High school football has become all about ratings in California.

Cal-Hi Sports is out with its first poll of the 2013 campaign and already has Concord De La Salle representing the North in the State Open Division championship game, probably against Corona Centennial,  Bellflower St. John Bosco, or Gardena Serra.

Serra comes South in Week 2 to meet Oceanside, pride of the San Diego Section.  With the local section adding an Open Division this year, Oceanside and others are eligible to play in the State Open Division Bowl.

But if coach John Carroll’s Pirates lose to Serra, or anyone else, they will be eliminated from State Open Division consideration, according to Cal-Hi Sports.

It will be one and out.

Cal-Hi Sports has ranked Oceanside No. 8 in California, behind  De La Salle, Centennial, St. John Bosco, Serra, Long Beach Poly, and Vista Murrieta.

Mission Hills is ranked 30th, Helix 34th, and Madison 49th, among other San Diego entries.

In the breakdown by divisions, Oceanside is fifth in D-I South, Mission Hills 18th and Helix 20th.

Madison is ninth in D-II and St. Augustine 14th.  Hoover is 10th in III, with Santa Fe Christian sixth and Francis Parker seventh in IV.

Oceanside has some important business to take care of before it confronts Serra.  The Pirates visit pugnacious St. Augustine  at Mesa College in a big opening game Friday, Aug. 30.

*Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.                                                                     #Cathedral record was 8-2 before forfeits.

Others receiving votes with points in parenthesis: Ramona (27), Patrick Henry (17), Lincoln  (16), Carlsbad (13), Brawley (113), Rancho Buena Vista (12), El Norte (11), Point Loma (5), Valley Center (5), Mount Miguel (5), Olympian (4), Mar Vista (5), Steele Canyon (1), El Capitan (1), 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, 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 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.

A reader submitted that a Torrey Pines team coached by Ed Burke should be considered as having the all-time best defense among San Diego Section championship teams.

Burke’s 2003 Falcons posted a 12-1 record, defeated Fallbrook, 7-3, in the Division I finals, scored 369 points, and allowed their 13 opponents only 69 points, an average of 5.3 points a game.

We researched the points allowed of  more than 160 San Diego Section champions in all 11-man divisions since the section was formed in 1960. By our calculation Torrey Pines ranks ninth.

However, we eliminated the 1978 Christian team that allowed only 1.7 points in 10 games; number 6 Coronado, and number 8 Julian.  Those teams played on a level much lower than Torrey Pines’.

The revised list, showing only six teams above the Falcons:

1–Herb Meyer’s 1984 El Camino Wildcats, who were 13-0, outscored opponents 401-48, and allowed  3.7 points a game.

2—Walt Harvey’s 1961 Crawford team that was 8-0-2, and outscored opponents 182-40 for a 4.0 defensive average.

3—Vic Player’s  Marcus Allen-led 1977 Lincoln Hornets, who were 12-0-1 and had a 373-54 scoring advantage, their opponents averaging 4.2.

4—Gene Alim’s 1983 Sweetwater squad that was 13-0 with a 354-64 scoring edge and a 4.9 defensive average.

5—The 1984 Sweetwater Red Devils, who allowed 5.0 points while posting a 13-0 record with a scoring difference of 448-65.

6–In its third season, Rancho Bernardo allowed 5.1 points

However, Torrey Pines’ 2003 squad still looks pretty good.

High school offenses  have continued to evolve  each year as teams have passed more often and offenses have spread the field, putting increased pressure on defenses.

From 1985 through 2012 no other championship team had a defensive scoring average  of better than 6.0.  Morse was 14-0 in 1992 and gave up 84 points, a 6.0 average.

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

 FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

SECOND TEAM OFFENSE

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE

THIRD TEAM OFFENSE

THIRD TEAM DEFENSE

Teams chosen by:
Steve Brand, retired UT-San Diego staff writer
Nick Canepa, UT columnist
Bill Center, UT staff writer
Jess Kearney, UT deputy sports editor
John Maffei, UT staff writer
Terry Monahan, UT staff writer
Rick Smith, San Diego sports historian

I have reprinted Steve Brand’s 2012 track and field annual (2013 is being updated as this is written).

Steve and I have shared an equal love of high school track for many years.  My newspaper, the Evening Tribune published the first annual in 1965 and another was published in 1971.

I attempted to list the top 50 performers in each standard event, plus the leaders in other infrequently run events.

The research was a labor of love for me and I was thankful that my newspaper thought enough of the effort to publish my findings.

I left the newspaper business in 1972, at about the time Steve Brand arrived at The San Diego Union.

All marks from 1973 forward were compiled by Steve (probably 95 per cent came after Brand took over the lists). I would be responsible for those before 1972.

Brand has kept the all-time and yearly lists alive, verifying, authenticating, running down performances that weren’t published in the newspaper.  He has listed thousands of performances.

As track and field evolved, keeping and updating an annual list became more challenging.

Yards were replaced by meters when the United States went to the metric system. Age-old hand timing (just what it means, timed by the hand on a stopwatch) gave way to automatic timing.

You could wait up to an hour or more for results at major track meets in the past. With automatic timing,  results now are available as soon as the last runner crosses the finish line.

Dirt and crushed granite tracks were replaced by all-weather layouts. Diet and training became more important.

Steve Brand has kept pace with all of this and I hope he continues.  I’ll be around to help.

(The 1915 date in the title represents the first year of the California state meet, although marks were kept further back.  Leslie Dana of San Diego High was reported to have run a 10.1 100-yard dash and covered 440 yards in :51.6 in 1913).