Football, which used to open with 90-degree practices under blazing Labor Day suns, is back with a now usual berginning in August’s semifinal week.
The dates have changed, but not the weather.
Cathedral is the San Diego Union-Tribune voting panel’s No. 1-ranked team in the first weekly poll.
Dons coach Sean Doyle, who should become the 11th coach in County history to win 200 career games, embarks on his 24th season in a career that began in 1996 at University, which moved its campus on Linda Vista to Carmel Valley and became Cathedral Catholic in 2004.
Doyle has posted a 196-91 (.683) record and trails only Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto (227) and Valley Center’s Rob Gilster (224) among active coaches.
HERB MEYER ON TOP
With 23 seasons, Doyle is in a tie with Gary Blevins, who retired after the 2017 season, at 16th in longevity. The leaders are Herb Meyer (45 seasons), Bennie Edens (43), Hamamoto (33), John Shacklett (32), and Gilster (30).
Cathedral (13-2) sustained an unlikely loss to La Costa Canyon, 19-7, in its opening game last season and then ran the table until a 21-14 defeat to Folsom in the state Division I championship.
The Dons will face off again this week against the well-regarded and neighboring Mavericks, No. 6 in the preseason poll.
Then, as is their early-season custom, Cathedral takes on a couple bluebloods.
The Dons will face state No. 3 and U.S. No 9 Corona Centennial in Week 2 and Scottsdsale Saguaro, No. 1 in Arizona and 22nd in the country, in Week 3. Max Preps, responsible for these ratings, places Cathedral at 13th in California and 45th nationally.
Cathedral has a solid 58.0 Cal Preps.com rating but Centennial’s is 76.6 and Saguaro’s 64.4.
At least the Dons’ first three tests will be at home.
QUICK KICKS—Helix, which opened No. 1 in San Diego in 2018 and then felt the Week 1 hammer of San Bernardino Cajon, 43-3, switches sites and opens as host to the Cowboys…the Highlanders are Max Preps’ 32nd rated team in California and Cajon is 56th…the Scots follow with tough West Herriman, Utah…after that? Cathedral visits and then comes Westlake Village Oaks Christian…sandwiched between is a game at Mesa College with St. Augustine…Carlsbad also has a strong intersectional schedule, opening with Newhall Hart, Long Beach Millikan, and Lawndale, which was 14-2 a year ago and is Cal Hi Sports’ preseason state No. 26…Torrey Pines, 41st by Cal-Hi Sports, opens with Los Alamitos, 9-2-1 last season and ranked 46th…others accorded props in the newsletter’s top 50: Cathedral, No. 6; St. Augustine, No. 21; Mission Hills, No. 31, Helix No. 33, and Poway, out of the top 50 but with “On The Bubble” status…Max Preps ranks the Cathedral-Corona Centennial game as No. 6 in its Top 10 matchups of the season….
Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
First-place votes in parenthesis.
| RANK | TEAM | 2018 | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
| 1. | Cathedral (20) | 13-2 | 298 | 1 |
| 2. | St. Augustine (10) | 10-3 | 282 | 3 |
| 3. | Helix (1) | 8-5 | 238 | 5 |
| 4. | Torrey Pines | 10-1 | 179 | 2 |
| 5. | Lincoln | 11-5 | 154 | NR |
| 6. | Mission Hills | 5-7 | 153 | NR |
| 7. | Carlsbad | 6-4 | 116 | 6 |
| 8. | La Costa Canyon | 6-4 | 108 | NR |
| 9. | Oceanside | 6-6 | 51 | NR |
| 10. | Steele Canyon | 9-3 | 41 | NR |
Others receiving votes: San Marcos (8-2), 26 points, Eastlake (10-2), 22, Madison (6-5), 12, San Diego (12-2) 3, Otay Ranch (6-5), 1.
Voting panel, 31 sportswriters, sportscasters, various County football honchos:
- John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune
- Jim Lindgren, Rick Hoff, Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Union-Tribune correspondents
- Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone,Ted Mendenhall, KUSI Chl. 51
- Adam Paul, ECpreps.com
- Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com
- Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com
- Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090
- Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions
- Troy Hirsch, Kaylyn McMakin, Tabitha Lipkin, Fox 5, San Diego
- Rick Smith, PartletonSports.com
- Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, Ron Marquez, CIF San Diego Section
- Joe Heinz, Coordinator, Athletics, Sweetwater School District
- Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net
- Bob Petinak, Freelance
- John Kentera, Brandon Suprenant, 97.3 FM The Fan
- Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM
- Mike Dolan, John Carroll, San Diego Section Tournament Directors.
- Christian Pederson, SoCal Prep Insider
- Eric Williams, WBK Sports/San Dego Friday Night Lights Magazine
- Thomas Gutierrez, Cal-Hi Sports
