CIF Southern Section (CIF-SS) announced the 2026 11-man and 8-man tackle football brackets on Sunday, November 1, 2026. Orange County Football Officials Association (OCFOA) received 20 games. That translates to 100 OCFOA officials scheduled to officiate Round 1 games in 2026.
OCFOA received 19 assignments in the CIF-SS 11-man Round 1 playoffs while gaining one assignment in the CIF-SS 8-man playoffs first round.
OCFOA continues to remained sidelined in the first round of the Division 1 playoff bracket since the inception of the modern playoff ranking system. The CIF-SS policy states that local officials associations cannot officiate games involving teams from their own area during the playoffs. The CIF-SS structural mandate of disqualifying local officiating units from officiating their local teams ensures strict neutrality, conflict-of-interest prevention and competitive equity in the playoffs.
Of the 108 Round 1 games scheduled, OCFOA was automatically disqualified to officiate 35 (~32%) of the games scheduled for November 6, 2026.
- Orange County Football Officials Association (OCFOA): Covers all cities within Orange County.
- Inland Empire Football Officials Association (IFOA): Serves the massive Riverside and San Bernardino county regions.
- San Gabriel Valley Football Officials Association (SGVFOA): Encompasses areas in and around Pasadena, Pomona, and Glendora.
- Channel Coast Football Officials Association (CCFOA): Serves the coastal regions, including Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
- San Fernando Valley Football Officials Association (SFVFOA): Serves the valley and surrounding northern Los Angeles communities.
- Foothill Citrus Football Officials Association (FCFOA): Covers areas such as Alhambra, El Monte, and Covina.
- Long Beach Football Officals Association (LBFOA): Handles the Long Beach area and its surrounding coastal gateway communities.
- South Bay Unit (CFOA-SB): Covers the beach cities and South Bay region, including Torrance and Redondo Beach.
- Coachella Valley Officials Unit: Covers the Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, and surrounding desert ecosystems.
- Mojave Desert Unit: Serves the high desert expanses such as Barstow, Victorville, and Lancaster.
While Orange County houses an incredibly high concentration of elite programs (five of eight teams in Division 1 are from OC), the Inland Empire Football Officials Association (IFOA) region—which spans the massive geographic footprints of Riverside and San Bernardino counties—and the San Gabriel Valley (SGVFOA) region traditionally qualify more teams numerically across all 14 playoff divisions.
The rationale behind this is purely a numbers game. Orange County has roughly 75 football-playing high schools. In contrast, the Inland Empire has well over 100 schools across Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Because the CIF-SS takes a high percentage of teams from every league (automatic qualifiers plus at-large teams), the larger geographic area will always inherently produce a larger raw volume of playoff invites.
What Orange County lacks in total team volume, it makes up for in concentration at the top. While the IEFOA area sends more total teams to the postseason, their schools are scattered widely from Division 2 down through Division 14. Orange County dominates the very top brackets, explaining why it punches above its weight class in media coverage and why its local officials are disproportionately impacted by conflict-of-interest rules in the upper divisions.
11-Man Football Round 1 Games assigned to OCFOA:
Division 2 – 1 game
(Pacifica Oxnard @ Bishop Amat)
Division 3 – 2 games
(Bonita @ Great Oak)
(Crespi @ Murrieta Valley)
Division 4 – 1 game
(Culver City @ Chino Hills)
Division 5 – 2 games
(Agoura @ Torrance)
(Oaks Christian @ Temecula Valley)
Division 6 – 1 game
(Paraclete @ Summit)
Division 7 – 1 game
(Saugus @ Citrus Valley)
Division 8 – 2 games
(La Quinta @ Rancho Verde)
(Valley Christian @ Bellflower)
Division 9 – 2 games
(Claremont @ Moreno Valley)
(San Marino @ Colton)
Division 10 – 1 game
(Norte Vista @ Gahr)
Division 11 – 1 game
(Pacific @ Dominguez)
Division 12 – 3 games
(Arcadia @ Ontario)
(Lakeside @ Don Lugo)
(Arlington @ Big Bear)
Division 13 – 2 games
(Arroyo @ Rialto)
(Fontana @ Santa Rosa Academy)
8-Man Football Round 1 Games assigned to OCFOA:
Division 2 – 1 game
(Milken Community @ Southlands Christian)
Click HERE to see the full view of officiating crews assigned to work Round 1.
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