Football, water polo teams begin playoffs
All three Madera-area football teams earned a playoff bid to begin the Central Section playoffs this week.
The Madera South Stallions earned the No. 10 seed and open the Div. V playoffs Thursday evening against No. 7 Mission Oak-Tulare. The Stallions travel to Tulare’s Bob Mathias Stadium to open the playoffs.
Earlier this season, Madera South defeated Mission Oak 21-14 in week No. 5. The Hawks also lost to Madera, 14-7, in Week 2.
While the Stallions finished 4-6 and 1-4 in the County/Metro Athletic Conference, Mission Oak was 5-5 with a 2-3 record in the East Yosemite League.
The Liberty Hawks open the Div. V playoffs as the No. 14 seed and will face the third-seeded Dos Palos Broncos on Friday at 7 p.m.
The Hawks finished with a 4-6 overall record and a 1-3 record in the North Sequoia League. Meanwhile, the Broncos went 9-1 with a 5-0 record to win the West Sierra League championship.
The Madera Coyotes earned a No. 6 seed in the Div. III playoffs and earned a first-round bye. They open the playoffs on Nov. 15 at third-seeded San Luis Obispo.
The Coyotes finished the regular season with a 4-6 record and went 1-4 in the CMAC. The Tigers, one of the newer additions to the Central Section, were 9-1 overall with a 3-0 record in the PAC 4.
Water polo
All four Madera and Madera South water polo teams earned playoff bids with both girls teams receiving home matches.
Co-CMAC champion Madera earned the No. 8 seed in Div. I and host No. 9 seed and co-CMAC champion Sanger for a 4:30 match on Tuesday. The match was moved from a Wednesday date because of a MHS-scheduled field trip.
The Madera South girls team received the No. 6 seed and will host No. 11 Sunnyside at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Div. III playoffs.
In the Div. III boys water polo playoffs, the Coyotes earned the No. 10 seed and will travel to Morro Bay High School to face seventh-seeded Paso Robles on Wednesday at 40 p.m.
Also, the Stallions boys water polo team earned the No. 12 seed and will play at Hanford West at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Quarterfinal matches will be played on Saturday with the times to be announced.
