Helix is number one, at least for the opening week.
The Highlanders received 14 first-place votes and 262 points from the panel of 30 in the first Union-Tribune football poll coordinated by veteran prep honcho John Maffei.
The Scots also were number one in the final 2017 vote:
| Rank | Team | 2017 | Points | Previous |
| 1. | Helix (14) | 13-2 | 262 | 1 |
| 2. | Torrey Pines (3) | 7-5 | 236 | 4 |
| 3. | Cathedral (8) | 5-7 | 221 | NR |
| 4. | Mission Hills (3) | 12-1 | 198 | 2 |
| 5. | Madison (1) | 8-3 | 189 | 8 |
| 6. | La Costa Canyon | 7-4* | 130 | NR |
| 7. | San Marcos | 9-3 | 106 | 3 |
| 8. | Ramona | 12-1 | 96 | 7 |
| 9 | Eastlake | 10-2 | 51 | 10 |
| 10. | Steele Canyon | 12-4 | 34 | 6 |
*Includes forfeit loss.
Others: Lincoln (9-2, 1 first-place vote, 26 points), Carlsbad (6-6, 23), Oceanside (6-7, 21), Valley Center (9-2, 16), El Camino (8-6, 13), St. Augustine (7-4, 12), Granite Hills (10-3, 3) Otay Ranch (8-4, 3), Rancho Bernardo (6-6, 2), El Centro Southwest (13-0, 2), University City (10-2, 2), The Bishop’s (9-1, 1), Monte Vista (8-6, 1).
Voters (30 sportswriters, sportscasters, various County football honchos):
- John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune
- Jim Lindgren, Rick Hoff, Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Union-Tribune correspondents
- Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone, KUSI Chl. 51
- Adam Paul, ECpreps.com
- Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com
- Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com
- Ted Mendenhall, Tyler Quellman, The Mighty 1090
- Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions
- Troy Hirsch, Fox 5, San Diego
- Rick Smith, PartletonSports.com
- Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, Ron Marquez, Carlton Hoggard, CIF San Diego Section
- Joe Heinz, Coordinator, Athletics, Sweetwater School District
- Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net
- Montell Allen, MBA Sports/San Diego Friday Night Lights Magazine
- Bob Petinak, Fox 1360 Radio
- John Kentera, Brandon Suprenant, 97.3 FM The Fan
- Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM
- Jim Arnaiz, Mike Dolan, John Carroll, San Diego Section Tournament Directors.
CHALLENGING OPENER
Helix, 13-2 in 2017 and a state Division 1-A finalist, begins the season on the road against San Bernardino Cajon, an explosive D-III club from the Southern Section that was 14-2 in 2017, scored 748 points, and boast returning quarterback Jayden Daniels, who has passed for 110 career touchdowns.
The Cowboys, from the Citrus Belt League, also allowed 321 points.
The Highlanders are a preseason-ranked 26th in the state, highest among San Diego Section squads, according to Max Preps. Cajon, which defeated Moreno Valley Rancho Verde, 70-23, for the Southern Section championship but lost the state D-IIIA title to San Mateo Serra, 38-14, in 2017, is 12th in Max Preps’ view.
Cal Preps.com gives Helix a 41.9 rating and Cajon 58.8. The good San Diego Section teams usually receive low, early ratings from Cal Preps but gain cred as the season moves on.
CAL-HI SPEAKS
Cal-Hi Sports’ top 50 has Madison as the top-rated San Diego team at 18, followed by Helix, 23, Cathedral, 33, Torrey Pines, 35, Mission Hills, 42, and La Costa Canyon, 46. San Marcos is in the “just missed” category and Helix’ opponent, San Bernardino Cajon, is 15th.
Madison, which opens at home against Rancho Bernardo, reportedly has a junior quarterback who transferred in from 12-3 Rancho Verde after passing for 40 touchdowns and 3,350 yards in 2017.
Other interesting opening week matchups will send No. 10 Steele Canyon (12-4 in 2017 and defending state DIII-AA champion) to Carlsbad (6-6), No. 2 Torrey Pines (7-5) to 9 Eastlake (9-3), and 3 Cathedral (5-7) to 6 La Costa Canyon (7-4).
MERRY GO-ROUND
There have been a whopping 16 head coaching changes since the end of last season, but at least five of the “new” coaches are “old” coaches.
–John McFadden returned to Eastlake, where McFadden built an outstanding program from 2000-13, during which his teams posted a 120-42-4 record. McFadden’s win-loss percentage of .735 is second only among active coaches to the 128-39-1 (.764) of Madison’s Rick Jackson.
–Leigh Cole ran the Del Norte program from 2011-14 and was 20-25, including 6-6 in ’13 plus a couple seasons of 5-6. None of the two other Nighthawks head coaches, since the school teed it up in 2010, won more than two games in a season.
–Chris Thompson of Mira Mesa returns to his figurative alma-mater. He was a longtime assistant for the Marauders as far back as the Brad Griffith era in the 1980s. Thompson was 26-25 from 2013-16 at Bonita Vista, including a 12-3 and state DV-AA championship game appearance in which the Barons came up short against Hanford, 33-21, in ’15.
–Troy Starr was 83-18-1 from 2008-16 at Helix, meting out punishment every year to Grossmont Hills opponents, and then suddenly stepped down, although Starr remains in the Helix physical education department. He moves over a neighborhood to Spring Valley and Mount Miguel.
—Gene Rheam was 39-21-1 from 2010-15 at Calvary Christian San Diego, which isn’t in San Diego but Chula Vista. Rheam was on hiatus in 2016 and the Royal Knights did not field a team in 2017.
Moving treadmill:
| Coach | School | Former |
| Marcus Bruce | Blythe Palo Verde Valley | George Dagnino |
| Sam Kirkland | Bonita Vista | Aaron Jones |
| Gene Rheam | Calvary Christian San Diego | Dr. David Riley |
| Leigh Cole | Del Norte | Patrick Coleman |
| John McFadden | Eastlake | Dean Tropp |
| Nick Osborn | El Cajon Valley | Nick Williams |
| Jim Rooney | Horizon Prep | Rick Nicolosi |
| Tim Baxter | Mabel O’Farrell | NA |
| Chris Thompson | Mira Mesa | Gary Blevins |
| Dane Roman | Mission Bay | Kenny Nears |
| Freddie Dunkle | Montgomery | Sanjevi Subbiah |
| Troy Starr | Mount Miguel | Shaun McDade |
| Gustavo Sandoval | Salton City West Shores | David Guillen |
| Justin McKenzie | San Diego Jewish | Skip Carpowicz |
| Mike Kastan | Valhalla | Charles Bussey |
| Earl Benson | Victory Christian | Ron Allen |
HAPPY TRAILS
To Blythe Palo Verde Valley’s George Dagnino, who stepped down after 17 seasons of long and longer bus rides for half of every season as the Yellowjackets competed in the Imperial Valley League and western Arizona from the most distant outpost in the San Diego Section.
Dagnino had the second longest run of consecutive seasons in the San Diego Section, behind Cathedral’s Sean Doyle, who is beginning his 23rd season. Matt Oliver of Christian has coached the Crusaders since 1999 but gave way in 2003 to ex-NFL quarterback Jay Schraeder, who was boss for one season.
MOVING UP
Grossmont’s Tom Karlo could become the 44th coach to win 100 games. Karlo is 91-53-2, posting 44-31 from 2005-11 at Mount Miguel and 47-22 since at Grossmont. With 12 wins, The Bishop’s Joel Allen, 88-29-1 since 2008, also could receive Century Club status.
POSSIBLE
Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto would tie John Shacklett for fourth all-time at 229 victories with an 11-win season. Hamamoto, with 218, is being shadowed by Valley Center’s Rob Gilster, who has 216.
A 12-win season by Cathedral would give Sean Doyle a 10th-place tie with Dick Haines at 194. Matt Oliver needs 9 wins and Chris Hauser 11 to tie Mike Dolan’s 165 for 14th. Mike Hastings could tie John Morrison’s 146 victories if Point Loma wins 7. Madison’s Rick Jackson needs 8 wins to advance from 29th to 23rd and tie Gene Edwards at 136.
(For additional information, click Football on our Home page, and choose “Coach 100 Win Club”. Choose “Scores / By Year / 2018“; or “Teams / School” for a complete listing of coaches and schedules of the 97 schools playing this season).
HELLO
Mabel O’Farrell charter school, located halfway between Lincoln and Morse on Skyline Drive in Encanto, and with a published number of almost 1,350 students, is fielding its first football team and will begin as an independent with a game at Castle Park this week. O’Farrell opened as a junior high in 1957 and later became known as a school of performing arts.
Mabel E. O’Farrell was an early 20th century member of the County board of supervisors and was known to have served on a committee charged with creating a detention home for wayward youth.
I’m an O’Farrell fan already. One of its alumni was the late Rosie Hamlin, lead singer of “Rosie and the Originals”, who recorded a ‘sixties favorite, “Angel Baby.” Rosie attended Sweetwater and also had a cup of coffee at Mission Bay.
Rosie Hamlin went to Mission Bay High School. She wrote Angel Baby at age 14.
I saw that on her wikipedia page, but if she recorded Angel Baby at age 14 while a student at Mission Bay High, she would have been very young for high school, as Mission Bay was grades 10-12. Rosie went to O’Farrell Junior High in south san Diego and her wiki also stated that she lived in National City, where Sweetwater is located. I could be wrong.
Here’s another tidbit about Rosie I picked up a few minutes ago when I asked my wife, who went to Sweetwater, if she remembered “Angel Baby”, which she did and I asked if she knew Rosie. “She lived down the street from us (in National City), but I didn’t know her,” said my wife, who would have graduated a year or so after Rosie.
Final add, Rosie. She attended the same schools as my wife, Ira Harbison Elementary, and Granger Junior High in National City. She apparently aslso attended Mission Bay and Sweewater, maybe not having more than a cup of coffee at either. In her own bio said that she was tutored and didn’t have a regular high school graduation. Apparently because she was traveling during this time. “Angel Baby” was a terrific hit.