Coach John Olive may have passed the word around the Torrey Pines campus on Del Mar Heights Road: Do not even think about an undefeated season.
The coach would plead, “It’s too early.” Or, “We’re just thinking about our next game.”
But three impressive victories last week have put the Falcons at 19-0, with a No. 2 state ranking by Max Preps and No. 9 by Cal-Hi-Sports. Deep and well-rounded, the Falcons beat Coronado, 86-68, Mater Dei, 80-52, and Bonita Vista, 85-63
To run the table in the regular season (we’ll address playoffs later) the Falcons would have to win their last eight games, a schedule which includes home-and-home, Avocado League jousts against traditional rivals Carlsbad, Vista, and La Costa Canyon.
The Falcons also have home games against Temecula Rancho Christian and potentially troublesome Anaheim Fairmont Prep.
Olive has scheduled as tough as possible (one win over strong Corona Centennial, 65-62) but may have been helped by, of all things, the pandemic.
The scourge forced a drastic restriction in travel. No tournaments or mid-season road games against powerful, outside-the-section opponents.
Torrey Pines takes on the Temecula club tomorrow night (Wednesday, May 12) and tips Friday and Saturday against Carlsbad, the No. 7 team in the San Diego Section.
The last San Diego County team to end the season undefeated was the 1973-74, 32-0 Kearny Komets, led by Mark Hoaglin, Rick Taylor, Alan Rhodes, and Donald Page. That squad, as good as it was, played a local schedule, no intersectionals.
Undefeated regular seasons also have been achieved by Hoover (24-0, 1959-60), La Jolla (26-0, 1963-64), Mount Miguel (28-0, 1967-68), and Helix (29-0, 1969-70). Only Mount Miguel and Helix completed unbeaten runs through the playoffs..
UPDATE: Torrey Pines made it 20 victories in a row, 82-53 over Temecula Rancho Christian.
This week’s The San Diego Union-Tribune poll:
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | LAST WEEK |
| 1. | Torrey Pines | 19-0 (13) | 130 | 1 |
| 2. | San Marcos | 17-0 | 116 | 3 |
| 3. | Cathedral | 8-1 | 97 | 2 |
| 4. | St. Augustine | 12-2 | 81 | 7 |
| 5. | Santa Fe Christian | 12-2 | 81 | 4 |
| 6. | El Camino | 15-3 | 60 | 6 |
| 7. | Carlsbad | 11-4 | 49 | 5 |
| 8. | Mission Hills | 11-2 | 28 | 9 |
| 9. | Orange Glen | 16-3 | 27 | 8 |
| 10. | Mater Dei | 6-2 | 19 | 10 |
Others receiving votes: Coronado (12-4, 13 points), Mission Bay (10-5, 7) Bonita Vista (6-4, 4), Helix (9-7, 1).
First-place votes in parenthesis.. Points awarded on scale of 10 down to 1.
Poll voters:13 sportswriters, sportscasters from around San Diego County.
- John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
- Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoopos.com.
- Terry Monahan, Steve Brand, Union-Tribune correspondents.
- John Kentera, Braden Suprenant, 97.3 FM The Fan.
- Bodie DeSilva, scorebooklive.com.
- Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com.
- Adam Paul, ECPreps.com
- Steve Dolan Mountain Country 107.9 FM.
- Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
- Rick Smith, partletonsports.com
- Brad Enright, L.A. Court Report.
How others see San Diego Section’s top 10 in their California ratings*.
| TEAM | RANK | CAL-HI SPORTS | MAX PREPS |
| Torrey Pines | 1 | 9 | 2 |
| Cathedral | 2 | 13 | 14 |
| San Marcos | 3 | 24 | 8 |
| Santa Fe Christian | 4 | NR | 11 |
| Carlsbad | 5 | NR | 32 |
| El Camino | 6 | NR | 47 |
| St. Augustine | 7 | NR | 18 |
| Orange Glen | 8 | NR | 49 |
| Mission Hills | 9 | NR | 34 |
| Mater Dei | 10 | NR | 70 |
*Cal-Hi Sports‘ ranks a Top 25.
Good Afternoon, Rick:
The undefeated 1973-74 Kearney Komets basketball team was coached by Tim Short, right?
I continue to admire your fine work.
Allen Brown
Allen: Wayne Colborne coached the 73-74 Komets. Tim Short coached the the 75-76 and 78-79 Komets to championships. My research screeched to a halt during the pandemic but libraries have opened marginally. I can’t get into the microfilm room in the Central library, thus no coverage from the Evening Tribune or L.A. Times. I’m able to access the El Caion library on Tuesdays and Thursdays but its microfilm is restricted to the San Diego Union. Still, better than nothihng. I’d like to buy you lunch one of these Tuesdays or Thursdays. Thanks for writing.