Like those issued for football, the San Diego Section’s boys water polo power rankings remain a work in progress.
Section officials will use the power rankings as a guide to seed the upcoming divisional playoffs.
Several East County teams have floated to the upper reaches of the division power rankings.
Valhalla entered this week ranked fifth among Division I teams with a 14-5 overall record. The Norsemen (4-1 in league play) were just a 0.32 rankings point ahead of sixth-ranked Santana (9-4 overall, 3-2 in league).
Overall, five Grossmont Conference teams are in the mix for Division I playoff berths. The Grossmont Foothillers (11-9 overall, 4-1 in league) were ninth in the power rankings, followed by Helix (9-10, 1-4) at No. 15 and Steele Canyon (1-11, 0-5) at No. 20.
The top eight teams in the Division I power rankings advance to the Open Division playoffs, with the remaining 12 teams playing for the Division I championship.
Top-ranked teams in Division I include No. 1 La Jolla (15-1), No. 2 Mar Vista (16-0), No. 3 Bishop’s (6-4) and No. 4 Poway (12-7).
Three East County teams are vying for inclusion in the Division II playoff field, including No. 3 Granite Hills (16-2 overall, 5-0 in league) and No. 7 El Capitan (11-3, 3-2 in league), both of which are challenging for home field advantage in the opening rounds of the playoffs.
Twelve of the 20 teams in the division qualify for postseason play. West Hills (5-9 overall, 2-2 in league) entered this week No. 13 but in a virtual tie with La Jolla Country Day with 42.36 rankings points.
Mt. Carmel (17-3) and Clairemont (14-6) occupied the top two positions in the Division II power rankings, respectively.
Mount Miguel (0-8, 04) was the highest-rated East County team in the Division III power rankings at No. 11, followed by Spring Valley twin Monte Vista (5-6, 1-2) at No. 12.
Top-ranked Division III teams include No. 1 San Dieguito Academy (15-4), No. 2 Mission Bay (7-3), No. 3 Castle Park (19-2) and No. 4 San Marcos (8-7).
Playoff seedings will be announced on Oct. 30, with any necessary play-in games to be held Nov. 1. The opening round in the Division I and Division III fields is scheduled Nov. 3 and Nov. 4 in Division II.
The quarterfinals, including the Open Division, are scheduled Nov. 3-6 at La Jolla High School. Semifinals are scheduled Nov. 8-11 also at the same school.
A championship quintuple-header (five games) is scheduled Nov. 13 at La Jolla High School. Finals are scheduled at 11 a.m. (Division III), 1 p.m. (Division II),3 p.m. (state play-in game), 5 p.m. (Division I) and 7 p.m. (Open Division).
All four divisional champions, plus the three other Open Division quarterfinal winners and the winner of the state play-in game (Open Division fifth place) qualify to compete in the state regional tournament Nov. 16-20.
Parade of champions
The Grossmont Conference was extremely well represented in the 2021 spring coed championships with six teams in the finals and two champions in the boys divisions and two champions in the girls divisions.
Santana won the Division II boys title over Helix while Valhalla finished runner-up to Poway in the Division I boys final.
Fall ball
Granite Hills finished 4-0 at the recent East County Invitational, Oct. 4-9, with victories against Castle Park (17-5), Santa Fe Christian (15-6), West Hills (15-5) and Oceanside (10-5).
The Eagles have defeated El Capitan twice in league play (21-8 on Sept. 24 and 10-4 on Oct. 13) while tacking on wins against Monte Vista (17-2 on Sept. 29), Mount Miguel (9-1 on Oct. 1) and West Hills (18-8 on Oct. 5).
Valhalla’s league wins have come against Santana (11-8 on Oct. 1), Steele Canyon (16-5 on Oct. 6 and 14-3 on Oct. 11) and Helix (15-7 on Oct. 13). The Norsemen edged Grossmont, 14-13, in a non-league game on Sept. 29 but dropped a 9-8 decision to the Foothillers in a league game on Oct. 9.
Santana’s league schedule includes victories against Helix (19-8 on Sept. 27 and 20-7 on Oct. 6) and Steele Canyon (15-1 on Sept. 29). League losses have come against Valhalla and Grossmont (15-14 on Oct. 5).
Grossmont has compiled league wins against Helix (19-8 on Oct. 1), Santana, Valhalla and Steele Canyon (12-5 on Oct. 13).
El Capitan finished 3-1 at the East County Invitational with wins over La Jolla Country Day (11-6), La Cota Canyon (10-9) and West Hills (12-9) and a 9-5 loss to Oceanside.
Teams can continue to compile valuable rankings points by competing in the upcoming San Diego Open tournament, Oct. 21-23, that traditionally serves as a barometer for the playoffs.
