Leigh boys to play in Open Division
Mitty gets top seed; Burlingame star to face former team
One of the storylines heading into the Central Coast Section’s version of Selection Sunday was whether the Leigh boys basketball team would get chosen for the Open Division.
When the Long horns appeared on the computer screen during a streamed midday selection show, coach Patrick Judge broke down in tears.
After a week of turmoil — injuries and a stunning loss to Sobrato in a league tournament — the Longhorns still received a No. 6 seed in the eight- team Open bracket and will face No. 3 Serra in the opening round Friday night.
“I’m not normally that sentimental of a guy,” Judge said. “But we’ve been working on this and striving for this all year. It’s a culmination of a lot of hard work. The boys deserve that recognition.”
Archbishop Mitty, the West Catholic Athletic League season and tournament champion, was seeded No. 1 in the Open and Burlingame No. 2.
For Burlingame and its star guard, Frankie Ferrari, its openinground game Friday is against Ferrari’s former team, Archbishop Riordan. The Crusaders are seeded seventh.
“I’m familiar with the team and what they do,” the USF bound Ferrari said. “I’m ready to get this started.”
Half Moon Bay was seeded fourth and will meet No. 5 Sacred Heart Cathedral. Mitty plays No. 8 Santa Cruz.
SHC was the top seed in the girls Open Division, followed by No. 2 St. Ignatius, No. 3 Mitty, No. 4 Pinewood, No. 5 Presentation, No. 6 Scotts Valley, No. 7 Eastside College Prep and No. 8 Wilcox.
Wilcox coach Kevin White, whose team won the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division, said he was not disappointed by the eighth seed, noting that he told an assistant last week that seeding was not going to make much difference.
“All eight teams are going to be very good,” said White, who led the Chargers to the Open semifinals last season. “Whoever is doing well at that time is going to do well. I was a little surprised at 8, but I am very OK with it.”
Wilcox opens against Sacred Heart Cathedral, which beat St. Ignatius in the WCAL tournament final Saturday.
The other No. 1 girls seeds were Gunn ( Division I), St. Francis ( Division II), Valley Christian ( Division III), Notre Dame- Belmont ( Division IV) and St. Francis CCC ( Division V).
The remaining No. 1 boys seeds were San Benito ( Division I), St. Ignatius ( Division II), Mills ( Division III), Sacred Heart Prep ( Division IV) and Pinewood ( Division V).
Leigh thought it was headed for Division II after its loss to Sobrato, which followed an injury to shooting guard Josh Verner ( broken hand) and back issues for power forward Devin Miller, who Judge said is feeling much better after a chiropractor visit Friday.
But the nine- member selection committee, made up of representatives from the section’s nine leagues, chose Leigh over St. Ignatius, which beat Mitty twice during the season and tied for second in the WCAL.
Leigh and S. I. are both D- II schools, which meant the committee could not choose both because no more than three teams from the same enrollment division can make the Open. Mitty and Serra are also D- II schools.
“We were at peace wherever the selection committee decided to put us,” Judge said. “It was still a bit of a shock, though, absolutely.”
Staff writer Glenn Reeves contributed to this report. For more on high school sports, see the After School blog at blogs. mercurynews. com/ highschools.