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It paid to be favored and to be at home as 40 teams engaged in an opening salvo of the San Diego Section’s 65th season of playoffs. There were 117 girls teams on courts throughout San Diego and Imperial counties this season and almost 100 received playoff invitations.  There were no girls teams in 1960-61, the ...

“Maffei Madness”, i.e., the Union-Tribune San Diego Section poll, will be on hiatus until conclusion of the playoffs. First-place votes in parenthesis. Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Previous ranking in bold italics, if changed. Cal-Hi Sports rankings are by Mark Tennis, the newsletter’s publisher, with contribution from statewide correspondents. Max Preps essentially relies on individual school representatives. TEAM RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS MAXPREPS.COM CAL-HI SPORTS 1. Francis ...

FIRST ROUND TUESDAY, FEB. 17. DIVISION I 16 Poway (4-22), @1 Imperial (20-6). 15 Calexico Vincent Memorial (3-14), @2 Rancho Bernardo (21-7). 9 Otay Ranch (15-11), @8 Scripps Ranch (13-15). 13 Morse (13-15), @4 Torrey Pines (14-14). 10 San Marcos (10-16), @7 Montgomery (14-13). 12 Oceanside (14-9), @The Bishop’s (12-12). 14 Rancho Buena Vista (10-14), @3, Carlsbad (14-14). 11 Fallbrook (16-12), @6 El Capitan (20-8). D-II TUESDAY, ...

LEAGUE TEAM W-L Pct. OVERALL Pct. Avg. for Avg. vs. Avocado Oceanside 8-2 .800 14-9 .609 45 41 Vista 8-2 .800 15-11 .577 52.3 47 Central Point Loma 7-1 .875 15-10 .600 42 35.2 City Canyon Hills 8-2 .800 23-4 .852 44.9 28.2   Our Lady of Peace 8-2 .800 22-6 .786 52.7 35.6   High Tech San Diego 8-2 .800 19-9 .679 46.8 39.7 Coastal La Jolla Country Day 5-1 .833 17-10 .630 54.1 42.7 North County Coastal La Costa Canyon 8-0 1.000 22-5 .815 59.3 40 Desert Calexico 9-0 1.000 21-5 .808 44.8 29.8 Eastern San Diego 9-1 .900 20-8 .714 56.3 38.8 Grossmont Hills Grossmont 6-0 1.000 21-4 .840 61.8 39.2 Grossmont Valley Steele Canyon 10-0 1.000 18-10 .643 44.4 36.23 Imperial Valley Imperial 8-0 1.000 20-6 .769 50.7 34.8 Metro Mesa Mater Dei 6-0 1.000 23-2 .920 61.1 36.54 Metro Pacific Chula Vista 8-0 1.000 17-9 .654 42.8 36.8 Metro South Bay Eastlake 7-1 .875 16-12 .571 49.7 46.6 Ocean Escondido Adventist 6-2 .750 19-6 .760 45.3 34.4 Palomar Mission Hills 9-1 .900 18-10 .643 66.9 49.6 Pacific Santa Fe Christian 7-1 .875 18-10 .643 50.6 37.4 Patriot San Diego Academy 9-1 .900 12-7 .6322 39.1 27.6 Pioneer Bonsall 5-0 1.000 9-10 .475 35.6 36.9 Sierra Liberty 7-1 .875 18-1 .947 40.4 20.9 Southern Warner Springs Warner 6-0 1.000 14-5 .737 50.1 26.9 Summitt Mabel O’Farrell 5-1 .833 14-10 .538 43.4 34   The Cambridge 5-1 .833 16-3 .842 48.1 25.5 Sunset Orange Glen 6-0 1.000 10-11 .476 29.3 27.8 Valley Escondido 10-0 1.000 19-5 .792 46.7 36.6 Western Cathedral 7-1 .875 22-6 .786 55.9 43.4

There were twenty outright league champions and four league co-champions, most of whose seasons will continue with the first round of  San Diego Section playoffs beginning Tuesday.  Pairings and division alignments are expected today. Twelve teams were unbeaten in loop play, Victory Christian posted the overall highest won-loss percentage (.857), and San Marcos, averaging 70.4 points ...

What  does it say when the highest ranked San Diego Section basketball teams are Max Preps‘ state ranked 29th and Cal-Hi Sports’  22nd?  And that No. 30 is Francis Parker, which has lost nine games but leads The San Diego Union-Tribune poll with 11 of 18 first-place votes? Basketball here is down this season, compared to ...

Meetings to determine playoff pairings, traditionally an arduous, sometimes day-long exercise often punctuated by shouting and finger-pointing participants, centered around the Scripps Ranch boys team, which had forfeited 15 games for using an ineligible player, among several transfers to the relatively new, third-year school. Wrote Steve Brand of The San Diego Union-Tribune: “Sentiments…ranged from not allowing ...

The so-called “Maffei Madness” San Diego Section poll, conducted by the very sane John Maffei of the Union-Tribune: First-place votes in parenthesis. Previous ranking in italics. Cal-Hi Sports rankings are by Mark Tennis, the newsletter’s publisher, with contribution from statewide correspondents. Max Preps essentially relies on individual school representatives. *Includes 2 forfeits. TEAM RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS MAXPREPS.COM CAL-HI SPORTS 1. Santa Fe Christian 22-2 (12) 174 1 19 (17) 30 ...

Originally posted Nov. 18, 2017. Two young coaches destined to become legendary in San Diego basketball lore arrived as varsity mentors at the city’s two prep powerhouses. Rickey Wilson, a former San Diego High player, succeeded Lawrence Carr at Hoover and Merrill Douglas, a transplanted Montanan, took over for Bill Schutte at San Diego High. The schools  continued ...

The so-called “Maffei Madness” San Diego Section poll, conducted by the very sane John Maffei of the Union-Tribune: First-place votes in parenthesis. Previous ranking in italics. Cal-Hi Sports rankings are by Mark Tennis, the newsletter’s publisher, with contribution from statewide correspondents. Max Preps essentially relies on individual school representatives. TEAM RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS MAXPREPS.COM CAL-HI SPORTS 1. Santa Fe Christian 19-2 (14) 174 1 17 (18) 29 (28) 2. Victory Christian 16-4 ...

Tayden Bryant of Ramona set a school record of 51 points in a 77-43, Valley League victory over San Pasqual last week. Fifty points was once an extremely rare accomplishment. There have been many games of 50 points or more by an individual player since St. Augustine’s Tom Shaules scored 60 in the 1957-58 season against Crawford, ...

First-place votes in parenthesis. Previous ranking (if changed) in italics. Cal-Hi Sports rankings are by Mark Tennis, the newsletter’s publisher, with contribution from his statewide correspondents. Max Preps essentially relies on individual school representatives. TEAM RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS MAXPREPS.COM CAL-HI SPORTS 1. Santa Fe Christian 17-1 (18) 180 1 12 (15) 28 (Not Ranked) 2. Victory Christian 13-4 1552 2 47 (42) Not Ranked 3. Mission Bay 13-5 134 (4) 84 (68) On Bubble 4. Cathedral 12-6 117 (3) 100 (89) NR 5. Francis Parker 8-8 98 5 99 (119) NR 6. Torrey Pines 8-9 67 (7) 144 ...

Originally posted June 22, 2017. Coronado paid an old debt. Hoover’s playoff advance was halted at the foul line. Merrill Douglas ended a great run at San Diego High. Lincoln showed that patience had virtue. —John Kovac was a football coach who happened to come along at the right basketball time at Coronado. The dour Kovac without prompting often recalled that ...

We bided our time for several weeks before tuning in to the Union-Tribune writer’s 2025-26 season weekly poll, which he began weeks earlier.   That explains our Week 1 designation for winter Maffei Madness. So far, other than a few intersectional victories along the way, it’s been a relatively quiet season in the San Diego Section. Two small ...

Originally posted Dec. 18, 2017. Unlikely season, unlikely conclusion. —A rare playoff run by San Diego teams in the Southern California playoffs. —San Diego High marched through four rounds to win its only CIF Southern Section championship, along the way setting a school single-game scoring record…maybe. —Hoover’s  Class B team blitzed opponents in an attempted sequel to championships in ...

Originally posted Dec. 30, 2016. By the grace of a 17-14 advantage in first downs, San Diego High survived a 20-20 standoff with Anaheim in the CIF playoff semifinals before 10,271 persons at Long Beach Veterans’ Memorial Stadium. A heart-thumping conclusion represented the final shot in a frenetic battle of undefeated teams that brought an end to ...

San Diego Section football is done for the year and the Section did well in the opinions of various voting and ratings entities: Six of Cal-Hi Sports’ top 70, nine in the top 38 of Max Preps.com, and six with computer ratings of 46 points or more by Cal Preps.com Cal-Hi Sports’ expanded ratings took in ...

Coach Mike Morrow’s team started with an uneven, 2-3-1 record and needed a tie-breaking playoff win over Long Beach Poly for the Coast League championship and berth in the Southern Section playoffs. Vance Randolph, sidelined a few games because of illness, was the Hilltoppers’ most-valuable player, with a .521 season batting average and pitched the 8-2 ...

Cathedral’s 42-21 victory over Los Alamitos last week in the state regional Division I-AA playoffs was the 251st in coach Sean Doyle’s career. That’s right, 251.  The Dons’ victory over Carlsbad in the San Diego Section finals had been hailed on the Southwestern College scoreboard as No. 250 for Doyle, sending the Dons into the regionals, ...

MAFFEI MADNESS John Maffei’s The San Diego Union-Tribune final 2025 poll: Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. *First-place votes. Previous rankings in (italics). NR–Not ranked. MaxPreps, Cal Preps, and Cal-Hi Sports are state rankings. RANK TEAM/RECORD POINTS MAX PREPS CAL PREPS CAL-HI SPORTS 1. Cathedral (10-2) 30* 300 (2) 10 63.0 13 (14) 2. Carlsbad (10-2) 259 (5) 16 54.1 15 (13) 3. Granite Hills (10-3) 226 (6) 15 54.3 20 (26) 4. Mission Hills (9-2) 201 (1) 14 55.7 18 (20) 5. La Costa Canyon (9-2) 187 (3) 17 51.6 19 (21) 6. Lincoln (10-3) 158 ...