Lakewood needed to win on Friday to keep their playoff hopes alive and then hope that Compton could beat Wilson. It wasn’t the night that the Lancers hoped for, but they did take care of their end of the equation in a lopsided win over Cabrillo, 77-0.
“We just wanted to play a complete game,” said Lancers coach Mike Christensen, whose team improved to 3-7 on the season and 3-3 in league. “We can’t control anything other than the way we played, so we wanted to do that well.”
It was a huge night for Sebastian Kronberger, who had 233 total yards and six touchdowns in the win.
“It was great, if this was my last night I’m glad I get to go out with a bang,” said Kronberger.
That’s certainly the question. Although the Lancers’ record isn’t good, they do actually still have a very realistic shot at an at-large bid in Division 8. There are only 24 teams in that division, which means only eight teams will miss the postseason, with several at-larges need to be selected.
To be eligible, a team must be .500, which Lakewood isn’t. However, if there aren’t enough .500 teams to fill a bracket, sub-.500 teams will be considered per CIF-SS rule. There are only 13 teams with .500 records which means three will be below that mark.
The other criteria will be head-to-head record of remaining teams in consideration–Lakewood didn’t play any other team in the field so that’s not in play. Strength of schedule is the next most important criteria, which is a big mark in the favor of Lakewood, whose played Poly, Mayfair, and Corona del Mar.
Other criteria include strength of league and overall win-loss record, neither of which will go in Lakewood’s favor.
There’s seven teams competing for those final three at-large spots. Lakewood wins on some criteria and loses on others–we’ll find out Sunday morning if the Lancers get in.
