The brackets are out: 48 OC teams chase CIF titles

The CIF Southern Section released its football brackets Sunday, and 48 Orange County teams are in. The first round is Friday, Nov. 6. Division 1 starts a week later, on Nov. 13, and the finals are Nov. 27-28.

Every bracket, every division, is on our playoff brackets page.

Division 1: five OC teams in an eight-team field

Division 1 starts with an all-OC game. Santa Margarita (10-0), the Trinity League champion, hosts San Clemente, the Alpha League’s third-place team. Mater Dei hosts Big West North champion Corona Centennial. Orange Lutheran, in as an at-large team at 5-5, goes to St. John Bosco in a Trinity League rematch. Mission Viejo, the Alpha champion, goes to unbeaten Sierra Canyon.

Division 2: the unbeatens hit the road

Two of the county’s three 10-0 teams open away from home. Huntington Beach goes to Bay League champion Inglewood (9-1), and Orange travels to Temecula to face Chaparral.

Crean Lutheran, Capistrano Valley and Corona del Mar all host. Division 2 also has an all-OC opener: San Juan Hills hosts Tustin, a week after Tustin beat Capo Valley.

All-OC openers

• Division 1: Santa Margarita vs. San Clemente
• Division 2: San Juan Hills vs. Tustin
• Division 3: Newport Harbor vs. El Modena
• Division 12: Rancho Alamitos vs. Costa Mesa
• Division 13: Anaheim vs. Garden Grove
• Division 14: Santa Ana Valley vs. La Quinta

How CIF built the brackets

CIF ranks every qualifying team by computer rating and fills the divisions in order: eight teams in Division 1, then 16 per division. League finishes decide who gets in, not where they land.

OCF projected a division for every Orange County team before the draw. The final projection had 29 of 48 OC teams in exactly the right division and 45 of 48 within one. The full comparison is on the brackets page.