The final act for 98 teams and the 561** games they played was a quaternary of success, 4 games, 4 victories in the state bowl championships.

San Diego Section teams enjoyed their most successful year since the inaugural Southern California and state bowl championship series in 2006.

Lincoln (13-1) went on a 21-0 blitz in the third quarter to take a 27-14 lead and held on to defeat Concord De La Salle of the North Coast Section, 33-28, in the Division I-AA final.  The outburst was similar to the 27-0 explosion the previous week third quarter in the 37-14 win over favored Chatsworth Sierra Canyon.

Granite Hills  (13-2) was named State Medium Schools Team of the Year after posting a 31-24, overtime victory against Danville San Ramon Valley of the North Coast Section for the state II-A championship.

Mater Dei (11-4) completed a remarkable comeback after four straight losses at the start of the season, topping Oakland McClymonds of the Oakland Athletic League (the only league of the Oakland Section), 26-18, and defending its state II-AA title.

Classical (11-3) joined the fray, outlasting the Central Coast’s San Jose Santa Teresa, 7-0, for the VI-AA championship in a game that necessitated an 884-mile roundtrip bus ride, the 442-mile jaunt back ensuring a lifetime of memories for the Caimans.

**The figure is for two teams playing one game.

The Union-Tribune’s last Top 10 with updated records and extended-season rankings of the three state-wide contributors:

FINAL RANKINGS

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
University City (11-2, 19 points), Blythe Palo Verde Valley (13-1, 3), Ramona (8-5, 3), Classical (11-3, 1), La Costa Canyon (7-5, 1).

St. Augustine, 7-0 and the unanimous first-place choice in the Union-Tribune weekly poll, will take that and its Cal-Hi Sports No. 10 state ranking and Max Preps’ No. 7, to Las Vegas Monday.

The Saints of coach Mike Haupt, slotted in the Platinum Division of the Tarkanian Classic at Orleans Arena, will open against Orlando Oak Ridge, 7-0 and Florida’s No. 2 team, according to Max Preps.

San Diego teams will be awash in intersectional games through the end of the year.

MIKEY LOOMS

San Ysidro, 95-70 and 90-66 loser to Corona Centennial and Perry of Gilbert, Arizona, respectively, and 74-70 to El Camino, still ranks third in San Diego and 21^st by Cal-Hi Sports.

The San Diego and Cal-Hi judgments could be described as the Mikey Williams affect, although Williams’ Cougars strangely are the 182^nd team in California, according to Max Preps.

Williams, back for his senior season after two years at a North Carolina academy, is averaging 17.5 points and 9.2 assists and is the No. 2-rated player in the Country, according to 24/7 Sports. J.J. Swift leads San Ysidro scoring with a 25-point average.

The Cougars are part of a event in the desert this week at Imperial High, opening against Indio Shadow Hills (4-5), a 42-40 loser to Valhalla in its most recent outing.  It was at a tournament at Imperial on Dec. 14, 2019, that the 6-foot, 4-inch Williams, then a freshman, scored a County record 77 points in a 116-42 win over Kearny.  Williams  had 51 points the night before against Brawley.

Carlsbad (9-2) lost to St. Augustine, 74-60, last week and then recorded the first century score this season, 100-67 over neighboring Sage Creek.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Week 2 poll:
First-place votes in parenthesis.
Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
*First-place votes. “Last” is previous rank. NR—Not ranked.

Others receiving votes

San Diego (5-2, 20 points), Cathedral (4-4,10),  Del Norte (5-3, 10), Bonita Vista (5-1, 4), Chula Vista (6-0, 3), La Jolla Country Day (5-2 Lincoln (5-1, 2), El Capitan (8-0, 1), Rancho Buena Vista (6-1, 1).

VOTING PANEL

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
• Steve Brand, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Freelance contributors.
• Rick Smith, partletonsports.com.
• Adam Paul, eastcountysports.com.
• John Kentera, Braden Supremant (97.3 FM The Fan).
• Bodie DeSilva, scoreboardlive.com.
• Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM.
• Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
• Todd Cassen, Joe Heinz, Ron Marquez, CIF San Diego Section.
• Rex Johnson, CIF Advisory Committee.
• Joe Evangelist, San Diego Coaching Legends Committee.
• Tom Helmantoler, Southern Conference Advisor.
• Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.
• Max Preps.

Mater Dei’s recovery from an 0-21 hole to a 22-21 win over Downey in the Southern California playoff last week wasn’t the only remarkable achievement by the South Bay club this year.

The Crusaders’ 10-game winning streak, following four straight losses to open the season, is unprecedented, according to researcher and webmaster Henrik Jonson, who estimated that almost 29,000 games have been played by San Diego County teams since San Diego High (then known as Russ High School) kicked off in the first in 1891.

Two teams, 2014 Madison and 2018 Canyon Hills, lost their first three and then won nine straight before bowing in their final games.

Mater Dei can add an 11th consecutive victory and defend its state II-AA championship Friday at 4 p.m. at Mission Viejo Saddleback College against Oakland McClymonds, champion of the tiny Oakland section, comprised only of the historic Oakland Athletic League. “Mack” is the alma mater of many great athletes, including basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell and baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson.

II-A

Granite Hills will attempt to win its first state championship after winning its first San Diego Section title in the school’s 63-season history.  The Eagles meet Danville San Ramon Valley at noon Saturday at Mission Viejo Saddleback College.

Coach Kellan Cobbs’ team likes to attack with a three-pronged running game of Isaiah Jackson, Zak Darling, and Maxwell Turner, who have combined for 2,437 yards and 34 touchdowns in the 12-2 season.

The Eagles showed as birds of prey they were higher up the figurative food chain when they soared past the Rancho Cucamonga Eagles, 41-21, in the Southern California playoff last week.

VI-AA

Classical’s almost Cinderella season comes to a conclusion Friday, beginning with a 5 a.m. bus departure from the Escondido campus and 442-mile ride to south San Jose.

The Caimans will meet Central Coast champion Santa Teresa on the Saints’ home field at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Classical’s 10-3 record is in sharp relief to the 1-9 campaign of 2021 and the 0-4 of 2020.  The Caimans finished third with a 1-2 record to city rival Escondido Charter and Francis Parker in the Pacific League this season.

The Caimans got Life (Pollard) this season from the running back, who rushed for 1,423 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Following the 16-8 loss to rival Escondido Charter in the final regular-season game, Classical rolled through the playoffs, defeating Calexico Vincent Memorial, 32-0; winning a rematch with Charter, 28-14; topping San Diego Section D-V No. 1 seed Crawford, 33-14, and ousting Lancaster, 34-14, last week in the Southern California playoff.

Matchups involving San Diego Section teams in the state bowl championship series this week:

Lincoln (12-1) versus Concord De La Salle (10-3), North Coast Section, Friday, 8 p.m., Mission Viejo Saddleback College.

Calpreps pick:

Lincoln, 65 per cent chance of winning.

Mater Dei versus Oakland McClymonds (Oakland Section), Friday, 4 p.m., Mission Viejo Saddleback College.

Calpreps pick:

Mater Dei, 65 per cent chance of winning.

Granite Hills versus Danville San Ramon Valley (North Coast) Saturday, noon, Mission Viejo Saddleback College.

Calpreps pick:

Granite Hills, 62 per cent chance of winning.

Calpreps pick:

Classical @San Jose Santa Teresa (Central Coast), Saturday, 6 p.m.

Calpreps pick:

Santa Teresa, 65 per cent chance of winning.

Lincoln, riding with Hot-Roderick Robinson, a 228-pound running back committed to the University of Georgia, will attempt to do what no San Diego Section team has done in this week’s CIF state bowl Division 1-AA championship:

Win a game against Concord De La Salle, the North Coast Section champion with the pedigree of 151 consecutive wins from 1992-2004.

Four of those 151 victories were against San Diego Section squads and two others have brought the Spartans a 6-0 record against the area’s best clubs:

Lincoln (12-1) stunned Chatsworth Sierra Canyon and a legion of Los Angele-area experts with a 37-14 victory on the road in the Southern California playoffs last week.

Robinson has been nursing a tender hamstring but he blazed a trail through the Trailblazers with 178 yards in 16 carries and four touchdowns, including 74- and 47-yard scoring runs.

Lincoln, leading, 10-7, at halftime, threw down on the Trailblazers with a 27-0 blitz in the third quarter.

The Hornets are Cal-Hi Sports’ No. 9 team this week and have a 65.1 calpreps rating.  They are fourth in California, according to Max Preps.

De La Salle (10-3) advanced with a come-from-behind, 17-14 win over Folsom, another blooded state contender. The Spartans are Cal-Hi’s No. 8 team, have 55.5 calpreps strength, and Max Preps ranks them 12^th.

Heralded Mikey Williams  has returned for his senior basketball season at San Ysidro after two years at an academy in North Carolina.  Updated Max Preps stats show Williams with an 18.3 average in the Cougars’ five games, in which San Ysidro is 3-2, including a 95-70 loss to Corona Centennial. Williams scored 24 points.  J.J. Taylor leads the team with a 25.2 average, according to Max Preps.

The first poll actually follows the preseason Top 10 created by John Maffei of the Union-Tribune several days ago and is reflected in the “Last” column.  The season began for most teams around the first of November.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Week 1 poll:
First-place votes in parenthesis.
Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
*First-place votes. NR—Not ranked.
Last entries in column indicate previous rank.

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES

Cathedral (3-3, 23 points), Otay Ranch (5-1, 15), San , Lincoln (4-1, 2), San Diego (3-1, 5), Bonita Vista (4-1, 3), El Capitan (10-3, 2), San Diego High Tech (6-0, 1).

VOTING PANEL

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
• Steve Brand, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Freelance contributors.
• Rick Smith, partletonsports.com.
• Adam Paul, eastcountysports.com.
• John Kentera, (97.3 FM The Fan).
• Bodie DeSilva, scoreboardlive.com.
• Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM.
• Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
• Todd Cassen, Joe Heinz, Ron Marquez, CIF San Diego Section.
• Rex Johnson, CIF Advisory Committee.
• Joe Evangelist, San Diego Coaching Legends Committee.
• Tom Helmantoler, Southern Conference Advisor.