Panthers in excellent position to notch first playoff win

Of all the four Orange Belt playoff entrants, the Porterville Panthers (7-3, 5-1 EYL) are in the best position to advance.

The EYL’s second-best team drew the No. 3 seed in the Division III bracket and will take on Independence (6-4, 5-1 SCSL), which is in its first year of existance as a football program.

The Falcons (Bakersfield) were the champions of the four-team rookie league (all members of the South Central Sequoia League are in their first year of football), but boast just one win over a non-first-year squad — a 28-7 win over 2-8 Shafter.

Assuming the Panthers get over the short hurdle in round one, a battle-tested Ridgview (the No. 6 seed) will likely await in round two.

The Wolf Pack (6-5, 2-4 SWYL) faced off against Division I powers Stockdale and Centennial along with Division II’s Frontier and West (Bakersfield). That’s shaping up to be a prime showdown should the two foes get past their tuneup opponents.

Defending champ Tehachapi (No. 2) will await the winner in the semis in all probability. EYLers Delano (No. 4) and Cesar Chavez (8) are on the other side of the bracket.

In Division IV, which looks even tougher than Division III, Exeter (6-4, 5-1 CSL) will become the third Orange Belt team to tangle with Wasco (8-2, 4-1 SSL). The No. 4 Tigers split with Porterville and Lindsay and took a share of the SSL title since those meetings after topping Tehachapi 27-21, Nov. 6.

Both teams get two weeks to prepare for this quarterfinal clash as well.

The Monarchs are the No. 5 seed after dropping four games (three to Valley favorites Kingsburg, Taft and Frontier). Should the suddenly multi-dimensional Monarchs stop Quentin Cheatham, Jacob Salinas and the Tigers’ punishing one-trick offense, their reward is another trip to Kingsburg (10-0, 6-0 CSL).

The CSL put three teams in this bracket as Central Valley Christian and Immanuel are double-digit seeds.

Lindsay (7-4, 2-2 ESL) got what it wanted: a home playoff game — just the third in school history, but it needs to get its playmakers healthy or even No. 11 Fresno Christian (5-5, 1-3 WSL) could pose a threat.

The Eagles lost 54-19 to Strathmore back in September but gave Tranquility and Parlier trouble later in the season. The winner of Friday’s first-round matchup plays No. 3 Liberty (Madera) in the quarterfinals.

The Hawks (6-4, 3-3 NSL) are enigmatic as they look imposing with close losses to Washington Union and Sierra and a blowout win over Immanuel, but seemingly beatable after a three-touchdown loss to Fowler. Lindsay will have to prove itself on the road, which is something it struggled with all season, going 1-4 as opposed to 6-0 on the field turf.

Woodlake is also in the D-V bracket as the No. 4 seed.

Strathmore (7-3, 2-2 ESL) has the most motivation, as it drew the No. 2 seed in Division VI despite pounding Farmersville, Fresno Christian, Riverdale and Parlier, beating Woodlake, and coming within five points of ESL champion — and Division V’s top seed — Corcoran.

The No. 1 seed is defending D-VI champ Tranquility (8-2, 4-0 West Sierra League), which narrowly edged Riverdale and Fresno Christian. Unless one of the two suffers a serious misstep, they will meet in Tranquility for the championship, Dec. 5.

Tranquility edged an injury-riddled Strathmore squad 27-20 in the quarterfinals of the 2008 playoffs, but the Spartans have no significant injuries this year.

Strathmore hosts the winner of No. 3 Mendota-No. 6 McFarland on Friday, Nov. 27.