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The five division, 56 team playoff seeds and pairings are set.  First games are Tuesday, Oct. 28, at the site of each higher (lower number) seed. All championship games are Saturday, Nov. 8, are at Escondido high. Full brackets are listed below, chosen per the official CIF postseason process*. Complete 2025 season schedule and results are here. Division ...

Game(s) of the Week: End of the regular season is two weeks out, but host Lincoln and Cathedral should settle the Western League championship and Carlsbad will attempt to close the Avocado League race against visiting La Costa Canyon this week. The showdowns will bring together four of the San Diego Section’s most successful coaches. DOYLE AND DUNN Sean ...

All teams are putting a finer edge on their weapons this last week of the regular season, as playoff seeds and pairings come out Saturday, Oct. 25, with first games on Tuesday, Oct. 28. The top eight seeds, per MaxPreps‘ ranking system, become the Division I bracket. The next 12 are D-II, and so on, ...

The narrative originally was posted Oct. 20, 2016. “Power, deception, speed, coordination, all wrapped in 11 (blue and) white packages from the Border City.” Such was the observation of a Los Angeles Times reporter who witnessed San Diego High’s 27-0 victory over host Santa Barbara along with 5,000 others at Peabody Stadium in the Southern California playoff ...

Bonita Vista cast aside Mater Dei (11-3), 40-0, and Olympian (3-11), 52-31, to reach an unblemished 15-0 record  while there was only minor elbowing in the top spot queue. In their 2023 Championship run, the Barons’ were 19-1 with a win streak of 14 at season’s end, as the lone loss came in  week 6 to ...

Three weeks ago I wrote it was “not likely” that Point Loma, standing at 4-0 for the first time since 2005, would run the regular season schedule out to a 10-0 record, with La Jolla, San Diego, and Cathedral its next three opponents. Now, in their 100th football season, dating to 1926, here are the Pointers ...

Carlsbad, Avocado League champion five consecutive years from 2019-23 before being unseated by La Costa Canyon in 2024, finds itself in a four-way battle this season and with a showdown against Mission Hills this week. The Grizzlies, under interim coach DJ Zapata while Chris Hauser is sidelined by an administrative order, matched Carlsbad’s 6-0 record after ...

Bonita Vista marched on, topping Mater Dei (11-2), 40-0 , while Torrey Pines (14-9) stubbed its toe on San Marcos (8-7), 31-26. Carlsbad (16-4) topped  Oceanside (3-8), 45-0, and Mission Hills (13-5), 20-14. Steele Canyon (13-4) crashed the Top 10 with a win over Santana (7-8), 21-7. John Maffei’s The San Diego Union-Tribune Week 7 Girls Flag ...

Ranks of the undefeated, 12 strong,  will begin to thin this week. Three head-to-head games are on the schedule and a couple regarded once-beaten squads also will be in important contests. Game of the week is Mission Hills (5-0) against La Costa Canyon (5-0),  the winner positioning itself for the Avocado League stretch drive but still having ...

The narrative originally was posted Nov. 10, 2016. A sneeze at a military facility near Junction City, Kansas, turned into a cold that led to a fever that led to a death that led to a global pandemic. The so-called “Spanish Flu”, which is said to have first struck World War I soldiers processing in and out ...

As the section’s only undefeated team, Bonita Vista (12-0) dominates with defense. Taking advantage of the newly adopted national rules that allow a pass rush without 2024’s mandated, 7-second delay, Ella Gomez leads the section with 37 sacks, and Dariyan Wilson has 17 interceptions. Holding opponents to 6 or less points in 9 of 12 games, ...

Point Loma is 4-0 for the first time in 20 years, since the 2005 club coached by Mike Hastings was 12-1. Can the Pointers’ run the table?  Not likely, with La Jolla (3-1), San Diego (4-0), and Cathedral (4-0) the next three opponents, after a bye this week. But the ghost of Bennie Edens lives on the ...

Bonita Vista’s Lady Barons remain undefeated (10-0) and on top, with a dominating 289-69 scoring advantage. Rising No. 10 Steele Canyon (11-2) may prove a test, with its even-better 375-57 points statistic.  Bonita ranks 13th in MaxPreps‘ state poll, Steele 78th.  The teams will meet at Steele Canyon on Sept. 27. Westview’s Lady Wolverines (9-2) moved ...

Nine teams are 4-0 as the regular season moves to the halfway mark for most squads this week. Seven, including Mission Bay, Mission Hills, La Costa Canyon, Carlsbad, Santa Fe Christian, Imperial, and El Centro Central, have been 4-0 before in this decade. Steele Canyon hasn’t been 4-0 since 2019 and Olympian needs a reintroduction, having not ...

Bonita Vista (9-0),  Carlsbad (12-2), and Torrey Pines (12-4) top the local rankings. The Lady Barons have yet to be challenged; their next test may be Steele Canyon (9-2). Carlsbad’s Lady Lancers have proven themselves with wins over Classical (twice) and Grossmont, and could rise with success over Westview. The Falcons losses are to non-San Diego ...

The narrative originally was posted Oct. 10, 2012. Duane Maley felt like the guy who discovered that his wallet had been lifted after being jostled in a crowded theater. Maley  ended up on the wrong side of the coin minutes after conclusion of a tight, competitive City Prep League season.  Maley’s San Diego Cavemen and Walt Harvey’s ...

Lincoln and Cathedral scored significant  intersectional victories last week and Cal-Hi Sports noticed. The Hornets reversed a 2024 loss to Arbor View with a 50-31 victory over the Las Vegas team, 0-3 but third-ranked in Nevada by Max Preps, and Cathedral outlasted Chandler, a tough customer and No. 4 in Arizona, 24-23. Lincoln, up to eighth in ...

Brady Palmer (left) ran for one touchdown and passed for another and Parker Johnson caught a touchdown pass and returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in Cathedral’s 35-7 win at the Central Coast Section’s Mountain View St. Francis.  Courtesy, Mark Tennis, Cal-Hi Sports. John Maffei’s The San Diego Union Week 2 poll: Points awarded on ...

Bonita Vista (6-0) and Carlsbad (9-2) top local rankings with Torrey Pines (5-2) and Classical (6-4) in pursuit. The Barons bounced back from a disappointing first-round playoff loss in 2024, and a 12-7 record but have outscored their opponents this season, 179-49. Carlsbad is building on a 15-10 inaugural season and a loss in the 2024 Division ...

John Maffei’s The San Diego Union Week 1 poll: Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. *First-place votes. Previous ranking (2024) in (italics). NR–Not ranked. MaxPreps‘ and Cal-Hi Sports‘ are state rankings. RANK TEAM/RECORD POINTS MAX PREPS CAL PREPS CAL-HI SPORTS 1. Lincoln (1-0) 25* 295 (1) 10 52.4 10 2. Cathedral (1-0) 5* 248 (2) 17 49.6 11 3. Mission Hills (1-0) 225 (3) 60 34.9 36 4. Granite Hills (1-0) 213 (4) 39 30.6 30 5. La Costa Canyon (1-0) 185 (5) 24 36.7 17 6. Carlsbad (1-0) 155 (6) 28 32.8 On the Bubble 7. Mount Miguel (1-0) 117 (8) 174 28.4 On ...