Asante thankful for lower City playoffs seeding : Sixth-seeded Jordan will be at opposite side of the bracket from top-seeded Crenshaw.

Los Angeles Jordan High Coach Elijah Asante thanked his fellow coaches and league representatives Saturday morning when San Pedro edged the Bulldogs in voting for the No. 5 seeding in the City Section football playoffs.

Why would Asante be happy about his team getting a worse seeding?

Because it meant Jordan would play at the opposite side of the bracket from top-seeded L.A. Crenshaw (10-0), which has defeated opponents by an average of 38 points and is a heavy favorite to win its first City title since 2005.

Carson (8-2) was seeded second, Venice (9-1) third and Woodland Hills Taft (6-4) fourth in voting conducted in a classroom at the L.A. Santee Education Complex.

Venice Coach Angelo Gasca said he felt his team should have been seeded second because its only loss came against Westlake Village Oaks Christian but acknowledged that the bracket positioning didn’t matter.

“If we can’t win where we’re at, we can’t win,” Gasca said. “I want to win the championship and to do that we have to beat some good teams.”

Sixth-seeded Jordan (6-4) will host 11th-seeded Harbor City Narbonne (5-5) on Thursday afternoon in a first-round game. In another compelling matchup, fifth-seeded San Pedro (7-3) will host L.A. Dorsey (7-3).

Lake Balboa Birmingham (3-7) squeaked into the playoffs with the No. 16 seeding on the strength of three consecutive victories to close the regular season.

“If you look at our schedule, we’ll play anybody,” said Birmingham Coach Jim Rose, whose team edged Gardena and San Fernando for the final playoff spot. “So Crenshaw, here we come.”

L.A. Roosevelt (9-1) was selected the top-seeded team in the City’s Division II playoffs and L.A. View Park (10-0) was the top-seeded team in the eight-man playoffs.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com

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City football playoffs

DIVISION I

First round, Thursday, 7 p.m. unless noted

No. 16 Birmingham at No. 1 Crenshaw

No. 9 West Adams at No. 8 Westchester

No. 12 Dorsey at No. 5 San Pedro

No. 13 Garfield at No. 4 Taft

No. 14 Sylmar at No. 3 Venice

No. 11 Narbonne at No. 6 Los Angeles Jordan, 2:15 p.m.

No. 10 Wilmington Banning at No. 7 Locke, 2:15 p.m.

No. 15 Santee at No. 2 Carson

DIVISION II

First round, Thursday, 7 p.m. unless noted

No. 16 Grant at No. 1 Los Angeles Roosevelt

No. 9 Bell at No. 8 Fairfax

No. 12 Jefferson at No. 5 Franklin

No. 13 Los Angeles Wilson at No. 4 Los Angeles Hamilton, 2:15 p.m.

No. 14 Panorama at No. 3 El Camino Real

No. 11 Sun Valley Poly at No. 6 South East

No. 10 Los Angeles Marshall at No. 7 Cleveland

No. 15 Reseda at No. 2 Arleta, 2:15 p.m.

Note: Quarterfinals, Nov. 25, 7 p.m.; semifinals, Dec. 4, 7 p.m. Division I championship, Dec. 12, 1 p.m. at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Division II championship, Dec. 11, 7 p.m. at East Los Angeles College.

EIGHT-MAN

First round, Thursday

No. 8 Community Harvest vs. No. 1 View Park

at Rancho Cienega Park, 7 p.m.

No. 5 Annenberg vs. No. 4 Douglass at Rancho Cienega Park, 4 p.m.

No. 6 Sherman Oaks CES vs. No. 3 Animo Robinson at Clinton MS, 5 p.m.

No. 7 New Designs at No. 2 Fulton, 7 p.m.

Note: Semifinals, Nov. 25, 7 p.m.; championship, Dec. 3, 7 p.m. at Contreras.

Southern Section playoffs

For the latest news on high school sports -- including all the pairings for the Southern Section football playoffs as they are announced today -- go to the Varsity Times Insider blog at https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsitytimesinsider/