The CCS petitioning deadline for teams requesting to play above their natural enrollment level for the CCS football playoffs passed Monday night, and two local powerhouse programs were on the list requesting to play at the Division 1 level. Palma, the defending CCS Division 1 champions, and Hollister, the defending CCS Division 2 champions, have both petitioned to play at the highest competitive D1 playoff level. Petitioning teams must accumulate enough power points (a point system that weights strength of schedule, victories, league championships, league strength) to qualify for play above their natural enrollment level. The CCS considers the MBL an "A" league, and the MTAL a "B" league. Teams accumulate more points when they play an "A" league team than they do a "B" league team.

With several natural Division 1 schools also vying for Division 1 playoff spots this year, the competition for one of the eight slots will be fierce. If Bellarmine (3-1), Oak Grove (3-1), Watsonville (3-1),  Independence (3-0) and Milpitas (3-1) all qualify to play at the D1 level, teams with higher enrollment levels are given priority. The CCS website lists the following enrollments levels (and playoff pecking order) for these teams:

Granted, there is still a lot of football to play, but the seeding meetings November 11th should be very interesting.

Conspicuous by their absence was Los Gatos, the defending CCS Division 3 champions, currently ranked #1 in the state by Cal-Hi sports in Division 3. Los Gatos (4-0) had already knocked off perennial CCS power St. Francis in the preseason, but elected to defend their smaller division title. Division 3 looks to be a competitive field, with Alvarez (4-0) and San Lorenzo Valley (4-0) at this point looking like locks to make the playoffs.