(East Los Angeles, CA) [ From The Editor’s Desk]: The Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) & the CIF/Los Angeles City Section’s (CIF/LACS) Eastern League member school, the Garfield Bulldogs, (10-2)overall/(6-0) league will play in their second “Open” Division Tournament Final, this time against the defending Champion, Lake Balboa, Birmingham Patriots (8-4) overall/(5-0) league at Los Angeles Valley College. Kick-off is set for Saturday, 11/26 at 7:00 PM. Both teams have made multiple appearances since the Division was created in 2018.
Advertisement
The Garfield Bulldogs, Eastern League Champions, are Coached by Lorenzo Hernandez and were seeded #4 for the tournament’s playoff run. They hold victories over the Northern League’s Franklin Panthers (50-29) in the Quarterfinal, followed by a (38-20) SemiFinal victory over the Eagle Rock Eagles, also a member Northern League school. The Bulldogs’ opponent, #7 seeded Birmingham, recorded wins over Venice by (28-27) in their Quarterfinal, followed by their Semifinal victory over Banning (42-7).
Advertisement
The Bulldogs have been competing in the Division for the past four years, with the exception of the COVID-19 year of 2020. The “Open” was created in 2018 and is composed of the “Top 8” Division 1 schools in the CIF/L.A. City Section. Five Division brackets (Open Division, Division I, Division II, Division III, 8-Man) were determined at the end of the regular season by the playoff seeding committee
Here’s a brief history of our Eastern League teams’ accomplishments in reaching the Open Division. In 2018, Garfield was awarded the Championship by virtue of Narbonne’s forfeiture of the game after a decision was made by the Section’s Commissioner’s Office. In 2019, Garfield returned and was defeated by Birmingham (34-14) in the first round. Due to COVID-19, there was no 2020 CIF/L.A. City Section Football season. In 2021, the Bulldogs came back for their third appearance and were beaten by the Banning Pilots, (37-6), again in the opening round.
Making their first entry into the Open Division last season were the Roosevelt Rough Riders, led by Head Coach, Aldo Parral, who lost in the opening round to San Pedro. Both the Rough Riders and the Bulldogs, longtime rivals, returned once more to the Open for 2022. Roosevelt, the #6 seed was defeated in the quarterfinal by #3 seed Banning by a score of (25-24), while Garfield, with their win over Eagle Rock, earned the right to advance to Saturday’s Final.
It is worthwhile to include that another Eastern League school, the South Gate Rams, made an appearance in last year’s “Open” and were defeated by Palisades. And appearing in their first “Open” playoff game last season were the Northern League’s Lincoln Tigers who lost to Birmingham.
Advertisement
Our closing thought…now is the time for our communities of East L.A. and Beyond to support the Garfield Bulldogs in their biggest game of the season thus far and cheer them on to victory. The winner of this game will earn the right to compete in the State CIF/SS playoffs that will follow next.
For those fans planning to attend, visit the GoFan link to purchase tickets
https://gofan.co/app/school/CIFLAC
Gates open at 2 pm for the public. The Division I game featuring Granada Hills vs. Palisades starts at 3:00 PM
This Final may be “Live Streamed” for a subscription fee on the NFHS Network. For more details, click on the following link
https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/ciflacs/gam6092fce384
