Damien and Rancho Cucamonga football lose, leaving questions about playoff fate

Damien's second straight loss Thursday night puts its playoff fate in question

Two shocking results unfolded in the final week of the high school football season Thursday night in the Baseline League.

Rancho Cucamonga lost to Upland 17-14 and Damien fell to Etiwanda 51-36.

It was Rancho Cucamonga's first loss of the season, but did enough to earn a share of the Baseline League title with Upland. Damien's loss drops it to third place in the league, which prompts questions about its playoff fate because the Baseline League's top two finishers are the only teams that earn automatic bids to the playoffs.

Damien (8-2) will hope to earn an at-large berth to the playoffs, likely in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 field. Upland (8-2) will represent the No. 1 team from the Baseline League due to the head-to-head with Rancho Cucamonga (9-1).

WHAT NOW?

The Calpreps rankings determine the playoff fields from Division 1 through 14. But the number of teams in Division 1 will dictate where a team like Damien will end up due to the number of at-large berths available in the subsequent divisions.

Damien was No. 17 in the Calpreps rankings before Thursday night's game. The loss will drop the Spartans, but will it be low enough to drop them into the Division 3 field?

Either way, Damien will be an at-large team. The Division 2 field had two at-large berths in last year's playoffs and Division two had three at-large berths. The Division 1 playoffs had 10 teams last year.

BIG WEST - UPPER

Murietta Valley beat Vista Murrieta 35-21 in the Big West (Upper) League. The Nighthawks will finish second in the league behind Corona Centennial, which beat Norco 55-0.
Chaparral earned the third-place automatic playoff berth after beating Eastvale Roosevelt 59-57.