The CIF Southern Section’s Division 1 champions from the past two seasons hook up in a State Southern Regional Division I second-round game Thursday night at St. Bernard High in Playa del Rey.
The host Vikings (22-8) knocked off JSerra in the 2022 CIF SS D-1 finale.
And the Mater Dei Monarchs (28-6) toppled Etiwanda in this season’s D-1 finale Saturday afternoon in the Honda Center.
The Monarchs had to recover from a nine-point, halftime deficit to visiting La Costa Tuesday night to prevail, 70-66, in overtime, in their regional opener.
And the Vikings needed a career-high 44 points from senior Tyler Rolison to edge another opponent that traveled from San Diego, Santa Fe Christian (75-73).
Rolison (pictured) is among the best of the “still available” (he has yet to sign with or commit to a college) guards in the country.
Other Thursday night D-I quarterfinals have: No. 8 Mira Costa (28-3) at No. 1 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (23-10); No. 6 Etiwanda (26-5) at No. 3 Sierra Canyon (21-10); and No. 7 Rancho Christian (24-10) at No. 2 Bishop Montgomery (27-4).
Notre Dame, Bishop Montgomery, and Sierra Canyon joined St. Bernard in dropping from the CIF Southern Section’s original eight-team field to Division I for regional action.
The Southern Division II bracket was jolted Tuesday night, when host and No. 1 Anaheim Canyon was stunned by 16 seed King/Drew (which took a 15-16 record into the game), 73-65.
The mega-upset by the Golden Eagles earned Coach Lloyd Webster’s club another trip to Orange County Thursday, much deeper into the OC to Newport where Pacifica Christian (24-9) awaits.
The two games in the lower half of the bracket are also set for Orange County, with No. 6 (and the CIF SS 3AA champion) Pius X/St. Matthias Academy traveling to No. 3 Orange Lutheran (CIF SS 2AA runner-up), and No. 10 and 3A winner San Gabriel Academy visiting Rancho Santa Margarita to take on 3AA champion Tesoro.
In the fourth quarterfinal, No. 4 La Mirada (the 2A runner-up) is at home to 30-3 Oxnard, whose 15-game win streak was snapped by host Orange Lutheran (70-49) in a 2AA semifinal.
Eighteen programs that participated in the December Classic at Damien are still playing in regional action (in both the northern and southern regions).
Eight of those teams – half of the quarterfinal field – are in Division I with seven more in Division II.
The St. Pius X/St. Matthias Academy at Orange Lutheran game is a clash of teams that were part of the Classic at Damien (but didn’t play in the same division).
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