Can coach John Olive’s tough-minded, resourceful Torrey Pines Falcons pull off another victory in Tuesday’s Southern California playoff Division I semifinals?

The No. 6-seed Falcons, trailing, 43-40, after three quarters, walked down host No. 3 Long Beach Poly, 54-49, in the quarterfinals Saturday night.  The Falcons now visit 2 seed Chino Hills, averaging a turbo-charged  85.4 points and holding a 78-54 victory over Poly and an 82-63 win last week over Torrey Pines neighbor San Marcos.

The Huskies’  16-14 record is the result of seven forfeit defeats early in the season, including a forfeit loss to Foothills Christian, which came up short in an Open Division game at Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda, the state’s third-ranked team.

Coach Brad Leaf’s Foothills Knights held a one-point lead with a little more than one minute remaining, surrendered a basket, and then, in possession, could not get the shot it needed with 10 seconds left.

St. Augustine was ushered out in the Open Division, 75-61, by Torrance Bishop Montgomery.

Of the original 18 teams from the San Diego Section, three boys’ teams and three girls’ squads still are in the hunt.

La Costa Canyon, No. 1 in Boys’ Division II, faces the 22-11 Lawndale Cardinals, who defeated Redlands East Valley, 75-50.

Lawndale recently surrendered a 28-point lead in the third third quarter and 22-point advantage in the fourth and bowed to Anaheim Canyon, 105-98, in two overtimes in the Southern Section finals.

Mt. Carmel must travel to Alhambra and take on No. 1-ranked Mark Keppel in Girls’ D-II. La Jolla Country Day and The Bishop’s, seeded 1 and 2 in D-V, could be headed to a championship showdown. Pairings:

BOYS

Div.	Seed	Team	Record	Seed	Team	Record
I	6	Torrey Pines	31-3	@2	Chino Hills	16-14*
II	1	La Costa Canyon	24-7	4	Lawndale	22-11
V	6	Army-Navy	26-6	@2	L.A. Price	22-7

*Includes 7 forfeits.

GIRLS

Div.	Seed	Team	Record	Seed	Team	Record
II	4	Mt. Carmel	30-3	@1	Alhambra Mark Keppel	24-7
V	1	La Jolla Country Day	15-12	4	L.A. Ribet	24-10
V	2	The Bishop’s	23-9	3	Garden Grove Orangewood	29-4

Winning a league and section title no longer matters, according to the convoluted “power” ratings and Open divisions established by the state CIF and endorsed by the San Diego Section.

The Horizon girls’ basketball team was essentially told to drop dead by the CIF after the Panthers had won their league title and the San Diego Section Division I championship.

State regional playoffs begin tomorrow night. Horizon is out and La Jolla Country Day and The Bishop’s, teams beaten by Horizon for the Horizon League title, are the 1 and 2 seeds in D-V.

Teams can move down in the regional only if they were in Open Division in their section playoffs.  St. Augustine stays in the Open by virtue of another seeding criteria.

No less an expert and booster of high school sports than Mark Tennis of Cal-Hi Sports weighed in.

“We’ve been doing this for 35 years, longer than the CIF has even had a state tournament, and the Horizon Christian girls basketball team having its season end through a series of CIF San Diego Section policies, CIF State regional criteria, and ridiculous power ratings is one of the worst cases of how not to run high school sports that we’ve ever seen.”

“It’s a tragedy,” added Steve Brand of UT-San Diego.

Boys D-I titlist Escondido also is out.  Morse, which lost to the Cougars, 63-49, in the D-I championship, is in.

Go figure.

The ratings are the result of much statistical analysis.  A labyrinth of information goes into a computer to help determine which teams compete in Roman numeral divisions and which teams are selected for Open divisions.

Sounds good, but it hasn’t worked.

St. Augustine, which won a state D-III title in 2012-13, was denied an opportunity to defend its title and was consigned to the Open Division in 2013-14.

The Saints were forced to go on the road and  took a 67-39, first-round shellacking from Santa Ana Mater Dei.

Coach Mike Haupt’s squad again is in the Open Division and faces another tall hurdle.  As the No. 8 seed, the Saints visit No. 1 Torrance Bishop Montgomery, the state’s second-ranked squad.

Foothills Christian, which won the San Diego Section D-II title, all of a sudden is in the Open Division, apparently because the Knights have an overall high state ranking (No. 20 by Cal-Hi Sports).

The No. 6 seed Knights also have a daunting challenge, visiting No. 3 seed Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda, the state’s third-ranked team.

Torrey Pines, the Open Division loser to St. Augustine, also is in the tournament, but now has a home game  in D-I tomorrow night against Tustin Foothill.

Go figure II.

More and more teams are being invited to the state playoffs.  The once-pristine regional is beginning to look like the  bloated early rounds of the Section tournament.

Teams with losing records are creeping in.

Regional first-round pairings involving San Diego section teams:

BOYS

Div.	Seed	Team	Record	Seed	Team	Record
Open	8	St. Augustine	25-6	@1	Torrance  Bishop Montgomery	29-1
	6	Foothills Christian	23-7	@3	Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda	23-8
I	11	Tustin Foothill	28-3	@6	Torrey Pines	29-3
	10	San Marcos	25-3	@7	Riverside  J. W. North	24-3
II	16	Las Flores Tesoro	19-11	@1	La Costa Canyon	22-7
	12	Mira Mesa	25-7	@5	Redlands East Valley	25-7
	15	Kearny	23-8	@2	Anaheim Canyon	23-9
III	12	Valhalla	22-9	@5	La Habra Sonora	28-4
	10	Corona del Mar	24-7	@7	El Cajon Valley	25-6
IV	11	Cerritos Valley Christian	22-9	@6	Mission Bay	21-4
	15	Pacific Ridge	22-6	@2	Pasadena Maranatha	20-8
V	11	Hesperia Christian	23-9	@6	Army-Navy	24-6

GIRLS

Div.	Seed	Team	Record	Seed	Team	Record
Open	6	Mission Hills	26-5	@1	Long Beach Poly	25-3
I	12	Torrey Pines	22-9	@5	San Bernardino Cajon	26-3
	15	Eastlake	20-8	@2	Vista Murrieta	22-7
II	12	La Costa Canyon	23-6	@5	Norco	22-9
	13	Eagle Rock	19-10	@4	Mt. Carmel	28-3
	14	Westview	21-7	@3	Mira Costa+	24-7
III	12	Kearny	22-6	@5	Corona	22-8
	11	Rancho Bernardo	14-12	@6	Rancho Santa Margarita	18-14
IV	9	El Capitan	19-8	@8	Capistrano J. Serra	23-7
V	1	La Jolla Country Day	14-12		Bye
	2	L.A. Price	14-16	@2	The Bishop’s	21-9

FINAL UT-SAN DIEGO BASKETBALL VOTE

Foothills Christian came on strong in the San Diego Section playoffs and  finished atop the UT-SanUT-San Diego poll.

#	Team (1st place votes)	W-L	Points*	Previous
1	Foothills Christian (9)	23-7**	107	2
2	St. Augustine (2)	25-6	101	7
3	Torrey Pines	29-4	89	1
4	Escondido	23-7	64	8
5	La Costa Canyon	22-7	59	3
6	Army-Navy	24-6	47	5
7	San Marcos	25-3	44	4
8	Morse	25-7	28	9
9	El Camino	21-6	22	6
10	Mission Bay	20-4	17	10

*Awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.  **Includes two forfeits.

Others receiving votes: El Cajon Valley (25-6), 5; Mira Mesa (25-7), 4; Francis Parker (19-8), 2.

Eleven San Diego County sportswriters and broadcasters and a CIF San Diego Section representative vote each week. The panel includes John Maffei and Kirk Kenney (UT-San Diego), Terry Monahan (UT-San Diego correspondent), Bill Dickens (eastcountysports.com), Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), John Labeta (CIF San Diego Section), Bodie DeSilva (sandiegopreps.com), Aaron Burgin (fulltimeshoops.com), Rick Willis (KUSI Chl. 51), Rick Smith (partletonsports.com), Drew Willis (sdcoastalsports.com).

 

Ugly blowouts apparently in the rear view mirror, the San Diego Section basketball playoffs reach the semifinals round this week in the Open and Divisions I-V.

The so-called CIF power ratings, with  their comprehensive reviews of statistics, scores, strength of schedule, etc., raised questions when Vista was accorded an Open Division berth, resulting in Francis Parker and Morse being assigned to Division I.

San Marcos’ strength of schedule  was questioned when he it was granted a No. 3 seed in the Open.

St. Augustine, No. 6, defeated San Marcos,  60-45, and Torrey Pines, No. 1, walloped Vista, No. 8, 68-38.

IT’S WHO YOU PLAY

Torrey Pines was 4-1 in intersectional games and hosted the nationally acclaimed Under-Armour Tournament, which brings teams from throughout the United States.

Vista was 1-5 in out-of-the area competition and participated in a lower level tournament in Westminster.

San Marcos was 5-0 intersectionally and won undistinguished tournaments in Maui, Hawaii, and at Mt. Carmel.

St. Augustine was 4-3 out of the area and was in the lower level West Hills event but also competed in the Under Armour and Santa Margarita tournaments.

The Open semifinals have St. Augustine (23-6) at No. 2 La Costa Canyon (22-6) and No. 4 Army-Navy (24-5) at Torrey Pines (27-2).

Hopefully early-round games involving undeserving, losing teams and  scores of 68-21, 92-29, 77-28, and 71-27 won’t be repeated and, in the future, more weight will be given to the quality of tournaments and intersectional competition.

 

San Diego coach Duane Maley said it best:  “He can run sideways faster than most backs can forward.”

Maley spoke of a favored player,  5-foot, 4-inch, 145-pound halfback Cleveland (Smiley) Jones, who literally carried the 1956 Cavemen.

Jones was the City Prep League player of the year despite missing almost all of two games and parts of others.

San Diego was 6-0 when Jones was healthy, 1-2 when he was sidelined.

OFF TO 3-0 START

In what was supposed to be a major rebuilding season after Jones and teammates won the 1955 Southern California championship and were declared national prep champions, the Cavers won their first three games in impression fashion.

Jones was hurt in the first quarter of the fourth, an upset, 20-12 loss to Hoover.  He played sparingly the following week, a 54-13 win over Mission Bay, and missed much of the 35-21 loss to Downey in the first round of the playoffs.

OFFENSE, DEFENSE, SPECIAL TEAMS

In between, Jones scored 96 points, with 12 touchdowns and kicked 24 points after.  He also played defense, but was  player of the year because of a 10.8-yard rushing average, 17-yard pass-receiving average, and a stunning 45-yard average on punt returns.

“Jones is a great broken field runner, the greatest I’ve ever coached,” said Maley, who was not given to hyperbole.

Of Jones’s many long runs, the most memorable came in the showdown with Lincoln, playoff berth and tie for the CPL title on the line.

Lincoln scored first to take a 7-0 lead on a short run by quarterback Russ Boehmke.

Jones juggled the ensuing kickoff and the ball  bounced back to the one-yard line.  The diminutive Caver almost lost his balance, but recovered, and ran 99 yards for a tying touchdown.

Jones scored one other touchdown as San Diego won a thrill-packed game, 26-19, earning a first-round playoff date with Downey at Long Beach Veterans’ Stadium, site of San Diego’s  epic 1955 semifinal  victory over  Anaheim.

PLAYED DOWNEY CLOSE

Jones was hurt in the loss to Downey, the eventual, 13-13 tie co-champion with Anaheim.

The Cavers’ 14-point loss, with Jones out much of the game,  compared well to the Vikings  41-point victory over Beverly Hills and 33-point win over Lancaster Antelope Valley in other playoff games.

Comparatively, Downey defeated Long Beach Wilson, 13-7.  San Diego defeated the Bruins, 21-7, and had three touchdowns called back.

This wasn’t a championship Cavers team, but it might have been had Jones not been sidelined with some untimely injuries.

PLAYED ON AND ON

Jones was on a conference championship team at San Diego Junior College in 1957, was a two-year star at Oregon,  a late roster cut of the NFL Dallas Cowboys, and then starred for the powerful San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot team.

Jones still was playing semipro football at age 38.  Compared to 21st century NFL players, he most closely resembled Darren Sproles, who thrilled San Diego Chargers fans a couple generations later.

Jones went on to a long career as an officer in the Orange County Probation Department.

He was known as “Smiley” because his facial bones were such that his countenance is a perpetual pleasant expression or smile.

Cleveland brought a lot of smiles to those who watched him and played with him.

Kearny High and Point Loma kicked off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, 1979, and the Komets clinched a 9-6 victory on Oct. 27, 1979, about 18 hours later.

Five seconds remained on the clock when the Komets’ Jim Goosens attempted the first field goal of his life and booted a 25-yard placement that sent everyone home.

Mother Nature, with a little help from the officiating crew, created this  prep football time warp.

It was pouring rain. “A bolt of lightning struck a transformer,” remembered Komets coach Tom Barnett. The lights went out at Mesa College.

But the show must(?) go on, and did.

After assessing the situation for about 15 minutes, game officials, coordinated by referee Ed Olsen, met with coaches Tom Barnett of Kearny and Bennie Edens of Point Loma in the middle of the field, rain continuing to come down, images barely visible.

Olsen directed the teams to regroup, head home, and return to Mesa the following day at 1 p.m. and to pick up where action left off, 11:19 to play in the fourth quarter, Kearny ahead, 6-0.

Darkness engulfed Linda Vista after the Komets’ Mark Reeves scored on a two-yard run on the last play of the third quarter and following a missed point after.

Rain still was falling when play resumed the next day.

FINALLY

Point Loma struck with a 78-yard pass play, Bill Waller to Pete Harris, but also missed the point after. The score was 6-6 until Goosens toed his winner and avoided the additional stress of a tension-filled overtime period.

For the second time in two days the Komets began drying out after the walk back to school.

Kearny is about a quarter-mile from Mesa.  Head coach Birt Slater started a tradition when the Komets began playing in the new community college’s  facility in 1964.  They strolled to and from home games.

Kearny squads dressed out at school, and then walked to the stadium, entering from the south end to the cheers of their fans, always after the visiting team was on the field in its pregame warm-up.

FLASHLIGHTS, ANYONE?

“We had to walk back in the rain that night and all of the lights were out  in the gymnasium,” said  Barnett, who succeeded Slater in 1977.

The Komets saw the light, somewhat, after Barnett and his coaches asked a school custodian to find some illumination.

“You could hardly see your hand in front of your face,” the coach told writer Jerry (Sigmund) Froide of the Evening Tribune. “We had to use flashlights so the kids could find their lockers.”

Players struggled to take off their wet and muddy uniforms in a maze of sweat and steam as the locker room quickly humidified, then they headed home to have the gear washed and dried for the next day.

“There never was any thought of not playing Saturday,” Barnett said.  “If we hadn’t the game would have been wiped out. It would have been declared a non-game, since there would have been no chance to replay it later on. But I credit the officials.  They could have called it off.

“We also had to get the field re-lined and get permission to use the stadium again,” Barnett said. “Mesa had a game that night.”

Olsen remembered the moment as if it were yesterday.

“Finishing was the right thing to do,” Olsen said.  “I was told later that I was supposed to have contacted the commissioner (Kendall Webb) for his okay, but my only thought was that these players and coaches would have put all that effort into nothing.”

KEARNY “WALK” SIMILAR TO CAVERS’

Birt Slater was an assistant coach to Duane Maley from 1953-57, an era of remarkable success at San Diego High.  City Prep League opponents’ combined record against the Cavemen was 1-27.

Almost all of the Cavers’ league games were in Balboa Stadium, located on the school campus.  Maley’s squads dressed in the school gymnasium, steps from the stadium, and then walked up an incline to the North end, which offered a panoramic view of the 23,000-seat facility.

From the top of the stadium steps, the Cavers descended in single file, passing between the school’s flag corps and its formed “SD”, then ran to their bench amid cheers and hoopla.

Only fireworks and skylights were missing. The visiting team, already in its pregame warm-up, stopped to watch.

As a rival coach noted, “It was 21-0 before the coin toss.”

COMMANDING PRESENCE

Ed Olsen was a football official from 1968-96 but is best known for a life in baseball.  He was captain of the Walt Harvey-coached 1953 La Jolla High squad that reached the Southern California finals before losing to Compton, 3-2.

Olsen was a bat boy for the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres of the late 1940s and early ’50s, and coached more than 30 years at El Capitan High and Grossmont College, retiring in 2004.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Area schools profited from the arrival of the San Diego Chargers in 1961.  In time sons of Chargers players and coaches contributed to the high school scene, especially this year.

–Ernie Wright, Jr., was a standout tight end at Patrick Henry.

–Tight end and future Grossmont quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst was son of  Dick Van Raaphorst, former Chargers placekicker.

–Helix’ cornerback Kevin Durden was second of three sons of  Earnel Durden, Chargers running backs coach.

–Longtime Chargers center Sam Gruneisen’s son Scott, punted and played tight end for Granite Hills.

–Chargers special teams coach Wayne Sevier’s son was Sweetwater quarterback Thane Sevier, who played the same position as did his dad at Sweetwater in 1958.

–Granite Hills quarterback Ladd McKittrick’s father left the Chargers’ coaching staff this year to begin a long and Super Bowl-successful career with the San Francisco 49ers.

Granite Hills was very much into the second generation mode.  McKittrick and Gruneisen were joined by three brothers whose father had been one of the County’s top players.

Joe Klucewich, Jr., and his identical twin brothers, Josh and Jim, were the sons of Joe, Sr., an all-Metropolitan League halfback at El Cajon Valley who led the league in scoring with 11 touchdowns and 66 points in 1956.

Joe, Jr., took dad a few steps further, rushing for more than 1,000 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns and 80 points and had a touchdown and 110 yards in 21 carries in the big regular-season game against Helix.

WHERE EAGLES DARE

Granite Hills snapped the top-ranked Highlanders’ 12-game winning streak, 17-15, in a November showdown and went through the Grossmont League with a 7-0 record.

His team clinging to a 14-9 lead,  McKittrick completed a nine-yard pass and scrambled 8 and 23 yards to keep alive a 75-yard drive that used more than six minutes of playing time and ended with a 35-yard field goal with 1:19 remaining to give the Eagles a 17-9 lead.

The field goal was more important than icing on the cake.

Helix scored with 54 seconds left.  Jim Plum pitched behind the line of scrimmage to Gary Isaacson, who then connected downfield with Willie Williams for a 46-yard touchdown.

The Highlanders finally were put away when Casey Tiamalu was tackled short of the goal line on an attempted two-point conversion.

Granite Hills’ season came to a crushing end when the Eagles dropped a 28-7 decision to Morse in the 3-A championship game at San Diego Stadium.  But their 10-1 record was a highlight of a decade-closing, five-year run in which the Eagles’ overall record was 47-6.

CAN’T HOLD THAT TIGER

No team closed  the 1970s more impressively than John Shacklett’s Morse Tigers.  Shacklett became head coach in 1971, got through a tough, early stretch (9-17-1 in his first three seasons) and was 51-10-4 from 1974-79, climaxing the decade in the 3-A championship  game.

Morse advanced after an epic quarterfinals playoff at Helix.

The Tigers came from two touchdowns behind with 10 minutes remaining to tie the score in the final two minutes, 21-21.   The  California tiebreaker format was in use. Each squad got one possession of four plays, beginning at the 50-yard line.

Morse won the coin toss and chose to go on defense.  Darrell Brown intercepted one of Jim Plum’s passes and Plum was incomplete on three others.  Michael Johnson gained 13 yards for Morse and the Tigers won the tiebreaker.

“It was a helluva game,” said Shacklett.  “No disrespect to Granite Hills, but Helix was the best team we played. They had Casey Tiamalu, Jim Plum, Leon White, some outstanding players.

“Tiamalu is one great back,” Shacklett told Jerry Froide, “but Michael Johnson has got to be the most explosive runner in the County,”

Johnson rushed for 136 yards, including 112 yards in the second half.

INACCURATE QUOTE OF YEAR

From Point Loma coach Bennie Edens:  “Morse can’t lose that many good players  (from 1978) and continue to dominate.”

NEW PLAYOFF FORMAT

For the first time since the San Diego Section was formed in 1960 champions in football, boys’ basketball and baseball no longer would be determined by two divisions of large school and small school classification.  A new alignment of 3-A, 2-A, and 1-A, based on enrollment, would be in effect.

Crawford moved from the 3-A Eastern to the 2-A Western and Mira Mesa moved from the West to the East.  The Avocado Conference was renamed the North County Conference and two leagues, Avocado (2-A) and Palomar (3-A) were created.

Schools did not change in the Grossmont and Metropolitan Leagues but the Grossmont became 3-A and Metro 2-A.  Each league had 10 members and would be facing future realignment.

IF THEY FIRE YOU, JOIN THEM

Bob Woodhouse, who created AA and AAA monsters at San Marcos, then was canned by school district trustees after 14 seasons and a 94-36-1 record, announced himself a candidate for one of the trustee posts on the school board.

Woodhouse moved to San Pasqual 1977 in the Escondido school district but retained a residence in San Marcos, where, he said, school officials informed him during the 1975-76 school year that Woodhouse couldn’t be head football coach and athletic director.

According to the Evening Tribune, Woodhouse said he opted for the administrative post but also was denied that and then quit the district.  Woodhouse said he had been  accused during a stormy board meeting of unprofessional conduct in front of the student body. The board president denied making the charge.

Woodhouse retired after the 1985 season with a 59-30-4 record in nine seasons at San Pasqual.  His overall record, one of the best in San Diego Section history, was 153-66-5 for a .702 winning percentage.  Included were 10 playoff appearances, two championship appearances and one title, and an undefeated, 9-0 season in 1965.

Woodhouse was fourth in a field of nine with 1,978 votes in the San Marcos school board election.

WAGNER REBOOTS

Hilltop’s Bryan Wagner missed four field goals and a point after touchdown in a season-opening win against Montgomery.

“I was using a three-step approach like Tony Franklin (Philadelphia Eagles),” said Wagner, who went back to his normal approach the following week and crushed a 49-yarder at Coronado, the ball clearing Cutler Field and landing in an adjacent street.

Wagner later set a San Diego Section record with a 53-yard placement and was in the NFL for nine seasons, including the Chargers in 1994, and never attempted a field goal.  He was a punter.

QUICK KICKS

Kearny (83-20-4), Sweetwater (83-21-3), and Vista (81-24) were the most successful teams of the 1970-79 decade…Lincoln was the 2-A champion and Army-Navy won the 1-A title… two other first-round playoff games were decided by the new tiebreaker:  Patrick Henry edged Grossmont after a 13-13 tie and Escondido defeated Montgomery after a 7-7 deadlock… Shacklett, an all-Metropolitan League lineman at Grossmont in 1956,  was on the same freshman team at Brigham Young University with Joe Klucewich, Sr… the Eastern League literally and figuratively was the Super League… the seven schools, Mira Mesa, Clairemont, Morse, Patrick Henry, Point Loma, Kearny, and Madison, averaged 2,368 students each…Patrick Henry was one of the largest in the state with 3,360 students in three grades… the new, 3-A, 2-A, and 1-A playoff alignment was based on enrollment and, with three divisions, the season was a week shorter… Sean Doyle, who would coach Cathedral Catholic to state championships in the next century, was a 170-pound defensive end at University… Point Loma graduate Bill Christopher, 28-8 in four seasons at Rialto Eisenhower of the Southern Section, took over at Mt. Carmel and was one of 12 new coaches in the San Diego Section… Helix sophomore Jim Plum completed 16 of 18 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns against El Capitan, setting a San Diego Section record with an 88.9 completion percentage… on the season Plum threw for 12 touchdowns in 112 attempts… Orange Glen junior Sean Salisbury, a future NFL QB, threw for 18 touchdowns in 236 attempts… other future NFLers included Hilltop kicker Bryan Wagner; tackle Keith Kartz of San Dieguito;  Carlsbad wideout Glen Kozlowski, a junior who led the section with 47 catches, and Helix linebacker Leon White… Lincoln quarterback Damon Allen would go on to a 22-year career in the Canadian League…Kozlowski, Salisbury, and Wagner were all-San Diego Section first-team choices…several other players went to NFL camps…San Pasqual’s offensive line was known as the “Hog Squad”, a few years before Chargers assistant coach Joe Gibbs, who would become the Washington Redskins’ head coach and  coin his beefy forwards the popular “Hogs”… Hoover had 20 returning lettermen from a 1-8 squad and went 1-8 again… the Cardinals’ George Rios boomed a 68-yard punt, from his 15 to Kearny’s 17… Montgomery’s Gil Sanchez, all San Diego Section in soccer, kicked a football for the first time and his 42-yarder helped the Aztecs upset Sweetwater, 9-7… Clairemont’s 7-6 win over Kearny was the Chieftains’ first over the Komets since 1964…leading 33-0 and pitching its third consecutive shutout, Helix went to the air with 19 seconds left and Grossmont’s Mike Mathis intercepted and returned the pass 100 yards for a touchdown as the game ended….

 

 

A stunning, 20-12 victory over archrival San Diego High brought back a flood of memories to Hoover coach Roy Engle.

—That hazy afternoon in Balboa Stadium in 1935 when Engle drove the Cardinals to a fourth-quarter, 7-6 victory over San Diego.

—Engle, the senior ball carrier, gaining the final 25 yards in three carries in the 80-yard drive to the game-tying touchdown.

—The first victory and first points ever scored by Hoover against the big, downtown school.

Engle and his teammates shared a glorious moment in the young school’s history, but Hoover victories in the city rivalry became few and far between.

ONE-SIDED RIVALRY

San Diego held an 18-5 advantage in the series, had not lost to Hoover since 1949, and was a decided favorite in this renewal, played on the Hoover gridiron for the first time.

But the Cardinals were confident and determined.

The squad met at the home of fullback Denny Berg the night before the game and vowed to reverse years of disappointment.

TARDY COACH

Engle was late getting to the Cardinals gym. He had gotten caught in El Cajon Blvd., traffic after leaving his college area residence.

The coach couldn’t help but look twice when he entered the football locker room.

“Every player was dressed and taped,” Engle recalled to Jerry Magee of The San Diego Union.

No stragglers. And kickoff still was more than an hour away.

“It’s dangerous to see a team so high, so early,” Engle said.  “I tried to think of a joke.”

The game began with the joke on the Cardinals.

ANOTHER BLOWOUT?

San Diego scored twice in the first 9:03 of the game on plays that began with Hoover in possession.

Bobby Staten picked up an errant Hoover pitchout and raced 20 yards for a touchdown two minutes after kickoff.

Ollie Osborne recovered a blocked punt in the end zone.  San Diego suddenly was ahead, 12-0, and seemingly off to the races.

But the Cavemen’s No. 1 threat, halfback Cleveland Jones, sustained a hamstring pull in the first period, returned briefly, but left for good with 19 yards in 4 carries.

Hoover, running its Split-T offense and quarterback options to perfection, began to peck away.

The Cardinals pulled in front, 13-12, near the end of the half on quarterback Gary Bailey’s 17-yard pass to Bob Williams.

Without Jones, the Cavers had only 59 yards total offense.  Berg’s 3-yard run in the fourth quarter clinched the victory, the first by a local team over the Cavers since 1952.

“We had about 2,800, including players and fans, who were all pulling together,” said Engle. “I’ve never seen a group of players put out like our guys did.”

Engle was moved to say the game offered a reason as to why “men go into coaching.”

DIFFERENT 3-0’s

The 2,800 represented the size of the Hoover student body, one of the largest in Southern California.

Virtually all, along with a crowd that reached more than 7,000 persons, jammed the Hoover Stadium, spectators filling both sides of the field and temporary bleachers in each end zone.

Hoover and San Diego each entered the game with a 3-0 record, but San Diego had beaten Long Beach Wilson, 21-7, Point Loma, 40-0, and Arizona power Phoenix Union, 33-6.

The Cardinals had one impressive win, 14-6, at Redlands and victories of 9-6 over Grossmont and 27-12 over Mission Bay.

“Hoover played much better than it had before,” said San Diego coach Duane Maley.   “When a team can have 12 points scored against them as quickly as we scored and can come back, they deserve a lot of credit.”

 THEY SAID IT

“We figure to be real green, but we’ll come along.  We’ve got speed.”—San Diego coach Duane Maley.

(The Cavers, after having 28 players graduate and starters Luther Hayes and David Grayson transferring to Lincoln, leaving only one offensive starter, center Ron Collins, finished 7-2).

“If George gets hurt, we unpack our tent, put it on the camel and head for the hills”–La Jolla coach Shan Deniston on the prospect of losing halfback George Graham.

(Graham was the second leading scorer in the city with 12 touchdowns, including 6 in the final game).

 “Things have looked bleaker.  We just don’t remember when.  I hope we can beat someone”–St. Augustine coach Tom Carter.

(The Saints won some, lost some, and tied some, for a 2-4-2 record).

“This could be the closest race we’ve ever had.  Anyone of five teams could finish from first to fifth”—Point Loma coach Bennie Edens.

(Point Loma was a well-beaten, tied-for-fourth with Mission Bay with a 1-3 league record and

2-6 overall).

“We’re the youngest, most inexperienced, and the losingest, but we think we’ll have a chance in every game we play.  We’re in the league and we’re not afraid of anybody.”—Mission Bay coach Harry Anderson.

(The Buccaneers beat Point Loma to finish fourth in the City League and were 2-6 overall).

“The whole league will be better balanced, because most teams will be improved, and I don’t think San Diego High will be so strong”—Hoover coach Roy Engle.

(The haves, Hoover and San Diego, still held sway over the have nots).

MAN THE PUMPS

Seven Mission Bay area gasoline stations formed an alliance with the school booster club.

Two cents of every gallon of gas poured on a weekend during football season went to the school fund, benefitting the Reserve Officers Training Corps, school choir, and athletic department.

DAY-NIGHT DOUBLEHEADER

After La Jolla played Mar Vista at Scripps Field in the afternoon, Mission Bay took on El Centro Central later in the evening at the same site.

El Centro defeated the Buccaneers, 20-13, and made another trip to La Jolla later in the season, topping the Vikings, 25-14.

OH, SUSANNAH!

Susannah Lee, a 16-year-old Ramona High senior, was the only female high school correspondent for The San Diego Union.

Susannah explained  the secret of understanding football to writer Jerry Magee: Study the plays, watch the ball, and take a boy friend along who can explain the game.

“Get a boyfriend who knows football and can sit with you and tell you what they’re doing,” she said.  “I’ve used that system a few games.”

Susannah also is the Ramona High school newspaper social reporter: “In society you have to go and see what people are doing, who is going with whom, etc.  The students don’t turn in the news.”

Covering football, Susannah contended, is “easy.”

Miss Lee, who lived on a chicken ranch near Ramona, did not aspire to a career in sports writing and planned to attend Woodbury College in Los Angeles and take a secretarial course.

ELEVATOR, WE GOT THE SHAFT

Gary Dunn, passing, and Ron Palermo, catching, teamed on a 46-yard scoring play for the only touchdown in Helix’ 6-0 victory over Chula Vista.

Problem.

Three plays earlier the Spartans were shocked when the head linesman, in charge of downs and markers, signaled a change of possession, ball to Helix.

The switch occurred after Chula Vista’s Jerry Glad was thrown for a 12-yard loss on third down.

Chula Vista was robbed of a fourth down play, although it needed 14 yards for a first down.

Further frustration for Bob Geyer’s South Bay squad: it recovered five Helix fumbles and blocked a punt and still didn’t mount an offense.

THE SEQUEL

Helix didn’t fool around in the Metropolitan League rematch (some teams played each other twice in a round-robin schedule that featured Helix and El Cajon playing seven league games and Grossmont, El Cajon, and Sweetwater playing six). The Highlanders won, 52-6, with their third 50-point outburst of the regular season.

The Scots  also defeated Blythe Palo Verde, 54-0, and rushed for  407 yards in another 52-6 victory over Grossmont, with scoring plays of 24,8, 85 (Palermo), 32 , 28 (Dunn), 48 (Danny Spinazzola), and 78 (Bill Ernest).

CITY RULES

Helix had 21 touchdown plays of at least 20 yards, 11 of at least 40, averaged 34 points a game in an 8-0 regular season, and was a rare County favorite over Hoover in a first-round playoff that drew about 11,000 to Aztec Bowl.

But as San Diego and Lincoln learned, you can’t score if you don’t have the ball.

With Gary Bailey marshaling the Cardinals’ grinding, split-T attack and showing more flair as an option quarterback, the

Cardinals ran 60 plays to the Highlanders’ 31 and built a fourth-quarter lead of 21-7.

Hoover’s 21-13 victory sent the Cardinals to La Palma Stadium in Anaheim and the Redbirds’ ball control worked again, for awhile.

The Cardinals scored first, ran more plays, and led Anaheim at the half, 7-6, but the Colonists with Mickey Flynn leading the way, ran away to a 34-7, quarterfinals playoff victory.

Hoover did not compare offensively to Anaheim.

The Cardinals’ Bobby Ball had rushed for 437 yards in 93 carries for a 4.6-yard average and Denny Berg averaged 4.1 and gained 393 on 84 carries.

Anaheim’s Joe Avitia had 874 yards and a 5.7 average and Mickey Flynn, used sparingly, had scored 17 touchdowns and was averaging 10 yards a carry.

Hoover had scored 170 points in nine games, Anaheim 347 in 10.

WHAT’S THE TIME?

With 5:50 to play in the first quarter of a 21-0 win over Sweetwater, Helix’ Ron Palermo ran 6 yards to a touchdown.

With 5:50 remaining in the second quarter, Helix quarterback Bob Schultz passed 45 yards to Bill Earnest for a touchdown.

SAINTS COME MARCHING IN

St. Augustine’s long battle to find a home in one of San Diego County’s prep leagues was coming to an end.

They would have a league in the 1957-58 school year but not before clearing a few more hurdles.

Southern Section bosses in September approved the Saints for membership in the Metropolitan League beginning in ’57-58.

The Saints and La Jolla had applied for Metro membership in 1955, after La Jolla and Kearny announced they would bail in football for two years from the City League.

METRO STILL OBSTINATE

Metro big shots rejected the Saints and Vikings and had opted for this year’s unbalanced, 5-team loop in which some squads would play league rivals twice, with the champion being decided on won-loss percentage.

City Prep League principals, who annually blocked St. Augustine’s bid for membership, made a U-Turn and extended an invitation for 1957-58.

Principals of the 21 County schools attended a meeting in November at the Civic Center, where the Saints’ invitation was the only decision resolved during a four-hour session on re-leaguing.

• City Prep League coaches disagreed with their re-leaguing bosses and voted against the Saints, pointing out that La Jolla and Kearny, whose games did not count this year, would be joining the circuit with Crawford in ’57, making for nine members, an unwieldy number.
• The Southern Section re-leaguing committee, virtually rubber stamped the vote by the San Diego principals, voting unanimously to place St. Augustine in the City Prep League and removing the Saints from Metro League consideration.
• The Saints still would need the approval of the Southern Section’s executive council, but commissioner Ken Fagans said the re-leaguing group’s vote was “tantamount to approval.”
• Fagans noted that Crawford would not be playing a varsity schedule in football in 1957 and that “re-leaguing is on a year-to-year basis. If further changes are needed later on, we’ll make them.”
• The Saints officially were placed in the City League by the Southern Section executive committee at its final meeting in December.

DIVIDED LOYALTY?

San Diego vice principal Bill Bailey, who coached the Cavemen to a 34-7 record from 1943-47, had a dilemma.

Bailey’s son, Gary, was Hoover’s quarterback.

Bailey and his wife deferred questions about who they were supporting, but it’s suspected they wanted Gary to have a terrific game and that maybe the teams would tie.

Mrs. Bailey would not commit to which side from which she would watch and Bill said only that he wished for a spot on the 50-yard line, “right in the middle of the field.”

SIGNS OF THE TIME

Mount Miguel in Spring Valley was scheduled to open in 1957, as was Crawford in East San Diego.  El Capitan would open in Lakeside and Hilltop in Chula Vista in 1959.

The City Schools also announced plans for a second new high school when a 44-acre plot was purchased for $92,000 in Clairemont.

By 1958, Clairemont would greet students at its campus one block west of Clairemont Blvd., on Ute Street.  The school mascot appropriately would be named Chieftains.

SHAN’S WORLD

Shan Deniston, who took over as La Jolla coach after seven seasons as an assistant coach at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, had been a catcher for the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League.

An arm injury ended the St. Louis Browns farmhand’s career, but Deniston managed Browns farm teams at Mayfield, Kentucky; Belleville, Illinois; Pittsburg, Kansas, and Olean, New York.

ALL-SAN DIEGO BOWS

The annual Breitbard Athletic Foundation College Prep All-Star game changed format.

From 1949-55, the game matched the Los Angeles City Section all-stars against an all-Southern California team.

The opponents this year were Los Angeles and a San Diego County squad.

The Los Angeles team scored a 19-0 victory before a crowd of about 10,000 at Aztec Bowl.

COACH SPEAK

Escondido dressed 41 players compared to 21 for Vista when the undefeated teams met in an important Avocado League game.

“We respect them in spite of their numbers,” said Cougars coach Chuck Embrey.

Embrey wasn’t blowing smoke.

Escondido finally put the Panthers away, 16-13, on Chuck Wood’s field goal from the 20-yard line with 2:22 remaining.

FIELD GOAL MANIA

Wood’s placement was the second of the season by an area kicker.  Hoover’s Walt Baranski toed a field goal from the nine-yard line to beat Grossmont, 9-6, earlier in the year.

Baranski’s field goal was the first in the County since 1952.

Field goals were so infrequent that newspaper correspondents often confused the distance, reporting the attempt from the line of scrimmage and not from point of the kick.

LET GEORGE DO IT

La Jolla’s George Graham scored six touchdowns, ran for an extra point, and passed for another point after in his final game, a 37-0 victory over Fallbrook.

Graham’s 37 points were the most since San Dieguito’s Ralph Swaim scored 6 touchdowns and 36 points in a 1944 game.

QUICK KICKS

Helix tackle Roy Bottini was a first team, all-Southern California selection and San Diego center Ron Collins made the second team…tackle Jack Anderson of Escondido and back Chuck Wood of the Cougars  earned second-team honors in the lower division…Anaheim and Downey played to a 13-13 tie in the Southern Section finals before a record crowd of 41,383…San Diego had 3 touchdowns called back in a 21-7 victory over L.B. Wilson, which scored with 10 seconds left in the game, when the Cavers had only 10 men on the field…La Jolla, 16 players strong, defeated Mar Vista, 13-7, to end a 15-game losing streak… the Vikings’ last victory was 7-0 over Rosemead in the 1954 season opener…Coronado coach Roger Rigdon declared that of the 200 boys enrolled in school, 100 reported for football…a City Schools carnival crowd of 16,000 saw the West team of Lincoln, San Diego, and Kearny defeat an East contingent of Hoover, Point Loma, Mission Bay, and La Jolla, 32-6…Lincoln beat Mission Bay, 14-6, and tied Hoover, 0-0, in two quarters of play…San Diego slapped Point Loma, 12-0…the Metro Carnival was an 8-6 win for Helix, El Cajon, and Sweetwater over Chula Vista, Mar Vista, and Grossmont….