CIF Southern Section 2019 Division 4 football bracket, quarterfinals preview

The CIF Southern Section Division 4 football quarterfinals kick off Friday. Here’s an inside look at the matchups.
CIF Southern Section 2019 Division 4 football bracket, quarterfinals preview
CIF Southern Section 2019 Division 4 football bracket, quarterfinals preview /

The CIF Southern Section Division 4 football quarterfinals kick off Friday, Nov. 15. Here’s a look at the matchups:

Villa Park vs. Loyola

These teams have been a little hard to figure out this season, but they appear to be quite evenly matched and coming off perhaps their best games of the season.

Nobody saw Loyola’s 7-0 defeat of Palos Verdes last week coming. Upsetting them was improbable but far from out of the question, but shutting out a team that averaged over 34 points per game this season was eye-opening. Loyola has had some games this season where their defense is on another level, and if they can play the same way against Villa Park, they should be able to pull out another low-scoring win.

Beating Great Oak 39-8 last week was easily Villa Park’s best game of the season. But that’s how well they’ll need to play every night going forward to stay alive. Both teams had difficult regular season schedules that certainly helped them prepare for these pressure moments. It’s anyone’s game.

San Juan Hills vs. Hart

After beating Chaparral by 11 last week, Hart has to be looked at as more of a threat than they had been to go deep in the playoffs. Before that, their best wins were against West Ranch and St. Bonaventure, who are both great teams but not title contenders in Division 4.

San Juan Hills isa title contender in Division 4. They lack statement wins themselves, but have smoothly cleaned up all season against anyone who wasn’t a strong Division 3 playoff team or better. Their best games of the season, strangely, were very close losses to Orange Lutheran and Edison. The Stallions are hard to pinpoint, and it would’ve been great to see them really give it to Murrieta Mesa last week more lopsidedly, but they still are the clear favorite coming into this game. Not by a huge margin though.

Paramount vs. Roosevelt

Along with Oxnard, Paramount is the favorite to win Division 4 behind Camarillo. In all due respect to Roosevelt, they’ll most likely be one step closer to it after this week. Their schedule has a glaring lack of strong opponents on it, but their only loss was in overtime to Division 1 selection Bishop Amat, and everything else has been a blowout victory. If they’re up for something of a challenge with Roosevelt, they should be in good shape. The Pirates are led by a great defense and star QB Kingston Hala who’s both the best passer in Division 4 and a legitimate dual-threat as well. Anthony Williams is a major threat at receiver as well.

The case to be made for Roosevelt is that they already see Norco and Corona Centennial every season, and their ridiculous preseason started with four losses to Rancho Cucamonga, Glendora, Tesoro, and Murrieta Valley, so Paramount won’t be anything they haven’t seen by any stretch. Is that a reason to favor them at all? It helps, but the answer is no. Roosevelt will have to be perfect to have any chance.

Downey vs. Camarillo

While they still have a long way to go, Camarillo has to be looked at as the favorite to win the division. They’re 10-1, and their only lost was a reasonably competitive loss to Grace Brethren in the last week of the regular season. QB James McNamara and RB/WR Jessie Valenzuela run the show behind a big offensive line and it would be a shock if Downey could contain them. Camarillo doesn’t have the biggest front seven, but their defense has been great this year all-around, and elite safety Grady Liddell anchors a strong secondary. The Scorpions would’ve loved to beat a strong Damien team more convincingly, but among their list of big wins this season is Oxnard.

Downey is still only 5-6 on the season after a great win last week against La Mirada, but they challenged themselves with a brutal preseason that featured Corona del Mar, Kapolei (Hawaii), Alemany, and Hart. Throw in Paramount during league and a close loss they’d like to have back against a strong Warren squad, and you have a solid team with a losing record. Is there any reason on paper to give them a shot against Camarillo? Not really.


Published
Lance Smith, SBLive Sports
LANCE SMITH, SBLIVE SPORTS

Lance Smith is a Reporter for SBLive Sports, covering basketball, football, and softball in California's Southern Section and LA City Section since 2019. He also covers Nevada and National Girls Basketball.