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San Diego Section girls won eight of 16 first-round games, including 14th-seeded The  Bishop’s knocking off host No. 3 Rancho Santa Margarita, 67-53. La Jolla Country Day, Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch, Victory Christian, Imperial, and Carlsbad were favored and won. My hunch “Should Win” clubs, Scripps Ranch, Carlsbad, Rancho Buena Vista, Victory Christian, all moved on. I was ...

It was not pretty.  San Diego Section teams posted a 3-15 record in the opening round of the Southern California regional playoffs. My “should win” hunches, San Ysidro, Torrey Pines, San Diego, Monte Vista, and St. Joseph, were 0-5.  Most upper level seeds were ousted in a disappointing finish to an arguably mediocre season. Division I No. ...

Seven of the No. 1 seeds in the San Diego Section boys’ and girls’ playoff divisions of five each made it through the four rounds to championships. Most of the surprises were in boys Division V, a distant bracket appealing mostly to friends and relatives of the competing teams. The computer, from which most pairings are ...

Playoffs begin Wednesday, February 16, for boys, Tuesday, February 15, for girls. BOYS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TEAM LEAGUE OVERALL AVERAGE Avocado San Dieguito 7-1 16-7 66.1-56 Central *Kearny 5-3 14-6 66-52.9 Citrus Victory Christian 6-0 18-10 63.3-51.5 City Patrick Henry 6-2 16-11 55.9-51.8 Coastal Santa Fe Christian 11-1 19-9 64.8-56.4 Desert Imperial 7-2 14-8 54.6-50.9 Eastern Morse 8-0 20-6 54.9-44.3 Grossmont Hills *Grossmont 8-2 16-12 54.9-52 Grossmont Valley *Monte Vista 7-1 20-5 63.4-48.4 Imperial Valley *Calexico 7-1 18-6 62.8-47.8 Manzanita Warner Springs Warner 4-0 7-9 34.8-42.2 Mesa San Ysidro 12-0 21-7 79.1-62.3 Ocean San Diego Jewish 10-0 14-4 63.5-43.8 Pacific Escondido Charter 9-1 18-9 55-48 Palomar Mission Hills 9-1 21-6 64.7-53.3 Patriot Southern California Yeshiva 8-0 15-4 63.9-39.3 Pioneer Mountain Empire 7-1 16-5 41.2-35 Sierra Gompers Prep 6-2 8-4 47.3-40.8 South Bay San Diego Southwest 9-1 17-11 56.1-49.6 Summit Mabel O’Farrell 5-1 7-11 50.7-53.2 Valley Mt. Carmel 10-0 19.9 76.8-63.1 Western St. Augustine 8-0 20-7 74-55.9 North County Coastal       Torrey Pines                ...

Divorced from the Southern Section after 47 years, the new San Diego Section was one of the smallest in the state, 28 schools, and found itself with one automatic qualifier for each event in the state meet. The legislation by the state CIF ended the possibility, however unlikely, of as many as three in each event, ...

Regular-season play wraps up this week and pairings for the San Diego Section playoffs will take place Saturday morning. BOYS John Maffei’s The San Diego Union-Tribune  poll.  First-place points in parenthesis.  Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. RANK TEAM RECORD POINTS LAST WEEK 1. St. Augustine (15) 18-7 159 1 2. San Marcos (1) 20-4 140 3 3. Torrey Pines 19-5 120 2 4. Mission Hills 19-6 111 5 5. La Costa Canyon 18-5 102 6 6. San Ysidro 17-7 73 4 7. Cathedral 18-8 59 9 8. Mission Bay 18-7 54 7 9 Carlsbad 16-10 27 10 10. Francis Parker 14-6 14 8 OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES Del Norte (18-7, 4 points), Montgomery (19-6, 4), ...

Hoover was 1-7 in football but then the seasons changed.   The Cardinals won the first San Diego Section championship with a 24-3 record in winter basketball and repeated the 24-3 with another title in spring baseball. There were seven no-hitters pitched in the San Diego Section this year but none by Hoover’s Dave Morehead, who posted ...

BOYS LEAGUE TEAM LEAGUE OVERALL AVERAGE Avocado San Dieguito 5-0 13-6 66.2-56.1 Central Kearny 4-1 13-4 66-52.9 Citrus Victory Christian 4-0 15-9 65.8-52.4 City Point Loma 4-2 7-11 55.2-54.6 Coastal Torrey Pines 5-0 16-5 65.2-52.7 Desert Imperial 6-1 11-6 54-49.4 Eastern Morse 3-0 14-6 51.1-44.3 Grossmont Hills Grossmont 5-0 13-10 54.5-52 Grossmont Valley Monte Vista 4-0 17-4 62.6-47.5 Imperial Valley El Centro Central 4-0 11-7 57.9-51.6 Manzanita Warner Springs Warner 1-1 4-9 33.2-42.2 Mesa San Ysidro 6-0 15-6 80-62.7 Ocean San Diego Jewish 8-0 12-4 59.8-42.8 Pacific Escondido Charter 7-0 16-8 54.7-47.7 Palomar San Marcos 5-1 18-4 61.1-46.5 Patriot The Cambridge 2-0 7-5 32-33.9 Pioneer Mountain Empire 6-0 13-4 39.5-33.2 Sierra Gompers Prep 4-0 6-2 49.9-40.5 South Bay San Diego Southwest 5-0 13-10 55.5-50.3 Summit Chula Vista High Tech 2-0 5-14 41.9-51 Valley Mt. Carmel 6-0 13-7 75.8-60.9 Western St. Augustine 5-0 16-7 73.8-55.7 GIRLS LEAGUE TEAM LEAGUE OVERALL AVERAGE Avocado Oceanside 3-0 15-5 48.4-39 Central Patrick Henry 7-0 8-9 34-38.2 Citrus St. Joseph 2-0 11-12 47.5-44.5 City San Diego 4-1 16-8 37.8-34.6 Coastal El Camino 6-0 16-3 60.9-37.4 Eastern Lincoln 5-0 16-4 55.5-36.5 Grossmont Hills Mount Miguel 5-0 15-7 60.8-42.7 Grossmont Valley Steele Canyon 5-0 12-11 37.3-43.2 Imperial Valley Imperial 6-0 16-5 50-28 Manzanita Borrego Springs 2-1 4-6 NA Manzanita Warner Springs Warner 2-1 3-6 NA Metropolitan Bonita Vista 4-0 11-8 54.5-51.9 Ocean Escondido Charter 9-0 13-7 39.6-28.4 Pacific Maranatha 7-1 10-10 52.2-52.7 Palomar Mission Hills 6-0 16-6 60-49 Patriot Bayfront 2-0 12-4 33.7-25.7 Pioneer Horizon Prep 5-0 12-0 36.3-9.8 South Bay San Ysidro 3-0 16-3 63.4-34.8 Summit Liberty 4-0 12-9 35.1-35.7 Valley Fallbrook 5-0 14-6 54.3-40.7 Western Cathedral 5-0 16-4 65.8-46 Note:  El Camino is listed ahead of ...

Ratings for boys and girls by The San Diego Union-Tribune, Max Preps, and Cal-Hi Sports.  Records may be inaccurate as teams play daily.  Cal-Hi Sports ranks only a top 25.  Ratings for San Diego Section girls’ teams is coordinated by Terry Monahan. The San Diego Union-Tribune boys’ poll.  First-place points in parenthesis.  Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. RANK TEAM RECORD POINTS ...

RATINGS GAME The San Diego Union-Tribune poll.  First-place points in parenthesis.  Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. RANK TEAM RECORD POINTS LAST WEEK 1. St. Augustine (12) 13-6 152 1 2. San Marcos (4) 12-3 147 2 3. Torrey Pines 12-4 115 3 4. Mission Hills 13-5 107 5 5. Cathedral 15-5 100 4 6. San Ysidro 12-5 74 7 7. La Costa Canyon 12-3 72 8 8. Mission Bay 14-5 60 6 9 Carlsbad 11-7 40 NR 10. Mater Dei 9-5 9 9 OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES Francis Parker (8-4, 6 points), Scripps Ranch (13-6, 2), La Jolla Country Day (10-4), Del Norte (14-5), La Jolla Country Day (10-4), San Diego (10-5) Santa ...

San Diego could have locked up another Southern California championship, but the Hillers, who had won team titles in 1929, ’38, ’41, ’42, and ’48, were outscored by a tall timber topper from Glendale Hoover. Hurdler, jumper, and anchorman Jack Davis scored 19 of the Tornadoes’ 24 points, leaving the defending champion Hillers in second place ...

Only a team more than 400 hundred miles away and in another state could stop coach Dewey (Mike) Morrow’s powerful San Diego Hillers. The also named Cavemen dropped three of four games in a home-and-home series with Arizona’s Tucson Badgers but bludgeoned 29 teams from Southern California and won Morrow’s 10th Southern Section championship. According to Don ...

RATINGS GAME The San Diego Union-Tribune poll.  First-place points in parenthesis.  Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. RANK TEAM RECORD POINTS LAST WEEK 1. St. Augustine (11) 10-6 145 1 2. San Marcos (4) 8-3 139 2 3. Torrey Pines (1) 10-4 115 3 4. Cathedral (2) Catholic 13-5 97 4 5. Mission Hills (1) 11-5 96 6 6. Mission Bay 12-4 88 5 7. San Ysidro 11-5 76 7 8. La Costa Canyon 10-4 66 8 9 Mater Dei 8-3 19 9 10. San Diego 9-2 18 10 OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES Carlsbad (9-7, 6 points), La Jolla Country Day (9-3, 4), Del Norte (13-4, 3), Montgomery (12-2, 2), Scripps Ranch (12-5, 2), ...

Grossmont’s Southern California Minor Division football championship for schools with less than 1,000 students was achieved following a series of competitive and administrative tug of wars. Coach Ladimir (Jack) Mashin’s Foothillers defeated Calexico High, 9-0, on the Grossmont gridiron to complete an 8-0-3 season that included a championship in the San Diego County League. With a 4-0-2 ...

Lucky Sutton became one the 10 highest single-season scorers in San Diego County history this season. Sutton’s 40 touchdowns for 240 points tied the Cathedral senior and San Diego State-bound running back for ninth with Imperial’s Royce Freeman, who also scored 240 in 2011. Sutton played in 13 games and was deprived of a 14th when Cathedral ...

The thinclads were so good that several made national lists. Roscoe Cook of San Diego High held the national record in the 100-yard dash, if only for a few days.  Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny came close to the national record in the 880-yard run. Bobby Staten, Jim Wade, Luther Hayes, Ed Buchanan, and Dick Verdon also made ...

Scripps Ranch Coach Marlon Gardinera would have been in the spotlight on every college, NFL pregame or postgame show. But Gardinera’s gutsy (crazy?) move did not go “national”, instead raising eyebrows and begging comment on a level just as significant to all involved. Gardinera decided to “relax” his defense and allow Santa Clara Wilcox to score a ...

The top four teams in won-loss percentage in the County were San Diego (25-3, .880), Helix (16-5, .762), Mission Bay (17-6, .737), and Hoover (19-9, .679). It was the latter that battled through four rounds of the CIF Southern Section playoffs to get to the finals. Hoover was an uninspiring 10-8 heading into the stretch run of ...

What does it mean when an unprecedented five different teams receive first-place votes in John Maffei’s latest The San Diego Union poll? It could mean that area hoops are mediocre, at best, this year. No team stands out and the usual powers have done little to get excited about. Or could it be Covid, which won’t go ...

The first The San Diego Union-Tribune basketball poll has a couple old reliables, St. Augustine (6-1) and Torrey Pines (7-0 after a 70-57 win over Santa Fe Christian last night, after the poll was completed) at the top. St. Augustine’s only loss was to Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, 51-46, in a game  the Saints led, 33-27, after ...