – in the South Coast League.

  3AAA: No. 1 Tustin at No. 4 Compton; No. 10 Brea Olinda at No. 6 Simi Valley Royal.

Frank Says: Tustin and Compton are the remaining top two seeds in this division and some would suggest that their game, in fact, is the “real” title game. I’d suggest not getting too far of ourselves here.

Tustin has lost twice, both to Santa Ana-based programs (Mater Dei and Foothill), while Compton has nine Ls on a schedule that has been much more difficult than the one the Tillers encountered. There is a noteworthy common foe: Compton lost to Mater Dei in the semifinals of the Jim Harris Memorial Tournament of Champions (by eight points) while Tustin fell to the Monarchs in the Orange Holiday Classic final (by 22 points).

The Tarbabes could have the most gifted junior class in the Southern Section; the Tillers have a couple of skilled frontcourt seniors in Nick Hornsby and Deondre Bryant. It could be one of the three or four best games of the night.

Brea Olinda should have a tough time trying to defend Royal’s 6-9 jump shooter-deluxe, Scott Woods.

  3AA: No. 1 Lawndale Leuzinger at No. 5 Rancho Santa Margarita Santa Margarita; No. 2 La Verne Damien at No. 3 Newport Beach Corona del Mar.

Frank Says: Road games are on tap for the top seeds in the divisions but both – largely because of solid guard play – should be able to ease their ways back to the South Bay and San Gabriel Valley, respective, with Anaheim Convention Center Arena reservations on their busses.

Leuzinger has one of the Southland’s most underrated point guards (Eric Childress). Santa Margarita – winless in10 Trinity League games, by the way – counters with a quality junior post in Joe Furstinger and three-year varsity starters Ryan Merritt and Tyler Strauss.

Damien has smothered three opponents (holding them to an average of 35 points per game) defensively. It has an executive member of that superb 2015 West Coast class of guards in Jeremy Hemsley.

  3A: No. 4 Huntington Beach Ocean View at No. 1 Bellflower St. John Bosco; No. 3 West Hills Chaminade at No. 2 Oak Park.

Frank Says: There was nothing approaching an upset in the first three rounds. Each of these games should be both competitive and entertaining (they are not always one and the same, of course).

The first game pits programs with as much talent (across all classes) on the perimeter as any in Southern California, with sophomore Kendall Small leading the way for the visitors and McDonald’s All-American Isaac Hamilton pacing the high-powered Braves’ transition offense.

  I’ll be in Bellflower for that one.

Chaminade (in Jaron Martin) and Oak Park (Ron Lee Jr.) have two of the better unsigned senior guards in SoCal.

  4AA: No. 5 La Verne Lutheran at No. 1 Torrance Bishop Montgomery; No. 7 Encino Crespi at No. 4 Gardena Serra.

Frank Says: Nothing that has transpired in the first three rounds (a collective 126-point margin of victory) has done anything to alter the opinions of those who believe that Coach Doug Mitchell’s unbeaten squad is Southern California’s best. That point of view isn’t going to be altered after the Knights’ semifinal.

The terrific senior (Virginia-bound London Perrantes) and freshman (dynamic freshman Max Heidegger) backcourt led Crespi to a quarterfinal “upset” (it wasn’t that big of one, actually) of No. 2 L.A. Price. Can it pull off the same stunt against No. 4 Serra? Yep – it can.

  4A: No. 4 Montebello Sacred Heart at No. 1 L.A. Pacific Hills; No. 2 L.A. Brentwood at No. 3 Santa Maria St. Joseph.

Frank Says: The first contest is a rematch of the division’s final last March (won by Pacific Hills, 65-42).

The result could be comparable this time around, as well.

I’d say we’re going to an Alpha League rubber match between the top two seeds next week – they split in the regular season.

5AA: No. 1 Sun Valley Village Christian at No. 4 Sherman Oaks Buckley; No. 3 San Luis Obispo Mission Prep at No. 2 La Canada Flintridge Prep.

Frank Says: Each of these teams could compete well in “higher” divisions but I think next week’s final will pit the top two seeds, each led by a very good junior guard (Bryan Alberts and Robert Cartwright, respectively).

 5A: No. 1 San Pedro Rolling Hills Prep at No. 4 Encino Holy Martyrs; No. 3 San Gabriel Academy at No. 2 L.A. Shalevet.

Frank Says: Rolling Hills will continue to, eh, roll to a Southern Section title.

 6A: No. 1 Arcadia Rio Hondo Prep at No. 2 Valencia Trinity Classical Academy.

Frank Says: I can offer witty roll-like verb but I would assume Rio Hondo Prep is a bit too strong for the rest of this field.

L.A. CITY

  Division I: (Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills) 6 p.m., No. 3 Crenshaw vs. No. 2 El Camino Real; 8, No. 4 Palisades vs. No. 1 Westchester.

Frank Says: Can Crenshaw and/or Palisades the long-anticipated Westchester-ECR March 2 championship tilt?

It’s possible just not very likely.