Why the committee’s job just got tougher

It was going to be so easy, wasn’t it?

The North Coast Section’s four-team Open Division — the big dance, as Pittsburg coach Victor Galli called it a few weeks back — was going to be De La Salle, Pittsburg, San Ramon Valley and Freedom.

Case closed. Nothing else to see here.

But then they played football Friday night and mayhem erupted.

De La Salle flattened San Ramon Valley. Freedom lost to Liberty. Pittsburg beat Antioch by two points.

Clayton Valley Charter, the fifth team in the discussion, routed Campolindo and now looks as if it has a date to the dance.

Freedom’s definitely out. San Ramon Valley is probably still in. Pittsburg is in, too, but where?

The Pirates were a lock for the No. 2 seed behind De La Salle and still might be, given that they have just one loss, to Centennial-Corona, and a victory on the road over Central Coast Section power Serra.

But now they have just a 14-12 victory over Antioch, the same Antioch that trailed at home against Clayton Valley 49-0 in the third quarter in September on its way to a 55-22 loss.

The NCS selection committee will have to weigh those comparative results — and more — when it sorts through the data Sunday and makes it selections.

If the committee goes with Clayton Valley, De La Salle, Pittsburg and San Ramon Valley, Clayton Valley would be the only two-loss team among the group. But is its body of work deserving of more than a No. 4 seed, which for obvious reasons nobody wants?

The Ugly Eagles opened the season with losses to Reed of Sparks, Nevada 38-22 and Mililani of Hawaii 49-30. Reed is 8-2 and ranked No. 6 in Nevada by MaxPreps. Mililani is 10-0 and ranked No. 3 in Hawaii by MaxPreps.

Since those losses, Clayton Valley has won eight games in a row, outscoring its foes 366-126.

“We’ve got to get 3,” Clayton Valley coach Tim Murphy said late Friday night, noting that he’d be quite upset with a No. 4 seed.

The difference between No. 3 and 4 is the difference between having a chance to move on beyond the section playoffs or not.

De La Salle has won 25 consecutive NCS championships and, given its dominance Friday is clearly headed for its 26th. But the runner-up in the Open is all but a lock to play in a regional, as Freedom did last season.

The committee could put Clayton Valley in the No. 4 spot for the second year in a row, or it could place San Ramon Valley there.

Sure, a De La Salle-San Ramon Valley first-round game would not be ideal, but the committee must make its choices based on merit, not whether a matchup is ideal.

That said, a Pitt-Clayton Valley game would be fairly ideal, given Galli’s brash comments after Murphy called Pitt and Freedom, trying to arrange a game on four hours’ notice last month when poor air from the North Bay wildfires caused numerous games to be canceled.

Whichever way the committee goes, this much is clear: Somebody is not going to be happy.