Sierra Canyon in Division 1 playoffs for first time
The CIF Southern Section released the prep football playoff pairings on Sunday morning and placed Sierra Canyon in Division 1.
It's the first time the Trailblazers have reached the Southern Section's highest division, and it was something they've been working toward.
“It's been a great ride for us and there's been a lot of great kids come through this place that have just slowly helped us climb the ladder,” coach Jon Ellinghouse said. “We're really proud of what our program has done until this point and this is where we've been trying to get. Now we've gotta try to prove that we belong.”
The Trailblazers, the No. 3 seed in the eight-team bracket, are off this week and then host Santa Margarita, an at-large team from the Trinity League, in the first round Nov. 10.
The Sierra Canyon coaching staff met Sunday morning in preparation for the bracket release, fairly certain they would reach Division 1 but unsure of if a bye would be in the cards.
“I had birthday parties with my kids and all kinds of stuff, but at the same time we might have been playing next week,” Ellinghouse said.
It'll be the first meeting between Sierra Canyon and Santa
Margarita since 2019. The Trailblazers won the game, but the Eagles have a new coaching staff this time around. Anthony Rouzier took over as head coach in 2021 after serving as an assistant for the three seasons before that.
Sierra Canyon won the Division 2 championship last year and finished the season 10-5. This year's team went undefeated in the regular season and captured its first unbeaten Mission League title.
Two of the Trailblazers' opponents from this season also are in Division 1 in Orange Lutheran and JSerra. They beat the former 40-6 on the road the latter 9-7 at home.
Sierra Canyon will play the winner of No. 2 seed Mater Dei (9-1) and JSerra (5-5) if it advances to the second round.
“We've had some experience playing these teams and this isn't new to us,” Ellinghouse said. “We've played the Boscos and the Corona Centennials and the Santa Margaritas and the JSerras. We know what it is, but we also know this is a great task for us.”
All other divisions start the playoffs with first-round games on Friday.
CIF-SS PLAYOFFS
Santa Margarita (5-5) at Sierra Canyon (10-0) Division 2
Chaparral (7-3) at
Oaks Christian (8-2) Valencia (9-1) at
Servite (5-5)
Division 3
St. Francis (8-2) at
San Juan Hills (9-1) Inglewood (8-2) at Chaminade (5-5) Division 4
Moorpark (9-1) at
Yorba Linda (7-3) Paraclete (7-3) at Corona del Mar (5-5) Division 5
Ventura (7-3) at Newbury Park (7-3) El Modena (6-4) at Thousand Oaks (7-3)
Crean Lutheran (6-3) at Hart (7-3)
West Ranch (7-3) at La Habra (6-4)
Village Christian (7-3) at Mayfair (7-3)
Agoura (7-3) at Burroughs (9-1)