In his first two years as St. Francis’ football coach, Dean Herrington took the Golden Knights to back-to-back CIF Southern Section championship games. It lost in the Division 4 final to Long Beach Poly in 2021, and lost to Etiwanda in the Division 5 final last season.
Still, Herrington has been one of the more outspoken critics of the new CIF-SS playoff format, which places teams in divisions at the end of the season based largely on Calpreps’ computer rankings.
Based on those rankings, St. Francis (8-2), which shared the Angelus League title this season, was given the No. 16 seed in the 16-team Division 3 bracket. It will have to travel to take on No. 1 seed San Juan Hills (9-1) in the first round of the playoffs on Friday.
Had St. Francis dropped one spot in the rankings, it would have been the top seed in Division 4.
For that to have happened, teams like Notre Dame (5-5) and Eastvale Roosevelt (6-4) needed to receive at-large berths, which would have pushed St. Francis to Division 4. However, those teams did not get at-large berths.
Meanwhile, teams like Charter Oak (2-8) got an at-large berth for Division 8.
Make it make sense, Herrington says.
“It’s set up so you have a better chance of getting at-large berths in the lower divisions,” Herrington said. “You look at Notre Dame and Roosevelt, teams with better records and played tougher schedules, can’t get in and Charter Oak does? Look, the system is good in some ways and poor in others, but some things don’t make sense at all.”
Where there is not a major complaint for Herrington is that despite being a No. 16 seed and having to go on the road in the first round, Herrington feels his team has a good shot, or at least a competitive shot. That’s what the playoff divisions were designed for — parity.
Ten years ago, a No. 16 team would have virtually no chance of winning in the first round.
In this format, St. Francis is only a four-point underdog, according to Calpreps’ projections.
This playoff format is in its third season, and the first two produced some wild results. Think of this: The No. 11 seed has produced five champions, which is the most of any seed. The No. 1 seeds have produced only three champions. The No. 16 seeds have advanced to one championship game.
So, who knows what lies ahead.
“That is the good thing, there’s not a big difference between 1 and 16,” Herrington said. “And for us, if we can go and get a road win, then we’re at home the next week and it increases your chances of being more at home in the playoffs. Last year we won on the road in the first round and had two games at home after that and reached the championship game. So, it is what it is.”
St. Francis will have it hands full against San Juan Hills, a team with some outstanding young talent. The team’s quarterback is sophomore Timmy Herr, a Mater Dei transfer who has thrown for 1,723 yards and 16 TDs. Herr is listed at 6 feet and 201 pounds and can run the ball, leading his team with 13 rushing TDs.
“He’s like Tim Tebo,” Herrington said of Herr. “He’s thick and more like 220 pounds. They love to run him. We’re getting some defensive linemen back that we didn’t have (in their league finale) against St. Paul, so that’s important. We’re getting healthy.”
San Juan Hills also has an explosive receiver in Jason Robinson Jr., a senior transfer from Long Beach Poly
Even though St. Francis lost to St. Paul 37-32 last week, Herrington said it was just one of those games.
“One, our league is really competitive and some things just didn’t go right for us,” Herrington said. “We lost and we didn’t even turn the ball over, and that’s going to be important for us in the playoffs. We have to take care of the ball.”
While the Stallions have a good dual-threat quarterback, so do the Golden Knights with junior John Sanders, who will be starting his first playoff game. Sanders has thrown for 1,810 yards and 20 touchdowns, and also has rushed for over 100 yards in a game five times this season. Sanders leads the Golden Nights in rushing with 750 yards and eight TDs.
