The regular season is in the homestretch and teams are jockeying for league championships and San Diego Section playoff seedings. Carlsbad has two incentives, undefeated regular season and top seed in the Open Division. The Lancers meet an old rival this week.
Coach Thadd MacNeal’s team, 7-0 and a unanimous No. 1 in John Maffei’s weekly poll, is host to No. 9 San Marcos (4-3). The Lancers have won the last six against the Knights, but San Marcos has a 21-18 edge in the all-time series that began in 1961 and their 2025 contest ended with a 31-25 score.
Should it come out of this week’s contest unscathed, Carlsbad will continue a run to a possible 10-0, finishing at La Costa Canyon (4-3) and playing host to Del Norte (4-3).
Carlsbad has won or tied for Avocado West or Avocado league championships every year since 2019.
TOP 10
John Maffei’s The San Diego Union Week 8 poll. Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. *First-place votes. Previous rankings in italics. NR–Not ranked. MaxPreps’ are state rankings. HS-ratings.com and MaxPreps follow computer model. Cal-Hi Sports’ rankings are the opinion of prep honcho Mark Tennis.
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | PREVIOUS | MAX PREPS | HS-RATINGS.COM | CAL-HI SPORTS |
| 1. | Carlsbad (7-0) *32 | 332 | 1 | 12/13 |  52.9/48.2 | 13/14 |
| 2. | Cathedral (4-3) | 282 | 2 | 28/33 | 44.8/42.6 | 23/23 |
| 3. | Granite Hills (5-2) | 248 | 3 | 44/51 | 45.9/45.2 | 34/36 |
| 4. | Mission Hills (5-2) | 244 | 4 | 21/19 | 33.6/33 | 37/37 |
| 5. | Santa Fe Christian (7-0) | 177 | 6 | 40/48 | 41.1/39.9 | 41/42 |
| 6. | La Costa Canyon (4-3) | 135 | 5 | 47/43 | 31.5/30.3 | On Bubble/Bubble |
| 7. | Rancho Bernardo (6-1) | 130 | 8 | 91/115 | 28.3/27.4 | On Bubble/Bubble |
| 8. | Â Helix (6-2) | 90 | 9 | 41/49 | 31.6/29.7 | On Bubble/Bubble |
| 9. | Â San Marcos (4-3) | 53 | 7 | 62/56 | 22.7/23.7 | On Bubble/Bubble |
| 10. | Oceanside (4-3) | 29 | NR | 46/55 | 30.5/26.9 | On Bubble/Bubble |
Others receiving votes: Eastlake (8-0), 9 points; Torrey Pines (5-2), 9; Point Loma (6-1), 5; Patrick Henry 7-0), 4; Imperial (6-1), 2; Lincoln (2-5), 2;Â Valhalla (5-2), 1. Holtville (5-2), 1.
Voting panel: Sportswriters, sportscasters, administrators from the San Diego Section:
John Maffei (The San Diego Union-Tribune).
Donald Ray Norcross, Kevin Farmer, Rick Hoff, Steve Brand (The San Diego Union-Tribune independent correspondents).
Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez, Cristina Byrne (San Diego Section bosses).
Brandon Stone, Allison Edmonds, John Carroll, Chase Isidoro (KUSI-TV, Chl. 51).
Rick Smith (partletonsports.com).
Braden Suprenant, Frank Markese (97.3 FM The Fan).
Mike Dolan (Coaching Legends).
Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference).
Joe Evangelist, Rex Johnson, Bruce Ward (CIF Advisory Committee).
Raymond Brown (sdfootball.net).
Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association).
Bodie DeSilva, John (Coach) Kentera, Dennis Ackerman, Steve (Biff) Dolan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, Tom Ronco, Adam Paul (independent contributors).
Max Preps.
