Football, water polo playoffs released

The CIF Central Section released playoff brackets Friday and Saturday for water polo and football and the Madera Coyote boys water polo team and the Liberty Hawks football team each received No. 1 seeds.

The Hawks finished the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record, including a 7-0 record to capture the Northwest Sequoia Conference championship. They received the top seed in Div. IV and a first-round bye.

Meanwhile, the Madera Coyotes boys water polo highlighted its season with the top seed in Div. III. They will battle No. 16 seed Hanford West today in the first round.

Football

The Hawks lead three local teams in the Div. IV playoffs. Liberty will face the winner of No. 8 Shafter and No. 9 Strathmore on Nov. 10 (moved from Veterans Day on Friday) in the quarterfinals.

Directly in Liberty’s path are the Matilda Torres Toros. After a 29-20 victory over Madera South in the Rodeo Bowl to place second in their first year in the North Yosemite League, the Toros received the No. 4 seed in the Div. IV playoffs.

They will battle No. 13 Reedley on Friday in Memorial Stadium. A win gets them a match-up with the No. 5 Wasco- No. 12 North-Bakersfield winner on Nov. 10.

The Hawks and Toros could meet in the semifinals at Liberty with victories.

On the other side of the bracket sits No. 14 Madera, who will head to No. 3 Caruthers on Friday. The Coyotes finished an injury-riddled 2022 season with a 20-6 loss to Garza in the regular season finale.

Madera South also qualified for the playoffs after a third place finish in the NYL. They earned the No. 7 seed in Div. V and will host No. 10 Santa Maria on Friday. A win earns them a game at No. 2 Atacadero, who received a first-round bye.

Water Polo

The Coyote boys water polo team opens the Div. III playoffs on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

The winner will face the winner of No. 8 Tulare Western and No. 9 Exeter.

In girls water polo, the Co-NYL champion Madera South Stallions earned the No. 3 seed and faced No. 14 Porterville at 6 p.m. at Madera South in the first round Tuesday.

The winner will face the winner of No. 6 Monache-Porterville and No. 11 Liberty-Bakersfield in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Also in the Div. III bracket are the Madera Coyotes, who earned the No. 5 seed and played No. 12 Hoover-Fresno in the first round at McAlister Pool, also on Tuesday.

The winner will face the winner of No. 4 Centennial-Bakersfield and No. 13 Cabrillo.