Playoffs Are Name of the Game for 14 South Bay Grid Teams

City and CIF high school football playoffs begin Friday with 14 South Bay schools involved. Carson (8-1), the top-ranked 4-A team in the City, opens defense of its City title against El Camino Real (1-8) at Gardena High. Kickoff is 7 p.m. All other games are scheduled for 7:30.

Second-ranked Banning (6-3) plays host to Kennedy at Long Beach Veterans Stadium. The Pilots beat Kennedy earlier this year, 49-6. In the other 4-A match-up, Gardena (4-5) is at San Fernando (7-2), which won the Valley 4-A League.

In City 3-A games, Freeway League champion San Pedro (8-1) plays Hamilton (3-6) at Daniels Field and defending champion Locke (5-4) is at Canoga Park (7-2). High-scoring Westchester (8-1) is host to Verdugo Hills (3-6) in a 2-A game.

CIF Northwestern Conference playoffs are heavily populated with South Bay teams, the unluckiest of which is Serra. The Cavaliers (5-5), who qualified as an at-large team, drew top seed and defending champion Canyon (10-0), which has won 34 straight games. However, Canyon quarterback John Watkins is out of the playoffs with a broken wrist. The game is at Canyon. In the same bracket St. Bernard (7-3) is at home against Santa Maria (5-5) and Cabrillo (9-1) is at North Torrance (6-4). In the lower bracket, Ocean League champ Hawthorne (9-0-1) is at home against at-large qualifier Righetti (6-4). Hawthorne is third behind Canyon and Verbum Dei.

In Coastal Conference openers, South Torrance (7-2-1) is at Channel League champion Santa Barbara (8-2) and Oxnard (7-3) is at Bay League champ West Torrance (6-2-2). West, which went 5-0-1 in the league, is seeded second in the conference.

In the Desert-Mountain Conference, Bell-Jeff (5-4-1) visits Pioneer League champ Leuzinger (8-1-1) and Miraleste (5-5) plays at Sunkist League winner Elsinore (7-3). Leuzinger finished third in the final conference Top 10.

Girls Tennis--CIF girls team tennis playoffs move to semifinals today with defending 4-A champion Miraleste playing Rolling Hills or Corona del Mar, while Palos Verdes faces Marina or Westlake. Miraleste is 19-0. The championships will be played Tuesday at West End Tennis and Racquet Club in Torrance.

Water Polo--Pioneer League rivals El Segundo and Miraleste play each other Friday at 3:30 p.m. in the CIF 2-A water polo championship at Belmont Plaza. El Segundo is 21-2, Miraleste 23-4. They split two league matches. Miraleste advanced to the finals with an upset of top-seed Santa Ynez.