How a California high school football team won a CIF championship after one-win season

St. Pius X, a small private school in Downey, Calif. - in south Los Angeles - won a CIF championship after winning just one game in the regular season.

St. Pius X poses for photo at the CIF championship football luncheon in Long Beach on Monday, November 25, 2024. / Heston Quan

St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy high school football coach Devah Thomas isn't afraid to say it.

"Competitive equity," Thomas said while shrugging his shoulders with a grin.

The shrug and expression were almost Michael Jordan-like as Thomas worked his way through a field of round tables at the CIF championship football luncheon at the Marriott in Long Beach on November 25.

Thomas' grin is even wider now after St. Pius defeated Serrano 38-19 in the CIF Southern Section Division 8 final Friday night. The Warriors came into the playoffs 1-9 (after an 0-8 start), but are now CIF champions for the first time in program history.

St. Pius (5-9) had reached the Division 14 final in 2019 and Division 7 final in 2021, both resulting in losses.

The Warriors' only regular-season victory coming against Alemany, which went 0-5 in Angelus League play. Despite the record, St. Pius' strength of schedule was evidently strong enough earn it an at-large berth into the postseason, according to Calpreps.com, which is the computer system used to create the playoff divisions.

"When we learned we got into the playoffs, we knew we didn't want to waste what felt like a second chance," Thomas said. "I also felt like we were about to turn a corner, and we did."

Junior quarterback Jassi Williams threw for 444 yards and four touchdowns on 25 of 37 passing. He also rushed for a score, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Williams completed passes to six different receivers. Kenny Peevy had five catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns.

HOW DOES ONE-WIN TEAM GET INTO PLAYOFFS?

The answer is competitive equity, which is a newer playoff system used by the CIF Southern Section that uses data and computer rankings based off the current season to place teams in their appropriate division to make for competitive games.

The result of this system can put teams that are usually in higher divisions, but having a down year, in lower playoff divisions. It can also put teams that are more suited for lower divisions, in a higher playoff division, if they're having a great year.

In theory, St. Pius is a product of playing a strong schedule that allowed it to be more prepared for lesser competition when it was berthed into the Division 8 playoffs.

St. Pius' Calpreps ranking is 96. When the CIF creates the playoff pairings for playoff divisions, the teams that earn automatic qualifiers are placed first. If there are still spots available within the 16-team field, at-large teams are placed in order of their Calpreps rankings - highest to lowest.

St. Pius' strength of schedule rating sits at 17.2, which is higher than all of its playoff opponents except Cypress (18.1), which St. Pius beat in the first round.

Serrano, which finished the season 9-4, is ranked 104 on Calpreps with a strength of schedule rating of 11.9.

A well-deserved trophy presentation for the CIF-SS Division 8 champion St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy Warriors

Congratulations @YUNG_GURU_ @PMA_Football @pma_athletics @Getpaid_J @kenny_peevy @SoCalVarsity @BeachVarsity pic.twitter.com/I6Zi3iktaJ

— Chris Camello (@Chris_Camello) November 30, 2024

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