2026 Football Week 3: Mission Hills, Carlsbad Ascend
Number 1 Mission Hills (19 first-place votes) and No. 2 Carlsbad (6 No. 1’s) are on a North County collision course to a Week 7 clash, which may decide the Avocado West championship and pivot the winner to the San Diego Section playoffs.
Mission Hills, with first-year coach John Altieri, and Carlsbad, skippered by 16-season veteran Chadd MacNeal, lead the way in John Maffei’s latest The San Diego Union poll, each 3-0.
But before the potential showdown the Grizzlies must get by Granite Hills (Fifth), unranked Ramona, and La Costa Canyon (Fourth) in the next three weeks, a tough ask. Carlsbad seemingly has it less challenging, facing unranked Poway, Valley Center, and Torrey Pines.
DONS LYING IN WEEDS?
Cathedral, winless after two games, one a 38-24 defeat to Orange Lutheran after leading, 21-17, into the fourth quarter and the other a 42-13 blowout to powerful Chandler, Arizona, still has the respect of Top 10 voters, including seven who cast first-place votes for the Dons this week. Cathedral coach Sean Doyle schedules multiple very tough nonleague opponents every year, much like Duane Maley did decades ago when San Diego High stood tall in California.
The 0-2 Dons might have it a little easier this week against 0-3 Mater Dei Catholic, but the game against the Crusaders will be followed by Week 4 and 5 contests against reputable locals Helix and Granite Hills leading to a Week 6 meeting with Concord De La Salle, king of the North Coast Section and Cal-Hi Sports‘ state No. 6 this week.
Cathedral has not started the season 0-3 since 2010.
TOP 10
John Maffei’s The San Diego Union Week 4 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 and Cal-Hi Sports‘ are state rankings. HS-ratings.com and MaxPreps follow computerized grades.
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | PREVIOUS | MAX PREPS | HS-RATINGS.COM | CAL-HI SPORTS |
| 1. | Mission Hills (3-0) *19 | 304 | 2 | 12 | 46.4 points | 16 (24) |
| 2. | Carlsbad (3-0) *6 | 280 | 3 | 16 | 45.0 | 19 (20) |
| 3. | Cathedral (0-2), *7 | 258 | 1 | 36 | 42.4 | 20 (15) |
| 4. | La Costa Canyon (2-1) | 211 | 4 | 34 | 23.6 | On Bubble |
| 5. | Granite Hills (2-1) | 150 | 6 | 32 | 24.4 | 47 (41) |
| 6. | Rancho Bernardo (3-0) | 146 | 7 | 78 | 18.1 | On Bubble |
| 7. | Santa Fe Christian (3-0) | 109 | 9 | 107 | 24.1 | Not Ranked |
| 8. | San Marcos (2-1) | 99 | 8 | 47 | 14.7 | NR |
| 9. | Oceanside (1-2) | 96 | 5 | 79 | 23.6 | 46 (37) |
| 10. | Lincoln (1-2) | 62 | 10 | 30 | 14.4 | 44 (48) |
Others receiving votes: Point Loma (3-0, 32 points); Torrey Pines (2-1), 4; Grossmont (3-0), 3; Valhalla (2-0), 3; Eastlake (3-0), 1; Imperial (2-1, 1).
Voting panel: 32 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).
Joe Heinz, 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 Advisors).
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.