Hoover, led by high jumper-hurdler Bernie Nelson, stole thunder usually heard only by San Diego High opponents.

The Cardinals were 6-0 in dual meets and along with Grossmont and Point Loma won a dual meet from the usually unbeatable Hillers.

Nelson, who cleared 6 feet, 4 inches, was the County’s first state champion since Grossmont’s Hal Norris won at 56-5 ½ in the shotput at Sacramento in 1950.

Point Loma’s Herman Thompson made a splash in the 100-yard dash, and Dick Bronson continued Grossmont’s domination in the shot put.

3/4/53

Tom Williams of Vista set a school record of 4:55.4 in the mile as the Panthers defeated Mar Vista, 61-41, in a Metropolitan League dual meet.

3/6/53

Charlie Rose set a Coronado school record with a 6-foot, 1 3/4-inch high jump in the Islanders’ 57-38 dual meet win over St Augustine.

Oceanside won the 880-yard relay in 1:36.9 and defeated Metropolitan League rival Sweetwater, 53-51.

–Football star C.R. Roberts ran a leg on the relay, won the 100 in :10.8, and was second to John Foster‘s 21-10 ½ broad jump.

Point Loma scored 44 points to win the City Prep League relays, a series of medley events and field events with winning scores based on teams’ combined heights and distances.

Kearny was second with 38, followed by Hoover, 34, Grossmont, 31, San Diego, 29, La Jolla 20, and Helix, 2.

Grossmont, the Class A defending champion, maintained in Class B and C, winning each.

Individual event honors went to the Pointers’ Herman Thompson, who won the 100-yard dash in :10.4 and teammate Bob Miller, who took the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.3.

3/20/53

Both teams were disqualified for lane violations in the 880 relay, but Kearny already was in the house with a 55-44 victory over Point Loma.

The Pointers’ Herman Thompson was a double winner at :10.1 and :23 in the 100 and 220.

3/24/53

Jim Giyer set a Grossmont school record of 4:35.2 in the mile, but Hoover, led by Bernie Nelson’s three wins, defeated the Foothillers, 60-44.

Nelson’s ran :15.2 and :20.5 in the high and low hurdles, respectively, and high jumped 5-11 ¼.

3/27/53

Hoover improved to 3-0 in dual meets with a 55-49 win at Point Loma, although the Pointers relay squad of Waldo Palmer, Jesse Denny, Hal Krupens, and Herman Thompson set a school record of 1:33.2.

Bernie Nelson set the pace for Hoover with wins of :15.3 in the high hurdles, :20.2 in the lows, and 6-1 in the high jump.

4/9/53

Fred White of Chula Vista, chasing the school record of 56-1 3/4 set by his brother Kenny in 1950, took the County lead with a 55-10 toss in a 77-26 victory over Vista.

Coronado and Escondido battled to a 52-52 deadlock, the second this season for the Islanders, who earlier had a 52-52 stalemate with Chula Vista.

4/10/53

San Diego lost a dual meet for the first time since 1948, a span of 26 victories and one tie, as Grossmont stunned the Hillers, 55 1/2-48 1/2.

The Cavers held a 16-2 advantage in the sprints, but the Foothillers made up the deficit with a 17-1 advantage in the distances and shot put.

Grossmont’s Dick Bronson hurled the shot 55 feet, 5 inches, and Jim Giyer won the mile in 4:36.7.

San Diego’s Halden Grey was a double winner in the 100 (:10.2) and 220 in a time-disputed :21.7. Grey’s best time before and after was at least one second slower.

Hoover improved to 4-0 with a 73-31 win over Kearny.  Bernie Nelson high jumped 6-3, third best in school history.  Alvin Cordray cleared 6-3 ½ in 1938 and Jack Razzeto 6-5 ¼ in 1948.

Nelson also won the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.5 and the 180 lows in :20.9.

4/17/53

Beating San Diego in track and field no longer was news.  Point Loma stunned the Hillers, 69-35, in Balboa Stadium and the Peninsula thinclads did it by barging into San Diego’s figurative kitchen.

Junior Herman Thompson won the 100 in :09.9, 220 in :22.5, broad jump at 21-9, and anchored a school record, 1:32.0 victory in the 880 relay, events San Diego had dominated locally.

Bob Miller also bruised the Hillers with wins of :15.6 and :21.1 in the high and low hurdles.

Football star C.R. Roberts won the 100 in :10.3 and broad jump at 21-5 ½, and ran a leg on the winning relay (1:37.8) that was the difference in Oceanside’s 56 ½-47 ½ win over San Dieguito.

4/23/53

Fred White of Chula Vista broke the school shot put record held by his brother.

Fred pushed the 12-pound ball 56 feet, 2 ½ inches in a dual-meet with Oceanside, which outscored the Spartans, 56 ½-46 1/2. Kenny White reached 56-1 ¾ in a CIF divisional meet in 1950.

Russ Elwell of Coronado set a school record of 53 feet and Charlie Rose tied his early-season school record of 6-1 ¾ as Coronado beat Mar Vista, 88-16.

Point Loma’s Herman Thompson became the seventh sprinter in County history to cover 100 yards in :09.8 and tied George Able’s school record, set in 1938.

Thompson negotiated the distance in a dual meet with La Jolla in Balboa Stadium.

5/1/53

Escondido won the 12-team Vista Relays with 41 1/2 points.  Oceanside was second with 34. C.R. Roberts of Oceanside won the Open 100 in :10.3 and was part of the Pirates’ :47.3 winning effort in the 440 relay.

5/2/53 

Hoover completed a 6-0 dual-meet season with a 61 ½-41 ½ victory at San Diego as Bernie Nelson won the high hurdles (:15), lows (:20.1) and high jump (6-0).

Nelson’s Cardinals teammate Dave Abbott hurled the shot 53 feet, 6 inches, an outstanding effort but on this day second to (next paragraph).

Grossmont junior Dick Bronson bettered the school record with a 58-foot, 10 1/2-inch toss but Point Loma won the last-event relay in 1:34.8 and the meet, 55 ½-48 ½.

Bronson bettered Clyde Wetter’s school record of 58-4 7/8 in 1951.

5/5/53

City Prep League Class B and C finals were held in Balboa Stadium, where La Jolla’s Bob Gutowski set a B record with a pole vault of 11 feet, 10 ½ inches.

Less than four years later (three years, 357 days), Gutowski vaulted 15-8 for a world record as a member of the Occidental College team in Eagle Rock.

5/8/53

CITY PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Three meet records were set despite “nippy weather” before an estimated crowd of 3,500 persons.

Hoover’s Bernie Nelson set a record of :14.9 in the high hurdles, won the lows in :20.1 and signed off early after beating the competition at 5 feet, 8 inches, in the high jump.

Grossmont’s George Davis ran the 880 in 2:02.1 and teammate Jim Giyer the mile in 4:32.4.

Hoover, the dual-meet champion, scored 45 1/3 points, edging Point Loma (43 7/12), which was followed by Grossmont, 37 ½, San Diego, 23 ½, Kearny, 19 ¾, La Jolla, 14 ½, and Helix, 8.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE FINALS, @VISTA

No meet records were set and San Dieguito scored 34 ¾ points, followed by dual meet champion Coronado, 31, Oceanside, 26, Vista, 25, Sweetwater, 20 ½, Escondido, 18, Mar Vista 13, Chula Vista, 9.

Escondido’s Rich Gehring was a double winner in the 120 high hurdles (:15.4) and 180 lows (:20.0).

SOUTHERN PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @CAMP PENDLETON

Fallbrook won seven of 12 events and scored 128 ½ points to runner-up Army-Navy’s 97 ½.  Mountain Empire followed with 28, Ramona 27 ½, and Brown Military, 1.

Best mark was a :10.3 in the 100-yard dash by Manning of Army-Navy.

5/16/53

A CIF Divisional meet for City Prep, Southern Prep, Metropolitan, Orange, and Sunset leagues was held on what The San Diego Union writer Harry Monahan declared was a “soggy, windswept” San Diego State track.

Santa Ana led team qualifiers with eight.  Hoover and Grossmont each had seven.

Bernie Nelson survived disaster in the 120-yard hurdles when he tripped on the third barrier and fell.  Nelson regained his feet and finished fourth in his race to qualify for the Divisional semifinals the following week at Ontario Chaffey.

Nelson also made the cut in the 180-yard low hurdles and high jump.

Point Loma’s Herman Thompson was not as fortunate. Thompson arrived late in the afternoon, missing a chance to qualify in the 100 and 220.

The junior speedster anchored The Pointers to victory in one of the 880-yard relay heats in 1:33.6.

Grossmont individual winners were Jim Giyer, who ran the mile in 4:35.4, and Dick Bronson, who led all shot putters with a toss of 53-5 5/8.

5/19/53

Kearny’s Lee Buchanan won a 440 heat in the Chaffey divisional semifinal in Ontario in :50.9.  Grossmont’s Jim Giyer won one of the mile races in 4:30.5 and teammate George Davis took an 880 heat in 2:01.3.

Tom Noonan of Coronado cleared 6 feet for the first time and got over 6-2.  Bernie Nelson of Hoover qualified in the high jump at 6 feet and advanced in both hurdle races.

5/23/53

SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS, @OXNARD HIGH

Point Loma, Hoover and Grossmont tied for eighth in the Southern Section finals with 6 points each at Oxnard High.

Bernie Nelson tied with three others for third in the high jump at 6 feet, 1 inch, but qualified for the state meet along with Coronado’s Tom Noonan on the basis of fewer misses.

Nelson also was fourth in the 120 high hurdles in a wind-aided :14.6 and fifth in the 180 lows, won in :19.2 on the breezy afternoon.

Jim Giyer of Grossmont was fourth in the mile and Dick Bronson was second in the shot put at 56 feet, 3 3/4. Don Vick of Ontario Chaffey won at 61-1/8. Fred White of Chula Vista was third at 54-4 7/8.

Waldo Palmer of Point Loma tied for first with Turner of San Bernardino in the broad jump with a best of 22 feet, 4 ¾ inches.

Charlie Cota of Kearny tied for first in the Class B pole vault at 12 feet.  Bob Gutowski of La Jolla tied for third at 11-8.

Armstrong of Grossmont won the Class C shot put at 50-10 ¾.  Bodenhamer of Kearny was fifth in the Class C 120-yard low hurdles.

5/30/53

35TH STATE MEET, @FRESNO 

Bernie Nelson completed a brilliant season by winning the state high jump at Fresno’s Ratcliff Stadium with a leap of 6 feet, 4 inches.

Grossmont’s Dick Bronson, fifth in the shot put at 55-2 3/8, was the only other County entry to score.

Walt Harvey was a football and track coach and once confessed he “didn’t know anything about baseball.”

Harvey was a 1936 Hoover High classmate and friend of Les Cassie, who was a successful baseball coach at San Diego High. Cassie didn’t know it but he deserved an assist when Harvey found himself coaching the varsity at La Jolla and figuritively went to school.

Harvey took his self-described lack of knowledge to the San Diego State library and borrowed books detailing baseball strategy and made it a point to read the  baseball-oriented master’s degree thesis of his old friend, Les Cassie.

That La Jolla won the City Prep League championship and beat Cassie’s San Diego team, was only part of the Vikings’ success.

Behind pitcher Art Weber, who posted a 16-3 record and wielded a powerful bat, La Jolla and Harvey, who coached the Vikings’ football team to playoff appearances in 1951 and ’52, went all the way to the CIF Southern Section championship game.

Weber was the Southern California player of the year and teammate and first baseman Eddie Olsen was a second-team choice.

Cassie would continue to have outstanding teams at San Diego, but Harvey moved on, leaving baseball and building championship football and track programs at fledglings Lincoln and Crawford.

Despite a loss to Compton in the CIF finals, La Jolla became the third different team in three seasons from San Diego to reach the big game. Grossmont won in 1951 and San Diego in 1952.

2/28/53

Twenty-four teams, including outsiders Fullerton, Inglewood, Santa Monica, and Glendale Hoover, were announced as participants in the third annual Lions Tournament at the end of March.

A 16-team, large-school division would be accompanied by an eight-team small-schools’ division.

–San Diego exploded for eight runs in the first two innings and defeated Sweetwater, 12-2.  It was the Hillers’ second straight over the well-regarded Metropolitan League team.

Tony Asaro and Horace Tucker each had two hits and Lee Babbitt allowed the Red Devils three hits.

3/17/53

San Diego moved to 8-0 behind a one-hit pitching performance by Rudy Venzor, who stopped the 8-1 Los Angeles Loyola Cubs, 10-1.

City Prep League middle-of-the-road Hoover took it to Metro power Chula Vista, 14-0, on the Spartans’ diamond.

3/24/53

Chula Vista opened the Metro League campaign with a 10-0 win at Escondido.  Bobby Handley scattered eight hits and Bob West hit four singles in four times at bat.

Point Loma scored 10 runs in the first inning and routed the visiting San Diego State frosh, 13-1.

Ronnie Robertson had three hits including a home run and double for the Pointers; Bill Martin had three hits and four runs batted in, and Bob Roeder held the collegians to four hits.

3/30/53

LIONS TOURNAMENT

Dialing down from nine innings, games were scheduled for seven with no time limit.

One exception.

Play was terminated after five innings with San Dieguito ahead of Julian, 18-3, in the small schools’ division.

San Diego teams banished all five visiting clubs into the consolation bracket.

Sophomores Ron Wilkins and Dick Mesa of Hoover combined to hurl a no-hitter in an 11-2 win over Montebello.

Southpaw Wilkins was relieved by right-hander Mesa after a wild streak in the fifth inning as the Oilers scored twice.

–San Diego’s Rudy Venzor pitched a two-hitter and the Hillers topped Inglewood, 6-0.

–St. Augustine edged Glendale Hoover, 3-2; La Jolla whipped Santa Monica, 10-2, and Point Loma nipped Fullerton, 3-2.

3/31/53

It was doubleheader day.  Quarterfinals in the morning, lunch, and the afternoon semifinal in the large schools’ division, and championship game for the small schools

Mar Vista won the eight-team small schools’ bracket, 9-0 over Oceanside and 6-2 over Yuma at Point Loma High.

Jesus Morales’ and Jim Bragg’s three-hit pitching checked the Pirates in the morning and Morales followed with a three-hitter that stopped the Arizona entry.

If there was an 11-run rule, Ramona would have sued for relief. Fallbrook butchered the Bulldogs, 26-0, including a 10-run fifth inning.

4/1/53

HILLERS, POINTERS IN FINAL

San Diego pounded St. Augustine, 15-1 in the quarterfinals.  Rudy Venzor outdueled Art Weber in a 2-1 semifinals victory over La Jolla.

Richie Johnson’s two-run single in the top of the sixth at San Diego State offset an RBI single by La Jolla’s Joe Barrington in the bottom of the seventh.

Of Vikings pitcher Weber, San Diego coach Les Cassie said, “We’ll have to be lucky to beat that boy again. He’s really good.”

(Cassie was prophetic.  Weber would lead La Jolla to a sweep of the teams’ two-game league series).

Bill Martin went the distance in Point Loma’s morning, 4-2 win over Chula Vista and Bob Snelling tamed Hoover, 6-0, in the afternoon, both games at San Diego State.

FINALS

San Diego and Point Loma were the undercard on a scheduled Pacific Coast League game at Lane Field between the San Diego Padres and Hollywood Stars.

The Hillers opened a 5-0 lead after two innings and cruised to their 15^th win without loss, 9-1, behind Lee Babbitt’s four-hit pitching.

Eddie Boyle and Al Weymiller each had two hits and were the tandem that produced perhaps the play of the tournament.

Weymiller raced in to make a diving, one-handed catch of Frank Stevenson’s fly to shallow right field.  Weymiller then made a throw from a kneeling position to Boyle at first base to double a runner.

Fullerton edged Inglewood, 4-2, for consolation honors.

4/8/53

Lee Babbitt allowed five hits and San Diego scored 3 runs in the fifth inning and defeated Helix, 3-2, in a CPL opener on the Helix diamond.

Dick Greenfield homered and Art Weber held visiting Hoover to two hits in a 3-2 La Jolla victory.

Chula Vista and San Dieguito each improved to 2-0 in the Metropolitan League, the Spartans dominating Mar Vista, 10-4, and the Mustangs pounding out 16 hits in a 21-6 win over North County neighbor Vista.

4/9/53

It was military day in the Southern Prep League.

Luis Marquez pitched a four-hitter and Brown Military shut out visiting Ramona, 12-0.

Pitcher Martinez struck out a reported 19 batters, which was virtually impossible. Army-Navy’s 19-4 victory at home over Mountain Empire went only five innings and Martinez would have faced only 15 hitters who made out.

Perhaps four batters reached first base after striking out but the catcher was charged with passed balls. Perhaps.

Chula Vista’s Bob Handley and Earl Jenson combined to pitch a one-hitter as the Spartans whipped San Dieguito, 9-3, to take the Metropolitan League lead with a 3-0 record.

Escondido handed Vista an 11-4 defeat, no doubt aided by the Panthers’ 10 errors.

4/10/53

The game story lede win in The San Diego Union:

“La Jolla High’s Art Weber exploded the myth of San Diego High invincibility with a slow curve, an occasional fastball, and a deceptive change of pace that limited the Hillers to three hits…”

Weber did not allow a hit until Floyd Robinson singled with two out in the eighth inning and the Vikings ahead, 7-0.

The 9-2 victory on the San Diego diamond represented the Hillers’ first loss after 16 victories and their third in the last 54 games.

Vikings first baseman Eddie Olsen had two hits in three times at bat, including a 350-foot home run.

4/13/53

Chula Vista and Sweetwater each improved to 4-0 in the Metropolitan League, the Spartans beating Vista, 18-4, and the Red Devils measuring San Dieguito, 7-1.

4/14/53

Art Weber hurled a three-hit, 8-2 win over Helix, helped in no small part by Highlanders pitchers, who issued 13 bases on balls and a defense which committed seven errors.

San Diego bounced back from its loss to La Jolla with a 20-hit attack that smothered Grossmont, 20-7.  Hoover beat Point Loma, 15-4.

4/17/53

San Diego and Hoover each moved to 3-1 in the CPL, a half-game behind La Jolla, with victories of 8-1 and 6-3.

Rudy Venzor stopped the Point Loma on four hits and Frank Powell went the distance in Hoover’s 12-inning win over Kearny.

 

5/2/53

Horace Tucker’s grand slam home run in the sixth inning widened a 2-0 San Diego lead and led to a 9-1 victory over Helix and 6-1 Hillers league record.

Art Weber allowed five hits and hit a home run in La Jolla’s 9-3 win at Hoover.

Vikings Dick Greenfield, Jack Cravens, and Joe Barrington also took advantage of Hoover’s inviting ball park dimensions (short right field) with four-base hits.

5/4/53

Bob Handley and Earl Jenson combined to pitch a no-hitter in Chula Vista’s 1-0 shutout of Mar Vista.  Lavon Baker singled home Al Aleman in the seventh inning.

At the end of the day the Spartans were 8-1, a game behind Sweetwater in the Metro.

5/12/53

Hoover and Kearny, tied at 4-4 after nine innings, had lengthening daylight on their side as they went another eight innings before the Cardinals pulled out a 5-4 victory.

Ron Wilkins went the first 11 innings for Hoover and then gave way to Frank Powell.  Jim Schaubel scored the winning run.

The battery of Duke Hottell and Flaming went all the way for the Komets.

Sweetwater’s 10^th straight win without a loss, 5-4 over San Dieguito, kept the Red Devils a game ahead of 9-1 Chula Vista, which beat Vista, 7-2.

5/15/53

Jack Lepore pitched a five-hitter and San Diego stayed mathematically alive in the CPL with an 8-0 win over Kearny.  Days before La Jolla had gained a share of the title with a 6-0 win over Grossmont.

Chula Vista earned a tie for first in the Metro with a 3-0 win over Sweetwater that left both clubs with 10-1 records.

5/19/53

Chula Vista beat Oceanside, 5-2, and Vista shocked Sweetwater 5-2, as the Metropolitan League race ended amid a dramatic, 10-day swing.

The Spartans (11-1) trailed Sweetwater by one game with two remaining, but Sweetwater lost its last two to finish 10-2.

Bob Wilson hit a two-run home run and Lavon Baker drove in two with two singles in Chula Vista’s victory.

La Jolla became the third team in three seasons, following Grossmont and San Diego, to win the CPL as Art Weber advanced the Vikings to 10-1 in league play with a 6-0 win over Point Loma while San Diego (8-3) was losing to Hoover (7-4), 4-3.

Weber struck out seven, allowed six hits, and was 2 for 3 at the plate.  Joe Barrington supported with a home run and Art Luppino singled, doubled, and tripled.

5/22/53

Art Weber’s two-run home run in the sixth inning erased a 1-0 Kearny lead and La Jolla finished the CPL season with a 3-1 victory and 11-1 record.

Hoover’s 11-4 win over Helix moved the Cardinals into a second-place tie with San Diego, each with an 8-4 record.

The Hillers finished 23-4 overall and out of the playoffs.

5/26/52

Fallbrook forfeited its first-round playoff to Chula Vista in the Southern Section small schools’ division playoffs.

La Jolla opened the major division playoffs at the home of the Citrus Belt League champion and left with a 12-6 win over San Bernardino.

The Vikings scored five runs in the fifth inning to break a 2-2 tie and added four more in the seventh.

Coach Walt Harvey relieved Art Weber with the Cardinals leading 12-2 after seven innings, saving the La Jolla ace for a quarterfinals test against Fullerton.

Dick Greenfield and Jack Cravens each had four hits and Eddie Olsen and Weber each drove in four runs.

5/28/53

Eddie Olsen and Joe Barrington ensured La Jolla’s home diamond, 10-8 win over Fullerton before about 1,100 persons at Scripps Field in the playoff quarterfinals.

The Vikings’ Art Weber had developed a sore arm after the game at San Bernardino and was restricted to playing shortstop.

Olsen, who delivered a run-producing, tie-breaking single in the sixth inning, was called on by coach Walt Harvey to relieve sophomore Dave Jordan in the eighth after Jordan had given up a two-run home run and loaded the bases on walks.

Olsen got a third out in the eighth and gave up a double to the lead-off batter in the ninth but then retired the next three hitters for the victory.

Joe Barrington’s three-run homer in the sixth gave the Vikings a 10-6 lead.

Chula Vista took a 5-3 lead in the top of the 10^th inning at El Centro Central, but the host Spartans eliminated the visiting Spartans, 6-5.

Chula Vista ended the season with a 17-8 record.

6/3/53

Art Weber was relegated to outfield duty because of a sore arm, which had been receiving treatment from San Diego Padres trainer Les Cook, so Vikings coach Walt Harvey again turned to sophomore Dave Jordan for the semifinals test against the visiting, 20-7 Lynwood Knights.

Jordan responded with a tidy, six-hit, seven-strikeout performance as the Vikings broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning and scored three runs for a 5-2 victory.

Weber was hit by a pitch leading off the eighth, advanced on Eddie Olsen’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on reserve Hal Maler’s single

Maler had entered the game in the sixth inning after Jack Cravens was forced to retire when Cravens reinjured a groin muscle.

6/6/53

Almost 2,000 persons filled the Scripps Field stadium and the Vikings took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning of the CIF championship game against the Compton Tarbabes.

Art Weber, making his first start in 10 days, gave up a walk and a two-run homer to Mike Yeager that gave Compton a 3-2 lead in the seventh.

The visitors (23-2) scored two more runs in the ninth to clinch the championship, 5-2.

Weber, who homered in the second inning for the 24-4 Vikings, went the distance, his arm aching with every pitch he attempted.

Cathedral and Lincoln, each with high aspirations, leave the sanctuary of comfortable surroundings and head North to face two of the state’s bests this week.

Cathedral, No. 1 in San Diego and fifth in the state, as ranked by Cal-Hi Sports, takes on No. 8 Corona Centennial.  Lincoln, No. 24, goes to No. 10 Los Alamitos.

Coach Sean Doyle’s Dons won a rouser from the visiting Centennial Huskies, 44-42, here in 2019 and  annually play a stiff intersectional schedule.  Lincoln is stepping up in class, keeping with the progress the Hornets have made under coach David Dunn.

Dunn, in his 11th season,  has posted a 63-52-1 record but is 43-17 since 2017. Los Al, long one of the Southern Section’s top teams, is 36-17-1 since Ray Fenton replaced the legendary John Barnes in 2016.

Carlsbad, which also has developed under coach Thadd MacNeal, visits Long Beach Millikan, a rival when MacNeal coached at Lakewood.  The Lancers are 65-44 under MacNeal in 10-plus seasons and 16-2 since 2019.

THE RATINGS

John Maffei’s The San Diego Union-Tribune Top 10:

First place votes in parenthesis.  Points on scale of 10 points to 1 point.

RANK	TEAM/RECORD					POINTS	PREVIOUS
1.		Cathedral		1-0 (22)		228	1
2.		Carlsbad	1-0 (1)			208	2
3.		Mission Hills		1-0		177	3
4.		Lincoln		1-0		163	4
5.		El Camino		1-0		134	5
6.		Eastlake		1-0		96	6
7		Mater Dei		1-0		84	9
8.		La Jolla		1-0		61	10
9.		Torrey Pines		0-1		37	8
10.		St. Augustine		0-1		33	7

Others receiving votes:  Granite Hills (1-0, 14 points), Helix (1-0 14), Otay Ranch (1-0, 6), Scripps Ranch (1-0, 5), Rancho Bernardo (1-0, 1), Steele Canyon (0-1, 1).

Voting panel:  Twenty-three sportswriters and sportscasters throughout San Diego County.

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune
• Steve Brand, Thomas Gutierrez, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, freelance contributors.
• John Carroll, Nick Pollino,KUSI Ch. 51
• John Kentera, Braden Suprenant (97.3 The Fan).
• Adam Paul, Ramon Scott, Eastcountysports.com
• Bodie DeSilva, scorebooklive.com
• Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com
• Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
• Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego.
• Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net.
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez, Mike Dolan, CIF San Diego Section.

How others see San Diego’s Top 10:

Team	Record	Cal-Hi Sports	MaxPreps	CalPreps
Cathedral	1-0	5-5*	5	71.6
Carlsbad	1-0	14-14	10	51.2
Mission Hills	1-0	21-23	16	42.4
Lincoln	1-0	24-26	19	39.2
El Camino	1-0	49-NR	51	33.9
Eastlake	1-0	29-36	73	22.7
Mater Dei	1-0	NR	75	24.2
La Jolla	1-0	Bubble-50	54	39.2
Torrey Pines	0-1	NR	44	32.6
St. Augustine	0-1	NR	63	27.1

*The second entry in Cal-Hi Sports’ ratings is from the previous week.

MaxPreps.com and CalPreps.com computer ratings are usually the same and based on strength of schedule and other factors.

CalHiSports.com ratings are created by publisher Mark Tennis, who coordinates with several state-wide sources.

Call it a return to (the new) normal.

Football is back in real football time, but the Covid still looms, with the likelihood of canceled games and quarantines.

And the pandemic, which reduced the 2020 season to an abbreviated schedule of 2021 spring games, probably was a factor in the turnover of coaches.

There will be at least 13 new head coaches (not counting eight-man teams) when action begins this week, according to John Maffei of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Eleven, actually.
Charles Bussey returns to Valhalla, where Bussey was 40-40 from 2011-17.
New Mt. Carmel boss Drew Westling was 28-18 from 2016-19 at Hilltop.

Others:
Canyon Hills (nee Serra), Brandon Harris.
Classical Academy, Josiah Cruz.
Francis Parker, Stephen Cooper.
Grossmont, Chris Holmes.
Maranatha, Nick Novak.
Mar Vista, Syd Reed.
Olympian, Jimmy Clark.
Orange Glen, Tido Smith.
Tri-City Christian, Neil Breight.
University City, Paul Lawrence.
Westview, Neil Donnelly.

CATHEDRAL SCHEDULE…YIKES!

Top-ranked Cathedral opens against rugged Torrey Pines and then it gets tougher… games against Corona Centennial, Helix, Concord de la Salle, and Mission Hills Chaminade, not to mention Western League contests versus Lincoln and St. Augustine.

Because of racist remarks toward the Lincoln team by players on the Dons’ squad, head coach Sean Doyle, the captain of the ship will have to sit out two games, probably when the Dons open City Conference play against Madison in Week 7.

DONS IN TOP 5

Cal-Hi Sports’ preseason top 50 has strong San Diego Section representation.

Cathedral is fifth, just behind No. 4 De La Salle.  Carlsbad is 14^th, Mission Hills 23^rd, Lincoln 26^th, Eastlake 36^th, and La Jolla 50^th.

St. Augustine and Torrey Pines have “on the bubble” designation.

AT RISK

Several species of the Manzanita plant are listed as endangered in California and the San Diego Section league by that name since 2011 has been declared extinct by the CIF, at least for the present.

The far flung circuit (173 miles between Buckman Springs’ Mountain Empire and Blythe’s Palo Verde Valley and which also includes Calexico Vincent Memorial, Calipatria, and Holtville), is back to being called the Desert League.

Since Mountain Empire joined in 1960 the league had been known as the Desert or Mountain-Desert.

‘BYE

The San Diego Section bid Happy Trails to the Metro Pacific, whose members merged with the Metro Mesa or Metro South Bay leagues.

Several other teams changed leagues (see table below) and San Diego Southwest notified the CIF that it will play only a junior varsity schedule. Newcomer Coastal Academy is in Oceanside.

For a complete list of teams and schedules, use the “Football / Scores / By Team” or “Football / Teams menu.

TEAM                                      NEW LEAGUE                    OLD LEAGUE               

Sweetwater	Metro South Bay	Metro Pacific
San Ysidro	Metro South Bay	Metro Pacific
Mar Vista	Metro South Bay	Metro Pacific
Castle Park	Metro South Bay	Metro Pacific
Hilltop	Metro Mesa	Metro Pacific
Bonita Vista	Metro Mesa	Metro South Bay
Mabel O’Farrell	Pacific	Independent
Foothills Christian	Pacific	Ocean/2019
San Pasqual Academy	Citrus	Ocean
Julian	Citrus	Ocean
Borrego Springs	Citrus	Ocean
Ocean View	Ocean	Citrus
Calvin Christian	Ocean	Citrus/2019
Kearny	Central	City
Point Loma	Eastern	Western
Canyon Hills	Eastern	City
Scripps Ranch	Eastern	City
San Diego	City	Eastern
Coronado	City	Central
Morse	City	Eastern

Hoover, as newspaper accounts and the school yearbook indicated, might have been an undefeated, 12-0 champion.

Published reports in The San Diego Union show that the East San Diego team played only a couple military teams in early-season March, emerging victorious in each.

Other games may not have been reported.

Schools were cutting back on travel because of World War II.

And apparently there was an outbreak of an infectious disease.

A hint was provided in the season review in the 1942 “Dias Cardinales”.

“The team returned from Easter vacation wearing smiles that proved as contagious as the measles the (early) season brought,” wrote a student on the yearbook staff.

Hale and hearty, Hoover had spent the vacation week winning the prestigious, Pomona 20-30 Rotary Club championship, an event usually owned by San Diego High, which had won six titles in the 10 previous tournaments along with 14 Southern California titles.

Roy Engle, the hero of Hoover’s first win over San Diego in 1935 (search “1935: Redbirds and Rioting”) had played for USC in the 1940 Rose Bowl, and joined the school faculty and served as an assistant football coach in 1941.

Engle’s tenure as baseball coach was similar to that of John Brose’s first season at San Diego.  Hoover’s John Perry and San Diego’s Mike Morrow both anticipated calls to active military duty and had stepped back.

The 24-year-old Engle, a favorite of school principal Floyd Johnson, would eventually return to Hoover as head football coach and had a long career (1955-77) in that position.

San Diego High, under coach Ed Ruffa, was the dominant track-and-field squad and won the Southern Section team championship in a tight competition with Glendale.

Special thanks to Southern Section historian John Dahlem for contributions to this narrative.

Some season highlights, with track and field in italics.

3/3/42

Don Le Grande and Lou Ortiz each hit home runs and Le Grande and Bob O’Dell had three hits apiece as San Diego opened the season with a 6-2 win over the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on the Base diamond.

3/5/42

Oceanside officials notified Point Loma that the Pirates were canceling a track meet scheduled tomorrow. 

The Pirates also announced that because of transportation difficulties the school would not compete in track or baseball this season, although they participated in some later events.

3/6/42

Bob O’Dell’s two-run home run in the seventh inning broke a 3-3 tie and Bob Usher’s four hit pitching provided San Diego with a 5-3 victory at Long Beach Wilson.

Grossmont won the 880-yard relay to defeat Sweetwater, 54 ½-49 ½, in a Metropolitan League dual meet opener and Escondido topped La Jolla, 68-36.

3/9/42

Hoover pounded Fort Rosecrans pitching for 18 hits and won, 18-6, at Hoover.

3/11/42

The Cardinals made it two in a row over the Fort Rosecrans army squad, 4-1, at Navy Field as Bob Stevenson allowed four hits.

3/14/42

Trailing, 5-1, in Balboa Stadium, San Diego scored 4 runs to tie in the ninth inning and another in the 10th to defeat Long Beach Wilson, 5-4.

Bob O’Dell singled, Bob Usher doubled, and O’Dell scored on Don Le Grande’s infield hit.

–La Jolla’s Bill Cook, in a decathlete-like performance, won the high jump (5 feet, 8 inches), 70-yard high hurdles (:10.3), and tied for first in the pole vault (10-0), but Sweetwater won the dual meet, 68-34.

–Fred Gallup was the 100-yard dash (:10.3) and 220 (:23.8) winner, and won the broad jump (19-10) as Escondido nipped Coronado, 57-47.

3/21/42

San Diego topped Redondo Beach Redondo Union, 11-1, in Balboa Stadium after a March 14 game at Redondo was canceled.

The Hillers, leading, 3-1, broke open the contest with a six-run sixth inning for their third straight win over a Northern opponent.

3/21/42

San Diego defended its Southern Counties’ Invitational championship with 27 2/3 points.  Glenn Willis and Don Smalley finished 1-2 in the dashes and led the winning relay squad.

Ed Pohl won the 220-yard low hurdles in :24.3 and George Schutte was fourth in the shot put at 47 feet, 11 inches.

3/25/42

Hoover, Point Loma, Escondido, and defending champion San Diego entered the 10^th annual Pomona 20-30 Club tournament scheduled to begin March 30.

3/28/42

San Diego won a triangular meet in Balboa Stadium, outscoring Pasadena and Hoover, 70-26-25, respectively.

Ed Pohl set school records of :09.3 in the 70-yard high hurdles and :13.1 in the 120 lows and Glenn Willis tied Jimmy Willson’s 1929 record of :09.8 in the 100.

Willis also won the 220 (:22.3) and anchored the winning 880-yard relay team (1:30.4).

Dual met scoring had the Hillers over the Bullpups, 71-33 and 78-26 over Hoover.

–Point Loma runners set two school records in the Pointers’ 61 ½-41 ½ win over Coronado. Evan Stover ran the 440 in :53 and Finster took the 120-yard low hurdles in :13.8.

3/30/42

San Diego forfeited to El Monte and was out of the Pomona tournament because the Hillers did not arrive in time for the game.

Hoover won two games, 7-1 over Pasadena and 4-2 over Redondo Beach Redondo Union.

Escondido defeated Fullerton, 4-2, but lost to San Bernardino, 8-6.

Point Loma advanced in the consolation bracket, 7-1, over Long Beach St. Anthony after bowing to Los Angeles Cathedral, 5-3.

3/31/42

Hoover raced into the Pomona finals with victories over Redlands, 3-1, in the morning quarterfinals and 22-5 over Burbank in the afternoon semifinals.

Point Loma dropped a 3-0 decision to Pomona and was eliminated from the consolation bracket.

4/1/42

Hoover unleashed a 19-hit attack and routed San Bernardino, 16-3, for championship of the 10^th annual event.

Pitcher Bob Stevenson did not allow a run until the Cardinals had built a 15-0 lead through seven innings.

Bob Haddock and Olney Patterson each had four hits and Skippy Long added a pair of two-base hits.

Cardinals coach Roy Engle was a catcher on the 1936 Hoover team that, along with future Hall of Famer Ted Williams, won the consolation championship.

4/10/42

Rain interrupted a Hoover trip to Long Beach Poly and San Diego and guest Pasadena could get through only three innings.  The Cavers led, 3-0.

Grossmont, hosting on a crushed gravel track, defeated La Jolla, 63 ½-33 ½, in a Metropolitan League dual, with the relay called off because of the weather.

4/17/42

Evan Stover won the 440 in :52.3 and added a leg in the 880-yard relay, in which his team set a school record of 1:35.8, as Point Loma scored a 63-41 win over Sweetwater.

La Jolla defeated a squad from the 184^th Infantry, 60-44.

The soldiers had been deployed to Del Mar, San Diego and Lindbergh Field for defense of a possible Japanese attack but would move within days to Fort Lewis, Washington.

4/17/42

Hoover, the “Yankees of the West” in California prep circles, as so described by The San Diego Union, knocked out 17 hits and topped San Diego, 9-1, in the first game of what was called the city diamond championship.

Two singles, a walk and doubles by battery mates Bob Stevenson and Ray Boone staked the Cardinals to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

Stevenson, who scattered eight hits, homered and the Cardinals piled up four more runs before Skippy Long tripled to score Olney Patterson in the eighth inning.

The series would resume in one week at San Diego.

Strong wind helped propel Hoover’s Jim Lakin to a :22.4 220 and Williams of Brawley to a :09.9 100 in Hoover’s triangular meet victory in El Centro.

The Cardinals outscored El Centro Central and Brawley, with 64 ½ points to the host’s 40 /1/2 and the Wildcats’ 23 ½.

San Dieguito won the Southern Prep League team title at Fallbrook with 68 points.  Vista had 63, Fallbrook 26, and Army-Navy and Ramona, 6 ½ each.

4/23/42

Glenn Willis won his customary three events and took part in another win as San Diego won a triangular track meet at Long Beach Poly.

The Cavers scored 66 points to Long Beach’s 46 2/5 and Hoover’s 18 3/5.

Broken down into dual meets, the Hillers defeated Poly, 68-46, and Hoover, 72-30.

Willis’s wins were :09.9 in the 100-yard dash, :23.0 in the 220, 21 feet, 11 inches, in the broad jump, and the 880-yard relay, which the Hillers were first in 1:32.5.

Ed Emerson added to the San Diego total with a 4:45 mile.

4/24/42

Hoover won the city diamond series, 4-3. when Gene Gesler came on in relief of Hoover starter Bob Stevenson and handcuffed San Diego, allowing one run and two hits in the final six innings.

San Diego outhit the Cardinals, 10-8, and led, 2-1, into the seventh inning.

The Hillers’ Don Le Grande, with four hits in four times at bat, had given his team the lead with a second-inning home run.

Hoover put together two walks, two hits, and a San Diego error to score three runs in the seventh.

5/1/42

Bill Bailey was moving to San Diego High to become head football coach but not before his Point Loma squad claimed the Metropolitan League championship.

The Pointers’ 18-hit attack overwhelmed Grossmont, 15-5.  Eddie Correia homered and Edgar Woods had three hits.

Escondido’s 6-3 win over La Jolla clinched second place for the Cougars.

San Diego wrapped an 8-0 dual meet season with a 69 1/2-34 ½ victory at Hoover.

Glenn Willis ran the 100 in :09.9, 220 in :22.5, won the broad jump at 21 feet, and participated in the relay team’s 1:32.8 win.

5/2/42

Evan Stover set a school and Metropolitan League meet record of :51 in the 440 and ran a leg on the winning (1:35.2) relay as Point Loma scored 43 1/3 points to win the team championship in Balboa Stadium.

Stover’s mark bettered the :51.9 by Coronado’s Colin Guillmette in 1941.  Guillmette dropped down to Class B for this meet and set a 660-yard run record of 1:27.

San Diego State’s track, usually the site, was unavailable.  The host Aztecs had a track meet with Santa Barbara State.

Sweetwater was second with 24 1/6, followed by La Jolla, 18 1/6, Coronado, 17, Grossmont, 13 1/3. Escondido, 13, and Oceanside, 5.

5/8/42

Road team Hoover defeated Long Beach Wilson, 4-3, on relief pitcher Clark Higgins’ two-run home run in the eighth inning of the CIF semifinals playoff.

Higgins took over for starter Gus Gesler in the third inning and shut out the Bruins for the final six innings.

The Cardinals had received a bye in the first round into the round of four of the eight-team CIF postseason. Long Beach Poly defeated Santa Barbara in the other semifinal, 16-9.

5/9/42

San Diego dominated the Southern Section divisional meet in Balboa Stadium with 67 points.

Glenn Willis ran a :09.8 100, :22 flat 220, won the broad jump at 21-8, and anchored a 1:31.6 relay victory.

Evan Stover of Point Loma won the 440 in :51.3. Athletes from San Diego, Hoover, the Metropolitan League, and Imperial Valley loop took part.

5/15/42

Hoover, playing at home, scored five runs in the eighth inning, breaking a 3-3 tie and giving the Cardinals an 8-3 victory over Long Beach Poly for the CIF championship.

Roy Engle, a Hoover football and baseball star from 1933-36, coached the Cardinals to their 12^th consecutive victory.

Bob Haddock tripled and scored on an error in the first inning and pitcher Bob Stevenson added a home run in the second.

The Cardinals scored another run in the third, but Poly’s Don Richardson drove in two runs in the fifth inning and tied the game with a home run in the seventh.

Ray Boone and Don Parker each singled in two runs and Bob Haddock singled in another in Hoover’s, clinching five-run seventh.

5/16/42

The CIF team championship came down to the final event and San Diego ran its best race of the year to nose out host Glendale for the title, 25 points to 23. Glendale Hoover was third with 15 ½.

Don Smalley, Jack Cawley, Ed Pohl, and Glenn Willis teamed to win the 880-yard relay in 1:29.6 to break a tie with the Dynamiters at 20 points each. 

Smalley won the 100 in :10, with Willis second, and Willis won the 220 in :22.3, with Smalley fourth.  Ed Pohl was first in the 220-yard low hurdles in :24.6.

Point Loma’s Evan Stover was third in the 440.

ALL-CIF

Hoover’s Ray Boone and Bob Stevenson were first-team selections, with Bill (Skippy) Long and Bob Haddock on the second team. Don Le Grande and Bob Usher of San Diego made the second team and Sam Rosenthal the third.

STRIKES AND SPIKES

CIF boss Seth Van Patten, facing lack of interest and emerging war-time travel restrictions, put together an eight-team playoff, beginning with quarterfinals, that included Hoover, Long Beach Poly, Long Beach Wilson, Santa Barbara, El Monte, Redondo Beach Redondo Union, Azusa Citrus, and Pasadena…Evan Stover, third in the CIF 440, held Point Loma’s school record until Ron Steele ran :49.5 in 1960…there was no state track meet this year and would not be another until 1946… Point Loma, with 13 points, won the Southern Section Class C track championship…one month and a day after the baseball title game  Hoover coach Roy Engle and San Diego State basketball coach Morris Gross were commissioned in the naval reserve and left for Annapolis for training prior to joining the navy’s physical development program…Gross went in as a Lieutenant, Engle as an ensign… San Diego coach John Brose, 9-5 this season, held the position until Mike Morrow returned from the Navy for the 1945-46 school year…Glenn Willis scored an astounding 191 points in 14 meets the most since Fred Montpelier had a similar total in 1932…Don Smalley had 141¾ and Ed Pohl 133¼, according to Hillers statistician Kearney Johnson.…

San Diego High, under second-year coach Les Cassie, enjoyed its greatest success in a sport the Cavemen had dominated almost since the CIF Southern Section was formed in 1913.

It won 35 games!

And lost only two, a stunning won-loss percentage of .946!

The historically powerful squads located on the beautiful campus at the South entrance to Balboa Park have been known by many mascot names, such as Hilltoppers, Hillers, Hillmen, Cavemen, and Cavers, but most appropriately as Winners.

They claimed the school’s 16^th and final CIF Southern Section championship this season. Those championships, from 1917-52, were as many as the combined total of the 13 other Southern California championship teams.

Cassie had been coach at San Diego Junior College when the legendary Mike Morrow, coach of 15 of those titles, retired after the 1950 season.  Cassie and Morrow swapped jobs, with Morrow moving on the SDJC.

Several games and victories were unreported in local newspapers and seven were against non-high school or military teams.

The Hillers were hardly a two man team, but Bob Borovicka’s and Bob Thorpe’s names appeared in virtually every line score or game story.

Borovicka posted a 15-1 record, 177 strikeouts in 143 innings, a 1.75  earned-run average, and hit 10 home runs and drove in 48.  Thorpe was 14-1 with 158 strikeouts in 133 innings and a 1.70 E.R,A.

The Cavers’ first six victories:

7, USS El Dorado 1.
10, Sweetwater 1.
9 USS Bradford 1.
12, USS Bradford 10.
12, Oceanside 5.
12, Sweetwater 0.

Much of the information above was from Caver Conquest, the definitive history of San Diego High athletics by Don King.

3/1/52

San Diego recorded its seventh straight nonleague victory, defeating visiting Norwalk Excelsior, 12-1, at Golden Hill playground.

Bob Borovika restricted the Pilots to five hits and struck out 13.  Bob Thorpe tripled and singled and Jim Harper singled twice.

3/4/52

San Diego visited and defeated Chula Vista, 3-2, on Rudy Venzor’s ninth-inning home run.

—Art Weber and Walter Fleak not only combined to no-hit St. Augustine, but La Jolla also crushed the Saints, 21-0.

—Hoover’s Wally Keogh and Roy Dezonia combined to no-hit Brown Military, 10-0.

3/6/52

Bob Borovicka struck out 11 and homered as San Diego topped the visiting Naval team TraPac, 6-3.

–Chula Vista profited from three hits, four errors, and five walks, and scored all its runs in the third inning of an 8-7 win over La Jolla.

3/15/52

San Diego scored 10 runs in the last two innings and beat visiting Grossmont, 20-0.

–Tom Tomaiko’s three-run home run in the first inning was enough for La Jolla to top Helix, 4-1.

3/17/52

Rain or wet grounds postponed several games, but San Diego improved to 2-0 in the CPL,  squeezing in an 8-4 victory at home over Helix behind Bob Borovicka’s pitching and 380-foot home run.

3/21/52

Mar Vista, Sweetwater, and Chula Vista, each playing three innings, defeated San Dieguito, Oceanside, and Escondido by a combined score of 13-5 in the Metropolitan League carnival.

Some 2,500 persons attended the soiree at Lane Field.  Play of the game was an inside-the-park home run by Bob Goodbody of Escondido.

—Bob Thorpe allowed two hits and struck out 15 and Rudy Venzor and Bob Borovicka hit home runs good for five runs in the Cavemen’s 11-2 rout of La Jolla.

The victory, matching teams with 2-0 records, put the Cavers into undisputed first place in the CPL.

—Kearny and Hoover kept pace, the Komets blanking Helix, 4-0, and Hoover topping Grossmont, 11-5.

3/25/52

San Diego improved to 15-0 with a 20-3 rout of Hoover.  Bob Borovicka, and Richie Johnson each hit three-run home runs and Eddie Boyle added a bases-empty home run.

—Ernie Merk’s two-run single with the bases loaded in the last of the ninth inning pulled out a 6-5 victory for upstart Helix over Grossmont.

 3/27/52

San Diego opened the second annual Lions Club tournament on its home diamond with a 7-4 win over Chula Vista.

First baseman Billy Adams and pitcher Bob Thorpe, moved to the outfield, led the Cavemen’s attack. Adams contributed a three-run triple and singled twice and Thorpe had three hits.

–Frank Powell allowed two hits, struck out 13, and pitched Hoover to a 4-0 win over Brawley at Hoover.

–Tom Tomaiko hit two home runs and La Jolla edged St. Augustine, 6-5, on the Vikings’ diamond.

3/28/52

Al Pearson outdueled Jack Osborne and El Monte defeated Kearny, 2-1, in a Lions quarterfinals game at University Heights playground.

The 5-foot, 5-inch Pearson was better known as “Albie” Pearson and for his nine seasons in the major leagues and .270 career batting average

–Phil Heubach singled in two runs in the top of the seventh inning in Hoover’s 3-1 win over La Jolla at San Diego High.

–Helix committed seven errors and dropped an 8-6 decision to Fullerton at Hoover.

–The Cavemen clobbered Point Loma, 19-3, at Hoover for a 17-0 record.  Catcher Jim Harper started the onslaught with a grand slam home run in the second inning.

3/29/52

San Diego, which five days before unloaded on Hoover, 20-3, got a stronger test from the Cardinals in the Lions championship before about 200 persons at Lane Field.

San Diego won the rematch, 6-2, scoring all its runs in the third inning.  The Cavemen eliminated Fullerton, 4-2, in a morning semifinal, while Hoover was getting past El Monte, 4-3.

Hoover hit the ball hard against Bob Thorpe and Rick  Flore—centerfielder Dave Moss collected 10 fly ball putouts—but couldn’t put enough hits together.

Shortstop Richie Johnson, who scored the Cavers’ first run, was named the tournament’s outstanding player.

4/1/52

Three City Prep League teams scored a combined 36 runs.

La Jolla won its third straight, 12-3, over Kearny as Tom Tomaiko homered and doubled twice and Dick Corrick and Eddie Olsen contributed two hits, and the Vikings drove Kearny ace Jack Osborne from the mound.

—Strange line scores:

Point Loma committed six errors and mustered only five hits but beat Grossmont, 13-7.  Grossmont had eight hits and  five errors.

—Hoover’s Boice Brooks set Helix down on two hits and doubled in a run in the Cardinals’ 11-1 triumph.

—Fred Armer was 3 for 4 and drove in three runs with a third-inning home run and Chula Vista was a rude host to Escondido, 7-1, in the Metropolitan League’s feature game.

4/2/52

The Metropolitan loop stuck it to city foes when Chula Vista beat Hoover, 4-1, behind Bob West’s two-run double and Sweetwater outlasted St. Augustine, 8-6.

4/3/52

Rain, which fell more than 18 inches in the 1951-52 calendar year, took a holiday, but unseasonable fog made a surreal afternoon presence in Encinitas, where Chula Vista moved into first place in the Metropolitan League with a 7-4 victory over San Dieguito in a game that was called after six innings.

Chula Vista’s Al Aleman maneuvered through the shroud and found third base with a third-inning, three-run triple,  key hit in the game.

—The winning Spartans (3-0) got a boost when “Greasy” Bob Ganger’s Mar Vista Mariners surprised unbeaten Sweetwater, 3-2

—Oceanside, up the road a few miles, escaped the fog when it went inland to Escondido and took an 8-3 loss.

Escondido first baseman Stan Nichols went 4 for 4 and Cougars pitcher Ray Garcia scattered four hits.

4/4/52

San Diego High, 19-0 and cruising, visited the Linda  Vista-residing Kearny Komets and were surprised, 6-2, as Jack Osborne held the Cavemen to four hits.

“Big” Osborne, as described by writer Gene Earl, struck out 10, tripled twice and singled, pinning Bob Borovicka with his first loss of the season.

Borovicka homered but so did Danny Baker and Dick Bates for the Komets, who also were backed by strong defensive play from Ollie Harris and Joe McNamara.

The Cavers dropped to 5-1 in the CPL. Kearny improved to 2-1.

—After a one-year hiatus, CPL schools were back in the Pomona 20-30 Rotary Club tournament, which began in 1933 and which San Diego High had won seven times.

San Diego, Kearny, Grossmont, La Jolla, and Point Loma represented the “Border Town”, an unflattering cognomen often used by sportswriters north of the County line.

Chula Vista and Escondido of the Metropolitan League also were in the 32-team field.

4/7/52

San Diego teams were 4-3 in the first round of the Pomona tournament. Games were official after five innings.

John Harper doubled in two runs in a five-run first inning as San Diego knocked defending champion Santa Ana into the consolation bracket, 5-2.

La Jolla defeated Blythe Palo Verde Valley, 7-4.  Kearny, boosted by a Dick Bates’ home run, topped Lynwood, 6-3.  Grossmont erupted for six runs in the second inning and outscored Bonita, 10-7.

Downey muzzled Chula Vista.  Santa Barbara beat Point Loma, and Pomona topped Escondido, 7-3.

4/8/52

An odd and infuriating moment in the seventh inning that had Kearny coach Jim Bass talking to himself or anyone who would listen led to Kearny’s 4-1 loss in 11 innings to Norwalk Excelsior.

As the home team, a Kearny score would have won the game.

Tied, 1-1, the Komets’ Chuck Taylor slugged a drive that went over the centerfielder’s head, but a young fan suddenly ran on the field and pocketed the ball.

Officials ruled Taylor’s drive a triple and sent the Komets’ player back to third base, where Taylor died as an outfield fly  ended the inning.

—Bob Borovicka struck out 11 batters in and drove in the tie-breaking run in San Diego’s 4-1 win over South Pasadena.

—Gene Rosen of Fullerton pitched a no-hitter and eliminated La Jolla, 2-1.  Newport Beach Newport Harbor defeated Grossmont, 5-2.

—Point Loma and Escondido moved in the consolation bracket, the Pointers beating Chula Vista, 7-4, and Escondido sending Covina home, 2-1.

4/9/52

San Diego won a doubleheader in the quarter and semifinals, 10-0 over Fullerton and 5-2 over Azusa Citrus to gain the championship round against Ontario Chaffey.

Bob Thorpe won the morning game with a no-hit pitching performance and added a triple and two-run single.

Bob Borovicka beat Citrus, allowing two hits and striking out seven.

—Darkness called the Point Loma-Bonita consolation contest after 12 innings and a 3-3 tie.  The game was to resume the next day in sudden death.

–Anaheim removed Escondido, 10-4 in the consolation quarterfinals. Point Loma advanced to the consolation semifinals with a 4-1 win over Antelope Valley.

4/10/52

Heavy rain washed out play and the three San Diego teams remaining would have to wait until April 12 as tournament officials decided not to play on April 11, Good Friday.

4/12/52

Bob Thorpe struck out 15 Ontario Chaffey batters and scattered five hits over nine innings as San Diego defeated the Tigers, 10-1, for its eighth championship in the 17 years in which the event was played and the final years the Cavers participated.

Thorpe would have had a shutout, but leading, 8-0, the Cavers opted for a double play, allowing a Chaffey runner to score from third base.

Jim Harper hit a three-run home run that followed a walk to Eddie Boyle and single by Rudy Venzor.

—Point Loma made it a clean sweep for San Diego by beating Santa Ana, 11-1,  for the consolation championship after defeating Bonita, 14-4, in a morning contest.

4/15/52

San Diego’s Bob Thorpe singled twice and doubled, and one-hit Hoover, 4-1, allowing only pitcher Bob Schaubel’s first-inning single.

—Tom Tomaiko stole home in the 12^th inning with what proved to be the winning run in La Jolla’s 7-5 win at Point Loma.

—Helix erupted against big brother Grossmont, 15-1, as former Foothiller Noel Mickelsen allowed three hits.

—Chula Vista mustered only three hits but six Sweetwater errors propelled the Spartans to a 5-2 Metropolitan League win.

—Erwin Hedstrom had three hits, including a triple and home run, and Jim Oxley homered and drove in four runs in Oceanside’s 13-2 win over San Dieguito.

—Escondido got up early and made a 40-mile jog to Imperial Beach for a morning game and 6-4 loss to Mar vista.

4/17/52

Point Loma’s Bitty Martin lost a 1-0 duel at San Diego when he wild-pitched in the game’s only run in the eighth inning.

San Diego’s Bob Borovicka stopped the Pointers on two hits and collected the Cavers’ only two hits.

San Diego stayed one game in front of the CPL pack after Kearny, an earlier winner over the Cavemen, dropped  a 6-4 decision to visiting Hoover.

4/22/52

La Jolla, 0-2 at the start of the CPL season, won its seventh straight, 14-2, at Helix and moved to within a half-game of league-leading San Diego.

Eddie Olsen, Dick Corrick, Tom Tomaiko, and Bernie Elms each had two hits, buttressed by Art Weber, who scattered eight hits over nine innings and homered.

—Chuck Taylor singled twice and doubled, and Jack Osborne struck out 10 and allowed five hits as Kearny won at Point Loma, 5-3.

—Hoover took batting practice, with 15 hits in a six-inning, 10-0 win over St. Augustine.

—Kenny Agular stopped Ramona on two hits and Fallbrook enjoyed a 14-0 romp over the visiting Bulldogs.

—Chula Vista  hammered Oceanside, 12-4, as Lavon Baker homered and drove in three runs; the RBI matched by Bob Souza, who singled twice.

4/26/52

San Diego had to battle before moving past first-year Helix, 6-5, on the Highlanders’ diamond.

Dave Moss singed twice and knocked in two runs and Bob Thorpe got the nod over Noel Mickelsen.

4/30/52

La Jolla won its sixth straight and moved to 8-2 in the City Prep League as Art Weber outpitched Bob Thorpe and the Vikings crept to within a half game of the Hillers (9-2) with a 2-0 victory at La Jolla.

Eddie Olsen’s single and a San Diego error resulted in runs in the sixth and eighth innings against the Cavers’ Bob Thorpe, who allowed only two hits.  Art Weber went the distance for the Vikings, giving up four hits.

5/3/52

Kearny (6-3) clung to championship hopes in the CPL with a 10-3 victory over La Jolla (8-3), on the Komets’ diamond. Danny Baker and Chuck Taylor each hit two-run home runs. San Diego (9-2) was idle.

5/5/52

San Diego (10-2) finally clinched the CPL title with a ninth-inning, come-from-behind, 7-6 win over Kearny (6-4).  La Jolla (9-3) clinched second place, 9-8 over Hoover.

Kearny scored two runs in the top of the ninth at San Diego to take a 5-3 lead.

Scott Armitage singled in Rudy Venzor with the winning run in the Cavers’ rally, which started with a home run over the centerfield fence by Bob Borovicka, leading off the bottom half of the inning.

Bob Thorpe’s double and singles by Venzor and Eddie Boyle preceded Armitage’s clutch safety.

Kearny still had two games to play and won out to finish 8-4, followed by Hoover (6-6), Helix and Point Loma each 4-8, and Grossmont (1-11).

MIGHTY FALL

Grossmont, which lost several future stars, including pitcher Noel Mickelsen and catcher Ernie Merk, as enrollment boundaries favored Helix when the La Mesa school opened in September.

How significant were those player losses? Grossmont had won the CIF major championship in 1951.

5/14/52

A four-way tie for first place in the Metropolitan League necessitated two rounds of postseason games to determine the league’s representative in the CIF Minor Division playoffs.

Oceanside defeated Chula Vista, 6-5, on only four hits but was aided by seven Chula Vista errors. Sweetwater collected 14 hits and eliminated Mar Vista, 8-5.

5/15/52

Sweetwater won the Metro playoffs, 11-3, over Oceanside at Vista. Officially there were four co-champions.

Warming up before the CIF Southern Section playoffs, San Diego walloped Miramar Naval Station, 22-2, as Bob Borovicka struck out 16 batters and had six hits in seven times at bat.

Borovicka’s day included the cycle and half of another:  two singles, two doubles, a triple, and home run.

5/22/52

San Diego took a 10-0 lead in the first four innings and beat Fullerton for the third time, 13-3, in the playoff quarterfinals.

Bob Borovicka contributed his usual three hits, two triples and a single, and Bob Thorpe scattered six hits over nine innings and struck out 11.

5/23/52

The Hillers defeated Ontario Chaffey (22-2), their semifinals opponent, 3-2, for the second time when Tigers pitcher Arlen Downs walked San Diego’s Dave Moss with the bases loaded in the eleventh inning.

Pitcher Bob Borovicka, who scored the winning run, scattered 10 hits and shut out the Tigers the final six innings before a crowd of 300 at Lane Field.

5/25/52

Sweetwater took a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning but Thermal Coachella rallied for three runs and a 5-3 victory.  Don Bailey had three hits for the Red Devils.

5/31/52

Eddie Boyle’s two-run home run in the seventh inning broke open a tight game and gave San Diego a 6-3 lead in the championship at Santa Barbara.

Rudy Venzor and Scott Armitage each had three hits in a 17-hit attack and the Cavers pulled away to a 10-3 victory.

Bob Thorpe went the distance for the victory.