Cathedral has won its last two Southern California Division I-AA playoff games, 35-28 in 2016 and 24-21 in 2018, each time at home against Harbor City Narbonne.
In attempting to win a third the Dons will head 70 miles North Friday to play Orange Lutheran, a four-loss team that was fifth in its league, at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.
In this case, records lie.
The Lancers were 1-4 in the Trinity League, a miniature NFL circuit arguably the best in California, maybe the U.S.
“O-Lu”, as insiders call it, is 10-4 overall and played seven teams with Cal Preps.com ratings of at least 61.
Cathedral is 10-2 and coming off impressive wins in the San Diego Section playoffs, 38-10 over Mission Hills and 48-19 over Carlsbad.
The teams faced one common opponent. Lutheran lost, 48-0, to Corona Centennial, which beat Cathedral, 57-14.
Cathedral is ninth and Orange Lutheran 10th in Cal-Hi Sports’ weekly ratings. Max Preps says the Lancers are fifth and Cathedral ninth. Cal Preps.com gives Lutheran a 71.1 grade and Cathedral 67.4.
Next, D2-A, D3-A, DVI-AA.
RATINGS GAME, FINAL
Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS | |||
| 1. | Cathedral | 10-2 | 240 | 2 | |||
| 2. | Carlsbad | 11-1 | 208 | 1 | |||
| 3. | Mater Dei | 12-0 | 177 | 3 | |||
| 4. | Helix | 9-3 | 171 | 7 | |||
| 5. | Mission Hills | 8-3 | 140 | 3 | |||
| 6. | Lincoln | 8-4 | 111 | 8 | |||
| 7. | Torrey Pines | 6-4 | 90 | 5 | |||
| 8. | Scripps Ranch | 11-1 | 82 | 10 | |||
| 9. | Madison | 9-3 | 50 | 6 | |||
| 10. | Patrick Henry | 10-2 | 23 | NR | |||
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
El Camino (6-7, 10 points), Ramona (9-4, 10 points), Palo Verde Valley (11-2, 3 points), La Costa Canyon (5-6, 2 points), La Jolla (5-8, 2 points), Mt. Carmel (10-2, 1 point), Santa Fe Christian (10-1, 1 point).
VOTING PANEL
Twenty-four sportswriters and sportscasters throughout San Diego County.
- John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
- Steve Brand, Thomas Gutierrez, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, freelance contributors.
- John Carroll, Nick Pollino, KUSI Ch. 51.
- John Kentera, Braden Suprenant, 97.3-FM The Fan).
- Adam Paul, ECPreps.com.
- Bodie DeSilva, scorebooklive.com.
- Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com.
- Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
- Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego.
- Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net.
- Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez, Mike Dolan, CIF San Diego Section.
- Ramon Scott, Eastcountysports.com.
- Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country, 107.9-FM.
