Los Angeles High School Football Teams Prepare for Playoffs

Los Angeles High School Football Teams Prepare for Playoffs

The eight-team playoff bracket features the best teams in the city

Above: Granada Hills defeated Castellammare on Friday to clinch their spot in the playoffs.

The playoff bracket for the 2024-25 LAHSF (Los Angeles High School Football) Tournament has been set, and the first games are to be played this Friday.

The #1 seed belongs to Pasadena, who finished with a 13-2 record and won eight of their final nine games of the season.  Their only two losses came against Olshire and Cleveland.  Receiver Trayvon Travis recorded 1,349 rushing yards on the season to lead the league and set a new school high for Pasadena.  Their defense also led the league with 28 interceptions.

El Camino secured the #2 seed with an 11-4 record.  They won their first six games of the season, but went just 5-4 afterward.  On November 15, quarterback Enrique Sosa scored two rushing touchdowns and five passing touchdowns in a 53-6 blowout against Verdugo Hills.

Hollywood and Cleveland each finished the season with 10-5 records, but Hollywood clinched the #3 seed due to defeating Cleveland in the regular season.  The highlight of Cleveland's season was defeating Pasadena 17-7 to win their homecoming game.

El Segundo finished with a 9-6 record, good for the #5 seed.  The defense allowed just 39 touchdowns all season, and tackle Muriel Antioch led the league with seven interceptions.

Taft locked up the #6 seed with an 8-7 record, despite scoring less touchdowns than they allowed.  After a dreadful 2-6 start to the season, they won six of their last seven games, including a victory against Olshire that gave them seeding advantage in the playoffs.  Olshire had a five-game win streak in September that saw them defeat Pasadena and Cleveland.

The #8 spot was taken by Granada Hills despite their 7-8 record.  After losing five of their first six games, they went 6-3 the rest of the way, including victories against Sylmar and Verdugo Hills, both of whom finished with identical 7-8 records, to secure the seeding advantage.  Their 22-13 defeat of Castellammare on Friday made it official.

Above: The bracket for the 2024-25 LAHSF tournament, showing seeds and regular-season records.

The quarterfinal games will be played this Friday. #1 seed Pasadena will host #8 Granada Hills, #2 seed El Camino will host #7 Olshire, #3 seed Hollywood will host #6 Taft, and #4 seed Cleveland will host #5 El Segundo.

The winners of Friday's games will move on to the semi-finals on January 31, with four teams competing for a spot in the final, which will take place on February 7.  The losers of the semifinal will meet in a third-place match on February 6.

Pasadena, El Camino, Cleveland and Granada Hills each qualified for last year's tournament, as Cleveland looks to defend their title.  Hollywood and El Segundo missed the 2023-24 tournament after qualifying in 2022-23, while Taft and Olshire are making their first appearances since 2021-22.