Three Trinity League teams are among the eight teams in the CIF Southern Section Open Division field for the playoffs.
League champion Mater Dei (12-1-2) is seeded No. 2 in the elite group. JSerra (7-4-3), last season’s Open Division champion and the league’s No. 2 team, is seeded at No. 6. Trinity League No. 3 Orange Lutheran (10-3-3) is seeded at No. 8.
Servite (10-7-1), the Trinity League’s No. 4 team, is in the Division 1 32-team bracket as an at-large team.
Empire League champion Valencia (14-1) is in the Open Division. The Tigers are seeded at No. 4.
Valencia was No. 2 in last week’s power rankings of the 473 CIF Southern Section teams. Those rankings determine which teams go into which playoff divisions and how teams are seeded in those divisions.
The Tigers won their final two regular-season games by large margins, 6-2 over Santa Ana and 5-2 over Katella. The final power ranking, released Saturday, have Valencia at No. 4
Valencia coach Barry Gardner did not expect the Tigers to be down to No. 4 in the power rankings and, thus, the No. 4 seed in the Open Division.
“Fourth is a little further down than I thought,” he said.
But, overall, he is fine with it.
“I like our seed and I like our opponent,” Gardner said.
The Open Division uses a home-and-away format. Every Open Division team plays the same team in Round 1 and Round 2.
Valencia plays at No. 5-seeded Cathedral (15-2-2) in Round 1 on Wednesday. Valencia is home against Cathedral in Round 2 on Friday.
Also in the Open Division on Wednesday: Palos Verdes (20-3) at Orange Lutheran; Redondo Union (13-5-1) at JSerra; and Mater Dei at Mira Costa (10-5-1). The home team is switched in those matchups for Round 2 on Friday. The lower seed is the home team for the first game and is the visiting team for the second game.
Crestview League champion Canyon is seeded No. 1 in Division 1. Orange Coast League No. 3 team Kennedy is seeded No. 1 in Division 6.
All six Santa Ana public schools are in the playoffs: Century, Godinez, Saddleback, Santa Ana, Segerstrom and Valley.
Playoff dates for all nine divisions are Feb. 11, Feb. 13, Feb. 17 (quarterfinals); Feb. 21 (semifinals); and Feb. 28 (finals).
Game times are 3 p.m. or 5 p.m. Home teams set the starting time through the semifinals.
The CIF Southern California Regional is March 3-7. The CIF State Championships are March 13 and 14 at Natomas High School in Sacramento.