CIFSDS Flag Football 2026 Playoff Preview

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: October 25, 2026

fILE PHOTO BY vIC mARANO ON iNSTAGRAM

2026 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL
CCIFSDS Championships

By Nick Pellegrino
ECS senior writer

SAN DIEGO — Almost nobody among East Ciunty’s best flag football teams will be playing when the CIF-San Diego Section playoffs open this week — and that’s a good thing!

Among the 10 area schools — eight from the Grossmont Conference — gaining postseason berths, due to high seeding in their respective divisions, nearly all avoided playing first round contests and will advance directly to the quarterfinals.

The highest of the local seeds is third-ranked Helix, which carries an 11-game win streak into an Open Division ballgame against No. 6-seed Mission Hills on Wednesday (Nov. 27). CIF had mandated start times of 6 p.m. in stadiums with lights.

Should the Highlanders (16-1 overall) escape the Grizzlies, they will probably meet second-seeded Bonita Vista; the Barons are the lone ballclub to hand Helix a setback during the regular season.

Meanwhile, first-round byes were awards to Granite Hills (4th seed in Division 1), Grossmont (2nd, D-2), Patrick Henry (1st, D-3), El Capitan (2nd, D-4), and Liberty Charter (4th, D-4).

Scheduled to play in the first round on Tuesday (Oct. 27) are:

— D-1: No. 8 Ramona, hosting No. 9 Hilltop
— 2: No. 10 Steele Canyon at No. 7 Mt. Carmel
— 3: No. 12 West Hills at No. 5 Mabel O’Farrell Charter
— D-4: No. 8 Santana hsting No. 9 Escondido
== No. 5 El Cajon Valley, the Grossmont Valley League co-champion, will entertain the winner of a special play-in contest between Oceanside at Orange Glen

Should the Braves win, they will travel to Alpine to meet Liberty Charter, which plays its home games at Joan MacQueen Middle School.

Patrick Henry receiving a top seed proved interesting.

Entering the final week of the regular season, the Patriots were listed 32nd in the CIFSDS Computer Power Index, which would be the 12th (b ottom) seed in Division 2. But when the Pats fell to Madison, 19-18, in Friday’s finale, they dropped one place to No. 33, dropping a division yet gaining the top seed and a first-round bye into the quarterfinals. meeting the winner of No. Lincoln at No. 8 Holtville of the Imperial Valley.

Christian, a first-year program, posted a 9-3 overall record, but since they played as an independent, were not eligible for postseason competition.