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Postseason prep football is underway from coast to coast this weekend. So, rest assured, the latest edition of the MaxPreps Top 10 High School Football Games of the Week is full of intriguing playoff matchups.
We start off in Southern California's amazingly competitive Pac 5 Division bracket. Serra (Gardena) versus Centennial (Corona) is a first-round matchup between two-loss teams that both have potential for a deep playoff run if they survive Friday night's opener. The Serra-Centennial winner advances to take on the victor of another one of our Top 10 games – Mater Dei (Santa Ana) at Westlake (Westlake Village) – next week.
This week's preview includes two games involving MaxPreps Xcellent 25 teams as No. 22 Carmel (Ind.) tries to knock off fellow unbeaten Penn (Mishawaka) for a trip to the Class 6A state finals, and No. 25 Hudson (Ohio) takes on perennial power St. Ignatius (Cleveland) in a second-round Division I playoff game. There's also one state championship tilt on the board, as Sioux Falls rivals Lincoln and Roosevelt meet at the DakotaDome to play for the South Dakota Class 11-AAA title for the second-straight year.
Despite picking only four out of 10 winners last week, Jamie DeMoney remains in the lead of our season-long predictions contest by two games. Stephen Spiewak made up one game on DeMoney (81-39 for the season) but remains in second place with a 79-41 record. Mitch Stephens (77-43), Leland Gordon (76-44) and Kevin Askeland (75-45) all remain within striking range. Even after picking 16 of the last 20 games correctly, Colin Ward-Henninger (70-50) still has a lot of catching up to do.
Here's a look at this week's Top 10 games along with predictions by MaxPreps staff writers and contributors Mitch Stephens, Stephen Spiewak, Kevin Askeland, Leland Gordon, Colin Ward-Henninger and Jamie DeMoney.
To catch up with what's happening in the playoffs nationwide,
visit the MaxPreps playoffs home page.
MaxPreps Top 10 Football Games of the Week
Serra (Gardena, Calif.) at Centennial (Corona, Calif.)
Serra and Centennial, new entrants to the Pac 5 world, will do battle Friday.
Photos by Vince Pugliese/Larry Gasinski
Serra (8-2) was ranked 19th in the preseason Xcellent 25 rankings but lost two of its first six games (against No. 8 Bellevue, Wash., and fellow Pac 5 qualifier Bishop Amat). The Cavaliers rebounded to win their last four and capture a share of the Mission League championship. There are at least nine players in Serra's senior class who likely will earn FBS scholarships. The group includes linebacker
John Houston (team-leading 131 tackles) and
Rasheem Green (team-leading 23 tackles for loss). Both players are ranked among the top 10 prospects in California by 247Sports. Centennial (8-2) also responded well after losing two of its first three this season against then-nationally ranked Mater Dei (Santa Ana) and No. 1 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas). In last week's regular-season finale, the Huskies mauled Pac 5 playoff team Norco, 48-7, to win the outright title in the Big VIII League. Junior running back
JJ Taylor scored twice and ran for 186 yards, pushing his season total to 1,657 yards.
Follow live scoring of this game on Qwixcore Just the facts: This is the first season participating in the rigorous Pac 5 Division playoffs for both teams. Last season, Centennial won the CIF-SS Inland Division crown and Serra finished second in the Western Division playoffs. … Pac 5 teams comprised 14 of the Top 25 teams in the final MaxPreps California state computer rankings of the regular season.
Mitch Stephens: Centennial 48, Serra 35
Kevin Askeland: Serra 35, Centennial 30
Jamie DeMoney: Centennial 49, Serra 42
Stephen Spiewak: Serra 35, Centennial 32
Leland Gordon: Centennial 52, Serra 47
Colin Ward-Henninger: Centennial 42, Serra 35
