San Pasqual this week became the third North County team to occupy the number one position in the weekly UT-San Diego football poll.

The Eagles surprised Mission Hills, 13-10, in overtime, knocking out the Grizzlies, who had climbed to No. 1 in Week 7 after kayoing Oceanside, which had resided in first since the preseason poll.

I voted for the Cathedral, as did two others.  Eastlake also received some support, meaning three teams received first-place votes for the first time this year.

San Pasqual takes on  Rancho Buena Vista this week. The Longhorns are 5-2 but so far haven’t impressed the voting panel, earning only two points among the “others” this week.

Hoover, 5-1, before a 13-9 loss to Serra, might have had a shot at a low Top 10 position but the Cardinals lost a touchdown because of  an “inadvertant whistle”.

                          Team                         W-L              Pts.             Last                                                                                                                                                       Week                                 

*Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.                                                               Others receiving votes with points in parenthesis: Grossmont, 14; La Costa Canyon, 9; Torrey Pines, 8;  El Capitan, 6; Torrey Pines, 4, Imperial, 3; Carlsbad, Rancho Buena Vista, 2 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.

Terry Monahan’s story in today’s UT-San Diego about the history of San Pasqual’s football jersey No. 86 jogged my memory.

Eighty-six has been worn  by Eagles linebackers almost every year since 1977, but since 1983 in honor of a former player who passed away.

Barry McKeever, the son of a USC all-America, wore No. 86 in 1982 and ’83 for San Pasqual and when he  played collegiately at Stanford.

But before there was 86 there was….

First, let me say that I followed the exploits of Barry father, Mike McKeever, and uncle Marlin in high school, me a student at Lincoln in San Diego and the McKeever twins all-stars in football and track and field at Mt. Carmel in Los Angeles.

They were all-Southern Section football picks, top college recruits, and among the best shot putters in the country.

Enrolling at USC the twins were part of a Trojans’ renaissance that saw USC bounce back from a 1-9 record in 1957 to 4-5-1 in ’58, and 8-2 in ’59.

Originally Mike McKeever was issued jersey No. 64 and Marlin was given No. 85.

Sometime later the USC publicist had an idea.  He put one of the twins in No. 86 and stationed him in front of a mirror.

The reflection from the mirror was No. 68.

Who is whom?  And which is which?

Nos. 68 (Mike) and No. 86 (Marlin) were the numbers the youngsters carried forward in their all-America and NFL careers (Barry told Monahan that he wanted to wear his father’s 68 but that number had been taken by Barry’s brother Mac, so Barry was given 86).

Mike’s NFL time was cut short by a tragic automobile accident.  Marlin went on to play 14 seasons.

Mount Miguel crashed the Top 10 with a 42-21 victory over previous No. 1o El Capitan, but UT-San Diego‘s weekly rankings otherwise remained the same in the lead-up to Week 8.

Except.

Cathedral, which I ranked second, stayed fifth and, contrary to some other winners, did not receive more  points after a 42-3 blowout of 4-1 Scripps Ranch.

I don’t get it.  The Dons have played a tougher schedule than all of the teams above them other than Oceanside, but they’re not getting any respect, in my opinion.

Justifiably perceived North County bias in  media power outlets doesn’t appear to be in play.

Cathedral is considered “North County” (although its Del Mar address  is within San Diego’s city limits, as is Torrey Pines’, and Cathedral is part of the city’s Eastern League).

San Pasqual, 6-0 and second in the poll, obviously is outstanding.

But the Eagles haven’t had a Vista Murietta, Arizona’s Chandler Hamilton, or Gardena Serra on their schedule, as have Cathedral, Eastlake, and Oceanside. San Pasqual has had a full plate of essentially rank-and-file North County neighbors.

The first five teams’ strength of schedules (opponents’ won-loss records combined):

I couldn’t elevate Oceanside despite its strength of schedule.  That 30-6 loss to Mission Hills was uncharacteristic but it couldn’t be ignored.

*Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.                                                               Others receiving votes with points: St. Augustine, 14; Grossmont, El Capitan, 13 each; Torrey Pines, 4, Imperial, Mission Bay, Hoover, 2 each; Rancho Buena Vista, 1.

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.

The Hoover Cardinals could use the helping hand of Motel 6 maven Tom Bodett, voice of the signature “we’ll leave the light on for you.”

Night football is out at Hoover.

More’s the pity.

The Cardinals became involved in a legal action with neighboring residents and a Superior Court judge unhappily issued an injunction, forcing Hoover to play home games in daytime for the remainder of the season, maybe longer.

Hoover defeated Morse, 22-0, in their Homecoming Friday afternoon and will reschedule kickoffs for Lincoln and San Diego.

The victory improved the Cardinals to 5-1 under second-year coach Jerry Ralph, who was 6-5 last season following head coaching stints at Santana, St. Augustine, and Del Norte.

Now known as Bob Breitbard Field, Hoover’s stadium was originally constructed in the early 1930s and was one of the first fields in the area to have  lights. (Balboa Stadium, home to San Diego High, did not have lights until 1939).

JACKIE ROBINSON STARRED

The Cardinals were hosts for a Southern Section playoff against Pasadena Muir Technical and Jackie Robinson under the lights in 1935.

The crowd of more than 4,000 in Hoover’s original bleachers watched as Robinson threw a touchdown pass in Muir’s 27-0 victory.

Those wooden bleachers burned down in the winter of 1948-49. New, steel-framed seating was in place in time for the 1949 season but installation of lighting was delayed.

Hoover played two “home” games at Aztec Bowl but the remaining contests in a remarkable, 8-1 season were on the road at Coast League sites.

One 1949 game actually took place on  campus. A postseason charity contest with Grossmont that started at 10 a.m. was played to help defray medical costs for an injured Foothillers player.

San Diego was growing and the Hoover field became increasingly important in 1951 when it began a decades-long stretch of doubling as a regional venue for many schools.

FIELD TAKES SHARP TURN

Hoover’s stadium now has  an East-West footprint.  The original stadium ran south to north from the boys’ gymnasium and faced Norwood Street, which began when Meade Avenue ended at 44th Street.

It was in the old alignment that Hoover scored perhaps its greatest victory, a 20-12 triumph over San Diego in 1956 before an overflow crowd of 7,000 persons who filled both sides of the stadium and the end zones.

AND THEN THERE WERE SEVEN

One leg of the second half of the regular season has been completed and seven San Diego Section teams have avoided the big haircut.

Four teams fell from the ranks of the undefeated last week, but Crawford, Francis Parker, Imperial, Mission Hills, Ramona, and San Pasqual are standing tall at 6-0.  San Diego Jewish Academy is 3-0.

Four clubs were 6-0 at this point in 2012.

Carlsbad, El Capitan, and Mission Bay fell with a thud, outscored by a combined 112-35 and becoming part of a group of 11 teams that have one loss.

Oceanside handled Carlsbad, 28-7.  Mount Miguel showed impressive force by running away from El Capitan, 42-21, and Madison, class of Division IV, walloped Mission Bay, 42-6.

Hilltop was upset by Sweetwater, 17-9.

LENDING A HELPING HAND

Isn ‘t this the way it used to be?

Members of Hoover’s freshmen football team got into the spirit of community service after the Cardinals’ Homecoming game against Morse Friday.

Wearing their red  game jerseys,  the Frosh “fanned out”, according to varsity coach Jerry Ralph, pitching in to clean up and pick up in the neighborhood around the East San Diego campus.

Mission Hills, 5-0 and rested from a week off, rose from 19th to 16th in Cal-Hi Sports‘ weekly poll and jumped from ninth to seventh in the South Division I Bowl Rankings.

The improvement is partly because of the victory over Oceanside before last week’s bye and some stumbles by other clubs in the state.  The Grizzlies figure to dine on the Escondido Cougars Friday night as Week 7 gets under way.

Other San Diego Section powers continue to languish in the ubiquitous group of “Teams on the Bubble.” Included are Cathedral (4-1), Helix (3-2), Oceanside (3-2), and Ramona (5-0). Oceanside, with losses only to the No. 4 and No. 16 teams, was dissed and not included.

Carlsbad (5-0), Cathedral, Eastlake (5-1), Helix, and Ramona are South Bowl bubble teams.

WARHAWKS MOVE UP

Madison, the defending State D-3 champion went from ninth to seventh in the D-II South Bowl handicap, with St. Augustine remaining 13th.  Imperial (5-0) is on the bubble. Monte Vista (3-3) gained some regard by getting a bubble mention in D-III.

Francis Parker benefited from Christian’s loss to Mission Bay in Week 6, climbing from fourth to third in D-IV, while Christian dropped from second to fifth.  Santa Fe  Christian, La Jolla Country Day, and The Bishop’s are on the bubble.

Cal-Hi’s division placements are not necessarily the divisions in which San Diego Section teams will participate in  the postseason.

There was no change from 1-10 in the UT-San Diego’s Top 10 as several teams enjoyed a Week 6 bye.

San Diego Section teams begin the turn for home and the postseason with league play beginning this week.

Sometimes it pays to take that busman’s holiday.

No. 2 San Pasqual picked up seven votes despite its bye and No. 5 Cathedral lost 10 votes despite a 42-13 victory over Morse.

Strange.

Other teams also profited from the hiatus. Oceanside’s sabbatical resulted in 12 more votes for the Pirates and El Capitan gained 13.

However, Ramona took the week off and was rewarded with seven less votes and idle Carlsbad emerged with 14 fewer and Helix with 1 less.

Making sense was No. 3 Eastlake, up 7 votes after a 52-14 rout of Sweetwater,  and No. 7 Madison gaining 15 points after a 41-6 victory over Mira Mesa.

The ranks of “others receiving votes” continued to thin, shrinking from nine to seven. Most prominent was heretofore undefeated Christian.  The Patriots were eighty-sixed after a 24-21 loss to Mission Bay.

*Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Others receiving votes with points in parenthesis: St. Augustine (5), Grossmont (5), Mission Bay (3), Mount Miguel (3). La Costa Canyon (2), Imperial, Torrey Pines, 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, UT-San Diego; Steve Brand, Terry Monahan, Bill Dickens, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, UT-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.