Football: Section finals are better than bowl games
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It will be a battle of unbeaten teams next Saturday at Angel Stadium in the Pac-5 Division championship game. We just need to find out which unbeaten team, Anaheim Servite or Mission Hills Alemany, will join Mission Viejo in the final.
Either way, I think the Pac-5, Northern Division final between Westlake and Oaks Christian, and the City Division I final between Carson and Crenshaw, are going to produce more fan enthusiasm than any CIF state championship bowl game the following week.
If the Pac-5 winner could play Corona Centennial, the likely Inland Division winner, in a bowl game, that would be the game of the year. But it’s not going to happen because California still hasn’t figured out how to put together a real state championship in football.
So fans will come out in large numbers next weekend to see some great section finals. Then the real passionate high school football fans will come out in fewer numbers for the bowl games Dec. 17 and 18 at the Home Depot Center.
That’s the way it works in California.
-- Eric Sondheimer