Cardinals draw CIF home game with Antelope Valley

Bishop Diego’s 9-1 football team will host Antelope Valley on Saturday at La Playa Stadium in the first round of the CIF Northern Division playoff. Postseason pairings were released Sunday morning.

Lompoc (10-0) received the Northern Division’s top seed while Newbury Park (8-2) is No. 2. Atascadero is No. 3 and Palmdale No. 4.

The Cardinals, who were ranked as high as No. 4 in the division, began the season 9-0 before dropping their first game on Friday night against Nordhoff.

Saturday’s first-round game in Santa Barbara will be played at 7:30 p.m. The winner advances to play the winner between Atascadero and Thousand Oaks the following week in the second round.

Antelope Valley finished its regular season with a 6-4 record. The Antelopes went 5-2 to finish in third place in the eight-team Golden League, which was won by fourth-seeded Palmdale. Antelope Valley has losses to Redondo Union, Oaks Christian, Palmdale and Eastside on its schedule.

Bishop Diego and Antelope Valley did not share any common opponents on their schedules this year.