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Newport Harbor’s boys water polo team on Friday earned another No. 1 seed in its bid to three-peat as the CIF-SS Open Division champion.
The rest of the eight-team playoff bracket offered a few twists.
The Open Division returned to a traditional bracket format and ditched a pool-play structure used the past two seasons.
The Sailors (18-14) secured their third consecutive top seed to led five Orange County teams in the Open Division, including newcomer Beckman (19-7).
Beckman, the South Coast League runner-up, qualified for first time for the Open Division, which debuted in 2021.
The Patriots received the eighth seed and play at Newport Harbor in the first round on Saturday, Oct. 31.
The Sailors, ranked No. 1 in Orange County, have reloaded with young talent in their pursuit of a record 17th section title.
Beckman reached the Division 1 playoffs in 2009 and 2015 when Division 1 was the top grouping but lost twice in the wild-card round.
CIF-SS boys water polo playoffs: First-round schedule for all divisions
Orange County will also be represented in the Open Division by No. 2 seed JSerra (17-6), No. 6 Corona del Mar (16-11) and No. 7 Santa Margarita (15-12).
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Corona del Mar, the runner-up to Newport Harbor last season the Open Division, plays at No. 3 Harvard-Westlake on Oct. 31.
JSerra plays host to Trinity League rival Santa Margarita on the same day.
Last week, the Lions edged Santa Margarita in double sudden-death overtime to improve to 3-0 against the Eagles this fall.
Oaks Christian (19-5) secured the No. 4 seed and plays host to Loyola (17-13) in the other first-round match.
The four winners from the opening round qualify for the CIF SoCal Regional.
Laguna Beach (22-6), ranked No. 3 in Orange County, earned the No. 3 seed in Division 1. The Breakers reached the Open Division last season.
Laguna Beach moved into the seed that would have been slotted to Long Beach Wilson but the Bruins ended their season this week after a hazing incident.
Long Beach Wilson, a 12-time section champion, missed the postseason for the first time since 1973.
Other top seeds from the county were: La Habra (fourth, Division 2), Villa Park (second, Division 3), Troy (fourth, Division 3), Yorba Linda (third, Division 4), Buena Park (fourth, Division 4) and Anaheim (fourth, Division 5).
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