FRIDAY'S LIGHTS SHINE BRIGHTER IN PLAYOFFS.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

Pads crack with such an explosion, onlookers wince. The hitting fierce, the emotion almost palpable. An intensity radiates across the field, defying nonchalance, so thick it almost dares not to be felt by the human touch.

Dreams are lifted, crushed. Sometimes borne anew, but more often discovering their conclusion.

There is something special, something singular about prep football. That creates a deeper, more lasting camaraderie amongst players. That weaves memories that last not days, or weeks, but lifetimes.

Emerging manhood cannot conceal youthful eyes peering behind helmets and facemasks, all filled with anticipation and exhilaration, and maybe a little dread.

High school football is weekly happening, a consistent thread that entwines the years and generations, that is at once both familiar and new with every kickoff.

``It's kind of all-American,'' said Stephanie Connelly, principal of Notre Dame High at Sherman Oaks. ``Football has all the hoopla with the band and the cheerleaders and the big crowds. It's exciting.

``Everybody loves football on Friday night. I never miss it.''

Now begins the most memorable period for prep football of all -- the playoffs.

Tonight the journey becomes elevated, the stakes heightened, the adrenalin almost tingling from head to big toe.

It's win or the season is over now. Win and continue the quest for greatness, for a team's ultimate definition, or lose and battle unwanted emotions.

The CIF Southern Section alone will crown 13 different champions. From its most powerful programs, to its smallest, to everything in between.

Only this year, for a precious few teams, the stakes are more elevated than ever. This year for the first time, California will have a state champion.

It will actually crown three champions, at three different -- if somewhat confusing -- levels based solely upon school size.

California, largely because of its geographic size and enormous population, is the last to have a state football championship.

If this inaugural state championship offers the allure of something grandeur to every playoff team, nowhere does this season's postseason offer greater opportunity that at Notre Dame.

The Knights have won 44 of their past 45 games and been dominant at the CIF Div. III level.

But this year they have been grouped in the same division as the CIF's big boys, with the name schools that have carried the prep football flag in the Southland for years -- Mater Dei, Mission Viejo, Long Beach Poly, Edison, Servite.

This postseason offers a chance for the 10-0 Knights to show they belong with the section's elite, a suspicion held throughout the new millennium by most Notre Dame followers.

``It's certainly an opportunity to show what we can do against the big-name schools,'' Knights coach Kevin Rooney said.

``The players are excited and confident, but anytime you go into the playoffs you are, because it's win or it's all over.''

The CIF seeding committee clearly believes Notre Dame is ready to make the jump. It seeded the Serra League champions No. 1 in the new Pac-5 Division playoffs. In the first round the Knights are matched against Dana Hills (5-5), the third-place team from the South Coast League.

Notre Dame is expected to defeat Dana Hills, but the real test begins next week. A victory sends the Knights against the winner of the Mater Dei-Long Beach Poly game, two teams more accustomed to matching up in the title game.

A semifinal matchup could offer Esperanza or Orange Lutheran, while perennial powers Mission Viejo, Edison and Servite loom in the lower bracket.

``Coach Rooney will have them ready to play, regardless of who the team is,'' said USC cornerback Cary Harris, an '04 Notre Dame standout.

``It's just a great opportunity for those guys this year.''

Only once before has Notre Dame been in this position, when for one year it was grouped with the CIF's traditional powers. It fell to a Matt Grootegoed-led MaterDei squad, 30-3 in the 1998 quarterfinals.

The timing now, however, appears right for Notre Dame's return. The program has been at a high level for years and ready for a new gauntlet.

``I think there's been a lot excitement on campus,'' Rooney said. ``There's still very much a question whether we can compete at that level. It's a great challenge.''

If Notre Dame were to capture the Pac-5 title, it would be intriguing to imagine a matchup in the state championship against northern power Concord De La Salle, ranked No.1 in the nation by USA Today.

But that game can't happen because in the state playoffs, Notre Dame is rated a Division II school because of its enrollment (1,157). Schools from the south must have an enrollment over 2,400 to qualify for Div. I; still more odd, in the north a Div. I school needs only over 1,700.

So Notre Dame could win the biggest title in the Southern Section and not be rewarded with a shot at De La Salle.

``That's the way it works out,'' Rooney said. ``It doesn't seem like the way it should be. That's getting way ahead of ourselves, but if we made it that far in the playoffs, we'd be pretty disappointed not to get a chance for the Division I title.''

The state CIF title games are a three-year experiment. Emmy Zack, the state CIF director of communications, said there are 10 CIF sections throughout the state, with 47 overall champions.

She said the 10 CIF commissioners will meet after the playoffs end to select the state championship representatives.

``Is there likely to be some discussion on two equal teams -- sure,'' Zack said. ``But our commissioners are pretty evenhanded.''

For a freakishly super team like tiny Oaks Christian (USA Today's sixth- ranked team), it's almost understood it will win its Div. X section title and be selected as the south's representative in the Div.III state game.

For every other team, the playoffs offer uncertainty and opportunity. It's do-or-die time for prep football. Time to build memories. Friday nights at its best.

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