Thirty-three players with San Diego Section or Southern Section connections have played in the 49 Super Bowls.

Denver and Carolina meet in Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara.

Carolina Defensive tackle Nate Chandler from Mira Mesa, who signed with the Panthers as an undrafted free agent in 2012, is the only San Diego-connected player on either team but spent the 2015 season on reserve/injured.

Dave Grayson, Sr., of Lincoln was the earliest Super Bowl representative, for Oakland in game II.

Grayson was a starting defensive back and  reserve halfback for the 1955 San Diego High Cavemen, who won the Southern Section championship and and were acclaimed national champions.

Grayson moved into the Lincoln district and played for the Hornets in 1956.  He was the first of five Lincoln graduates (see table below) to play in the Super Bowl.

Lincoln is tied with Long Beach Poly, Compton, Los Angeles Crenshaw, Los Angeles Dorsey, and L.A. High for the most representation among California schools.

Helix, with 4 Super Bowl players (see table), is tied for fifth  with Los Angeles Hamilton, Berkeley, and Anaheim Servite.

Two head coaches, Mike Martz of Madison, and John Fox of Castle Park, have guided their teams to the big game, Martz for the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, and Fox for the Panthers in S.B. XXXVIII.

Name	Pos.	High School	Team	Super Bowl
Marcus Allen	RB	Lincoln	Oakland*	XVIII
Terrell Davis	RB	Lincoln	Denver*	XXXII, XXXIII
Saladin Martin	DB	Lincoln	San Francisco*	XVI
Wally Henry	KR-WR	Lincoln	Philadelphia	XV
Dave Grayson, Sr.	FS	Lincoln	Oakland	II
Brett Swain	WR	Carlsbad	Green Bay*	XLV
Colin Branch	S	Carlsbad	Carolina	XXXVIII
Ted Johnson	LB	Carlsbad	New England	XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX
Steve Riley	T	Castle Park	Minnesota	IX, XI
Michael Booker	CB	El Camino	Atlanta	XXXIII
Dokie Williams	WR	El Camino	Oakland	XVIII
Glenn Cadrez	LB	El Centro Central	Denver*	XXXII, XXXIII
Joe Lavender	CB	El Centro Central	Washington*	XVII
Alex Smith	QB	Helix	San Francisco	XLVII
Reggie Bush	RB	Helix	New Orleans*	XLIV
Leon White	RB	Helix	Cincinnati	XXIII
Bruce Walton	T	Helix	Dallas	X
Tony Banks	QB	Hoover	Baltimore*	XXXV
Bryan Wagner	P	Hilltop	San Diego	XXIX
Clifford Hicks	CB	Kearny	Buffalo	XXV, XXVI, XXVII
John Richardson	T	Kearny	Miami	VI
John Michels	T	La Jolla	Green Bay*	XXXI
Lincoln Kennedy	T	Morse	Oakland	XXXVII
Michael Pittman	RB	Mira Mesa	Tampa Bay*	XXXVII
Joev Salave’a	DT	Oceanside	Tennessee	XXXIV
Junior Seau	LB	Oceanside	San Diego, New England	XXIX, XLII
Stephen Neal	T	San Diego	New England*	XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX
Darren Comeaux	LB	San Diego	Denver	XXI
Keith Kartz	C-T	San Dieguito	Denver	XXIV
Mike Kozlowski	S	San Dieguito	Miami	XIX
Monte Jackson	CB	St. Augustine	Oakland	XV
John Lynch	S	Torrey Pines	Tampa Bay*	XXXVII
Brad Daluiso	K	Valhalla	N.Y. Giants	XXXV

*Winning Team.

 

Eldridge Cooks, the starting fullback on the 1955 San Diego High team that won the Southern California championship and was acclaimed the national high school champion for that season, was at a UCLA basketball game when he passed recently.

The 165-pound blocker and runner was a two-year varsity letterman for the Hillers, whose combined record in 1954 and ’55 was 20-2-1.

Cooks, 78, also played baseball at San Diego State and was a member of Don Coryell’s first San Diego State football teams in 1961-62.

Cooks resided in Santa Ana for many years and was an enthusiastic alumnus of San Diego High and regularly attended sporting events throughout Southern California.

BRAVES’ ORIGINAL QUARTERBACK

Bobby Contreras was El Cajon’s Valley’s first varsity football quarterback when the  school opened in 1955 and also starred for the Braves in basketball and baseball before graduation in 1957.

DRAFTED BY YANKEES

Kerry Dineen, 63, all-San Diego Section outfielder at Chula Vista in 1970, was a fourth-round draft choice of the baseball New York Yankees in 1973.

Dineen got into 16 games over parts of three seasons in the majors and had a .324 batting average. He was inducted into the University of San Diego Hall of Fame in 1997 and had a .409 collegiate career batting average.

 

 

Foothills Christian, a weekly, unanimous No. 1 in the San Diego Union-Tribune  poll, went “national” this week when it landed as No. 17 in the USA Today rankings.

The thrill-a-minute Knights achieved the honor with another roller-coaster performance against Connecticut’s Waterbury Sacred Heart, which was 17th in USA Today the previous week.

The Knights defeated the Hearts, 82-80, in the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts, but not before they gave up a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Foothills needed a couple free throws in the closing seconds to put the game away.  They led, 69-50, at the end of three quarters, according to the Max Preps line score.  T.J. Leaf had 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 7  assists for the Knights.

LEAF AND WALTON, CONT.

A friend chided me this week when he thought I was writing last week that Leaf was a better player  than Bill Walton at a similar stage in their careers.

The 6 foot, 10-inch Leaf is a power forward with an outside shooting touch.  The 6-11 Walton was an old school center who scored at will and guarded the area around the basket the way a lioness protects her cubs.

And Walton could score whenever he chose.

To show the regard Walton had with college scouts during his senior year at Helix was what they were saying after  the Covina Tournament, then the preeminent high schools hoops event in California.

UCLA assistant coach Denny Crum, who witnessed Walton’s scoring 50 points and taking down 34 rebounds in a 110-68 victory over Pasadena, reported to Bruins coach John Wooden.

NO ONE BETTER

Crum:  “The greatest high school player I ever saw.”

An intrigued but skeptical Wooden:  “Better than Lewis (Alcindor)?”

Crum:  “Yes.”

Wooden, taken aback, looked around:  “Step into my office. Keep your voice down.”

The legendary coach wanted to make sure that he had heard Crum correctly and that no else was privy to this startling statement.

Walton would go  on to UCLA, win two national championships and also lead the Portland Trail Blazers to an NBA title.

U-T BOYS’ POLL

Cathedral, augmented by 6-11 Morse transfer Brandon McCoy, jumped to second after a 56-53 win over St. Augustine before almost 2,500 persons at Point Loma Nazarene.

First-place votes in parenthesis. Won-loss records through Monday.

Rank	Team	Record	Points	Last Week
1	Foothills Christian (11)	11-3	110	1
2	Cathedral	10-4	82	6
3	Torrey Pines	12-4*	72	3
4	St. Augustine	13-4	72	2
5	La Jolla Country Day	18-0	66	4
6	El Camino	12-4	61	5
7	Army-Navy	13-5	55	7
8	Kearny	17-2	34	8
9	Poway	17-2	23	9
10	San Marcos	11-5	10	10

*Forfeited 57-37 victory Dec. 5 over Horizon.

Points awarded on basis of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Others receiving votes, including record: Mission Bay (13-4, 7), Grossmont (16-3, 5).

Eleven media representatives vote, including John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), Terry Monahan, Jim Lindgren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, EastCountySports.com; Rick Willis, KUSI-TV; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Lisa Lane, San Diego Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.

Foothills Christian lost its rematch with Chino Hills but continued as a team of statewide import, still not yet gone “national,” in the eyes of major U.S. ratings entities.

The Adidas-influenced Knights will travel again this week, to Springfield, Massachusetts, for the Hoophall Classic and take on Connecticut’s No. 1, 8-0 Waterbury Sacred Heart, averaging 89 points a game.

After losing to Chino Hills by 20 in December, the Knights did a better job against the Huskies’  press in the Sierra Canyon event in the San Fernando Valley last week and took the USA Today No. 1 squad to the wire before bowing, 85-83.

T.J. Leaf  put Foothills ahead, 83-82 with a basket with 13.3 seconds remaining in the game, but coach Troy Leaf’s scrappers from El Cajon couldn’t hold on.

Foothills Christian’s regular-season, intersectional tour won’t be complete until Feb. 6, when it heads up the I-5 Freeway for a game against Santa Ana Mater Dei, ranked No. 4 in California this week by Cal-Hi Sports.

Foothills is No. 1 in the Union-Tribune weekly poll and No. 5 in Cal-Hi‘s Top 20.  St. Augustine and Army-Navy earned  on-the-bubble status.

The U-T No. 2 Saints have a rivalry game with Eastern League title implications against No. 7 Cathedral Saturday night at Point Loma Nazarene University.

Get there early.  Parking is brutal.

LEAF AND WALTON?

After converting 20 of 24 shots from the floor, scoring 43 points, and knocking down 21 rebounds against the team from Chino, Leaf was described as the best prospect out of San Diego since Bill Walton in 1970.

Writer Frank Burlison, who made that observation, has virtually seen them all from his base in the Long Beach area for the last 40 or so years.

I was able to place Walton in Sports Illustrated‘s  “Faces in the Crowd” when Walton hit the national landscape.

Walton scored 50 points and had 34 rebounds in a 110-68 victory over Pasadena in the Covina Tournament and led  Helix to a 33-0 record. The Highlanders’ greatness wouldn’t be tested, because there were no Southern California or state playoffs in the Walton era.

Walton, a 6-foot, 11-inch center, was an enthusiastic, game-changing defender and unselfish, facilitating offensive player who still averaged 29.1 points a game.

The 6-10 Leaf, averaging 30.6 points, is a power forward and may have a more wide-ranging offensive game but  not had Walton’s impact on defense.

ON THE GIRLS’ FRONT

The Bishop’s (15-1), Mission Hills (11-3), and La Jolla Country Day (11-3) rank 10, 11, and 12, respectively, in the latest Cal-Hi Sports poll.

Junior Destiny Littleton of The Bishop’s has scored 605 points and is averaging 37.8 points.

U-T BOYS’ POLL

First-place votes in parenthesis. Won-loss records through Monday.

Rank	Team	Record	Points	Last Week
1	Foothills Christian (11)	9-3	110	1
2	St. Augustine	11-4	97	2
3	Torrey Pines	12-3	72	5
4	La Jolla Country Day	16-0	66	5
5	El Camino	12-4	63	4
6	Cathedral	8-4	62	7
7	Army-Navy	12-5	58	6
8	Kearny	14-2	34	8
9	Poway	15-2	24	10
10	San Marcos	9-5	11	9

Points awarded on basis of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.

NR—Not ranked.

Others receiving votes, including record:  Grossmont (14-3, 8), Mission Bay (11-4, 3), San Ysidro (14-2, 1), Vista (10-5, 1).

11 media representatives vote, including John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), Terry Monahan, Jim Lindgren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, EastCountySports.com; Rick Willis, KUSI-TV; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Lisa Lane, San Diego Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.

John Saleamua took the handoff, cleared the first line of defense, and cut to the outside.

The Sweetwater running back was running free along the Montgomery sideline when he suddenly went down.

Jack Jackson, a Montgomery player, had left his bench area, came onto the field, and tackled Saleamua, short-circuiting a 79-yard touchdown run.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said the shocked Saleamua.

“I was on my head phones talking to one of our spotters upstairs in the press box, when he yelled in my ear,”  Red Devils coach Al Jacobus told Jerry (Sigmund) Froide of the Evening Tribune.

Game officials huddled briefly at midfield and then signaled touchdown, one of many in Sweetwater’s 44-7, first-round playoff victory.

“It was a weird play,” understated Jacobus.  “I guess they were frustrated over there.”

“I thought I had a touchdown for sure,” Saleamua said.  “I would have been really mad if the refs hadn’t given me the touchdown.”

Longtime observers remembered the nationally televised Cotton Bowl in 1954.  An Alabama player left the bench and brought down Rice’s Dickie Moegel, who was running free for a touchdown.

Game officials also ruled touchdown as Rice won, 28-6.

HELIX TAKES THE HIGH ROAD

Dominated by Grossmont in the annual carnival, beaten by the rival Foothillers in league play, overwhelmed by a Mount Miguel comeback a week later, the Helix Highlanders took a figurative mandatory eight count, had the sawdust wiped from their gloves, and rallied to win the San Diego Section championship.

Coach Jim Arnaiz’s Scots knocked out San Pasqual, 17-10, before 8,778 persons in San Diego Stadium to capture the school’s first title and validate Arnaiz’s program as one of the area’s elite.

Casey Tiamalu, a 5-foot-8, 193-pounder rushed for 160 yards in 11 carries and scored on runs of 25 and 40 yards in the  second half as the Highlanders, stung by three turnovers, rallied from a 10-3 deficit.

Tiamalu also got the Highlanders on the scoreboard in the first half with a 38-yard field goal.

Winning the championship was the last thing on Arnaiz’ mind  when he made his way off the field at Helix’ Benton Hart Stadium in mid-season.

The coach would be occupied by nightmares after he put his head down on the pillow that night following a devastating, 41-40  loss to Mount Miguel that saw Arnaiz’s team fall to 3-2.

Helix had leads of 27-0 and 34-6.

Mount Miguel coach Brian Smith admitted to being “in shock.”

“We didn’t panic or scream,” said Smith.  “We just told the players to get rolling.”

A six-yard pass, John Coughlin to Jerome Weatherspoon, with 22 seconds remaining in the game clinched the Matadors’ comeback as they survived a 350-yard, five-touchdown passing effort by Helix’ Jim Oxe.

Helix regrouped, set sights on the big prize, and won its last seven games.

SHOCK AND AWE IN REVERSE

John Shacklett’s Morse Tigers seemed unbeatable.

The team from the 16-year-old school at 69^th Street and Skyline Drive was in  beast mode.

The Tigers set a San Diego Section record with 425 points and 47.2 average in a 9-0 regular season.

”Deep,  talented, quick, awesome,” wrote Steve Brand of The San Diego Union after Morse had put up 50 points a game in a 5-0 start.

But it’s a long way to the finish line.

Morse fought the fog and La Jolla in the playoffs’ opening round, leading only 6-0 at halftime.

Mark Kennedy, the County’s No. 3 rusher, gained only 25 yards in seven carries but the Tigers scored 13 points in the third quarter and pulled away from the pesky Vikings to win, 20-0.

Michael Johnson took up the slack for Kennedy, gaining 151 yards in 15 carries and scored on runs of 62 and 18 yards. Michael’s brother, Jerry, returned a punt 40 yards for another touchdown.

Shacklett told writers that he had a “good talk” with his club at halftime.

DISASTER

Crusty Bob Woodhouse’s San Pasqual Golden Eagles had a top 10 defense yet averaged at least 4 touchdowns a game less than Morse.

But the Eagles made plays.

The squad from east Escondido was wobbling late in the game, clinging to a 21-19 lead with the rallying Tigers on San Pasqual’s  25-yard line.

Allen Dale and Dave Gleason came to the rescue.

Dale stopped Billy Ervin for a five-yard loss and Gleason sacked quarterback Keith Magee on fourth down.

Ball game.

The resourceful Eagles had similarly kept Morse at a distance throughout the quarterfinals contest.

Morse’s first score didn’t come until 3:22 remained in the third quarter when Magee and John Glover connected on a 41-yard scoring pass play.  San Pasqual promptly answered with a touchdown and took a 21-6 lead into the final quarter.

Ervin’s 10-yard run at 7:03 of the fourth made the score 21-12.  Morse stunned the Eagles with an onside kick, Ray Anderson recovering. Magee raced 47 yards for a touchdown on the next play.

Momentum clearly was with Shacklett’s team, but San Pasqual dug in and closed the door.

The last time a 10-0 team had been so shockingly led to the exit was in 1958, when San Diego was beaten, 26-18, in the quarterfinals by eventual Southern California champion Long Beach Poly.

RUN THAT BY ME AGAIN

Morse defeated Escondido, 18-0,  in a two-day preseason scrimmage.

No big deal?

Hmm, that was 18 touchdowns to none.

“Was it 18?” wondered first year Cougars coach Denny Snyder, whose team then lost its season opener to Vista, 35-7.

Bring back Chick Embrey?

Snyder admitted to being a little shook,  but “if there was a lynching party, I didn’t hear about it.”

Chick Embrey stay retired and Escondido recovered, advancing all the way to the playoff semifinals before bowing to Helix, 18-16.

DON’T LOOK AHEAD

“All season I’ve been telling the kids the story of a farmer who looked so far into the forest he tripped over his hogs,” said Sweetwater coach Al Jacobus.  “What irony. Now we play a team called the Hogs.  That’s Spooky.”

San Pasqual defenders were known as such, cognomens that also would identify Washington Redskins Super Bowl offensive linemen in the 1980s.

Asked how he was going to approach the semifinal contest against the favored Red Devils at Southwestern College, Bob Woodhouse announced,  “We’ll take the 805 South.”

Woodhouse’s glibness was nothing compared to the time he threw a defanged rattlesnake under the Oceanside bench, distracting the Pirates’ players and coaches into an upset loss.

No snakes this time, but San Pasqual reached the finals with another surprising victory, 15-12.

HILLTOP TO MOUNTAIN TOP

Residences of Chula Vista’s upscale east side didn’t know how to react.

The Hilltop Lancers won their first  Metropolitan League championship since the school opened in 1959 when Mark Armbrust and David Wright collaborated on a 24-yard touchdown pass with 41 seconds remaining in the game to defeat Bonita Vista, 26-21.

The Lancers and Sweetwater each had 8-1 league records. Hilltop won for only the fifth time in 20 tries against the Red Devils but claimed the title by virtue of their 15-7, head-to-head victory after Bryan Wagner kicked field goals of 24, 22, and 21 yards.

 COACHES UNHAPPY

It was one thing for the Grossmont District superintendent in 1977 to suggest a shutdown of interscholastic sports, but coaches this year, especially those who endured the long hours of football,  had enough.

Area school districts enacted policies which forced coaches to begin practices after school.

For years the mentors were allowed to use the final physical education period of the school day for football practice, which would continue after school.

This procedure saved at least an hour in the teacher-coaches’ work day.

Now the coaches were being ordered to coach a full p.e. session first and then begin football exercises.

Twenty-one coaches either stepped down or transferred to other schools. Several retired or got out of coaching or found positions in two-year or four-year colleges.

School	1978 Coach	1977 Coach
Bonita Vista	Jan Chapman	Larry Fernandez
Castle Park	Reldon (Bing) Dawson	Gil Warren
Cathedral	Dan Ramos	Paul Wargo
Christian	Dan Henson	Rick White
Chula Vista	Gary Chapman	Bob Korzep
El Cajon Valley	Don George	Jim Mann
El Capitan	Art Preston	Joe Rockhold
Escondido	Denny Snyder	Bob (Chick) Embrey
Fallbrook	Tom Pack	Chuck Lundquist
Granite Hills	Paul Wargo	Dan Garcia
Hoover	Jerry Varner	Roy Engle
Marian	Bill Smith	Phil Bryant
Monte Vista	Bob Korzep	Larry Schimpf
Ramona	Jack Menotti	Mike Cunningham
San Marcos	Kenny Broach	Ivan Seaton
Santana	Phil Bryant	Joe DiTomaso
Southwest	Bob Arciaga	Oscar Mercado
Sweetwater	Al Jacobus	Dave Lay
Torrey Pines	Darold Nogle	Cliff Kinney
Valhalla	Rick White	Russ Boehmke

Coached in previous season at another San Diego Section school.

INITIAL RESULTS

Christian’s Dan Henson had the most successful season of the new coaches, posting a 9-0-1 record and defeating Army-Navy, 33-0, for the Class A title.

Sweetwater’s Al Jacobus continued Dave Lay’s excellence, finishing with a 10-2 record and reaching the AA semifinals. Denny Snyder was 10-2 at Escondido.

Paul Wargo (6-4), Darold Nogle (6-3), and Reldon (Bing) Dawson (5-3-1) were others with winning records.

Art Preston, who was 3-4-1 at El Capitan, had retired from coaching after leading the Vaqueros to an 8-2 record and a berth in the championship game against Kearny in 1963.

WORLD, ACCORDING TO HERB

Herb Meyer was getting philosophical in his 20^th season.

“If you stick around long enough you have to win a few by osmosis,” said the El Camino coach, who started at Oceanside in 1959.

Meyer had just tied Birt Slater for second all-time among County mentors with his 132^nd victory. Chick Embrey retired with 144 wins and the lead in 1977.

“Part of 132 is longevity,” said Meyer.  “People got pretty excited when I won number 100, but I’m not setting goals like winning 150 or 200.”

Meyer finally pulled the pin in 2003 with a record total of 339 victories.

THE CAVERS’ YEAR?

There was optimism at San Diego High.

Stanley Murphy’s team had won 6 in a row dating to the final four games of the 1977 season and were  looking forward to their first big test against Morse.

Steve Brand of The San Diego Union predicted that the game would be “interesting and probably close”.

Morse didn’t let up after leading 13-7 at the end of the first quarter, 40-7 at the half, and 53-19 after three.  Tigers coach John Shacklett then began substituting and Morse put away a 69-19 victory.

San Diego, 5-3-1 under Murphy in 1977 and full of promise, fell to 3-6 and 1-6 and seventh in the Western League.

I WANT TO COACH

Four standouts were destined to become head coaches and would be active almost 40 years later.

Escondido tackle Rob Gilster would head programs at Orange Glen and Valley Center.  End Sean Doyle of University became that school’s leader and stayed with the Dons when their campus moved and the school was renamed Cathedral.

Herb Meyer’s son, Joe, eventually took over at Rancho Buena Vista after other stops. And Morse running back Dino Babers went the college route, guiding Eastern Illinois, Bowling Green, and Syracuse.

AFTER THE FACT

Willie Morcillo of Mira Mesa had to wait before he was credited with  a section record, 50-yard field in a 21-14 victory over La Jolla.

Morcillo originally was determined to have booted a 43-yard placement, but seven yards were added after coach Brad Griffith’s review of game film the following day showed the scrimmage line was La Jolla’s 33-yard line and that the kick was from the 40.

Morcillo bettered the record of 47 yards by Poway’s Denny Miller in 1976 but did not have a long reign at the top.  David Cabral of La Jolla Country Day boomed a 51-yarder later in the season.

TRAGEDY 

A small plane flying East collided with a Pacific Southwest Airlines 727 that was approaching Lindbergh Field to the West, resulting in  more than 135 lives lost.

The mid-air collision, the most deadly in aeronautical history, occurred  around 9 a.m. in  North Park, about two miles from St. Augustine High.

Dougherty Gymnasium on the St. Augustine campus was converted into a temporary morgue.

The original intent was for the gym to serve as an emergency room as more than  75 doctors, nurses, and volunteer medical aides converged on the school site.  When it was determined there were no survivors, the gym played another, tragic role.

TRUE GRID

Add Mount Miguel to those who thought the playoff system established in 1976 created a redolent presence…after defeating Grossmont, 35-12 in the regular-season finale, the Matadors were forced to meet the Foothillers again the following week in the first round and lost, 18-17…San Diego  junior Terry Turner gained 87 yards in 12 carries in the Cavers’ season-opening, 12-0 win over Lincoln…Turner had never played in  a game…Patrick Henry quarterback Brent Woods is son of Jack Woods, who was “Charlie” on the popular “Charlie and Harrigan” radio show in San Diego…defending champion Lincoln flattened out to 5-4, but finished with a 4-game winning streak…Coronado made the playoffs for the first time in 17 years and La Jolla shared a piece of the Western League championship, their first since the Vikings and San Diego tied in the City Prep League in 1952…Kearny missed the playoffs for the first time since 1966 and Castle Park for the first time since 1972…the 18^th annual Grossmont Carnival “featuring lots of spirit, penalties, and money,” according to Steve Brand, was played before 7,500 at Aztec Bowl as the West beat the East, 14-0…

 

Foothills Christian, blown off the court, 40-13, in the first quarter and a 106-86 loser to Chino Hills a  couple weeks ago, will have another try at the USA Today No. 1 Huskies in the Sierra Canyon Super Showcase in Chatsworth Saturday.

The pressing piranhas of 13-0 Chino Hills, averaging  93 points a game, were champions of the recent City of Palms Tournament in Fort Meyers, Fla., where many eastern big shots competed.

Foothills (8-2) took a step back last week in the Under-Armour event at Torrey Pines.

After an impressive, 85-63 victory over St. Augustine, the Knights fell, 67-52,  to Corona Centennial, the same team Foothills defeated, 69-61, on Centennial’s home court the day before it met Chino Hills.

St. Augustine (11-2), also in the Sierra Canyon field, snapped a two-game losing streak last night, leading from opening tip to final buzzer in a 62-52 win over visiting Bellflower St. John Bosco (13-2), ranked 21st in the state by Max Preps.

Coach Mike Haupt’s Saints, 18th in California, according to Max Preps,  will play Mission Hills Bishop Alemany (9-5) Saturday.

Lincoln is host for a shootout Saturday that includes La Jolla Country Day (15-0) taking on Woodland Hills El Camino Real (5-8) and the Hornets (9-2) meeting Lynwood (9-4). Other squads also are involved.

Teams in the Union-Tribune Top 10 opened league play last night or will Friday.

First-place votes in parenthesis. Won-loss records through Monday.

Rank	Team	Record	Points	Last Week
1	Foothills Christian (11)	8-2	110	1
2	St. Augustine	10-2	99	2
3	Torrey Pines	10-3	72	5
4	El Camino	12-3	70	3
5	La Jolla Country Day	15-0	59	8
6	Army-Navy	10-4	58	6
7	Cathedral	6-4	52	4
8	Kearny	13-2	35	7
9	San Marcos	9-5	15	10
10	Poway	13-2	13	NR

Points awarded on basis of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.                                                                             NR—Not ranked.

Others receiving votes, including record: Lincoln (9-2, 12), Grossmont (12-3, 11), Vista (8-5, 1).

11 media representatives vote, including John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), Terry Monahan, Jim Lindgren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, EastCountySports.com; Rick Willis, KUSI-TV; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Lisa Lane, San Diego Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.