Westchester Went 0-10 and Still Got a Home Playoff Game

Gardena, also 0-10, travels to Division II top seed Jefferson after computer ratings rewarded both schools' tough schedules.

Westchester didn't win a football game this fall. On Friday night, it hosts a playoff game anyway.

The City Section seeded Westchester No. 6 in Division III and Gardena, also 0-10, No. 16 in Division II, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. According to the Times, the section was following a rule its own football coaches adopted: teams go into brackets strictly by computer rating, and those ratings weigh strength of schedule.

The coaches who wrote the rule didn't see this coming. Eagle Rock coach Andy Moran, who chairs the section's football advisory committee, told the Times there was no scenario in which winless teams were supposed to make it through.

That's how a winless team ends up seeded above a winning one. Westchester's first-round guest is Rancho Dominguez, which went 5-4 and is seeded No. 11, according to High School On SI. Gardena drew a road trip to Jefferson, the top seed in Division II, in the pairings the Times published, which list both games at 7 p.m. Friday.

Gardena plays in what the Times called the powerful Marine League, and Westchester in the Western League. Birmingham athletic director Rick Prizant, who sits on the section's executive committee, told the Times the result was fair: teams in tough leagues with hard nonleague schedules "shouldn't be punished" when the computer rates them high enough to get in.

Hamilton coach Elijah Asante saw it differently, telling the Times: "That's pretty bad." His own Hamilton team went 5-5 and is the No. 2 seed in Division I, High School On SI listed.

The 0-10 teams aren't the only ones the formula carried in. Marquez played for the Division I title last season, lost nine straight to finish 1-9 this year and still got the No. 12 seed in Division II, at Legacy, High School On SI reported, noting that Marquez played tough teams all year. It's the same formula with almost the same record.

The Times expects the coaches to propose a fix.

"We got some ideas," Moran said.

Source: Los Angeles Times, retrieved November 3, 2026. Other sources: si.com, sports.yahoo.com.