The postseason begins this week and the Open Division is so stacked that season-long No. 1 Lincoln is out and placed in Division I.
Mission Hills, Open Division-seeded No. 1 and the leader in John Maffei’s last regular-season poll, meets visiting No. 4 Cathedral and No. 2 La Costa Canyon is host to No. 3 Carlsbad. Lincoln, defending state Division 1-AA champion, has a bye.
“Maffei Madness” will resume with a final poll after the San Diego Section playoffs.
HAPPY TRAILS
Chris Hauser was placed on administrative leave after four games and eventually retired as head coach at Mission Hills, leaving a career record of 202-87-2, and a winning percentage of .698. DJ Zapata serves as interim coach and has a 5-1 record heading into the playoff against Cathedral.
Hauser has the 11th most wins of any coach in San Diego County history. His teams at Vista and Mission Hills won or tied for 12 league championships and reached the San Diego Section championship game seven times, winning two.
MAFFEI MADNESS
John Maffei’s The San Diego Union-Tribune Week 11 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, Cal Preps, and Cal-Hi Sports are state rankings.
| RANK | TEAM/RECORD | POINTS | MAX PREPS | CAL PREPS | CAL-HI SPORTS |
| 1. | Mission Hills (9-1) 18* | 277 (1) | 8 (14) | 58.7 (58.4) | 12 (14 |
| 2. | Cathedral (8-2) 9* | 263 (2) | 13 (14) | 47.5 (47) | 15 (19) |
| 3. | La Costa Canyon (9-1) 3* | 246(3) | 10 (10) | 57.1 (51.5) | 13 (12) |
| 4. | Lincoln (8-2) | 213 (4) | 20 (11) | 50.8 (50) | 20 (17) |
| 5. | Carlsbad (9-1) | 177 (5) | 12 (12) | 53.7 (53.6) | 19 (24) |
| 6. | Granite Hills (7-3) | 146 (6) | 24 (29) | 44.9 (44.8) | 39 (40) |
| 7. | Point Loma (10-0) | 127 (7) | 38 (51) | 48.5 (48) | 46 (43) |
| 8. | San Marcos (6-4) | 81(8) | 27 (31) | 42.6 (42.2) | On Bubble (On Bubble) |
| 9. | Oceanside (6-4) | 44 (10)) | 40 (42) | 35.2 (34.1) | NR (NR) |
| 10. | Mount Miguel (7-3) | 43 (9) | 37 (50) | 36.4 (36) | NR (NR) |
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Santa Fe Christian (10-0, 13 points), Holtville (9-1, 4), Mission Bay (10-0, 4), Rancho Bernardo (8-2, 4)
VOTING PANEL
Twenty-nine sportswriters, sportscasters, and administrators from the San Diego Section, plus Max Preps:
- John Maffei (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
- Donald Ray Norcross, Kevin Farmer, Rick Hoff, Steve Brand (Union-Tribune correspondents)
- Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (San Diego Section)
- Brandon Stone, Allison Edwards, John Carroll, Chase Izidoro (KUSI-TV)
- Rick Smith (partletonsports.com)
- Braden Suprenant (93.7 FM “The Fan”)
- Mike Dolan (Coaching Legends)
- Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference)
- Joe Evangelist, Rex Johnson, Bruce Ward (CIF Advisory Committee)
- Raymond Brown (sdsports.net)
- Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association)
- Bodie DeSilva, John Kentera, Dennis Ackerman, Steve (Biff) Dolan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, Tom Ronco, Adam Paul (freelance contributors).
