CIF football playoff pairings will be announced on Oct. 27 after the last regular season games are played tomorrow.
For the Point Loma Pointers, the goal is a top-four ranking in their division, which would give them a first-round bye and time to heal and regroup.
For several years, the San Diego Section of CIF has used computer rankings to determine playoff opponents. Each game is scored based on the winning team’s strength and the rated strength of the opponent based on games played.
For the Pointers, their extremely tough Western League opponents help with those rankings. Cathedral Catholic (No. 1), St. Augustine (No. 7) and Madison (No. 9) are all top-10 schools in Div. I of the point system that enhances the Pointers’ difficulty of opponents score.
Going into tomorrow’s final games, the Pointers find themselves ranked as the No. 3 team in Div. II with a rating of 27.4 points. They are behind Granite Hills (30.6) and Poway (28.3). Trailing the Pointers in fourth is Vista (27.0).
On the field, the Pointers are 5-4 overall, 1-2 in Western League.
Tomorrow’s final game for the Dogs is a home battle against rival Cathedral Catholic. A win would certainly ensure them that coveted first-round bye, but a loss could conceivably drop them to fifth place based on the outcome of other final games. That would mean the Pointers play a first-round game.
Those first-round games would be played on Nov. 2 with quarterfinals scheduled for Nov. 9, semifinals Nov. 16 and championship games set for Nov. 23, the day after Thanksgiving.
The computer system was adopted several years ago to eliminate the former method of determining playoff teams and rankings. That involved head coaches meeting to argue on behalf of their school’s merits against other head coaches in tension-filled verbal battles. Pointers 33, Lincoln 20
The Pointers have played in five homecoming games this season, emerging with a record of 3-2, including their own homecoming win over University City in a wild game that featured more than 1,000 yards of total offense and a final score of 50-40.
Their visit to Lincoln earlier this month came on a memorable night of heavy storms and game-delaying lightning across San Diego County. Fortunately, the Pointers and Hornets were able to complete their game, a game as strange as the weather.
At halftime the Pointers trotted off the field trailing 20-12. Their chances didn’t look great of posting a win in the rain at the Southeast San Diego school.
But something changed during that 15-minute break.
First, the Dog’s defense shut out the Hornets the entire second half. And the Pointers put up 21 second half points – all in the fourth quarter – to dampen the Hornet homecoming and score their first league victory of the season.
A Kaden Gill touchdown and two-point conversion pass to Nick Riffle tied the game at 20.
From there, Myles Bryant had the winning touchdown with only 1:24 remaining to play. JL Skinner’s 25-yard interception return provided the final points. St. Augustine 39, Pointers 0
The Saints were likely motivated by a last-minute loss to Madison in their lightning-delayed Friday game finished on Monday, just four days before playing the Pointers.
This was the first shoutout pinned on the Pointers since a 48-0 loss to Madison in Oct. 2015. The Saints dominated the game including holding the Pointers’ potent running game to less than 100 yards and four first downs for the game.
