A nagging, Week 2 loss to Lancaster Paraclete that Helix appeared to overcome reared up again after the Highlanders were beaten by Folsom, 49-42, in the state 1-AA championship.
Helix, seventh in the state going into the game as selected by Cal-Hi Sports, dropped to a final ranking of 10th.   Helix might have finished eighth or ninth, but the loss to Folsom, combined with Harbor City Narbonne’s stunning, 50-13 win over Paraclete, sealed the Highlanders at 10th. Narbonne was ninth and Long Beach Poly eighth.
Mission Hills is 12th in Cal-Hi’s final rating and Torrey Pines, which came close in Avocado League battles with Mission Hills, crashed the top 50 at 49th. San Marcos was 54th and Ramona and Steele Canyon earned honorable mention.
HIGH SCORER IN DESERT
Tyler Saikhon of El Centro Southwest led all San Diego Section scorers with 234 points after finishing second in 2016 with 188.
Saikhon is the third Valley runner to outscore all others, joining Brawley’s Zay Shepard, who had 192 points in 2003 and 276 in ’04, and Imperial’s Royce Freeman, whose three-peat probably never will be surpassed.
Freeman had 240 in 2011, 216 in ’12, and 258 in ’13 before embarking on a collegiate career at Oregon that will likely conclude with his selection in the 2018 NFL draft.
Scoring totals are not always accurate or are incomplete, because they often are impossible to find in newspapers or are unreported. Max Preps, from which the below totals come, tries to keep score.
| Name | Team | Gms | TD | PAT | 2PAT | FG | Pts |
| Tyler Saikhon | El Centro Southwest | 14 | 38 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 234 |
| Dorian Richardson | Rancho Buena Vista | 12 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 156 |
| Kenyon Sims | Lincoln | 12 | 24 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 152 |
| Daniel Esguerra | Calvin Christian 8 | 11 | 15 | 47 | 4 | 3 | 151 |
| Jacob Siegfried | Granite Hills | 13 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 150 |
| Mozes Mooney | The Bishop’s | 10 | 22 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 148 |
| Casey Granfors | University City | 11 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 132 |
| Marcel Patterson | University City | 11 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 132 |
| Shevell Sterling | Grossmont | 11 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 126 |
| Juan Pablo Ruiz | Calexico Vincent Memorial | 14 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 126 |
| Devon Jones | Kearny | 12 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 122 |
| Michael Moreno | Brawley | 10 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 120 |
| Deandre Daniels | St. Augustine | 9 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 120 |
| Ty Jones | Salton City West Shores | 8 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 118 |
| Branton Bell | Kearny | 12 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 116 |
