Previews for five of the Orange County teams playing in the first round of the CIF Southern Section football playoffs Friday, Nov. 7:
CIF-SS FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
First round
DIVISION 2
Corona del Mar (9-1) at Murrieta Valley (7-3), Friday, 7 p.m.
Outlook: Corona del Mar won its first nine games of the season but fell to Yorba Linda in overtime last week. Brady Annett is a first team All-County candidate with 2,297 yards passing with 34 touchdowns. Garrett James is a deep-threat receiver with 878 yards with 15 touchdowns and Dorsett Stecker has 673 yards with 13 touchdowns. Cash Pearsall leads the Sea Kings in tackles with 80 and interceptions with four. Murrieta Valley is the second-place team from the Big West-Upper League. Jeremiah Watson has rushed for 1,429 yards with 21 touchdowns for the Nighthawks, but didn’t play last week against Roosevelt.
Tustin (9-1) at Rancho Cucamonga (7-3), Friday, 7 p.m.
Outlook: Tustin cruised through the Delta League and beat second-place Capistrano Valley 35-20 in Week 10. Sophomore Ayden Edwards has thrown for 2,003 yards with 21 touchdowns and Elijah Robinson had four games with 100-plus rushing yards in league play with seven touchdowns. Jeremiah Williams (310 pounds) leads the team in sacks and has seven rushing touchdowns. Khalil Terry and Tim Ioane each have four interceptions. Rancho Cucamonga won the Baseline League title and Fresno State commit Jacob Chambers has thrown for 1,742 yards with 18 touchdowns. Junior Nathaniel Mensah leads the defense with five interceptions.
DIVISION 3
Aquinas (9-1) at Dana Hills (9-1), Friday, 7 p.m.
Outlook: Dana Hills shared the Foxtrot League title this year with Laguna Beach and is making the jump from Division 6 to Division 3 in the playoffs this season. Sophomore Carter Anderson has thrown for 2,171 yards with 28 touchdowns and Radley Geiss has run for 116 yards per game with 15 touchdowns. James Leicester is the school’s all-time leader in career touchdown receptions and Jack Norman has broken out as a two-way player as of late. Micah Langohr has 13 sacks and Chuck Eckl has recently returned from injury. Aquinas won each of its Ironwood League games by at least 30 points and is averaging 42 points per game. Charlie Reyes has 24 touchdowns with just three interceptions and Champ Brown has 13 rushing touchdowns.
DIVISION 5
Millikan (3-7) at Aliso Niguel (7-3), Friday, 7 p.m.
Outlook: All three of Aliso Niguel’s losses are against teams in Division 3. Carter Vestermark averages 226 passing yards per game and has 22 touchdown passes. The Wolverines have two speedy track guys at receiver in Dane Malloy and Hunter Hagins. Carson Etnire has four interceptions and Cash Jackson has five sacks with 16 hurries. Millikan was awarded the third automatic qualifying spot from the Moore League after Long Beach Poly withdrew from the playoffs. The Rams had to forfeit their first three games of the season because it had played an ineligible player. Colorado State commit Jude Nelson has 824 yards receiving with 12 touchdowns and freshman quarterback Jonah Tuaniga has 29 touchdown passes.
DIVISION 8
Beckman (7-3) at La Mirada (4-6), Friday, 7 p.m.
Outlook: Beckman opened the season with a 1-3 record but won its last six games and the outright Lambda League championship. Noah Nam averaged 173 passing yards per game with 16 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Makhi Czaykowski ran for 1,030 yards with 12 touchdowns and led the team with eight receiving touchdowns. Nathan Garcia leads the defense with 93 tackles and Xavier Musselman-Cano has five interceptions. La Mirada is the fourth-place team from the Gateway League and is 1-3 against Orange County opponents this season. Ismael Garcia ran for 678 yards with seven touchdowns and the Matadors have 17 sacks this season.