Sac-Joaquin Section 2023 football playoff first-round fast facts

Just two teams enter the playoffs with 10-0 records; There are no newcomers, but two teams have never won a SJS playoff game

Sac-Joaquin Section assistant commissioner Will DeBoard covered high school sports 17 years (1992 to 2009) for the Modesto Bee, before joining the SJS as its first Director of Communications in 2009. 

He was promoted to assistant commissioner in 2017. 

During his time as a scribe, he was considered at the top of his craft and won numerous state and national awards for his coverage. 

So, naturally, each year his advanced notes on all sports is first rate. 

His breakdown of the football playoffs, which begin Friday, are beyond extensive. Here are his 2023 general notes, with a division-by-division breakdown in coming posts. 

2023 SJS football playoffs first round fast facts

* This year marks the 51st year of SJS football playoffs.

* 222 championships have been won since the playoffs began in 1971.

* Until 1984, playoffs were designated as Class A (small schools), Class AA (medium schools) and Class AAA (large schools). Those designations changed to Roman numerals (I, II, III, etc.) in 1985. A fifth division was added in 2002. Divisions VI and VII were added in 2006. In 2011, the divisions contracted from seven to six, while the number of competing teams increased from 58 to 76. And in 2014, we went back to seven divisions with a total of 78 teams qualifying. Three years ago, we added two teams to D7, making it a round 80 to qualify and this year, we're up to 84 after the expansion of D7..

* In Year One (1971), the only championship offered was Class A with four teams, three games, one championship and no neutral sites. This year, the Section will offer seven championship divisions with 80 teams, 73 games and seven neutral site championships.

CIF Sac-Joaquin Section 2023 football playoff brackets: Scores, matchups, game times

* The Division 1-6 eventual Section champions will participate in the CIF State Football Bowl Northern California Regional Championships to be played on December 1 and 2 at sites to be determined. 

The seventh SJS NorCal berth will be granted to the wnner of the game between the 7A and 7B winners to be played on Nov. 24 or 25. 

Winners of the regional games will play in the State Championships on December 8 and 9 at one of three sites: El Camino College in Torrance, Saddleback College in Mission Viejo or Pasadena City College, 

The remaining teams will compete for state championships at home sites. A CIF State committee will place all Section champions into the regional games by competitive equity. The two open division teams (one north and one south) will not play in regional contests; they’ll go straight to the state game.

* Two teams (Twelve Bridges and Woodland Christian) enter the playoffs with perfect records. In 2022, that number was five; in 2015 it was a record 10 teams who entered the playoffs at 10-0. Historically speaking, at least one of those three teams will win a championship, as there has been at least one unbeaten team win a Section championship for 22 of the last 28 years. For the second straight time, no 10-0 team won a Section title last year.

* For the first time in a very long time, there are no newcomers to the Sac-Joaquin Section football playoffs.

* Two of the 84 teams in the playoffs have never won a playoff game. Those teams are Valley Christian (0-3) and Lathrop (0-1).

* 64 of the 84 teams in this year’s playoffs qualified for the playoffs in 2022; that’s higher than the 60 from last year. All seven of the Section champions from 2022 return. Also, six of the seven runners-up from last year are back; only D3 finalist Capital Christian missed out this year.

* Extending consecutive playoff appearances are No. 1 Granite Bay (24), Central Catholic (22), St. Mary’s (21), Oakdale (17), Bradshaw Christian (16), Inderkum (15), Placer (15), Folsom (14) and Manteca (14).

10 takeaways from St. Mary's of Stockton's 38-28 opening win over Clovis West

* Five teams reappear in the playoffs after some time off. Mesa Verde, in the D5 field after qualifying with an at-large berth, returns for the first time since 2001. The Mavericks program is in the postseason for the fifth time in school history and its first three appearances all ended up with Section championship runs. Valley Christian, in the D7 field, is here for the first time since 2004. Three other schools here after long playoff droughts are Bella Vista (2009), Fairfield (2009) and Laguna Creek (2016).

* Seven leagues each qualified five teams to the playoffs. They are: CVC, Delta, MEL, PVL, SAL, SFL and VOL. Three teams from the SFL (Folsom, Oak Ridge and Rocklin) and VOL (Central Catholic, Manteca and Oakdale) earned byes.

Look: Folsom football takes down rival Oak Ridge in NorCal showdown

* The SJS made some big adjustments to the playoff format, which continues with 12-team brackets in Divisions 1-6. Division 7 is split into 7A and 7B, with the champions meeting on Thanksgiving weekend for the Section's seventh berth to the CIF NorCal Regionals. The other big adjustment was removing the "league championship" rule, which means each team's division is determined in August.

First round pairings

Opponents with the most combined playoff experience — Elk Grove (84) and Vacaville (53) have combined for 137 playoff games in their postseason careers. In all those games, these teams have met each other six times, with the Thundering Herd winning five of them.

92 games – Laguna Creek (9) at Del Oro (83)

81 – Amador (26) at Colfax (55)

78 – Downey (27) at Tracy (51)

Opponents with the least combined playoff experience – Will C. Wood (13) at West Park (3), Ceres (11) at Pioneer (11), Gregori (9) at Edison (14), Foothill (24) at Lathrop (1).

Longest drive

As one of the northernmost schools in the SJS, Marysville is used to travel. But this might be ridiculous. The Yuba County school wins the award for having the longest drive in the first round this year. Marysville will travel a whopping 158 miles — Highway 99 to Highway 120 to Tuolumne City - to play Summerville in a D6 game this Friday.
Other long drives are:

133 miles – Kimball at Nevada Union (D3)

132 miles – Bella Vista at Merced (D3)

117 miles – Highlands at Orestimba (D7A)

111 miles – Golden Sierra at Ripon Christian (D7A)

Shortest drive

The closest first-round game by geography this year is in Division 5. There, Mesa Verde is traveling 7.2 miles — most of it down Antelope Road to Watt Avenue — to play Center. 

Other short distances are:

23 miles – Gregori at Edison (D1)

24 miles – Pleasant Grove at Inderkum (D1)

30 miles – Downey at Tracy (D2)

34 miles – Cosumnes Oaks at Lincoln-S (D1)

* The Division VII-B playoffs will begin on Nov. 11 and a champion will be crowned on Nov. 18. The Division VII-A playoffs will begin on Nov. 4 and they'll also have their championship on Nov. 18. The two winners will meet for a berth to the CIF NorCal championships on the weekend of Nov. 24-25 at a site to be determined.

* The Division I-VI championships are anticipated to be held primarily at Hughes Stadium at Sacramento City College Nov. 24 and Nov. 25. There will be tripleheaders there at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on both days. The seventh championship will be Friday Nov. 24 at St. Mary's High School at 7 p.m.

* The Sac-Joaquin Section will be using digital tickets exclusively for the playoffs. Tickets for any postseason contact may be purchased at https://gofan.co/app/school/CIFSJS