South County teams rewarded with high seeding positions

This year’s San Diego Section playoff seeding certainly appears to have rewarded South County teams for their excellent play during the regular season.

Besides nationally-ranked Hilltop receiving the No. 2 seed in the Division II boys tournament, the South Bay League champion Southwest Raiders (16-4-1) secured the No. 2 seed in the Division III playoffs, with last year’s Division III champion Castle Park (18-3-1) earning the No. 4 seed in this year’s divisional field.

Mater Dei Catholic (7-10-3) received the No. 3 seed in the Division IV playoffs.

Both the Raiders and Trojans received byes to Friday’s boys quarterfinals. Southwest will host seventh-seed La Jolla (10-8-3) while Castle Park will host fifth-seeded Canyon Crest Academy (12-7-2). Both games are slated to kick off at 5 p.m.

Southwest captured this season’s league title with an 11-1-0 record; Castle Park dropped from a first place tie in the league standings following a 1-0  loss to visiting Sweetwater in the final league game for both teams. Both the Raiders and Trojans split their season series, with Southwest claiming a 5-2 victory on Jan. 27 and CP opening league play with a 4-3 win on Jan. 4.
Alfredo Rodriguez leads the Trojans with 16 goals while Francisco Ramirez has 15 goals for Southwest.

St. Augustine (12-3-5) is seeded first among Division III teams.

Bonita Vista (16-6-1) enters Friday’s Division II boys quarterfinals as the No. 4 seed and will host El Cajon Valley (12-7-2) in a match-up starting at 5 p.m. at Olympian High School.

Chula Vista (14-7-3) defeated visiting Escondido, 3-1, in Tuesday’s opening round of the Division I playoffs and will travel to meet third-seeded San Pasqual (18-3-2) in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Chula Vista High Tech (13-5-2) shut out the Preuss School, 3-0, in Tuesday’s Division IV opener to draw  Mater Dei Catholic in Friday’s quarterfinals.

In other boys openers, Otay Ranch (6-13-3) fell, 3-1, to Granite Hills (12-4-9) in Division I play while Montgomery (11-11-3) dropped a 2-0 Division III decision to visiting University City (11-8).

In girls openers on Wednesday, Eastlake (10-3-5) fell, 1-0, to visiting Grossmont (6-10-4)  while Otay Ranch (10-8-6) succumbed to a loss in kicks from the mark against Granite Hills (11-6-1) following a scoreless overtime draw, both in Division I. South Bay League champion Southwest (14-5-2) ended its season after a 6-0 loss to Mission Bay (15-6-3).

For updated playoff brackets, visit the Web site at www.cifsds.org.

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