Props to the Open Division, which delivered the games the CIF hoped for in a terrific week of San Diego Section playoffs.

But Oceanside’s stunning comeback, which ousted Eastlake, 33-30, and Mission Hills’ grinding, 24-21 win over Helix were just part of  competitive, late November action.

And at most venues there was the accompaniment of a calendar visitor,  rain and chill.

It started Thursday night with  Divisions I and II quarterfinals.

BUCCANEERS SAIL ON MATSON LINE

–Mission Bay, now 11-1 but the No. 8 seed in D-II, rallied in the last three minutes, then weathered a last-second field goal attempt to knock out Madison, the No. 1 seed and the state’s defending D-III champion.

The 21-18 victory, coming on Andre Petties-Wilson’s 12-yard touchdown  catch of Nicholas Plum’s pass with 2:50 remaining, was the 161st in coach Willie  Matson’s 24-season career as a head coach.

Matson, a Kearny graduate, was head coach at Mission Bay from 1984-85 (5-15), then served from 1987-93 at Kearny (49-32-1) and logged  logged six seasons, 1996-2001,  at Hoover (38-28-2).

His  last nine years have been Mission Bay redux (69-35-3)  and few, if any, of the coach’s 161 victories (including one San Diego Section title), were more dramatic or satisfying.

Only six weeks before the Buccaneers were on the short end of a 42-7 score against Madison in the teams’ Western League opener.

FREEMAN FREES IMPERIAL

–El Capitan  took its 10-1 record and 44-point scoring average over the mountains to the Imperial Valley and became Imperial’s 11^th straight victim, 49-42.

The Tigers’ Royce Freeman rushed for 218 yards in 36 carries and scored three touchdowns to raise his season total to 43.

Imperial, undefeated and with an average winning margin of 46-14, was behind 35-21 at halftime.

Freeman finally put the Tigers ahead for the first time with a 13-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-three with 5:52 remaining in the game.

The Tigers, the 3 seed, now take on No. 2 St. Augustine in the semifinals at Mesa College next Wednesday.

RBV RETURNS TO PROMINENCE

–It took awhile for people to start taking notice of Rancho Buena Vista, which was 4-35-1 from 2007-11.

The Longhorns, seeded fifth in D-II, showed some unexpected muscle in blowing out 4 seed Mount Miguel, an 8-2 team, 50-10, and this followed a regular-season, 38-36 win over San Pasqual, top seed in D-I.

The Vista school’s comeback began when Paul Gomes, who was 59-37-7 in nine years at Escondido, took over the program in 2012 and immediately improved the Longhorns from 0-10 to 6-6.

Gomes had left Escondido after the 2009 campaign to take a job on the staff of Rancho Santa Margarita’s Harry Welch.

Note: results and pairings for next week’s games can be accessed by going  to the  “Scores” link on the home page, then visiting the drop-down menu “by year”.

The seeding panel of mostly former coaches did its job.

There were almost no upsets in any of the six rounds on the opening Friday of the San Diego Section playoffs.

None, except in the ubiquitous and maligned Division IV, where 11 seed El Centro Southwest (3-7) defeated six seed Montgomery (4-6), 10-7, and 10 seed Clairemont (4-6) upset 7 seed La Jolla Country Day (5-5), 28-14.

LOSERS THINNED OUT

Seventeen losing teams and eight with .500 records comprised 25 of the 64, opening-round qualifiers.

There are  six losing teams and three .500 teams remaining as  quarterfinals take place in D-II, III, and IV, and semifinals in the Open and V divisions on Nov. 21-22.  Seven with non-winning records still are alive in  D-IV.

The Open Division semifinals are just what the CIF San Diego Section hoped for:  two big matchups, Helix at Mission Hills and Oceanside at Eastlake.

Division I is yet to shake out, but Carlsbad (4)-Grossmont (5) and Ramona (2)-Mt. Carmel (7) could be interesting.

IMPERIAL’S ROLLS ROYCE

Royce Freeman leads 10-0 Imperial against El Capitan in what could be a terrific 3-6 matchup in D-II.

The 6-1, 215-pound Freeman, headed to Oregon, is breaking all San Diego Section career scoring and rushing yardage records, but how good is his supporting cast?

The Tigers blew through the Imperial Valley League with the swirl of a Glamis sandstorm and scored routs of locals Sweetwater, Mater Dei, and Olympian.

Imperial also knocked out longtime desert bully Brawley, 29-10, in the premier matchup in that region this season.

But the Tigers are  in the same division with Madison (9-1), a defending state champion, and tough St. Augustine and Mount Miguel, each 8-2.

Unless willing to make a 111-mile jaunt over the Laguna Mountains to the community north of El Centro, local cognoscenti may see Freeman  only if the Tigers reach the finals in Qualcomm Stadium.

D-III has Francis Parker (10-0) and Christian (9-1), which lead their Southern California division in the Cal-Hi Sports state bowl series ratings.

Parker and Christian got first-round byes.  Parker now gets 8 seed Granite Hills and Christian meets 7 seed Morse.

WHAT ABOUT HILLTOP?

Lurking in D-III are the Hilltop Lancers, who won their first league title in 34 years and face Hoover, which has nine wins for only the third time in the school’s 84-season history.

Hilltop, the 3 seed at 9-1, hopes to better the school record of nine wins set by Stan Canaris’ 1979 squad.

Sweetwater, which started 1-4 before coach Brian Hay’s wing-T offense got rolling with five straight wins, appears to have an unimpeded path in D-IV.

Crawford (10-0) and Holtville (8-2) are on collision course in D-V for a rematch of the Colts’ 21-14, regular-season victory.

EL CAJON VALLEY

Despite a 191-7 negative point differential in the Grossmont Valley League, El Cajon Valley was in the playoffs and quickly out after a 55-7 beat-down at Marian Catholic.

Braves coach Norm Whitehead made a strong statement to U-T San Diego writer Don Norcross:

“I understand they want to reward the kids and blah, blah, blah, blah, but they should have a better system, so that not everyone goes to the playoffs,” said Whitehead.

“Rewarding the kids”?

What kind of reward is the certainty of  a scoreboard slaughter?

And shouldn’t a reward be for excellence and not for mediocrity (in many cases less than mediocrity)?

McFADDEN LIKES CHALLENGE

“You have to beat North County to get respect and this year we’ll have a chance to do that,” said Eastlake’s John  McFadden of next week’s tussle with top-seed and visiting Oceanside.

Eastlake will carry the pride of the South Bay against the outstanding Oceanside Pirates’ program, but McFadden is not flinching.

“We’re excited the play the best,” said the Titans’ coach.

TRUE GRID

West Hills’ Dave McManus set a San Diego Section record with his 10^th consecutive field goal, from 41 yards, and added a six-yard touchdown run…San Marcos was home for a playoff game for the first time since 1995 and took out Fallbrook 42-14…Manny Rodriguez and Rey Osuna each rushed for 112 yards in Olympian’s 35-18 win over Mira Mesa…Oceanside is in the playoff semifinals for the 20^th consecutive year…the San Diego Section did not have a copywrite on first-round blowouts…there were scores of 58-0, 62-0, and 83-0 in the Los Angeles City Section’s D-I and 71-0 and 71-6  in the Southern Section…biggest wipeout outside of Southern California was Modesto Central Catholic’s 75-0, Sac-Joaquin section playoff win over Marysville…Central Catholic is the same squad which hammered Santa Fe Christian, 66-7, in a state finals mismatch in 2012….

Cal-Hi Sports honcho Mark Tennis continues to build a case for Eastlake as the San Diego Section’s No. 1 team, although the 31 members of the U-T San Diego voting panel have re-installed Oceanside as No. 1, followed by Mission Hills.

Eastlake is third.

Answers should be forthcoming in the Open Division playoffs, which begin tonight.  Eastlake and Oceanside could meet in next week’s semifinals.

Eastlake is ranked 12^th in Cal-Hi Sports’ latest poll, followed by Mission Hills, which rose from 20^th to 14^th, and Oceanside, back in the poll at 25^th.

“Bubble” teams included Helix and Madison.  Cathedral did not get a call, its loss to St. Augustine three weeks ago a collective kick in the pelvic region.

“Based on our assessment of their record and the who beat who, a young Eastlake is our top dog until someone from the CIFSDS beats them,” wrote Tennis.

Tennis then made a more interesting observation.  “If the boys from Chula Vista were the top seed in the San Diego Union-Tribune (sic) poll, they would most likely be a Top 10 team (in the Cal-Hi Sports rankings).

Eastlake’s only loss in a 9-1 season was to Chandler Hamilton 28-17, in the season’s opening game.  Hamilton is a Top 10 team in Arizona.

THE BOWLS

Eastlake is sixth in the newsletter’s South Division I ratings  for State Bowl consideration. Madison is fifth and St. Augustine seventh in D-II.  Francis Parker and Christian are 1-2 in D-IV.

HOOPS

Cal-Hi Sports is not particularly impressed with San Diego Section basketball teams.  Not one was in its preseason Top 10.  La Costa Canyon is 22^nd, El Camino (with standout guard Jason Watson transferring from Army-Navy) 26th, and St. Augustine 35th.

Foothills Christian and Hoover are on the bubble.

Oceanside and Mission Hills reached the end of the 10-game regular-season race in a flatfooted tie, each earning a first-place rating after they deadlocked with 276 points in the UT-San Diego poll of sportswriters and sportscasters.

Coach Chris Hauser’s Grizzlies, who shocked Oceanside, 30-6, in the regular season, are the top-seeded team in the San Diego Section Open Division playoffs, created this year to place teams not by enrollment but by records and past success, “power ratings”.

The criteria also is in place for Divisions I-V and means that teams will be moved up and down in future playoff seedings.  As an example, Crawford, 10-0 and favored in D-V this season, could automatically move up a division in 2014.

Mission Hills takes on No. 8 Steele Canyon (3-7) in the first round.  Second-seeded Eastlake, which finished third in the poll, meets No. 7 Poway (4-6).  Oceanside, seeded third, gets No. 6 Torrey Pines (6-4)  and fourth-seeded Helix takes on No. 5 La Costa Canyon (7-3).

If seeding goes to form, a blockbuster semifinal looms, Mission Hills meeting Helix and Eastlake battling Oceanside.

The playoff seeding meeting was anchored by a group of mostly retired coaches.  The coaches (seeding) and media (poll), not surprisingly, didn’t agree on Open Division placements, although they were in step regarding top seeds in D-I and  II.

As the  games begin the U-T‘s group will be on hiatus, with a final poll conducted after the playoffs.

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

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….