The narrative originally was posted Dec. 30, 2013.

San Diego High had an unusual relationship with The San Diego Union.

Student Alan McGrew, who also served in a business position as the “Temporary Football Manager of San Diego High School,” was the de facto Hilltoppers beat writer for the newspaper.

McGrew filed daily reports on the Hilltoppers, the headline sports attraction in the city. He provided  inside information on coach John Perry’s team along with up-to-date messages on scheduling.

Who the Cavemen were playing and where often was the question of the day, as money guarantees were negotiated and games agreed to on virtually a moment’s notice.

McGrew’s access to the team was apparent on the pages of the Union:

—A player reported to be smoking on a downtown street and who admitted his “guilt” when quizzed before the entire team was suspended by coach John Perry for the opener with Sweetwater and lost half of his letter-earning, game quarters participation.

—Perry had established an 8 p.m., be-at-home curfew with retirement by not more than an hour later.  The only evening players would be allowed to stay out “late” was after a game, when curfew would be at 10 p.m.

According to McGrew the team voted unanimously to abide by the Perry Rules. The third-year head man was 24, not much older than his players.

UNBEARABLE VICTORY

McGrew’s San Diego High bias also was obvious. The intrepid high school correspondent was one unhappy camper after the Hilltoppers’ 6-3 victory over Sweetwater in the season’s opening game.

Expecting a rout, McGrew was forced to acknowledge a stunningly difficult outing.

“The local players were taken off their feet by the county gang,” wrote McGrew.  “They were dazed, it appeared.”

McGrew continued.  “Possibly some of the players were unstrung, the game being the first of the season, and when they discovered the Sweetwater team had all kinds of power (they) went to pieces.”

Sweetwater had been 0-3 against the San Diego varsity, losing, 54-6 in 1915, 65-7 in ’20, and 40-0 in ’21.

Fullback Charles Williams drop-kicked a 25-yard field goal to give coach Herb Hoskins’ Red Devils a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter.

Norton Langford scored to put the Hilltoppers ahead, 6-3, later in the quarter, after which San Diego was stymied by the determined National City squad.

The following week, under a story without byline, the writer hadn’t yet moved on, still unhappy and describing the Sweetwater game as a “catastrophe”.

RED DEVILS NO PUSHOVERS

Sweetwater opened as National City School 1907 and, according to available records, played football in 1910.

For the first 11 years, including the 1913 season when they didn’t field a team, the Red Devils were 10-24-3, according to infrequent newspaper reports.

Herb Hoskins took over as coach in 1919 and was 5-9-2 in his first three seasons, but the Red Devils won the four-team County League with a 5-0-1 record this season and manned up once more in the playoffs against San Diego.

The Cavemen this time prevailed by a 13-6 score, but Sweetwater had established itself as a credible program.

The Red Devils were 34-16-5 under Hoskins from 1922-27 and made three playoff appearances.

NO ROOM FOR HERB?

Writer Jess Puryear pointed out that Hoskins apparently had not been considered after the Sweetwater mentor showed interest in filling a position that opened on the San Diego coaching staff.

Hilltoppers basketball coach A.E. Shaver had left after the 1921-22 school year.

RESEMBLING EARLY MAN

San Diego High historian Don King corrected a story which promoted many different versions over the years.

How did the name Cavemen evolve?

In 1921 the football team dressed in dingy quarters beneath the 400 building on campus, King wrote in Caver Conquest, the 1993  history of San Diego High athletics.

There was only one entrance to the dressing room and that was through a long, dark tunnel that supposedly looked like that of a passageway to the caves used by our earliest ancestors, King noted.

Alden Ross, a reporter for the school newspaper (and a future member of the 1922 squad), was standing outside the players’ entrance when the  squad exited for a game and was struck by the similarity to cave dwellers of the past.

Ross referred to the “Cavemen” in the next issue of The Russ.

“Cavemen” caught on and was used thereafter along with “Hilltoppers”,  “Hillers”, and “Cavers.”

When girls began participating in the 1970s, the name was officially amended to “Cavers,” to correct gender inequity, said King.

PREGAME HYPE?

USC Freshmen coach H.W. Hess, responding when asked in a telephonic interview with  San Diego writers if there were “any stars who have been showing up” on the Trobabes’ squad:

“There are no stars, but eleven men on the team…and they’re all rotten,” declared the coach.

San Diego coach John Perry said he expected his squad “to be fighting all through the game (but) I do expect to be beaten by more than forty points.”

Interest in the USC team was such that the frosh’s pregame meal was assessed:  two poached eggs and a cup of tea.

The frosh, featuring many 1921 prep stars from throughout the state, prevailed, 21-0.

THE LONGEST TRIP

According to one writer, 19 players and two coaches traveled for a game to Bakersfield by automobile.

Certainly more than one automobile, although Alan McGrew wrote that the team was scheduled to leave  at 8 a.m. on a Friday morning for an 11-hour trip by “stage”.

Travel would include 48 miles on what was known as the Ridge Route, beginning at the Castaic Junction and featuring switchbacks and sudden  turns over the mountains north of Los Angeles.

Climax to this sometimes dangerous stretch was the Grapevine, a six-mile downgrade that took travelers from 4,233 feet to the floor of the San Joaquin Valley, passing native grapevines growing on the hills near Fort Tejon.

WHY?

In this still developing period of motorized conveyance (passenger railroad travel then or now was not available to or from Bakersfield), why schedule a game so distant and so difficult to reach?

Alan McGrew pointed out that “almost every school south of the Tehachapi pass had received letters seeking games from Hilltop management, but refused.”

San Diego High was feared in the North, particularly around Los Angeles, said McGrew. Scheduling the defending state champion Drillers would curtail some of the criticism about Perry’s perceived reluctance to schedule strong opponents.

There was some history with Bakersfield.  The Hilltoppers declined an invitation to play a state championship playoff with the Drillers after San Diego had posted 12-0 record and won the Southern Section championship in 1916.

Hilltop coach Clarence (Nibs) Price sensed his team was fatigued and was not interested in a New Year’s Day game in San Diego. The Drillers claimed the state championship and that San Diego had forfeited.

Price did schedule the Drillers in 1917, when the school known as Kern County Union High came south and was beaten by the Hilltoppers, 18-7.

This year’s result was different.  Dwight (Goldie) Griffith’s Drillers, who were rumored to play some adult roughnecks from the neighboring oil fields, scored a 32-0 victory.

Age limits were seemingly flexible and nonexistent.  San Diego’s outstanding lineman was Al Scheving, who would be 21 when he graduated in June, 1923.

“I was only eighteen months older than my team captain,” coach John Perry told writer Jim Trinkle in 1954.

TWO GAMES IN TWO DAYS

Without a league and of independent classification, San Diego was required to have five victories against high school competition for inclusion in the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

Scheduling was madcap.

With the SCIF postseason beginning in a week, the Cavemen were pressed to play two high school games in two days.

John Perry shrugged when it was suggested that no prep team in California had ever been asked to meet such a challenge.

The  Hilltoppers teed up at 9:15 a.m. Friday in City Stadium, where they defeated the 7-2 Whittier Cardinals, 26-0, then followed at 12:30 the next afternoon with a 41-0 victory over weak Anaheim, against which Perry employed only four varsity starters.

Students were all for the doubleheader.  They were dismissed from school Friday to watch the games.

The Hilltoppers were fortunate not to have to travel for the Anaheim contest, which originally was scheduled in the northern community but was moved to San Diego because of an Armistice Day parade in Anaheim.

HOW MANY GAMES?

HOW MANY GAMES?

Don King’s Caver Conquest listed 14 games on San Diego High’s schedule, as did the first Evening Tribune Prep Football Record Book, published in 1965.

According to The San Diego Union of November 30, 1922,  the Cavemen had played 17 games and, after meeting  Santa Ana, Gardena and Bakersfield, would finish the season with a stunning total of 20, their record being 14-5-1.

NFL teams don’t play that many, unless they’re a wildcard team that plays in the Super Bowl.

The line between scrimmages and games was blurred in The San Diego Union.  

A midseason exercise with Sweetwater was loosely described as a game but also as a “practice.” Nonleague, not yet a part of the lexicon, would have been a better description.

The Cavemen played five “games” with teams from military institutions and seven “games” in 13 days from late September to early October.

Games with military squads were common for San Diego-area teams.

COEDS SHUN HILLTOPPERS

San  Diego’s playoff with Santa Ana matched not-so-friendly rivals in a series that dated to 1905. The Cavemen claimed the Orange County school’s students and players were the poorest losers in the state.

“Besides ‘razzing’ the players on the street  and at the hotel where the team was lodged, the girls at a public dance in Santa Ana refused to dance with the San Diego boys,” reported Alan McGrew.

According to historian Don King, “Santa Ana fans threw soda pop bottles and ripe fruit as Kenny Zweiner ran 65 yards with an intercepted pass for a touchdown.”

Coney Galindo raced 35 yards for another score in a 12-0 victory. The winners rushed for 112 yards, Galindo leading with 50 yards rushing and completing a 17-yard pass.

The win over Santa Ana elevated San Diego into a Southern Section championship game against Gardena.

ROCKY TOP

Perry remembered years later what it was like to practice on the “Rock Pile,” and to play on a dirt surface in City Stadium.

“We weren’t allowed to practice in the stadium, but had to go across the highway by the horse barns,” said Perry.  “Before working out we’d try to get all the rocks we’d kicked up the previous day out of the way.”

The stadium layout would be sprinkled, then rolled before each game.  “There wasn’t any grass and it was as hard as concrete,” remembered the coach.

SCHOOL DAYS, SCHOOL DAYS!

San Diego High pupils paid student dues of .75, plus they were required to make a $4 deposit to assure return of textbooks at the end of the school year.

Students were required to purchase locker padlocks that were available from San Diego merchants.

Incoming freshmen received a 128-page “manual”, detailing all activities and regulations at the school.

National City School, renamed Sweetwater, moved to a new location on Highland Avenue at the South end of National City, serving approximately 325 students from Chula Vista and to as far south as San Ysidro.

Construction of Grossmont’s permanent campus on the hill overlooking El Cajon Valley was almost complete, with 350 students listed as having enrolled.

Two-pant tweed sports suits were available for $19.65, Shoes for $6.50, and caps for $2.50 at Lion Clothing Co., Fifth Avenue at E Street.

THERE WERE PERKS

Prospective San Diego High players were feted in a banquet at the San Diego Hotel the night before the first practice.

Team leader Norton Langford addressed the players on the “value of close association and the necessity for no petty jealousy” (apparently a problem the last couple seasons, along with questions of soft scheduling and Perry’s not coaching “fundamentals”).

Langford said he hoped to “see a game up North” at the end of the season “for the state championship and with San Diego returning victorious.”

CART BEFORE HORSE

San Diego players favored a rematch in the state playoffs with Bakersfield, rather than  participate in a so-called national championship game.

The Cavers received challenges from the Amarillo Golden Sandstorm of Texas, Twin Falls, Idaho, and a team in St. Louis.  Coach John Perry postponed any decision until after the Gardena contest.

LOVE THAT GRASS

Gardena, which won at Bishop, 31-0, the week before, was accorded an edge by the San Diego media because it had played on the Bovard Field turf gridiron at USC.

Whatever advantage Gardena possessed disappeared in the fourth quarter, when the Cavemen trailing, 14-12, scored 19 points to win, 31-14.  Coney Galindo ran for three touchdowns and scored another on an intercepted pass.

HERE COME THE DRILLERS

San Diego accepted a challenge to play 9-0-1 Bakersfield in a state playoff, but only if the game was played in the City Stadium.  In a telegram to Bakersfield officials, McGrew said the Cavemen were “not in condition for another trip.”

The Drillers agreed.

The journey south was easier on the visitors, who were reported to have “passed through Los Angeles” and were spending the night in Santa Ana after practicing at Whittier College.

Transported in two motor coaches, Bakersfield arrived in San Diego on the day of the game.

The Cavemen battled in vain before about 6,000 City Stadium fans who represented the largest turnout in school history, according to the Union, although the 1917 game drew a reported 10,000.

It was 17-0 before Ed Ruffa scored a touchdown in the final two minutes to send the Hilltoppers home 17-6 losers.

READ IT AND WEEP

That was the lede (first paragraph) on The San Diego Union account of the Cavemen’s 106-6 victory over Army-Navy.  The writer also suggested that flags would be at half mast at the Pacific Beach academy.

Nothing out of the ordinary about that, but in the second paragraph it was noted that the Cadets fully expected to win and to qualify for the Southern California playoffs!

Coach Paul Jones, who exuded such confidence before the game, was slightly off the mark.

Contributing to the carnage was a rule of the day:  Teams scoring touchdowns received the ensuing kickoff, i.e., Army-Navy kicked off after every San Diego touchdown.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Future World War II hero aviator Lt. James Doolittle left Jacksonville, Florida, at 7:30 p.m. Pacific  time and hoped to land at Rockwell Field, located on Coronado’s North Island, at about 4 p.m. the next afternoon.

The 18 1/2-hour flight included a fuel stop in San Antonio, Texas.

TRUE GRID

San Diego High dropped its ninth-grade, freshmen class when two junior highs, Roosevelt and Memorial, opened…the schools had grades of 7, 8, and 9…by contract with the CIF and Santa Ana, expenses were provided for 18 players when the Cavemen took the train north for the second of three semifinal playoff contests, but coach John Perry traveled a squad of 23… San Diego High was not the only team to play games on back-to-back days…Grossmont sustained a 40-7 loss to the Hilltoppers, then went out the next day and dropped a 7-6 decision to the sailors from the U.S.S. Rapahannock…when writers referred to a team concentrating on its ground game, it was described as “straight football”…passing, infrequently used,  was just that, “passing”…The San Diego Union published the roster of San Diego High and players’ numbers before the game with the USC Freshmen…24 players were numbered from 1 to 25, with only jersey No. 2 omitted… …Escondido was greeting “a whole set of husky Indians from the backcountry,” according to the Union… County League teams Escondido, Sweetwater, and Grossmont were considered “backcountry”…”The Winning Play,” an article that appeared in Redbook magazine, was read to the team by San Diego coach John Perry before it took the field against Gardena…Sweater and Letter Day at Sweetwater was attended by the entire student body, which honored the County League team as Herb Hoskins awarded monograms to 15 players….

The narrative originally was posted on Nov. 16, 2012.

Coach Les Cassie’s Hoover Cardinals were within nine outs of a berth in the Southern California finals.  San Diego High was San Diego High, reliably formidable.  But Don Clarkson’s Point Loma Pointers may have been the best team of all.

The Pointers won the prestigious Pomona 20-30 Rotary Club tournament, split two games with Hoover, and defeated San Diego in Pomona.  The Pointers ran the table in the Metropolitan League and would have been a prime candidate for the Southern California playoffs.

But the Metropolitan loop had a curious history regarding the playoffs.  It usually declined, including this year.

The Pointers had an explainable reason this year.  Its regular season ended on the same day Hoover was bowing in the semifinals to Long Beach Wilson.

In the future the Southern Section would open the door  to more teams by creating major and minor divisions and schedules would be more accommodating to the start of the playoffs.  Point Loma would win a small schools football championship in 1949.

2/28/47

Hoover Alumni, aided by seven errors by the Cardinals’ varsity, won the season’s opening game, 6-2.

3/2/47

Leonard Ross and Pete Corona teamed on a three-hitter and San Diego, scoring three runs in the eighth inning, defeated its alumni, 5-2.

–Hoover’s six runs in the first inning, highlighted by Gene Launders’ single and LeRoy Darnell’s double, was enough to win a seven-inning contest against visiting Point Loma, 11-7.

3/7/47

Max Minga’s two-run triple in a three-run seventh inning paved Grossmont’s 4-1 win over the Alumni.

—Hoover opened an odd intersectional trip with a 12-7 win at Long Beach Jordan.  Chuck Chagnard’s three-run double on his second at-bat in the first inning was the final shot in a seven-run first, in which Bulldogs pitchers issued seven walks.

—Cyril Guthridge’s grand slam home run was the difference in La Jolla’s 6-5 win over visiting Kearny.

3/8/47

Harvey Jones gave up five hits, struck out eight and hit a two-run home run and Hoover outlasted the host Colton Yellowjackets, 9-6.

3/10/47

Bob Miller singled three times in three at-bats to lead Hoover to an 11-6 win over guest Grossmont.

—Andy Stagnaro’s five-hit pitching was enough to lead the San Diego Junior Varsity to a win at Escondido over the Cougars’ varsity.

3/12/47

San Diego’s junior varsity withstood a seven-run inning and edged the Kearny varsity, 9-8.  Grossmont was outhit, 10-9, but outscored Sweetwater, 8-7, in a nonleague game between Metropolitan League teams.

3/15/47

Coach Mike Morrow’s club won a day-night doubleheader in Balboa Stadium from the Tucson Bears, 9-5, and 10-9, collecting 25 hits in the two games.

—Long Beach Poly collected only four hits off Ken Clary but scored a 6-5 victory over Hoover on the Marine Corps Recruit Depot diamond.

—Joe Medina and Paul Kaneyuki combined to pitch Point Loma to a 10-1 victory over St. Augustine on the Pointers field.  John Brown helped with two doubles.

—Bob Press was 2 for 2 and Kearny beat San Diego Vocational, 6-2, at Kearny.

3/16/47

San Diego struck for 19 hits and defeated the Tucson, 17-5, to sweep the three-game series in Balboa Stadium against the defending Arizona champion.

Every member of the Hilltoppers’ lineup collected at least one hit.  John Brown and Pete Corona had four hits each, Ray Mendoza three hits, and Bill Dugan, John Verdusco, Jerry Dahms, and Hank Duffie two each.

3/18/47

Hoover’s Larry Nenna homered with a man aboard in the first inning for the Cardinals’ only hit, but they won, 10-4, over St. Augustine, which committed only two errors but virtually walked the Horace Mann playground ball park.

—Art Preston’s two-run home run in the first inning was the difference as Grossmont defeated Kearny, 3-2, on the Komets’ diamond.

3/20/47

Hoover and San Diego opened the Coast League season with wins at home.

Ken Clary and Harvey Jones hit home runs and Clary, with additional hitting support from Bill McColl, Bill Casey, and Gene Launders, scattered seven hits as the Cardinals won, 15-0, over Pasadena.

San Diego shut out Pasadena Muir, 11-0, as Joe Catlin contributed three hits, including a double and triple, and John Brown and Bill Dugan added two hits apiece in support of Pete Corona’s three-hit pitching.

—San Diego’s Junior Varsity beat La Jolla’s varsity and ace Bud Relyea, 10-6, at La Jolla.  Relyea hit a home run.

3/21/47

Ed Gray and Hank Fitch each had two hits and Pat Kennedy hurled St. Augustine to a two-hit, 9-1 win over Escondido at Golden Hill Playground.

—Point Loma began a two-game swing through the North with a rain-shortened, five-inning, 4-2 victory at San Bernardino.  Joe Medina pitched the victory and added a two-run triple in the second inning.  Medina’s sixth-inning home run was washed out by a downpour.

3/22/47

Paul Kaneyuki allowed nine hits and went the distance as Point Loma completed a successful weekend foray into the Inland Empire with a 6-4 win at Colton.

—Len Ross’s five-hit pitching and Joe Catlin’s two-run triple in a three-run fifth inning was enough for San Diego, 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Coast League, to beat Pasadena, 6-2, in Balboa Stadium.

—Merle Smith’s three-run triple in the fifth inning broke open a game with visiting Pasadena Muir and Hoover romped, 13-2.

3/25/47

San Diego won a nonleague game at Grossmont, 8-4, tagging the Foothillers’ Art Preston for 10 hits.  Pate Corona and Bill Dugan combined with seven-hit pitching for the Hilltoppers.

–Joe Medina pitched six hitless innings and third baseman Joe Correia doubled and tripled and the Pointers topped pitcher Don Larsen and an alumni squad, 6-2, at Golden Hill playground.

–Who’s on first? No, who scheduled the game?  The dreaded administrative glitch. Hoover’s nonleague contest against Escondido was canceled because of a reported “misunderstanding” as to the game site.

–Bud Relyea struck out 16 St. Augustine batters, contributed two hits, and allowed three hits in the La Jolla’s’ 5-1 win at home.

3/28/47

Hoover (8-2) scored seven runs in the first four innings and went on to a 10-6 win over San Diego (8-1) to take the lead in the Coast League with a 3-0 record. Ken Clary had four hits in five times at bat, including two home runs, and pitched the complete-game victory.

Bob Miller also homered and Harvey Jones singled, doubled, and tripled for the Cardinals.

—Grossmont scored at least one run in every inning from the fourth through the eighth inning and Art Preston kept El Centro Central at a distance as Grossmont won, 12-6, in an intersectional game on the Foothillers’ diamond.

—Paul Kaneyuki, Gene Roberts, and John Silveira combined to pitch a one-hitter and Point Loma submerged the Amphibious Base team, 12-0, at Navy Field.

—Eight errors contributed to Kearny’s 10-3 loss at Sweetwater.  La Jolla knocked off St. Augustine for the second time in the week, 10-3, in a seven-inning contest at Golden Hill.

3/29/47

San Diego bounced back from its loss to Hoover with an 8-1 victory over visiting Long Beach Wilson.  John Brown stopped the Bruins on six hits. Jerry Dahms singled, tripled, and homered and Hank Duffie doubled and hit three singles.

4/1/47

The 14^th Pomona 2030 Rotary Club tournament drew six San Diego-area teams and they played a combined total of 12 first-round, second-round, and consolation games, starting as early as 8 a.m. and concluding in late afternoon.

San Diego and Point Loma still were alive in the championship bracket, but Hoover and La Jolla fell into the consolation bracket after first-round losses.  Grossmont and Escondido won first-round games but lost and headed home after second-round defeats.

San Diego defeated Fullerton, 3-0, and Santa Monica, 8-2. Point Loma whipped Covina, 11-3 and Santa Barbara, 5-1.

Escondido beat Covina, 9-8, and fell to Whittier, 7-1.  Grossmont measured Huntington Beach, 6-2, and then bowed to Long Beach Poly, 6-4.

La Jolla lost to Whittier, 6-3,  but was in business in the consolation bracket after a 14-5 victory over Chino.  Hoover, one of the tournament favorites, was ousted in the first round, 9-1, by Ontario Chaffey but rallied for an 11-1 win over Santa Ana in the afternoon, second-chance game.

What it all meant was that San Diego was to play Point Loma in the championship quarterfinals and Hoover and La Jolla would meet in the consolation quarterfinals.

4/2/47

Not San Diego and not Hoover.  Point Loma was playing for the championship of the Pomona 20-30 Rotary Club tournament,

The Pointers of coach Don Clarkson emerged as potential champions, defeating San Diego, which was seeking its seventh tournament title, 3-1, in the morning quarterfinals and San Bernardino, 13-0, in the afternoon semifinals.

Defending champion Hoover, knocked out of the championship bracket on the first day, stayed in the hunt for the consolation trophy, beating La Jolla, 12-0, and Bonita, 8-0.

Paul Kaneyuki pitched a three-hitter against San Diego and had two hits.  Yoto Takeshita added a couple hits for the Pointers. Don Blackman was leading the Peninsula team with a .600 average, nine for 15. Joe Medina stuffed San Bernardino on four hits.

Hoover’s Bob Woods stopped La Jolla on two hits.  Harvey Jones allowed Bonita one hit.

4/3/47

Point Loma won a see-saw battle with Whittier, 8-7, for the Pomona 2030 Rotary Club championship.  Hoover took the consolation title, 10-5, over Fullerton.

Ralph Silva’s double with the bases loaded off Whittier pitcher Ed Hookstratten was the difference in the game.  Hookstratten gave up nine hits compared to the 14 allowed by Paul Kaneyuki, who continually worked out of jams.

Larry Nenna paced Hoover’s 11-hit attack with four hits in five times at bat.

4/8/47

Andy Stagnaro, up from the junior varsity, stopped Grossmont on three hits and Joe Catlin hit a three-run home run in an eight-run third inning as San Diego whipped Grossmont, 10-1, in Balboa Stadium.

—Harvey Jones and Larry Nenna each had three hits, with Nenna also adding a two-run homer, in Hoover’s 6-2 win over visiting St. Augustine.

—Joe Medina scattered 12 hits at Sweetwater and Point Loma continued to win, 6-4.

4/11/47

Hoover lost at Compton, 4-1, and San Diego won at Pasadena Muir, 8-2, in Coast League games.

—Grossmont pounded three Escondido hurlers for 16 hits and whipped the Cougars, 16-6, as Metropolitan League play began.

—Guest Oceanside had 13 hits, but Sweetwater made better use of its 15 hits in an 18-8 victory.

—La Jolla won at Kearny, 8-5, and Point Loma used its bye date to win, 8-5, at Naval Training Center.

4/13/47

Compton completed a sweep of visiting San Diego and Hoover and took command in the Coast League when the Tarbabes defeated the Hilltoppers, 6-1, after stopping Hoover, 4-1, the previous day.

—Hoover recovered to win, 8-3, at Pasadena Muir. Harvey Jones struck out 12 and Bill McColl drove in four runs with a double and two singles.

4/15/47

Rudy Ortiz, Frank Morey, John Verdusco, Pete Corona, and Bill Dugan hit home runs at Golden Hill Playground and San Diego used the circuit clouts and 10 other hits for a 23-0 rout of St. Augustine.

John Brown, Pete Corona, and Leonard Ross combined to hold the Saints to two hits.

—Merle Smith had three hits and Hoover beat Grossmont, 15-7, and the Hoover JV, behind Bill White’s no-hitter, beat the Grossmont JV, 6-1.

—The San Diego junior varsity (11-0) rapped 14 base hits and clobbered Escondido’s varsity, 17-9.

4/18/47

Bud Relyea struck out 17 batters, hit a home run, and pitched a no-hitter as La Jolla routed Escondido, 18-0.

—Paul Kaneyuki gave up one hit and Point Loma defeated host Oceanside, 7-1. Sweetwater lost at Grossmont, 8-6, and Kearny won a nonleague encounter from visiting St. Augustine, 8-4.

—Gene Launder’s two-run single in the top of the seventh inning tied the score, 6-6, and Launder’s sharp grounder, mishandled by Tommy Martinez, scored Bill McColl in the ninth inning and Hoover edged San Diego, 7-6, at Balboa Stadium.

4/22/47

Point Loma continued to meet and beat all area opposition, taking down Hoover, 6-0, behind Joe Medina’s two-hit pitching on the Convair field.

Medina led off the second inning with a home run and Don Blackman aided the cause with two singles and a double.  Hoover coach Les Cassie used 13 players and three pitchers.

—San Diego State’s junior varsity stook advantage of Kearny hospitality, 11-5, and Grossmont rudely welcomed traveler Calexico, 13-3.

—San Diego junior varsity’s streak of 13 consecutive wins was ended at Sweetwater, 10-2.

Nine St. Augustine errors contributed to San Diego’s 11-2 win in Balboa Stadium.

4/23/47

Jack Konte homered and Bud Relyea homered and pitched La Jolla to a 2-1 win at Kearny.

4/25/47

Hoover moved into a first place tie in the Coast League by winning a rematch with Compton at Hoover, 6-4. Ken Clary was touched for 10 hits but went the distance for the Cardinals.

—San Diego shut out Pasadena, 10-0, in a night game in Balboa Stadium.

—Paul Kaneyuki and Point Loma got the best of Grossmont and Art Preston, 6-5, on the Naval Training Center diamond.

—La Jolla and Bud Relyea gave up unbeaten Metropolitan League status in a 5-3 loss at Sweetwater and Kearny was a road winner at Escondido, 7-0.

4/26/47

San Diego clinched the Coast League championship for Hoover when it crushed Compton with an 18-hit attack, 17-4, ending a disastrous, 0-2  trip for the Tarbabes.

—Fred Weitzen hit two home runs and Ken Clary homered as Hoover beat Pasadena, 13-0, behind Harvey Jones’ six-hitter on the Horace Mann field in Hillcrest.

The Cardinals soon got word of Compton’s loss four miles away in Balboa Stadium and then awaited word on the Southern Section playoffs.

4/29/47

Grossmont beat La Jolla, 8-3, in the lone Metropolitan League game.  Escondido took out some frustration with a 20-5 nonleague win over Vista.  The Hoover JV blanked the Kearny varsity, 5-0, and Fallbrook topped Julian, 7-0, in a Southern Prep League game.

5/1/47

La Jolla’s Cyril Guthridge gave up three hits and defeated the Camp Elliott Marines, 4-2.

—Don Larsen, who graduated mid-term, doubled home the winning run as the Point Loma alumni beat the varsity, 4-3.

5/3/47

Art Preston hit for the cycle—single, double, triple, and home run—struck out 15 and gave up one hit in Grossmont’s immolation of Oceanside, 21-0.

–Paul Kaneyuki of Point Loma and Bud Relyea of La Jolla struck out 15 batters each but didn’t do as well with those who made contact.

La Jolla collected 10 hits but committed 10 errors and Point Loma, on the strength of nine safeties, won, 13-6.

–Kearny made six errors and Sweetwater five, but the Red Devils also had more hits, 10 to five, and whacked the Komets, 16-5.  St. Augustine won a nonleague contest with Escondido, 10-8, on Ivan Radovich’s two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning.

5/7/47

John Brown socked two home runs and Bill Dugan and Jerry Dahms one each and San Diego won, 18-8, at Long Beach Wilson.

–Point Loma drove Art Preston to cover in the first inning but relief pitcher Fred Weinbrandt kept Point Loma off the scoreboard and Grossmont took an 11-5 victory.

5/8/47

Shortstop Doug Harvey would be the leadoff man for visiting El Centro Central when the Spartans played Hoover in a first-round CIF Southern Section playoff. Harvey became a major-league umpire and is in the baseball Hall of Fame.  Harvey’s presence and command was such that Reggie Jackson once declared that Harvey “was the voice of God.”

5/9/47

Merle Smith hit a two-run home run in the first inning that propelled Hoover to a 13-3 victory over El Centro Central in an opening-round playoff game.

Bob Miller, Ken Clary, Harvey Jones, and Ralph Carpenter also drove in two runs apiece for the Cardinals.  Clary and Jones held the Spartans to one hit, a single by shortstop Doug Harvey.

—Art Preston struck out 18 batters as Grossmont defeated St. Augustine, 3-1.  La Jolla’s Bud Relyea struck out 19 Oceanside Pirates in La Jolla’s 5-0 win.

–Phil Adams was 3 for 3 as Point Loma punished Kearny, 15-1, and Sweetwater bombed Escondido, 12-3, as Ordean Olson had three hits and Al Hooper hit a two-run home run.  Fallbrook won a Southern Prep League game at Vista, 8-2.

5/9/47

San Diego dropped a 3-0 decision at Tucson in the first of its three, season-ending games against the Arizona squad. The Hillers were restricted to singles by Jerry Dahms and John Verdusco.

5/10/47

Ray Mendoza’s two hit pitching evened San Diego’s season-ending, three-game series at Tucson, 4-1, but the Bears prevailed, 2-1, in the nightcap of the doubleheader.

San Diego won the intersectional series, four games to two, and completed the season with a 19-6 record.

5/16/47

Hoover scored two runs in the first inning and two more in the third and single runs in the fourth and fifth to win at Inglewood, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section playoffs.

Harvey Jones scattered eight hits and Gene Launders and Merle Smith contributed two hits each.

–Point Loma clinched a tie for the Metropolitan League title, 11-2, at Escondido.  Paul Kaneyuki spaced 10 hits and the Pointers manufactured 14. Grossmont beat La Jolla, 10-4, and Oceanside took its first league win, 6-3 over Kearny.

5/20/47

Brown Military (4-1) stayed alive in its Southern Prep League pursuit of idle Fallbrook (4-0) as the Cadets smashed Julian, 16-2, at the Cadets’ Garnet Avenue ball bistro in Pacific Beach.  Ramona beat Army-Navy, 11-5, and Vista topped San Dieguito, 7-6.

–Grossmont finished 5-1 in Metro League play with a 9-7 win over Kearny and then began a waiting game, hoping for a Sweetwater win over Point Loma which would give the Foothillers a share of the championship.

5/23/47

Point Loma (6-0) claimed the Metropolitan League title, 5-2, over Sweetwater on the Convair diamond.  Paul Kaneyuki limited the Red Devils to five hits.  Fallbrook (5-0) clinched a share of the Southern Prep League title, 10-1, over Army-Navy as Ted Chamness limited the Warriors to one hit.

Host Long Beach Wilson trailed, 1-0, after six innings and then scored two runs each in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings for a 7-2 CIF playoffs, semifinals victory over Hoover.

Wilson, an 18-8 loser to San Diego, won the Southern Section championship the following week, 9-4, over visiting Glendale.

Baseball and track and field continued to feel the effects of the World War II with shorter seasons and limited participation.

Teachers and students were answering the call from Uncle Sam and leaving for the military.  Allied forces continued to fight fierce battles in Europe and the Pacific.

No official count of the number of baseball games were played, but practice games and nonleague encounters sometimes went unreported or weren’t published by the shrinking staffs of The San Diego Union, Evening Tribune, and The Daily Journal.

San Diego, Hoover, and Sweetwater tied for first in Victory League baseball, each with a 3-1 league record.  Track and field managed to complete a full season with a combined championship day for the Southern Section and Los Angeles City Section.

The sections competed separately before a crowd of about 15,000 in the L.A. Coliseum.

The war took a historic turn in Europe, with D-Day and the Normandy invasion, thirteen days after the final track meet.

(Bold type for Track, Light for Baseball)

 4/2/44

San Diego defeated Hoover, 57 2/3-46 1/3, in a dual meet that did not count in Victory League competition. 

Ralph Phillips of the Hillers won the 100-yard dash in :10.1 and 220 in :23.1.  Sophomore Norman Stocks won the 440 in :52.2 and anchored a 1:35 victory in the 880-yard relay.

Vocational dropped a 5-1 decision at Golden Hill Playground to the San Diego junior varsity, whose Luis Urquidi had five hits in five times at bat.

4/4/44

Jack Harshman collected four of San Diego’s 10 hits but the Hillers were beaten by the Coast Guard base team, 11-4, at Golden Hill.

4/5/44

The Point Loma varsity combined two hits, two errors and a walk for three runs, and defeated the San Diego High JV, 4-2.

4/11/44

Hoover dropped a 7-1 decision to the visiting Camp Kearny Marines.

—Byron Ward homered and his triple scored Don Sparling in the 10^th inning as Sweetwater outlasted Camp Miramar, 6-5, on the Red Devils’ diamond.

4/13/44

Lee Singleton’s single scored Tom Maheras and George Caswell in the first inning and that was enough as host Hoover beat Point Loma, 4-0, in a Victory League opening game.

The Cardinals rolled behind the four-hit pitching of Dick Barnes, who struck out 11 and didn’t allow a base runner after the fourth inning.

4/14/44

San Diego scored 6 runs each in the first and second innings and pounded out 14 hits in an 18-0 execution of Vocational on the Balboa Stadium diamond.

—The Fort Rosecrans team bunched two-base hits in the sixth inning at Hoover and defeated the Cardinals, 1-0.

Grossmont’s James Wood won the 70-yard high hurdles, next to last event of the meet, in :10 and the Foothillers dominated the field events to edge San Diego, which won all races on the track, 54-50.

—Hoover was a 52 ½-50 ½ winner over La Jolla and led the Victory League with a 5-0 record, followed by Grossmont and San Diego, each 4-1.  Top mark was the 21-foot, 6 ½-inch broad jump by the Cardinals’ Jack Norberg.

4/18/44

Victor Salazar scored from second base on a fly-ball out by Carl Goodwalt and San Diego defeated Fort Rosecrans, 5-4, in Balboa Stadium.

Bud Andrews and Bob Marr each won two events and La Jolla topped Sweetwater, 66 ½-37 ½.  Grossmont beat Point Loma, 62-42.

4/21/44

Hoover (6-0) swept the broad jump and shot put and took four other first places plus a tie for first to clinch a tie for the Victory League dual meet championship, 55 ½-48 ½, over San Diego (4-2) on the Cardinals’ oval.

Thirty-two combined base hits and 10 combined errors later San Diego stood 2-0 in the Victory League after a 16-11 victory at Point Loma.

The Hilltoppers struck 21 base hits and put the game away with a five-run seventh inning.

4/25/44

Three Sweetwater pitchers, Castro, Johnson, and Don Sparling held Point Loma to three hits and Sweetwater made the most of eight hits to score an 8-0 victory on the Pointers’ diamond.

4/26/44

Charlie Harris gave up four runs but survived a seventh-inning uprising as Point Loma defeated the San Diego Electric Railway team, 9-4.

(The Electric Railway operated in San Diego from 1892 until 1949, when trolley cars gave way to buses and the continually expanding use of automobiles).

—Hoover capitalized on singles by Tom Maheras and Don Brorson, a walk to Lee Singleton, and a wild pitch in the sixth inning propelling the Cardinals to a 2-0 victory over a team identified as Kearny Ship’s Company and not affiliated with Kearny High.

4/28/44

Outhit, 10-7, San Diego took advantage of 11 Sweetwater errors to score a 13-7 victory on the Red Devils’ diamond.

—John Brody struck out 15 and St. Augustine scored six runs in the fifth inning en route to a 10-7 win at Point Loma.

—Idle Hoover backed into its second straight Victory League dual meet championship when coach Dave Rebd’s Cardinals rested and La Jolla went to the foothills and defeated Grossmont (5-2), 60 ½-43 ½.

The Cardinals (6-0) had one meet remaining, versus Coronado the following week.

—San Diego won 10 of 11 events, routing Kearny, 92-11.  Ted Simpson won the 880 in 2:09, Norman Stocks the 440 in :52.6, and Pasqual Buono the pole vault, clearing 11 feet, 4 inches.

—Bob Seiben won the 440, broad jump and 220 low hurdles but didn’t get much help as Point Loma topped Sweetwater, 67-37.

4/30/44

The city’s Civil War was five days away and coaches Bob Breitbard (Hoover) and John Brose (San Diego) were setting their lineups for the three-game series that would not count in Victory League standings.

San Diego, Hoover, and Sweetwater were tied for first in the abbreviated campaign.

5/2/44

Hoover closed a 7-0 dual meet season with a 92-11 victory over Coronado that was its 14th in a row since 1943.  Jack Norberg was a triple winner, :09.8 70-yard high hurdles, :13.5 120 lows, and 21-4 ½ broad ump.

Runners-up in the standings were San Diego, Grossmont, and La Jolla, each 5-2, while Grossmont (7-0) swept Classes B and C.

—Hoover’s Dick Barnes and Marty Gaughan combined to pitch the first perfect game in Victory League history, 7-0 over Vocational on Golden Hill Playground.

Barnes pitched the first three innings and Gaughan the last six, striking out 8 and walking one.  Lee Singleton and Frank Smith each had two hits and drove in three runs.

5/4/44

Al Smith allowed six hits but Point Loma committed eight errors and dropped a 6-4 decision to the Camp Kearny Liberators on the Pointers’ diamond.

5/5/44

Carl Hurlbach kept Hoover in check on five hits and benefitted from a San Diego attack that scored nine runs in the final three innings for a 13-5 victory in the first of the best-of-three City series at Hoover.

A five-run ninth against Cardinals pitchers Bill Ruzich and Marty Gaughan highlighted by Louie Dukes’ two-run double clinched the win.

5/6/44

VICTORY LEAGUE FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

San Diego won the team championship with 36 points, followed by La Jolla, which had 28, and Hoover 18½.  Grossmont had 18 1/6, Sweetwater, 13 1/3, Coronado 11, Point Loma, 3, and Kearny, 1.

Jack Norberg of Hoover was the individual star with 13 points, winning the 120-yard low hurdles in :13.3 and broad jump at 20 feet, 10 inches, and placing second to the :09.3 by Don Nelson of Grossmont in the 70-yard high hurdles.

San Diego’s two first places were the :53.1 440 by Norman Stocks and the 5-11 3/8 high jump that tied Ivan Robinson with La Jolla’s Don Ide.

Ray Turnipseed of Coronado was a double sprint winner, running the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.7.

La Jolla’s Bob Marr, Phil Prather, Bob Faniel, and Bud Andrews raced to a season-best 1:32 in the 880-yard relay.

5/19/44

Lefthander Bill Ruzich stopped San Diego on three hits and Hoover, scoring three runs each in the eighth and ninth innings, evened the City series at one win apiece, 6-1, in Balboa Stadium.

—Don Sparling singled, doubled and tripled and Bob Rinkleib drove in four runs, and Sweetwater hammered visiting Point Loma, 15-2.

Jack Norberg of Hoover ran :15.8 in the 120-yard high hurdles and :25.2 in the 220 lows at Sweetwater to qualify for those events in the May 27 CIF Southern Section championships in Los Angeles.

Norberg and other Victory League athletes did not run the highs or the longer-distance race during the  season, instead competing in the 70-yard highs and 120 lows.

Don Nelson of Grossmont and Bob Marr of La Jolla also qualified for the CIF meet.

5/24/44

The venue for a rare, wartime night game was Lane Field and San Diego clinched the City series with its second win in three games over Hoover, 18-11.

Jack Harshman had four hits, including a home-run with the bases loaded in an eight-run sixth inning, to lead the Hilltoppers, who trailed, 8-1, after the Cardinals scored six in the fourth inning.

Harshman also had a double and two singles and the Hillers were ahead, 18-7, after seven innings.

Dick Barnes hit a bases-empty home run in the ninth for Hoover.

5/26/44

—Don Nelson was a surprise winner and the only local gold medalist in Class A when the Grossmont hurdler won at 220 yards in :24.9 in front of a crowd of approximately 15,000 persons in the Los Angeles Coliseum, where the Southern and L.A. City Sections combined their championships for a total of 66 events in Classes A, B, and C.

CLASS A MEDALISTS

—Ray Turnipseed of Coronado, third in the 100-yard dash to the winning :09.7 and tied for second to the winning :21.4 in the 220.

—Jack Norberg, Hoover, third to the winning :15.8 in the 120-yard high hurdles.

—Ivan Robinson, San Diego, third at 5-11 in the high jump to the winning 6-1 ¾. Don Ide, La Jolla, tied for fifth at 5-8.

—Don Nelson, Grossmont, first in the 220-yard low hurdles in :24.9.

—Gilbert Martin, Grossmont, fourth in the shot put at 47 feet, 7 3/8 inches to the winning 52-6 1/2.

—La Jolla, fifth in the 880-yard relay to the winning 1:31.2.

Inglewood outscored Beverly Hills, 23-22, for the team championship. La Jolla was fourth with 9 ½.

 

Looking Back: The narrative originally was posted on June 9, 2014.

As far back as early season 1989, Morse coach John Shacklett was able to smile through a 2-2 start and a forfeit win, supported by a belief that the best was yet to come.

This was after the Tigers had defeated Orange Glen, 31-28, for the 1988 3-A championship and not about the potential of the team that would reach the 3-A finals again in 1989 before losing, 21-7, to Rancho Buena Vista.

Shacklett was thinking further ahead, to 1990, and to Teddy Lawrence’s senior season.

Built around the explosive running and passing of Lawrence and junior running back Gary Taylor, Morse returned 29 lettermen and 18 players who started at least one game in 1989.

Rancho Buena Vista, El Camino, Helix, Mira Mesa, Chula Vista, Orange Glen, Oceanside, and Kearny also would be formidable. Morse met five of those teams, but only George Ohnessorgen’s Chula Vista Spartans came within a touchdown, in the 3-A semifinal.

Did this group of gifted players gathered on the 28-year-old campus at 69^th Street and Skyline Drive represent the all-time, No. 1 San Diego County team?

—Better than the 1916 San Diego High mythical national championship squad?

—Better than the 1955 Cavers national champions?

—Better than the 1985 state No. 1 Vista juggernaut?

—Or some of the Oceanside, Vista, Rancho Buena Vista, and El Camino teams that reflected the population explosion and increased talent pools in the 1970s and ‘80s in the North County?

—Not to mention Birt Slater’s 1963 Kearny Komets; any of a number of Duane Maley’s other San Diego High clubs; the Helix teams coached by Jim Arnaiz and Gordon Wood, or the Sweetwaters of David Lay and Gene Alim?

The Tigers built a case for themselves, game by game, beginning in Hawaii Aug. 26.

MORSE 55, @ HONOLULU PUNAHOU 15.

Barack Obama’s alma mater, a storied program on the islands, was no match. Teddy Lawrence rushed for 206 yards in six carries and scored on runs of 85, 42, and 67 yards and passed for touchdowns of 65, 11, and 36 yards.

A couple weeks later Punahou defeated St. Louis, Hawaii’s No. 1 team.

MORSE 28, RANCHO BUENA VISTA 14, @Mesa College

A headline read, “Taylor Runs Morse to 28-14 Upset”. It was the last time Morse would be associated with the word upset.

The Tigers were  clearly superior.

Gary Taylor burst for 234 yards in the first half, scoring on runs of 75, 85, and eight yards as Morse avenged the 1989 championship loss.

“I was surprised how easily we were able to get outside on them,” said Shacklett, who, not pleased, added, “We self-destructed with penalties.”

MORSE 56, @SWEETWATER 28

Pundits suggested the Tigers would be flat after their big victory and Sweetwater, featuring Willie Branch, who ran for 226 yards in a 25-0 victory over Crawford, was waiting.

Branch returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown and the Red Devils’ home crowd of 5,500 exploded.

Branch’s brother, Danny, rushed 71 yards for a touchdown on Sweetwater’s first offensive play and Willie Branch ran 96 yards with another kickoff.

But Morse found  its stride and ran away from the hosts.  Gary Clark had 262 yards in 19 carries and matched Willie Branch’s three touchdowns.

“I thought we were in for it (after Branch’s opening kickoff return),” said Shacklett, “but our offensive line wore ‘em down.”

MORSE 57, @VISTA 14

“I’m real pleased with our first four ball games,” Shacklett said.

Really?

Morse had just hit Dick Haines with the most lopsided defeat in Haines’ 21 seasons and 226 games as the Panthers’ head coach. The only more decisive loss for Vista was a 46-0 blowout by Tustin in 1946, a span of 433 games.

Gary Taylor rushed for 5 touchdowns and 177 yards and Conan Smith for 104 yards and 1 touchdown.

MORSE 44, LINCOLN 6, @MESA COLLEGE

After a 26-10 loss to Lincoln in 1989, Shacklett ordered the Tiger paws logo removed from the team’s helmets.

The paws reappeared briefly in the 1989 playoffs but permanence was going to be determined by what happened in the neighborhood fling with the Hornets.

Usually overshadowed by the offense, the Tigers’ defense decided the game with three first-half pass interceptions that led to touchdowns.

“The defense gets it all going,” said safety Tommy Bennett.

MORSE 57, @KEARNY, 6

At 5-0 and ranked seventh in the The San Diego Union poll, Kearny expected to be in the game.

Wide receiver Darnay Scott, who would go on to a solid NFL career, operated on the same offensive level as Morse’s big hitters.

Scott was regarded by some as the section’s top college prospect but went scoreless and caught  two passes for 15 yards.

“During (pregame) exercises they would point at us,” said Teddy Lawrence.  “We wanted to score on every possession after that.”

“I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t tell you I’m surprised at how easily we’re scoring,” Shacklett told writer Steve Brand.  “You look up and boom….”

MORSE 60, SERRA 8

Gary Taylor raced 67 yards for a touchdown on Morse’s first play.  He added three others and rushed for 274 yards in 17 carries.

MORSE 40, @POINT LOMA 13

A matchup of the state’s No. 3 and No. 10 teams doesn’t occur often during the regular season, but here was Point Loma adding temporary seating to augment the concrete bleachers at Ross Field.

The game was such that Wayne Lockwood, The San Diego Union columnist, covered his first high school game in years.

Morse was 7-0, averaging 50.3 points, while Point Loma was 6-0, holding a win over powerful El Camino and having surrendered only 27 points.

“I think we have as good a chance as they do to win,” Point Loma coach Bennie Edens told Steve Brand.  ”We’ll move the ball, they’ll move the ball.  There will be no 0-0 tie.”

Morse moved to a 26-0 lead at halftime.  Point Loma fought back, closing to 26-13 and battling on defense.

“They were hitting hard,” said Lawrence.  “Those Glover brothers (La’Roi and Darcell) are good.”

But just as soon as the Pointers caught the Tigers’ scent it was over.  Lawrence passed to Tommy Bennett for a touchdown and ran 29 yards for another.

“They shot down the option,” Shacklett said of the Point Loma defense, “so we tried to get Teddy into the open field.”

Lawrence scored on a 59-yard dash on a trap play and got off a couple punts on bad snaps that could have changed the game’s complexion.

MORSE 57, PATRICK HENRY 13

Another Taylor, Gary’s twin brother, Cary, caught a 35-yard touchdown pass.   Gary scored three touchdowns and running mate Conan Smith scored two.

MORSE 35, @MIRA MESA 14                                                        

Jose Villalana added his fifth point after Morse’s final touchdown, which made for a nice evening’s work for the kicker, but the point had greater significance.

The Tigers passed the 1954 Vallejo team that featured future NFL star Dick Bass as the state’s highest scoring team in the regular season, according to Cal-Hi Sports.

Morse now had 489 points, one more than Vallejo, although the Tigers needed 10 games and the Apaches did it in nine.

MORSE 49, GRANITE HILLS 6, @SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE

It was 42-0 at halftime in this first-round playoff, at which point Shacklett reined in the offense.  Morse’s sometimes skittish defense intercepted four passes as the Tigers went to 11-0 and the Eagles to 4-7.

MORSE 48, VISTA 14, @SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE

Vista manned up, successfully executing an on-side kickoff to start the game, then hitting on a 41-yard pass and scoring on the next play to take a 7-0 lead.

Revamping their attack after their early-season loss, the Panthers went to the air 24 times. They recovered another on-side kick to start the third quarter and closed to 28-13, but Tommy Bennett intercepted a pass and Gary Taylor ran 66 yards for a touchdown.

Vista’s decision to promote its passing game was reflected in its rushing game:  22 attempts, 0 yards.

MORSE 35, CHULA VISTA 28, @SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE

“I thought we had ‘em,”  Spartans coach George Ohnessorgen dejectedly remarked to Buster Olney of The San Diego Union.

The battle-tested Tigers had to fight back after trailing, 28-13, at halftime amid a slew of turnovers and three Spartans touchdowns in three minutes.

“I was scared at halftime, but I knew we could pull it out,” said Lawrence, who fumbled two times and had three interceptions in the first 24 minutes as fog and a roaring Chula Vista crowd engulfed the stadium at Southwestern College.

But it was Lawrence’s 44-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that finally beat the charged Spartans, who still were coming in the final minute.

A Morse defensive back fell down covering Neviett Richardson, who took a pass over the middle from Brandon Gregg and raced to  the Tigers’ five-yard line. But a Spartan was flagged for clipping  a Morse defender on the play, nullifying the gain.

Morse had survived a barnburner.

MORSE 28, ORANGE GLEN 7, @JACK MURPHY

Teddy Lawrence‘s 99-yard kickoff return turned a 7-7 tie into an eventual walkaway and another championship, Shacklett’s third.

Lawrence’s 71 yards in 12 carries allowed him to meet a 100-attempts  minimum  for section record consideration. His 101 carries for the season averaged 13.79 yards, breaking Markeith Ross’ 11-man record of 10.83 in 1989.

Gary Taylor’s 2,625 yards rushing broke the 1988 record of 2,568 by Rancho Buena Vista’s Scott Garcia.

Morse’s 649 points and 46.3 scoring average set a state record, topping the 639 of the Southern Section’s Diamond Bar in 1984.

POLLS

La Jolla Country Day, led by Rashaan Salaam’s 51 touchdowns and 314 points, was Cal-Hi Sports’ 8-man team of the year.

Morse finished second to Merced, which was  13-0 and the Sac-Joaquin Section champion.

The Merced Bears were located only 70 miles from headquarters of Cal-Hi Sports, which was located in Stockton in the middle of the Sac-Joaquin Section.

Morse was No.1 in Southern California and No. 4 in the country as selected by USA Today.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER?

Several Tigers received Division I scholarships, but only one played in the NFL and he was undrafted. Safety Tommy Bennett signed a free agent contract with the Arizona Cardinals out of UCLA and played six seasons.

Other Tigers who went D-1: Teddy Lawrence, UCLA; Cary and Gary Taylor, Arizona; Kevin Nolan (Purdue), John Moe (Navy), Donnie Rich (Fresno State), and Danny Williams (Fresno State).

Lawrence was a three-year starter at defensive back for the Bruins but was released in training camp by the NFL Baltimore Ravens.

FALCON TAKES FLIGHT

Torrey Pines, coached by Bob Davis and quarterbacked by his son, Chad, wanted to put the ball in the air.

Chad set San Diego Section records with 55 attempts and 35 completions for 365 yards, the sixth highest total since records began being kept in 1960. All of that offensive airpower was to no avail.  The Falcons dropped a 21-9 decision at Sacramento-area Elk Grove.

BEWARE, WOLVES

West Hills, which sustained a 65-8 loss to Grossmont in the Wolf Pack’s 1989 inaugural season, improved from 3-7 to 9-3, won the Grossmont AA title, and defeated the Foothillers, 16-14.

The Wolf Pack’s Nathan Vail toed three field goals, including a 30-yarder with 30 seconds remaining to bring West Hills from behind to victory.

MARINERS SUNK

Mar Vista, down to 12 active players, forfeited its last two games to bottom out at 1-9.  Fifteen players had been declared academically ineligible and three others were removed because of disciplinary reasons.

Athletic director Pat O’Neil blamed the season’s academic disintegration on the fact that not one of the varsity coaches worked or taught at the school.

“I think it’s very difficult to keep on the kids to find out how they’re doing if you aren’t on campus,” O’Neill told writer Buster Olney.

O’Neill pointed out that “it’s hard to communicate with the other teachers.  The teachers are gone by 3 (p.m.) and the coaches get here at 3:30.”

The problem was not new and would not go away.

STARS APLENTY

Morse’s collective power was matched by individual standouts throughout the section.

–Kearny receiver Darnay Scott became a No. 2 draft choice of Cincinnati and caught 408 passes in an eight-season career with the Bengals and Dallas.

–Hoover quarterback Tony Banks played nine seasons with St. Louis, Baltimore, and Houston after being the Rams’ second-round draft choice in 1996.

–La Jolla tackle John  Michels played four seasons in the NFL and was a No. 1 pick of the Green Bay Packers out of USC. Michels made the NFL all-rookie team but his career was cut short by knee injuries.

–Rashaan Salaam went on to the Colorado University and won the Heisman Trophy.  He was a first-round selection of the Chicago Bears.

–Junior defensive tackle La’Roi Glover, who had 17.5 quarterback sacks, was a fifth-round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders out of San Diego State,  played 13 seasons, and made 6 Pro Bowls.

–Point Loma wideout J.J. Stokes was the 10th player selected in the first round out of UCLA to the San Francisco 49ers.

–Chula Vista ‘s Donnie Edwards was a standout at UCLA, drafted in the fourth round by Kansas City, and played 13 seasons with the Chiefs and San Diego Chargers.

–Markeith Ross of Rancho Buena Vista set a career rushing record of 4,486 yards  and, like Rashaan Salaam, scored seven touchdowns in one game.

–Running back-linebacker Wayne Pittman of Mira Mesa  probably was the best two-way player in the Section, his mind each day on his dad, who was deployed in the Gulf war.

NORTH COUNTY POWER

Want to be a high school coach and qualify for the postseason?  Become a coach in the Avocado or Palomar leagues.

Twelve teams, six from each circuit, earned AAA or AA playoff berths. Vista, Torrey Pines, Fallbrook, Vista, Mt. Carmel, and Orange Glen were in the AAA bracket and San Marcos, Carlsbad, Ramona, Oceanside, El Camino, and Escondido were in the AA alignment.

Castle Park (5-5) did not attend the seeding meeting, which eased the way for 5-5 Fallbrook.

PLAYING AND FILMING

He would become the head coach at Grossmont years later, but for now Tom Karlo was the Foothillers’ quarterback and an occasional  sideline photo assistant at NFL games.

Karlo’s dad, Tom, Sr., was a sideline cameraman at NFL games for NFL Films..

THE PROPHET MEYER

After El Camino was shut out, 19-0, by Point Loma in the season opener, ending the Wildcats’ 12 game winning streak, Herb Meyer spoke:

“We’ve done this before and survived.  It wasn’t as much as what they did as what we didn’t do.   This isn’t the best Point Loma team I’ve seen, but they kicked our butts.  We’ll put it behind us and move on.”

The Wildcats lost three of their next four, then ran the table with 9 straight wins to a 10-4 record and the Section AA title, 26-7 over Kearny.

Point Loma was beaten by Rancho Buena Vista, 27-12, in the playoff quarterfinals and finished with a 9-2 record.

RUSHING RASHAAN

In a season in which he played six eight-man and five 11-man games, La Jolla Country Day’s Rashaan set an 11-man record when he ran for seven touchdowns as the Torreys crushed Marian, 68-0.

Salaam didn’t play favorites.  He scored seven more in a 65-37 repeat win over The Bishop’s in the eight-man championship.

For the season, Salaam had 51 touchdowns and eight, two-point conversions in 11 games for  322 points.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

A population of 2.2 million persons was predicted in San Diego County, up about 500,000 from 1980.  The figure, released by the U.S. Census Bureau, represented a 22 per cent increase over the previous 10 years.

SAFE HARBOR

St. Augustine, Coronado, Clairemont, Christian, and Marian joined forces as football-playing members of the  AA Harbor League, which was created in 1989 with this season as the target date for football.

The schools essentially were too large for 1A classification and too small for AAA.

The move was Coronado’s sixth  in 17 years.  The Islanders were longtime members of the Metropolitan League before joining the short-lived Coast League in 1973.  They bounced back to  the Metropolitan ’77,  moved to  the South Bay in ’81,  and, for the previous two seasons, was an independent.

TRUE GRID

Southwest’s Riley Washington scored 23 touchdowns in 11 games but was more known for his record-setting, :10.3 100 meters in spring track and the state championship…Serra celebrated the first night game at the Tierrasanta school campus, then took a 28-6 loss from St. Augustine…University’s quarterback was Michael Henning, son of Chargers coach Dan Henning…Rancho Bernardo picked a difficult opponent for its inaugural game…the first-year Broncos lost to Orange County’s Rancho Santa Margarita, 27-0…Randy Walker stepped in at quarterback for Lincoln and led the Hornets to 4 wins in their final 5 regular-season games and into the playoffs after an 0-5 start, the Hornets’ poorest in school history…Lincoln was eliminated by La Jolla, 14-13…Vista coach Dick Haines stuck with Eric Jencks through an 0-5 start and Jencks guided the Panthers to 6 wins in a row including a playoff victory before a 48-14 loss to Morse….

 

Looking Back:  The narrative originally was posted on Nov. 25, 2018. 

Walton’s and Helix’ historic season, game by game, with quotes and attributions by and to Bill Center of The San Diego Union:

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 1969.

HELIX 74, MADISON 60.

Mike Dupree scored 28 and Walton 24, off-setting a 30-point performance by Dave Smith, whose Warhawks were down, 57-36, in the third quarter.

Thursday, Dec 4, 1969

HELIX 78, MORSE 49

Leading only 32-25 at halftime, the Highlanders unleashed a withering, 27-6 third quarter.  Walton scored 30, Dupree 22.

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1969.

HELIX 78, LINCOLN 56

The well-regarded, Eastern League Hornets were in the game, trailing at halftime, 33-27, but fell behind, 54-37, and never got closer.

One blowout and near blowout, and a cruise against three of the city’s best s

Friday, Dec. 12, 1969

HELIX 90, HILLTOP 53.

Walton still was growing, now listed in local newspapers as 6 feet, 10 ½ inches.  He was 10×12 from the field, retrieved 20 missed shots, and scored 24 points.  Dupree was 11×15 from the field and scored 25.

Saturday, Dec. 13, 1969

HELIX 92, CASTLE PARK 60.

“That was the first time we haven’t seen a zone (defense),” Helix coach Gordon Nash said after Walton had torched Castle Park with 46 points (18×21 from the field) and pulled down 28 rebounds.  “They used a man-to-man defense and we worked the ball into Bill.  He got a lot of points off the offensive boards but was doing well from anywhere.”

Nash added that he didn’t think the Highlanders would “see many more man-to-mans.”

Walton broke the school scoring record of 44 points, set by Jim (Bones) Bowers in the 1959-60 season.

Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1969

HELIX 78, CHULA VISTA 43

Another good team taken apart.   The Scots led, 72-28, when Walton, Dupree and the other starters departed early in the fourth quarter.

“We were so concerned with what Walton could do that we forgot what we could do,” said Spartans coach Bob Korzep.

“I can’t say whether or not they will be undefeated this year, but I do know that as long as the big kid’s in the middle I’m not betting against them,” said Korzep.

Chula Vista would get closer later but still fall short.

KIWANIS TOURNAMENT

Thursday, Dec. 18, 1969

HELIX 76, PATRICK HENRY 43

The score was 43-18 at the half and 59-26 after three quarters.  Walton scored 36 points and eight others made the box score.

Friday, Dec. 19, 1969

HELIX 89, EL CAJON VALLEY 56

Ten players scored, led by Walton’s 30 and Dupree’s 17. John Singer, who came off the bench for six points, would become a legendary Helix basketball coach.

Saturday, Dec. 20, 1969

HELIX 87, MADISON 65

Walton’s 35 gave him 101 in three games, threatening the Kiwanis record of 120 in four games by Granite Hills’ Bob Lundgren in 1962 and equaled by El Capitan’s Blaine Bundy in 1966.

The Scots led, 39-34, at the half and 61-42 after three quarters, and essentially traded hoops with the Warhawks in a 26-23 last quarter.

The win was Helix’ 25^th in a row over two seasons, leaving them 10 behind Mount Miguel’s County record.

Monday, Dec. 22, 1969

HELIX 89, SAN DIEGO 45

“We will try a couple new things,” said San Diego High coach Pete Colonelli, who replaced Bill Standly and whose Cavemen carried a 9-2 record into the Unlimited Division final in Peterson Gym.  Tipoff was late, 9:15 p.m. after late-running consolation bracket games.

Helix savaged the Cavers with a 19-0 run after a 16-16 first quarter.  Walton took a seat with 3:08 remaining in the game after scoring 31 points and hauling in 31 rebounds.

Bill Center’s game story pointed out that “when Helix was running wild (in the second quarter), Walton had 6 points and 11 rebounds in four minutes.”  Dupree was the usual target for Walton’s outlet passes and scored 25.

Walton finished the tournament with 132 points, which would have been the record but Madison’s Dave Smith had 149.

COVINA TOURNAMENT

Friday, Dec. 26, 1969

HELIX 90, RANCHO CUCAMONGA ALTA LOMA 35

Back in the eras of Bob Divine and Bob Speidel, Helix coaches often filled the post-Christmas week by taking the team to the Fillmore Tournament in Ventura County.  Gordon Nash this year opted for Covina, one of the nation’s leading events and requiring the champion to win 5 games.

A 22-0 run in the third quarter was just part of the wreckage of Alta Loma. Helix led the Braves, 26-5, 50-11, and 77-14, at various junctures. Walton scored 24, Dupree 16, and Mike Honz and Race (Butch) Paddock, 10 each.

Saturday, Dec. 27, 1969

HELIX 72, MONTEBELLO 48

Walton had 31 points and Dupree 15 for 12 wins in a row this season and 28 consecutive over the last two seasons.

Monday, Dec. 29, 1969

HELIX 92, EL MONTE ARROYO 57

Shock!  Helix trailed, 35-31, at the half.

Awe! The Scots’ full-court press drummed the Knights into submission. They outscored  their opponents, 61-22, in the second half.  Walton contributed 26 points and 22 rebounds. Dupree added 20 points and Mike Honz 19 points and 14 rebounds.

Tuesday, Dec. 30, 1969

HELIX 71, LONG BEACH MILLIKAN 49

This victory may have been the most significant of the Walton era.

The Millikan Rams compiled a 28-3 record and won the Southern Section major championship over Monrovia, 68-37, after knocking out 26-0 Santa Barbara, which featured Walton’s future UCLA teammate and NBA star Keith Wilkes, in the semifinals, 64-49.

Millikan’s other losses were to Inglewood Morningside, 69-63, and Long Beach Wilson, 70-61.

Wrote Ken Pivernetz of the Long Beach Press-Telegram:  “Millikan committed 20 turnovers, scored only twice off the fast break, and was without the full service of (6-5 ½) all-City player Dave Frost, who twisted a muscle in his back and played only half the game.”

Pivernetz gave Walton mild praise.

“The talented Walton, the best prep player in the Border City, intimidated the Rams at times, by blocking eight shots, grabbing 23 rebounds, and scoring a game high 22 points.

After an 11-11 first quarter, Helix led, 32-27, at the half and blew it open with a 20-6 third quarter.

Dupree had 19 points and Randy Madsen 10.

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 1969

HELIX 110, PASADENA 68

Bill Center recounted from colleague Steve Bisheff an exchange between UCLA assistant coach Denny Crum and Crum’s boss, Bruins head coach John Wooden, after Crum returned from Helix’ tournament championship.

Crum:  “I just saw the greatest high school player I’ve ever seen.”

Wooden, looking over his spectacles:  “Better than Lewis (Alcindor)?”

Crum:  “Yeah.”

Wooden: “Keep your voice down and close the door.”

Comparisons to Alcindor, almost unthinkable, were spoken in private, in hushed tones.

Alcindor, who had changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, arguably was the greatest collegiate player of all-time and the leader of the Bruins’ three consecutive, recent national championship teams.

Walton, whose older brother Bruce was on campus and playing for the Bruins’ football team, had been on Wooden’s radar, but the coach wanted to hear more from Crum, who would carve his own, legendary coaching career at the University of Louisville.

Walton dismantled the 12-2 Pasadena Bulldogs with 50 points, 34 rebounds, and nine blocked shots. He made 18 of 24 shots from the floor and converted 14 of 16 free throw attempts. Dupree added 24 points.

It was 29-10 after one quarter, 51-28 at the half, 78-45 after three, followed by a 32-23 final eight minutes of garbage time.

The Highlanders did not press as they opened their 19-point lead in the first quarter. Coach Gordon Nash left Walton and the rest of the starting five in the game until the final 1:25.

Walton would “go national”, earning an item in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd.”

I also “owed” the Helix senior $50, which was what Eleanor Milosovic, the magazine’s director of correspondents, paid me for nominating Walton as a candidate for the publication’s weekly feature.

Walton had scored 451 points and was averaging 30.1.  Helix had an 83.7 team average and was holding its opponents to 52.2.

Helix stood 15-0 and had won 31 in a row as the calendar turned to January.

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 1970

GROSSMONT LEAGUE

HELIX 67, MONTE VISTA 61

The visiting Monarchs, who, at 2-10, had stunned the Scots, 58-52, the previous season, came into the game with an 11-2 record and brought the game to Helix, double- and triple-teaming Walton as Helix struggled to put the game away.  The Highlanders finally broke it open in the fourth quarter, stretching a 51-44 lead to 67-55.

“They forced us into a lot of mistakes and we didn’t play very well,” said Nash, who was not enamored of the officiating around the basket.

“They (officials) watch what takes place in the air, but not what happens with the body,” said Nash. “Billy was manhandled out there pretty good.”

Despite the Monarchs’ physical approach, Walton scored 31 points and took down 22 rebounds.  Mike Dupree added 14 points and Mike Honz 11.

Friday, Jan. 10, 1970

HELIX 68, EL CAPITAN 44

Guards Steve and Wade Vickery kept the ball outside the key much of the game, inviting a Helix press which effectively nullified the Vaqueros, who trailed only 12-7 at the end of the first quarter.  Walton had 21 points, Dupree 17, and Randy Madsen 10.

Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1970

HELIX 86. EL CAJON VALLEY 49

“We won’t hold the ball or slow the game down, but we’ve got a couple things up our sleeve that we’ll try to work,” said El Cajon Valley coach Jack Lasley.

The Braves worked hard to muscle Walton away from the basket and twice knocked him to the floor (Walton slightly turned his ankle the second time, bringing gasps from Helix partisans).

Walton had 20 points in 23 minutes and 30 seconds.  He also had 22 rebounds and nine blocked shots.  Dupree followed with 19 points, Madsen 17, and Honz 14, plus 18 rebounds, as Helix enjoyed a 61-24 advantage on the boards.

“No one I know is going to beat them,” said the El Cajon Valley coach, who added that “defensively he intimidated us to the extent we wouldn’t run anything.”

Friday, Jan. 16, 1970

HELIX 97, GROSSMONT 74.

The Highlanders tied Mount Miguel’s County record of 35 wins in a row with their 19^th straight this season behind Walton’s 37 points and 24 rebounds.  Mike Dupree, 12×22 from the floor, added 27 points as the Highlanders shot 58 per cent.

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 1970

HELIX 89, GRANITE HILLS 32

Dupree scored 28 points while Walton had a season low 15 as Helix began with a 20-6, first-quarter, led, 71-23, after three, and set a County record with win No. 36 in a row.

Friday, Jan. 23, 1970

HELIX 93, MOUNT MIGUEL 61

The winning numbers now read 21 for the season and 37 overall. Walton scored 41 points and three others were in double figures.

John Slater, son of Kearny High football coach Birt Slater, led the Matadors with 21.  Mount Miguel was a shadow of its great team of 1967-68, 1-5 in league play and 2-14 overall.

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 1970

HELIX 81, SANTANA 47

Walton still was feeling the effects of an apparent week-long stretch of flu but hammered the 14-6 Sultans with 32 points on 13×15 shooting, 21 rebounds and eight blocked shots.   Mike Honz had 15 rebounds and Helix blocked 17 Sultans field-goal attempts.

“I thought if we could hit forty per cent today we’d beat ‘em,” said Santana coach Tom Curran.  The Sultans were 22×82 for 27 per cent.

Friday, Jan. 30, 1970

HELIX 94, MONTE VISTA 51

Perhaps aroused by its fairly close call in the league opener, the Scots knocked down 15 of their first 20 shots, creating a 33-11 first-quarter lead. Twenty-two points came on point-blank layups.  Four field goals were ignited by Walton’s outlet passes to either Mike Dupree, who matched Walton’s 26 points, or to Dan Coleman, who had a season high 14. Mike Honz added 14.

The Monarchs, another good Grossmont League squad, fell to 15-6.

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1970

HELIX 93, EL CAPITAN 49.

Now listed at 6-feet-11 in most newspaper articles, Walton scored 30 and Helix eased to its 40^th win in a row.

Saturday, Feb. 6, 1970

HELIX 102, EL CAJON VALLEY 72

Imagine, scoring in the seventies, more than any other Highlanders opponent, and still losing by 30 points.  That was the fate of Jack Lasley’s Braves.  Walton led the way with 29, followed by Dupree’s 22, Honz’ 21, and Coleman’s 15.

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 1970

HELIX 104, GROSSMONT 48

Walton scored 31 points for a season total of 764, moving past Crawford’s Larry Blum (737 in 1962-63) into second place all-time, 10 points below the mark set by Kearny’s Wilburn Strong in 1968-69. Honz (19), Coleman (15), Dupree (13), and Madsen (12) also got into the action.

Thursday, Feb. 12, 1970

HELIX 107, GRANITE HILLS 44

Helix had 52 points at the half, enough to win.  Walton’s 34 points gave him 798, a County record.  Helix won its 43^rd in a row and 27^th this season.  Honz added 19 and Dupree 15.

Tuesday, Feb. 17, 1970

HELIX 127, MOUNT MIGUEL 31

Nash’s starters stayed in long enough to score 119 points, led by Dupree’s career high 43. Walton had 24 and Coleman sniped for a career high 22.  Madsen contributed 16 and Honz 14.

The single-game scoring record for large schools had been Mount Miguel’s 121 against Santana in 1967-68.  Marian held the overall record with 124 against San Marcos in 1966-67.

Perhaps most illuminating was Mount Miguel’s sudden fall from the top.  It was the Matadors who doled out this kind of punishment two seasons before.

Transfers of convenience to favored teams were not common.  Coaches took the hand they were dealt.

Mount Miguel’s cupboard was bare.

Friday, Feb. 20, 1970

HELIX 94, SANTANA 58

Domination indeed…a 36-point win over a team that was 11-2 in league play and 19-8 overall. The scoring order:  Walton, 30, Dupree, 18, Honz, 16.

The Scots finished the regular season with a 29-0 record and with a winning streak of 45.   The 29 victories was a County record.  San Diego had set the standard when it posted a 28-6 record in 1946-47.

CIF PLAYOFFS

“This is a very good team and our record proves it,” Walton said.  “One player couldn’t account for the season we’ve had. If we’d made a lot of mistakes we’d lose, but I don’t think we will.  When one player is going bad someone else jumps in and we’re pretty deep.”

Walton described Dupree and Madsen as “two of the best guards around” and with Mike Honz and Butch Paddock “no one is stronger at forward.”

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 1970

HELIX 109, EL CAJON VALLEY 47.

Thirteen players scored and the Highlanders broke the single-game playoff record that Grossmont had set in a 93-36 win over Julian the previous season.  A 48-29 halftime lead was followed by a scalding, 30-5 third quarter.  Mike Dupree led with 23, followed by Walton (21), Dan Coleman (16), and Mike Honz (15).

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 1970

HELIX 92, HILLTOP 60

The quarterfinals victory on the Metropolitan League team’s floor was Helix’ 31^st of the season and 47^th in a row.  Walton “settled” for 21 points, “missed several layups and once was called for goal tending.”  Honz, Dupree, and Madsen had 20, 15, and 12 respectively.

Friday, Feb. 27, 1970

HELIX 75, CASTLE PARK 54

The Midway district Sports Arena was host for the semifinals and finals and the Highlanders seemingly breezed, leading, 55-35, after three quarters, but the Trojans, led by husky Elias Delgadillo, who had 21 points, played the Helix starters almost evenly in a 20-19 fourth quarter.

Walton scored on seven consecutive possessions and blocked five shots in the last eight minutes.  He finished with 33 points and 23 rebounds as a crowd of 5,789 looked on.

Saturday, Feb. 28, 1970

HELIX 70, CHULA VISTA 56

Walton’s 31 points, despite converting only three of 11 free throws, and his 31 rebounds reaffirmed for the turnout of 6,451 persons that they were witnessing a player and team that might never be matched in the San Diego area.

“It’s been a long season, especially for the players,” said Coach Gordon Nash.  “Thirty-three games is an awful lot.  But there will never be another year like this one.  I don’t think there will be another player like Billy for some time.”

“For the time being I’m going to relax,” said Walton.  “I’m a little tired and I want to take it easy.”

Monday, March 2, 1970

“He proved a big man can make a team great if he sacrificed personal gains,” said Nash in Bill Center’s post mortem.  “Billy could have scored a lot more. Everyone knows that.  But he sacrificed and he did it without any second thought that I know of.”

“I’m going to miss playing for Helix,” said Walton.  “At the end of the year I started to realize totally how great it was.”

UCLA would welcome this player who set records of 29 points a game (957) and 22.4 rebounds (739) and the Bruins would continue ruling college basketball as had Helix this unforgettable season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Back:  The narrative originally was posted on Nov. 5, 2012.

Hoover’s Eddie Crain (31) set up Hoover touchdown before being brought down from behind by San Diego’s Everett Posey (36). No. 21 in all-white helmet is Cardinals’ Bennie Edens.

The most important letter in the alphabet was V.

World War II was nearing the halfway point.  The dark days of early 1942 were receding and Victory, while not in sight, would come.

V had become a symbol, visible everywhere throughout the country. There were hundreds of references, from military training programs (V-12), to graphics on sporting event tickets, to the ultimate goal of V-E (Victory in Europe) and V-J (Victory in Japan).

School honchos in San Diego had created the Victory League and put the Metropolitan League on hiatus just weeks before the start of the 1942-43 basketball season.

The move was part of the wide-ranging war effort that would extend until Victory was achieved.

Football followed this season.

LONG TRIP

The Metropolitan League stretched more than 40 miles, from National City (Sweetwater) to Oceanside and Escondido.

The California Interscholastic Federation, which governed sports in Southern California, invoked a limit of 6 scheduled games and a  travel distance of 15 miles.

The travel mileage restriction seemed to have some leeway, but there was no travel outside teams’ league reaches.

The Northern San Diego County schools were aligned in what the CIF called the Group 12 League, comprising Oceanside, Vista, Escondido, Army-Navy, San Dieguito, and Ramona.

St. Augustine and Brown Military were members of the Group 12  but played a limited schedule and their games did not count in the standings.

The season did not start until October and ended in late November.  There would be no Southern California playoffs.

A smaller, travel-safer, and more manageable high school football world was important, as was fuel and rubber conservation.

The players also contributed to the war effort.  Many left school during the season, before graduation, and answered a call from Uncle Sam.

ADDRESSES CHANGE, AGAIN

San Diego and Hoover were in a different league for the fourth consecutive year.

They left the Coast League, which the Cavers had help found and were members of from 1923-40, as the CIF experimented with a 17-school “Major Conference” in 1941.

With the war on and travel an issue, the Cavers and Cardinals split into two squads each and became part of a 11-team Metropolitan Conference in 1942.

The Cavers and Cardinals each dressed out one squad as part of 1943’s seven-member Victory, which also included Grossmont, Sweetwater, Point Loma, La Jolla, and Coronado.

There were 18 high schools in the County, but only 15 played football.  Julian would not field a team until 1967.  Fallbrook had suspended play in 1942 and there is no published record of Mountain Empire’s fielding a squad.

CARNIVAL PICKS UP TEAMS

The fifth annual carnival, which featured only city schools San Diego, Hoover, Point Loma, and La Jolla since 1939, took in all seven teams in the second-year Victory League, adding Sweetwater, Coronado, and Grossmont.

Another change in the format was elimination of the second half kickoff.  Play was to resume at  spot of the ball when the second quarter ended.

The East, consisting of Sweetwater, Coronado, Grossmont, and Hoover scored a 19-0 victory over the West.

Sweetwater and Hoover each scored touchdowns against  San Diego and Coronado reached the end zone on La Jolla.  Big plays included the Islanders’ George Massek intercepting a lateral and returning 50 yards for a touchdown and a Hoover touchdown passing strike from Bob Paramore to Bob Kynaston that went 65 yards.

CARDINALS  FLY

Raleigh Holt, who began his coaching career in the Imperial Valley and who turned out outstanding cross-country and track teams for three decades at Hoover, guided the Cardinals to a 5-0-1 record and the Victory League title.

Holt, assisted by former Cardinals lineman Bob Breitbard, relied on a meat-and-potatoes attack that featured  Eddie Crain, Gene Ricard, Julius Kahn, Freddie Espy, Frank Smith, and Bob Paramore.

Crain scored on runs of 14, 35, and 1 yard and completed the only pass (for a touchdown) Hoover attempted in a 40-13 victory over Coronado the week before the Cardinals met San Diego in the 11^th annual rivalry game for city bragging rights and the league championship.

Bill Bailey had moved from Point Loma to San Diego, replacing Joe Beerkle, who went into administration and became principal at Memorial Junior High.

Beerkle had advocated the  T formation introduced by coach Clark Shaugnessy at Stanford University and which was hailed as the difference in Stanford’s 1941 Rose Bowl victory over Nebraska.

Bailey, assistant to Charlie Wilson  several years at Point Loma, led the Pointers to a 6-1-2 record in 1942, and then brought his single-wing attack to San Diego.

Formations and modes of attack were taking a back seat.

CAVERS LOW IN NUMBERS

Bailey facetiously told Bob Lantz of The San Diego Union that he considered suiting up a tackling dummy, his team was so short-handed.

Of more import to the San Diego coach, pass-catching Everett Posey, who  missed a week of practice,  would be available for the Hoover game.  Posey had received his induction notice and reported to Fort McArthur in Long Beach.

Another Caver, junior halfback Sam Balesteri would be playing his final game.  He was awaiting a call from the military.

SMALLEST TURNOUT

A crowd of 9,000, representing the lowest attendance in the history of the game, saw the Cardinals strike with a third-quarter, 84-yard drive in six plays to score the game’s only touchdown in a 7-3 victory.

Crain and Espy collaborated on a 45-yard touchdown pass.  Guard Frank Smith toed the point after.

The Cavers had taken a 3-0 lead in the second quarter on Neal Black’s 23-yard field goal, the first such placement in the series.

Hoover was fighting off a threat at game’s end.

Sam Balesteri’s  passing had moved the Hillers 63 yards but they came up short. Harlan Davenport caught a pass from Balestreri and was tackled on Hoover’s four-yard line. The game ended before another play could be run.

HONORS

Single wing quarterback (actually, blocking back) Al Sawaya of San Diego earned a CIF Southern Section first-team honor. Second team choices were La Jolla quarterback Ed Teagle, San Diego tackle Ralph McCormick, and Coronado center John Ludwig. Hoover tackle Dick Chase made the third team.  Another third-team selection was Compton’s  Ed Snider, later known as Duke, the slugging Brooklyn Dodgers outfieder.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Mayor Harley Knox told the Carlsbad Rotary that, for the first time in generations, San Diego was ready to abandon dumping in the bay and that Harbor Drive, bordering the bay from Point Loma to Chula Vista was almost complete.

Knox also said that the city had asked the government for 13,000 more new housing units.  Previous construction of 13,000 units of government housing mostly was occupied by aircraft plant workers.

TRUE GRID

Coach Dick Rutherford’s Oceanside-Carlsbad Pirates, behind quarterback and future Fallbrook coach Al Waibel,  swept the CIF Group 12 League with a 6-0 record…the Pirates defeated  host Escondido 31-6 in a  showdown which drew a record crowd of 3,000 persons to the inland community…newspapers’ accounts variously identified Oceanside, Army-Navy, Escondido, Vista, Ramona, and San Dieguito as representing the CIF County League, CIF Northern County League, or the CIF Northern Victory League….about 8,000 servicemen, students, and a few fans watched the fifth annual carnival…San Diego got it coming and going in the Carnival, surrendering touchdowns to Sweetwater in the first quarter and to Hoover in the fourth…Coronado scored the East’s other touchdown against La Jolla…Point Loma-La Jolla matched two graduates of an Imperial Valley shuttle…La Jolla’s Larry Hanson was head coach at El Centro Central and Point Loma’s Bill Maxwell was Hanson’s assistant in 1938 and ’39 …Hanson went on to coach the nationally-recognized, often-100-point Los Angeles Jefferson basketball teams in the 1950s…tailback Larry Purdy of Point Loma was son of the Pointers coach of the same name in 1929-30…after 8 consecutive losses dating to 1915, Sweetwater’s Leroy Jackson returned an intercepted pass 65 yards with 40 seconds remaining in the game to give the Red Devils their first victory, 6-0, over San Diego…Grossmont saved all its points for a 26-0 victory over St. Augustine…the Foothillers did not score a point in six Victory League games….