All three Menifee teams on the road in playoff openers

By Doug Spoon, Editor

CIF Southern Section officials were not kind to Menifee's three football playoff qualifiers when first-round pairings were announced on Sunday. All three will open on the road, despite impressive overall records.

A league championship was not enough to earn a home playoff opener for the Paloma Valley Wildcats, who will instead play at Palm Springs High in the first round of the Division 7 playoffs Friday at 7 p.m. Paloma Valley won the four-team Sunbelt League title with a 3-0 record, and the Wildcats will take an 8-2 overall record into the postseason.

Palm Springs is also a league champion, tying for first place in the Desert Empire League. There was actually a three-team tie for the title at 4-1. Like Paloma Valley, the Indians have an 8-2 overall record.

Paloma Valley finished the regular season with a 24-21 victory over Lakeside, fighting off the Lancers after building a 21-0 halftime lead. Palm Springs lost a 31-16 decision to Palm Desert on Friday night.

Liberty High will also be on the road Friday, playing at Elsinore. The Bison finished second in the Mountain Pass League in their first season of varsity football, losing only to league champion San Jacinto. Liberty finished off a 9-1 regular season with a 42-41 victory over Tahquitz on Friday.

Elsinore, which is 7-3 overall, finished in a three-way tie for second in the Ivy League and received an at-large bid into the playoffs. The Tigers beat Temescal Canyon 17-9 in their regular-season finale on Friday.

In a rematch of league opponents that wouldn’t have taken place under the previous CIF playoff format, Santa Rosa Academy (9-1, 4-1) will once again play at Maranatha High (9-0-1, 5-0) of Pasadena on Friday. The Rangers’ only loss of the season was a 34-16 loss to the Minutemen on Oct. 14.

Santa Rosa closed out the regular season with a 34-17 victory over Whittier Christian on Friday. Maranatha defeated Desert Christian Academy, 42-13.