4 Orange Belt teams in playoffs

Some surprising upsets occurred last Friday that had a direct effect on the playoff pairings.

Porterville (6-4, 5-1 EYL), after nine years of coming up short against rival Monache (5-5, 3-3 EYL), won 50-26 and knocked the Marauders out of the playoff race.

Exeter (9-1, 5-1 CSL) had won nine straight games and a CSL championship, but stumbled against Central Valley Christian (8-2). This loss did not cost the Monarchs their long-coveted league title but did make their journey to the Valley championship a bit harder.

When the brackets were unveiled this weekend, Exeter was not the No. 1 seed despite being ranked No. 1 in Division IV nearly all season long. Instead, CVC’s victory propelled it into the top spot, meaning the Monarchs will likely have to take their explosive act on the road to win a Valley title.

Exeter is in a loaded Division IV bracket that sees it and Kingsburg, who was ranked No. 2 in the division two weeks ago, seeded third and fourth, respectively. The Monarchs have a bye this week, but will battle six-seed Washington Union, next Friday, in the quarterfinal round.

 Panthers coach Rick Stewart projected his team would likely end up with a No. 6 or No. 7 seed in the Division III bracket and the second-year coach was spot on. The Panthers are seeded seventh and will host the 10th-seeded Dinuba Emperors at 7 p.m., Friday.

Dinuba (5-5, 2-4 CSL) couldn’t top the giants of its league, falling to Exeter, Kingsburg, Selma and CVC. The Emperors lost to the Cavaliers by just seven points, while the Panthers lost 38-6 to Division IV’s top seed.

Lindsay (3-7, 2-2 ESL) is seeded 10th in Division V and faces a familiar foe in round one. The Cardinals will take on seventh-seeded Parlier (7-3), a team that narrowly defeated them, 16-14, in week two. 

The Spartans (4-6, 1-3 ESL) are in the smallest division (Division VI) and are seeded fifth. Only six teams are in that bracket, so coach Jeromy Blackwell’s squad plays a quartefinal game early avainst  Tranquility (7-3) Friday night.