Fryer: No easy paths in North O

Fryer: No easy paths in North O.C. Championships

The 32-team tournament figures to be one tough matchup after another.

STEVE FRYER

No matter which way a team turns, it is in for a challenging time at the North Orange County Championships tournament that began Monday.

�If you go right,� tournament director Mike Murphy said, �it�s an A-plus tournament. If you go left, it�s a B-plus tournament.�

To understand those directions provided by Murphy, also Sonora�s coach, imagine looking at a tournament bracket sheet. The first-round matchups run vertically down the middle of the sheet. Teams that win in the first round go right, to the championship side of the sheet, while first-round losers go left, to the consolation side of the sheet.

The 32-team tournament, known as the Sonora Cage Classic until it began expanding seven years ago, will be played at five different sites: Sonora, Troy, Gahr of Cerritos, La Serna of Whittier, and Rowland of Rowland Heights.

Mater Dei, ranked No. 1 in Orange County and No. 5 in calhisports.com�s state rankings, is in the North Orange County event. Other top teams in it: Los Alamitos, defending CIF-Southern Section I-A champion and No. 5 in Orange County; Corona del Mar; III-A champion last year; Gahr, which went 24-5 last year and is No. 15 in California; M.L. King of Riverside, No. 16 in the state; and Mission Viejo, No. 9 in the county.

The championship game is at Sonora on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.