We must be in an era of entitlement.

How else can you explain that 64 of 97 San Diego Section teams were invited to participate in the playoffs?

And 25 don’t even have winning records.

Seventeen losing teams and eight with .500 records are in.

They’ll vie for 6 divisional championships.

Sixty of 96 teams, including seven with losing records, made the five-division postseason in 2012.

Division IV this year includes one winning team out of 12, Sweetwater’s 6-4 Red Devils.

La Jolla, with a 4-6 record, gets a first-round bye.

El Cajon, 2-8 with a record of 0-4 and a negative point differential of 191-7 in the Grossmont Valley League, is in the IV playoffs.

ADDITIONAL BRACKET

The CIF created an Open Division this year in hopes of getting the elite teams competing in one bracket.  “Only” two losing teams, 3-7 Steele Canyon and 4-6 Poway are in the Open Division.

The top seeds are Mission Hills (9-1), Open; San Pasqual, 9-1, D-I; Madison, 9-1, D-II; Francis Parker, 10-0, D-III; Monte Vista, 5-5, D-IV, and Crawford, 10-0, D-V.

FIRST ROUND CHOICES

Best first-round matchups:

Open–La Costa Canyon (5) at Helix (4).

DI—None.

DII—Brawley (9)  versus Mission Bay (8) at site to be determined. Scripps Ranch (10) at West Hills (7).

DIII—The Bishop’s (7) at Morse (10).

DIV—None.

DV—Army-Navy (5) at Blythe Palo Verde (4-6).

San Diego High’s football program has bottomed out.

The Cavers forfeited to Hoover on the Monday before the Friday game this week.  The reason given was that they had less than 20 players and unable to field a full squad.

There was a time when that many running backs turned out for football at San Diego High.

San Diego’s fall from the heady decade of the 1950s, when the Cavers’ 85-15 record was the best in California and their 1955 team was acclaimed national champion, followed  the retirement of Duane Maley after the 1959 season.

San Diego experienced its first winless season in 53 years just two seasons later, going 0-6-2 in 1961 (they were 0-5-1 in 1908, 0-10 in 1984 and 1997, and 0-9 in 2013).

The Cavers have had some successful records since Maley’s retirement and were 7-4 as recently as 2011 but the decline has been steady, with only 16 winning seasons in the last 54, compared with 49 in the first 66.

34-YEAR WAIT FOR HILLTOP

“It feels like a five-thousand pound elephant has been lifted from our shoulders,” Cody Roelof told U-T San Diego reporter Kevin Farmer.

“Our kids have been so close the last four years,” said Roelof, who guided the Hilltop Lancers to their second-ever league championship and first since Stan Canaris coached the Lancers to a 9-1 record and the Metropolitan League title in 1979.

Hilltop edged Mar Vista for the Metro South Bay title, 18-15, on a play suggested by Roelof’s players.

Eschewing a field goal, which could have tied the game and necessitated overtime, the Lancers took their chances on fourth down at the five-yard line with four seconds remaining.

Hilltop quarterback Daniel Sanchez pitched a handoff to Drake Madarang, who followed lead blocker Luis Hernandez into the end zone for the winning score.

ALL ABOARD AIR LAWRENCE

Grossmont’s Anthony Lawrence set records for career passing yardage (8,502) and pass completions (652) and is two short of the career record for touchdowns (91) .

The Foothillers will be in the playoffs after an 8-2 regular season.

TRUE GRID

Mt. Carmel could have won its first league title since 1994 but lost to Del Norte, 35-28, and shared the  Valley League gonfalon with Del Norte and San Marcos…after beating Torrey Pines, 27-0, in the “Beach Bowl,” La Costa Canyon running back Kevin Mann was moved to declare to U-T San Diego reporter Kirk Kenney, “This is the biggest rivalry, I think, in sports.”…after digesting the profoundness of Mann’s pronouncement, Kenney anointed the La Costa concessions department with the rare five gastronomic belches on his five-belch scale…2013 state shot put and discus qualifier Dotsun Ogundeji returned a fumble 58 yards for a Madison touchdown in its 28-7 win over Point Loma…”We kept our eyes up and our heads on a swivel,” said Warhawks defender Sam Vermillion, describing Madison’s approach to Point Loma’s “fly sweep” offense…Helix’s 14-13 victory over Steele Canyon marked Troy Starr’s 200^th career win…Starr  is 61-12-1 since 2008 with the Highlanders….

 

 

A small item in The San Diego Union revealed that the Coliseum Arena in San Diego would be dark on Sept. 24.

A scheduled boxing card  was called off, because the promoter didn’t want to compete for attendance and gate receipts with the annual City Schools’ football carnival.

The carnival, kickoff to the high school season, was so popular with the city’s sports fans that even events as unrelated as professional boxing matches deferred to the preps.

It was the way we were in 1948.

Television had arrived but had yet to change American entertainment habits. The NFL’s popularity was in the formative stage, and major league baseball was a game played at least two time zones and 1,800 miles to the East.

THE CROWDS, THEY KEPT COMING

Football attendance in San Diego, beginning with the Carnival, still was at levels that would be considered unattainable just 10 years later.

The pomp, pageantry, and action of the carnival drew an estimated overflow crowd of 27,000, about as much as attended the 1947 Hoover-San Diego game, but less than the estimated, all-time record of 30,000 at the 1946 carnival.

San Diego outscored Hoover, 21-0, in its 15-minute debut and the Hillers and West compatriots La Jolla and Point Loma defeated the East contingent of Grossmont, Hoover, and Kearny, 28-2.

San Diego High had the largest home attendance, but Grossmont, ousted from the Metropolitan League because of increasing enrollment, proved to have a strong following as the third local member of the Coast League, joining San Diego and Hoover.

The Foothillers and Cavers played before 11,500 in their Coast League game at Balboa Stadium, and the Foothillers and winless Hoover drew 6,000 to Aztec Bowl.

Hoover, with no chance to win, helped San Diego draw 15,000 to Balboa Stadium for the annual renewal of the city rivalry, and 6,000 overflowed the Hoover stadium (before a stands-destroying fire) for a game with San Bernardino.

There was an overflow crowd of 5,000 at La Jolla for the Vikings’ Metropolitan League showdown with Coronado, and a jam-packed crowd of 3,000 saw host Vista win its Southern Prep title-deciding encounter with San Dieguito.

Eight-thousand were on hand at Ramsaur Stadium in Compton for San Diego’s big Coast League contest with Compton.

The numbers were everywhere.

MALEY APPOINTED COACH AT HILLTOP

San Diego High had a new coach.  Bill Bailey resigned to become head coach at the neighboring San Diego Junior College and was replaced by Duane Maley.

Maley was a 1940 graduate of San Diego and played collegiately at USC.

Maley’ first team was 7-0-1 in the regular season, and then felt the pain of  the first of several disappointments in the Southern California playoffs.

TOO MUCH JOHNNY O

The Cavers were beaten by Long Beach St. Anthony, or rather fullback Johnny Olszewski, 20-12, in a first-round game at Long Beach Wilson.

The 190-pound Olszewski, destined for an All-America career at California and a 10-season stint in the NFL, battered the Cavemen with pile-driving rushes,  averaging 7.8 yards, gaining 187 yards in 24 attempts, and scoring two touchdowns.

St. Anthony led 20-6 in the waning moments when the Cavers’ Neale Henderson returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown.

Olszewski eliminated Ontario Chaffey the following week with touchdown runs of 80, 65, 41, and 22 yards, but was injured in the first quarter and forced out of the championship game versus Santa Barbara.

St. Anthony and Santa Barbara tied, 7-7, but the Saints were awarded the championship trophy with a 16-12 advantage in first downs.

Johnny O. actually was contained somewhat by the Hillers, at least in comparison to other opponents.  He averaged 11.99 yards a carry and gained 1,655 yards in 138 carries for the season and  scored 164 points in 12 games.

TRY THESE ON

There would be a Labor Day weekend holiday for the rest of the citizenry, but no rest for new coaches Duane Maley of San Diego or Bob Kirchhoff of Hoover.

On Saturday Maley was in the school gymnasium issuing equipment from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Six miles away in East San Diego, Kirchhoff was doing to same thing until 3 p.m.

I SAY VEESTA, YOU SAY VISTA

The Spanish word is correctly pronounced with  an “e” emphasis, but no one in the distant North County community was interested in linguistics.

Not the way the local football team was playing.

The Panthers outscored four Southern Prep League opponents, 148-0, and defeated San Dieguito, 20-0, for the league championship on the Nov. 11 Armistice Day, later named Veterans’ Day.

The Panthers met Tustin in a one-game, Southern Section Minor Division Southern Group championship playoff.

The Tillers trailed the host Panthers, 13-7, at the half and rallied to win the title, 20-13.

But Vista’s 294 points in nine games, the most scored by a County team since the 1945 San Diego team of coach Bill Bailey had 385 points in nine games, made the Panthers more popular than their larger North County neighbors, Oceanside and Escondido.

TARGET DATE: 1950

Hoover principal Floyd Johnson disclosed that San Diego may have its own league of city schools by 1950.

Officials from Coast, Metropolitan, and Imperial Valley schools discussed the possibility at a meeting Johnson chaired.  A City Prep League would include San Diego, Hoover, Grossmont, La Jolla, Point Loma, and Kearny.

A seventh school, the projected Southeast High, would join the others.  That school turned out to be Lincoln, which opened as a junior high, grades 7-8, in September, 1949.

The Presidents or Pennies, as they were first known, became the Hornets and fielded a varsity team for the first time in 1954.

0-10 MISERY

The penalty gods wouldn’t cut a break for the Sweetwater Red Devils.

Lloyd Bishop’s National City squad appeared to have snapped a 0-5 streak, leading, 7-6, and intercepting a desperate Coronado pass as the final gun sounded.

Sweetwater, however, was penalized for being off side on the play.  The infraction put the ball on the Red Devils’ 12-yard line. From there the Islanders’ Jim Voit swept end for a touchdown.

Kurt Storch kicked the point after and Coronado left the field with a 13-7 victory.

The reeling Red Devils ran the table in reverse, losing all 10 games.

LOVE THAT HOOK AND LADDER

For 46 minutes Grossmont and Pasadena sleep-walked through an 0-0 snoozer.  You could almost hear the snores of the 3,000 attendees in the cavernous Pasadena Rose Bowl.

Suddenly, the game changed.  On second down from the Foothillers’ 44, quarterback Phil May arched a pass in the flat to Hal Norris at the 50-yard line.

Kenny Whitcomb was trailing Norris, who lateraled to Whitcomb, who juggled the ball, fumbled, then picked the ball up on a bounce and raced to the end zone.  The Foothillers won, 6-0.

SAINTS COACH DISAGREES

With Hoover comatose, the San Diego-Grossmont game was billed as a battle for the “City Championship,” although the Foothillers’ campus had a La Mesa address.

St. Augustine coach Dave DeVarona, father of 1964 Olympic gold medal swimmer Donna DeVarona, was not pleased when he read the headline over the story written by Gene Earl.

Grossmont battled manfully against favored San Diego, which pulled out a 13-7 victory.

DeVarona, who saw the game, kept his counsel, but a couple weeks later, after a 25-0 victory over Grossmont, DeVarona reminded Earl that the Saints also resided in the city and hinted that his club could beat San Diego.

Earl also happened to be a St. Augustine alumnus.

There would be no San Diego-St. Augustine clash.

In the teams’ only other contest against a common opponent, San Diego lost to Long Beach St. Anthony, 20-12, in the Southern Section playoffs, a week after St. Anthony whipped the Saints, 64-33, as Johnny Olszewski scored on runs of 55 and 40 yards and had a total of five for the game to give Olszewski 13 in his last three games.

BLAZE AT HOOVER

A fire, suspicious in  origin according to Fire Department officials,  destroyed Hoover’s grandstand, forcing the Cardinals to hit the road, starting with a “home” day game in Aztec Bowl against Pasadena Muir.

A new structure would be ready for the Cardinals in 1949 but would not have lights, forcing the Redbirds to continue traveling.

It would be 1950 before Hoover played a home night game on its campus field.

QUIRKY RULE

Hoover’s Del Teter boomed a punt that went 55 yards in the air, over the heads of San Diego players, and teammate Jack Roznos downed the ball on the Cavers’ one-yard line.

Teter’s 78-yard kick could not be downed inside an opponent’s 10-yard line, according to a statute in the rule book of the day.

San Diego got the ball on its 20-yard line.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Ream Field’s 11^th Naval District football team in Imperial Beach, boasting a 3-1 record, was forced to cancel football in the middle of the season because of an outbreak of polio.

Floyd Buchi, the team’s starting quarterback, died four days after being diagnosed with the disease.  Midshipman Fritz Krauth, a starting end, also fell ill and was rushed to Navy Hospital in Balboa Park with fever and muscle pain.

NEW MASCOT FOR JUNIOR COLLEGE

In action by the student council, San Diego Junior College adopted “Knights” as its athletic mascot name, replacing the unflattering “Jaybirds”.

QUICK KICKS

Long Beach Wilson had six touchdown plays negated by penalties but still took down Hoover,  56-0… rare was the game won by a field goal, but that’s how Army-Navy defeated Fallbrook…Jim Salisbury’s 35-yard placement with 42 seconds left in the game pushed the Cadets past the Warriors, 3-0… Jim Voit averaged 10.4 yards and rushed for 120 of Coronado’s 138 total yards in an opening-game, 12-6 loss to St. Augustine…the Saints were in the Pasadena Rose Bowl for the Southland Catholic League carnival… St. Augustine outscored  Santa Monica St. Monica, 20-0, in a 10-minute exercise…teams played six, 10-minute quarters…35 San Diego players, plus coaches and staff flew to Phoenix Saturday afternoon at 2 and returned that night…starting at end for the Cavers: sophomore Charlie Powell, 6-2, 225 pounds…for three years, Powell excelled in downfield blocks, intercepted passes, touchdown catches, and touchdown runs…Powell and quarterback Jim Mellos collaborated on a 59-yard touchdown play in the Coast League title-clinching, 18-6 win at Compton…Powell caught Mellos’ pass on the Tarbabes’ 18-yard line and barged into the end zone……the “Imperial Valley Shuttle”, which ran for coaches for years, saw Cowboy Ken Maynard move on from Calexico to assist Lee Bogle at Grossmont…Walt Harvey was in his second year at La Jolla after serving in 1946 at Holtville, where Harvey coached all sports and drove the school bus to games…Bill (Red) Burrows joined the San Diego staff after apprenticing  at San Diego County Mountain Empire…La Jolla’s Jay Gutowski also was identified in press reports as “Ray” Gutowski and “Gay” Gutowski…his brother Bob was a world record holder in the pole vault in the late 1950s…Oceanside defeated Fallbrook, 20-19, in the season’s final game, dubbed the “Avocado Bowl”…six different Hillertoppers, Charlie Davis, Curtis Everett, Neale Henderson, Granville Walton, Fred Davis, and Jim Mellos, scored touchdowns and Frank San Fillippo kicked four extra points in the 39-7 rout of Hoover…two other Cavemen touchdowns were called back because of penalties…center John Davis of San Diego was a first-team, all-Southern California choice…no other locals were chosen on the three teams….

 

Oceanside is back on top in the U-T San Diego football poll, despite losing 30-6 to Mission Hills, the No. 2 team, a few weeks back.

I voted for Oceanside.  My thoughts were as conflicted as the total points separating Nos. 1 and 2.

Oceanside compiled 276 points and 12 first-place votes following its 43-0 blowout of La Costa Canyon last week. Mission Hills followed with  12 first place votes and 275 points after a 31-14 victory over Rancho Buena Vista.

Oceanside had one more second-place vote than the Grizzlies.

It seems the U-T panel may have awarded the Pirates more style points for their win.

Oceanside and Mission Hills could settle it all if they meet again in the Open Division playoffs.

Other potentially attractive rematches won’t happen because several of the Top 10 teams are in different playoff divisions.

#	Team	W-L	Pts	Last Week
1	Oceanside (12)	7-2	276	2
2	Mission Hills (12)	8-1	275	1
3	Eastlake (6)	8-1	264	3
4	San Pasqual (1)	8-1	214	4
5	Helix	7-2	186	5
6	Madison	8-1	165	6
7	St. Augustine	7-2	118	7
8	Ramona	8-1	80	9
9	Cathedral Catholic	7-2	72	8
10	Mount Miguel	8-2	49	10

*Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Others receiving votes: Carlsbad, 5; El Capitan, 4; Imperial, 3; Torrey Pines, 2; Grossmont, Mission Bay, Hoover, 1 each.

Thirty-one sportswriters, sportscasters and administrators vote each week, including:  John Maffei, Craig Malveaux, Dennis Lin, Don Norcross, Lisa Lane, and Andrew Burer, U-T-San Diego; Steve Brand, Terry Monahan, Bill Dickens, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, U-T-San Diego correspondents; Nick Pellegrino, East County Sports.com; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Rick (Red) Hill (107.9 FM The Mountain); Jeff Kurtz, playonsports.com; Ernie Martinez, XTRA Sports 1360; John Kentera, Jack Cronin, Ted Mendenhall, Bob Petinak, Jordan Carruth, Bobby Wooldridge, Mark Chiebowski (The Mighty 1090;  Rick Willis, Brandon tone, Jake Fadden, KUSI-TV; Craig Elsten, 619sports.net; Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com; Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, CIF San Diego Section, and Bruce Ward, San Diego Unified School District.

Football is fun again at Sweetwater and Hoover is traveling in style.

Sweetwater whipped Castle Park, 28-7, for its fourth victory in a row and a 5-4 record.  The Red Devils had not won 4 straight since 1996 and have not been 5-4 since 1998.

Hoover is a 7-game winner for only the 12^th season in the 84 since the Cardinals first teed up the pigskin.  They also collected a rare double, defeating old rivals Lincoln and Morse for the first time in the same season.

HIVE, TIGERS SHUFFLE CARDS

Hoover is only 13-29-1 against Lincoln since 1954 and 8-14 versus Morse since 1962.

There were several years in which Hoover played only one of the teams and years in which the squads were in different leagues and did not meet at all.

The somewhat itinerant  Hockervillers have been in eight different leagues (some with the same names but different schools) since 1954:  City, 1954-58; Eastern, 1959-75; Western, 1976-80; Central, 1981-92; Harbor, 1993-99; Western, 2000-09; Central, 2010-11, and City, 2012-13.

EIGHT SOUNDS GREAT

The  Cardinals now are 7-2 with only ancient and now impotent rival San Diego remaining on the regular-season schedule.

A Hoover win next week would give the Redbirds eight victories, a feat accomplished only by the squads of 1954, ’56, ’86, ’98, ’99, and ’06.

Even in the cascading torrent of watered-down playoff invitations, Sweetwater hasn’t competed in the postseason since 2004.  Hoover will make its second consecutive appearance under second-year mentor Jerry Ralph.

QUICK KICKS

Serra’s Hunter Correll lofted  a pass with 2.7 seconds remaining and Calvin Crockett caught the throw for a 53-yard touchdown  as the Conquistadors came from behind to shock Morse, 21-15…Ramona’s is supposed to be leaving the Palomar League  after four seasons and the Bulldogs claimed their first league championship with a 24-21 win over Torrey Pines…after a 42-0 victory over Valley Center, San Pasqual still was hurting from the 38-36 upset loss to Rancho Buena Vista in Week 9…”We had a emotional and mental breakdown in that game,” Eagles coach Tony Corley said of his team’s first defeat…Oceanside coach John Carroll, hospitalized during the week because of dizziness, watched from the press box as the Pirates took La Costa Canyon to the woodshed, 43-0….

 

Oceanside became the second San Diego County team (and the first San Diego Section squad) to participate in the state playoffs, which resumed in 2006 after an 80-year hiatus.

The Pirates (11-1) of coach John Carroll, who won Carroll’s fourth Section championship and Oceanside’s 10^th overall, were chosen to represent the South in the Division II championship against 13-0 Novato at the Home Depot Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson.

Two opponents, two different worlds.

The Pirates represented the tough fiber of a Marine Corps town, hewn by the DNA from nearby Camp Pendleton. The Hornets were a North Coast Section team located in a leafy Marin County enclave about 30 miles beyond San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

The schools shared a curious geographical thread. Each was located within a stroll of the legendary, original U.S. Highway 101, although separated by more than 500 miles.

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?

Bigger, with more team speed, the Pirates struggled.  After taking a 7-0 lead they trailed 14-7 at the half before rolling to a 21-0 second half and 28-14 victory.

“I think it was too easy (Oceanside’s early lead),” Carroll said.  “Those guys came to play.  I think we lost our edge for awhile.”

“Maybe it was the underestimation of them,” receiver Frankie Zimmerman said.  “They came out so hard and you have to give them credit for that.”

Novato was no chump.  The Hornets were 12-1 in 2006 and 11-2 in 2005 and were riding a winning streak of 25 games.

Oceanside had trailed at halftime only once in 12 games.  “That was our worst first half of the year,” said Zimmerman, who caught a 22-yard pass from Jordan Wynn for the Pirates’ first score.

FIRST GAME STUMBLE

Oceanside’s great season got off slowly as it was beaten, 28-20, by Helix in the season opener.

The Pirates had another tough game the next week but defeated La Costa Canyon, 27-20.

Oceanside didn’t know it then but it would meet the Mavericks again in the San Diego Section semifinals with its season on the brink.

BAD WEATHER AND PLAYOFFS

Driving rain throughout the County and sodden fields.  It must be late November and the games that count most.

The semifinals were about resilience for teams playing in the blustery, wet weather of early winter.

Oceanside passed the test.

The Pirates entered the third round of the postseason with a 9-1 record, with a goal of two more victories for a Section title, and maybe an invite to the second annual State Bowl series.

In a game that featured a combined 15 fumbles and “mud from goalline to goalline,” Oceanside knocked out the Mavericks, 14-10, with a late, fourth-quarter touchdown.

Pirates quarterback Jordan Wynn passed eight yards on fourth and seven to Zimmerman for a drive-saving first down.

Then Armani Taylor wedged into the end zone from a yard out four plays later, sending the Pirates into the Division II final against Mission Hills, which Carroll’s battlers dispatched, 26-7.

85 YEARS AGO

After defeating Gardena, 31-14, for the Southern California championship in 1922, San Diego accepted an invitation to play in the state playoffs.

The Hilltoppers were defeated by Bakersfield, 17-6.  They had lost to the Drillers, 33-0 earlier in San Diego’s 10-4 season.

OCTOBER, THE CRUELEST MONTH

Beware the Santa Ana winds and heat.

Only four years had passed since the largest blaze in California history.  The Cedar fire, which began Oct. 26, 2003, charred almost 300,000 acres and took down more than 2,232 homes from Scripps Ranch to Julian, 60 miles away.

It happened again, almost to the day, Oct. 21, 2007, on another hot, Santa Ana day with high winds in the mountains.

Smoke was sighted near Santa Ysabel, between Ramona and Julian, in East San Diego County.

Flames again rose up and began a rampage that rolled West, through Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Westwood, Escondido, and parts of Rancho Santa Fe.

It was the second largest blaze in County history, burning 197,900 acres, and destroying 1,040 residences.

Concurrently, another devastating blaze, the Harris Fire, cut a swatch through San Diego’s South Bay areas.

Once again all high school sports activity was canceled for one week.

PERSONAL NOTE

The house my wife and I purchased in 1977 in Scripps Ranch burned in the Cedar fire.  We rebuilt on the same site.

I had come out of retirement, working with the St. Louis Rams and sitting in our charter on the runway at the airport in Seattle after a game against the Seahawks.

As the plane was about to take off for the return flight to St. Louis, I received a text from good friend Bob Cluck, in San Diego:

“The fire is in Santa Ysabel; at least 40 miles away…you should be okay.”

Meanwhile, my wife Susie, who had been at a casino in St. Charles, Missouri, with other Rams staffers watching our game, called our daughter in San Diego.

Susie told Courtney to go to our Scripps Ranch home, which was vacant, and gather the architectural drawings that were used for our new house.

We were going to rebuild again if we lost our second home.

When I returned to our apartment about 2 a.m. in Clayton, Missouri, I checked my email and there was a message from the Scripps Ranch community advisory board.

“The fire will be here at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow,” was the terse message the board sent to Scripps homeowners.

The winds blew in another direction.  Scripps Ranch was never threatened.  We were lucky, this time.

WEEK 4 TO QUARTERFINALS

What a difference six weeks can make.

Poway squeezed past El Camino, 15-14, in an early-season, nonleague game, then routed the Wildcats, 55-6, in the Division I quarterfinals.

Said unhappy El Camino coach Trace Deneke of the eventual champion Titans:  “They would have had a tougher time if they just scrimmaged themselves.”

The blowout “felt nice,” understated Poway coach Damon Gonzalez, whose team, riding Nick Ricciardulli’s 22 touchdowns, would complete a 12-0 season by defeating Rancho Buena Vista, 21-7, in the finals.

WHERE’S THE BEEF?

How big the difference between City and North County football?  San Pasqual (7-2) met Hoover (6-3) in the playoffs. Final score, Eagles 62, Hoover 21.  How big the difference between small city and small Imperial Valley football?  Horizon (2-7) defeated Imperial (7-3) in the playoffs, 35-21.  The Bishop’s then kayoed Horizon, 63-45.

‘HE PROBABLY COACHED MOSES’

That’s what  third-year Eastlake quarterback Derek Witte said of his new position coach, respectfully of course.

Witte was talking about Jan Chapman, a 46-year coaching veteran who had completed 25 years on the staff at Southwestern College but started his career at the new Marian High in 1960, after quarterbacking the fledgling University of San Diego program.

Chapman accepted Eastlake coach John McFadden’s invitation to continue.  There was no generation gap, although there was a passage of generations.

Eastlake linebackers coach Steve Witte, the quarterback’s father, played for Chapman in one of Jan’s earlier incarnations as Hilltop’s coach.

“With him it’s someone to read the field with,” Derek Witte said of Chapman.  “He’s another quarterback and someone for me to talk to.”

HORNETS FIND STING

Ron Hamamoto couldn’t have been blamed if he had second thoughts about his new job.

When Hamamoto called his first practice at the re-born Lincoln High, the Hornets did not have uniforms or a place to practice.

The school had been shut for four years and the beautiful, new campus was missing a few items.

Necessities such as helmets and pads were on the way.

Some doubters wondered whether the Hornets would win a game.  None of the players from the 5-5 season of 2002 were around and Hamamoto would have to assess the talent and make quick judgments on the run, before the season began.

L.B. POLY IN MIX

The Long Beach Poly graduate, who had been offered the coaching position by Executive Principal Mel Collins, himself a former Poly administrator, was the right man for the job.

Lincoln posted a 6-5 record in its return and reached the D-III playoff quarterfinals.  It was the  18^th time in 21 seasons that one of Hamamoto’s clubs made the postseason, 11 at University, now Cathedral, and seven at Rancho Bernardo.

Highlight of the season was 25-20 surprise of Point Loma, which had outscored opponents 168-19 in its previous four games and would advance to the D-III title game.

SHORT, BUT NOT SMALL

Cathedral bludgeoned Point Loma, 41-3, for the D-III title behind 5-foot, 10-inch (or less) quarterback Nick Russell.

“Let’s face it, I’m vertically challenged,” said Russell. “I’ve got a big heart and coach (Sean Doyle) says it’s heart that wins games.”

Russell threw for four touchdowns, giving him 21 for the season.  “He may not have a quarterback’s body, but that kid’s a winner,” said Doyle.

Big running back Tyler Gaffney scored two touchdowns for the Dons and finished the season with 28.

Gaffney would almost double that total in 2008.

POTASSIUM, ANYONE?

Each Friday afternoon during football season Tyler Gaffney’s’ mother provides him with two bananas, catering to Gaffney’s favorite fruit.

Gaffney’s teammates in turn tagged him with a somewhat unusual nickname:  “Peel”.

FAREWELL, MARIAN!

The Marian Crusaders, languishing for years in uninspiring surroundings in the Nestor community, were moving to a new, 52-acre campus and would now be known as Mater Dei Catholic.

Located near the new California 125 highway and within the Southern edge of the San Diego city limits, the team was immediately taken by the elements.

“Hell week! It was hotter than hell for three days,” said lineman Brian Lacey.

“We’re not on the beach anymore,” declared coach Matt White.

The 20-minute move inland resulted in a rise in temperature from the cool sea breezes of Imperial Beach.

Not to fret.  The Crusaders were more than happy to compete in front of the fresh, concrete seating area, on an all-weather gridiron, and other attractive amenities.

WHO’S TO ARGUE?

Tim Costello wasn’t talking about the 12 points he scored in The Bishop’s 17-7, Division V championship over Christian.

“I definitely think we’re a Top 10 team,” said Costello of the 11-1 Knights, who slowed Christian’s 5,000-yard career rusher Lawrence Walker with a smothering defense.

The Bishop’s was known for offense, averaging 50.2 points a game. But D-V teams seldom cracked The San Diego Union rankings.

Costello did his part with perhaps the San Diego Section championship day’s most complete performance.

Costello intercepted a pass, rushed for a touchdown, kicked a 31-yard field goal and two points after, and averaged 44.8 yards punting.

DROUGHT

Mount Miguel was eliminated by Cathedral, 35-0, in the D-III semifinals, keeping alive a 27-season (since 1981) streak of not having reached the San Diego Section finals.

Mount Miguel had made the playoff semifinals the week before for the first time in 21 years, defeating Ramona, 29-27, on a six-yard touchdown pass, Aaron Bryant to Ahmad Nunley.

It was 11 years and counting since a D-I team from the city had made the finals.  Mira Mesa was eliminated by Poway, 16-0, in the semifinals.

HARD KNOCKS FOR RED BIRDS

The Hoover Cardinals won their first five games and outscored opponents, 172-47.

It was a mirage.

None of the five losers had winning records.  Hoover was beaten, 46-7, in its sixth game by Point Loma.

Hoover had not beaten the Pointers since 1957, losing 15 in a row to the peninsula squad.

The Cardinals flatted out to a final record of 6-4, their last game a 62-21 loss to San Pasqual in the first round of the playoffs.

QUICK KICKS

Patrick Henry’s 35-0 win over Crawford gave the Patriots a 4-1 record, their best start since a 7-0 run in 1999…the Patriots lost their last four to finish 4-5…West Hills made its 15^th consecutive playoff appearance and 16^th in the school’s first 19 years…the Wolfpack was yet to advance beyond the quarterfinals…Oceanside’s 31-7 victory over Carlsbad ended the Lancers’ 25-game, non-losing streak…Montgomery still was looking for its first playoff win since 1986, losing a first-round game to Brawley, 31-28…a 46-6 victory over Warner Springs Warner in the 8-Man finals wasn’t San Pasqual Academy’s only reward…the Dragons were going to move up to 11-man in 2008… Christian announced a move to Valhalla High for home games after more than 30 years of using Valley Stadium on the Granite Hills campus…the Patriots eventually would move back….