Bye, bye … some teams take a break

This is a “bye” week for a lot of Southern California high school football teams. We now live in a world in which the prep gridiron campaign starts earlier and extends longer than ever before.

Why is that? Well, the whole season has been pushed back into mid-August to leave room for the state football playoffs, which is a relatively recent development. The intent is to wrap up football before basketball season starts. The result is that the “fall” sport of football is played in the scorching heat of summer, and half the season is over (for many teams) before the first day of autumn.

Additionally, the state playoff system isn’t really a playoff. Your favorite high school team can finish its season with a CIF-SS division title and a 14-0 record and still not get invited to “the big dance.”

There are some advantages to the longer season in that the creation of bye weeks  – such as five local teams have – allows those with lots of banged-up athletes to get some time to heal and recover.  Even intact rosters can benefit from a bit of a rest until summer leaves us for good.

This is especially useful in that many of our local teams will be starting league play next week.

Stars that shone last week

A brief rundown of some of the outstanding gridiron performances on Sept. 14.

• Arick McLawyer rushed for 191 yards as Huntington Beach defeated rival Marina 32-7. Brandon Cannella passed for 189 yards and four touchdowns. The Oilers are now 4-1.
• Anthony Munoz passed for 328 yards and six touchdowns as Western defeated Glenn 42-28. The Pioneers are 4-1. He’s the county leader in touchdowns and passing yardage.
• Noah Hickman of Ocean View (4-0) passed for two touchdowns and ran for two more in the Seahawks’ victory over Estancia.
• Rai Sagastume of Pacifica (2-2) rushed for 113 yards against Aliso Niguel before having to leave the game due to an injury. The Mariners lost 41-28. PHS led by 15 points before the Wolverines rallied to win.

This week’s kickoff lineup

Here’s the schedule of high school football games for teams in the Garden Grove-Huntington Beach-Stanton-Westminster area this week. As always, times, locations and even dates can change without notice, so call ahead. All games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Note thaive local schools – Huntington Beach, Magnolia, Pacifica, Rancho Alamitos and Western – have byes this week.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 20

• Anaheim (2-2) at Santiago (2-2) at Monsoor Stadium (GGHS).
• Fairmont Prep (1-3) at Bolsa Grande (1-3). This is Bolsa’s homecoming.
• Whittier (4-1) at Westminster (0-5).

FRIDAY, SEPT. 21

• Garden Grove (4-0) at Los Amigos (3-1) at Monsoor Stadium. If the Argos had stayed in the Garden Grove League, this game might have been for the GGL title.
• La Quinta (1-3) at Century (1-3).
• San Clemente (1-4) at Edison (2-2) at Sheue Field (HBHS).
• El Modena (3-1) at Marina (2-3) at Boswell Field (Westminster High).
• Orange (3-1) at Irvine (1-3).
• Ocean View (4-0) at Dana Hills (2-3).

The polls have closed and …

The Orange County Tribune’s High 5 rankings this week for area prep football has a bit of a shakeup. Pacifica, which had been fourth, dropped to fifth after its 41-28 loss to Aliso Niguel. Orange moved into that slot after beating Westminster 62-16. Ocean View and Western are “on the bubble.”

Before you call us scoundrels, understand that The Trib is using the mathematical rankings created by maxpreps.com, rather than our usual process of throwing darts at a wall.

Then there’s the CIF-SS polls released Tuesday afternoon.

A total of 10 area teams made the top 10 teams in fall sports of football, boys’ water polo, boys’ cross country and girls’ volleyball.

FOOTBALL

• Division 6: Huntington Beach is sixth.
• Division 9: Garden Grove is third; Orange is fifth.
• Division 11: Western is second and Ocean View is fourth.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

• Division 4: Ocean View is seventh.

BOYS WATER POLO

• Divisions 1 and 2: Huntington Beach is sixth.
• Division 6: Los Amigos is fifth.
• Division 7: Rancho Alamitos is fourth.

GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL

• Division 7: Ocean View is fifth.

Coaches, parents, fans and players: Want more recognition for your team? E-mail us stats, pics and other details to orangecountytribune@gmail.com.