All Posts – with Preview

Thirty-one of the 36 first-round, San Diego Section playoff games in divisions I-V last night were won by team’s with the lower number (better) seeds and the upsets were won by teams on the road. The stunner was 15 seed Bonita Vista (11-17) kayoing 2 seed host Westview (21-8), 66-52. Other home team jolts were experienced by ...

Ten consecutive wins since Jan. 11 propelled Foothills Christian into the No. 1 position in the final regular-season The San Diego Union-Tribune poll and earned coach Brad Leaf’s Knights the Open Division top seed in this week’s beginning of the San Diego Section playoffs. Play in divisions I through V convenes Wednesday evening.  Open Division teams ...

Twenty-one San Diego Section league champions were crowned this week, although such a feat means nothing when it comes to the playoffs, pairings of which were announced today. But league championships represent a lot more than a playoff seeding,or divisional placement. Just ask the Mira Mesa Marauders and San Diego Cavers, who clinched Eastern and City ...

No one could replace Bill Walton, so Ralph Drollinger just succeeded him. The 7-foot Drollinger, an inch taller than the legendary Walton, played at Grossmont, arch rival of Walton’s Helix. Drollinger posted San Diego County’s second highest, one-season scoring total, 878 points, to Walton’s 958. Drollinger won a San Diego Section championship, to Walton’s two. Drollinger attended UCLA and ...

Vincent W. (Vince) Breddell III, a star sprinter at Kearny in 1969 and ’70, passed recently. Coach Jim Cerveny’s teams, which battled Clairemont for Western League domination, were built around the swift Breddell. Breddell was fourth in the state 100-yard dash final at Berkeley in 1970 after winning the San Diego Section championship in :09.7.  He won ...

The San Diego Section regular season will end Feb. 8 and championships in at least three of the 19 basketball-playing leagues  will come down to the final week. Rancho Buena Vista (6-1) and Vista (5-2) will meet at Vista for the Avocado League  title.  RBV edged the rival Panthers, 62-61, in the teams’ first meeting. University City ...

The 880-yard relay, a frenetic and often perilous event, provided a wild conclusion to the CIF Southern Section finals at Compton. San Diego High won the team championship, surviving rush-hour traffic and a near pileup, not unlike a wild main event of a midget auto racing card in Balboa Stadium. The Hillers’ Charlie Davis, spiked by another ...

Have team league championships lost their cachet? Shrinking newspaper space, computer and newsletter rankings, weekly “classics” and  “challenges” all appear have diminished a once-cherished achievement. Not quite. Go to a game and notice the commemorative patches and chevrons adorning the athletes’ letter jackets.  Read a coach’s resume and list of accomplishments.  Hear the reaction of players and students ...

The San Diego Section’s Big Four, listed numerically in the weekly The San Diego Union-Tribune poll below, has beaten some very good intersectional teams but not gained traction with ratings experts. Wins like Foothills Christian’s  83-74 over Sacramento Sheldon, the state’s No. 9 team according to Cal-Hi Sports and St. Augustine’s 64-49 victory over No. 12 Orange ...

Torrey Pines’ John Olive and St. Augustine’s Mike Haupt each is bearing down on career victory No. 500. Olive leads with 488 victories to Haupt’s 487. Whenever they reach 500, Oliver and Haupt will join a club that has a membersship of three in the San Diego area. El Camino’s retired Ray Johnson won 763 games. Helix’ John ...

Hoover trailed Morse, 70-50, with two minutes and 40 seconds remaining in their Eastern League game at Hoover on Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 2, 1971. Hoover won, 71-70. Let’s try that again. Hoover won, 71-70. The Cardinals scored the game’s last 21 points in arguably the most jaw-dropping finish in the history of area high school hoops. “I’m glad I’m not ...

Despite defeat, Cathedral got respect and cred in Cal-Hi Sports’  final rating of the state’s top 2018 teams. Coach Sean Doyle’s team could not take down mighty Folsom, losing, 21-14, in overtime to the Sacramento-area power that had punished San Diego clubs in the past, but Cathedral’s stout performance in the Division 1-AA final at Cerritos ...

Seasons of 9-2 and 8-4, respectively, continued to elevate Ron Hamamoto and Valley Center’s Rob Gilster in the upper strata of all-time, San Diego Section football coaches. Cathedral’s Sean Doyle is on the cusp of 200 victories. Hamamoto, who completed his 32nd season at Cathedral (nee University), Rancho Bernardo, Lincoln, and Monte Vista since 1985, completed ...

It’s been 96 years, but who’s counting when you’re having fun? San Diego High coach Charles James has reason to be enjoying the moment.  The once tradition-rich Cavers (12-2) have become relevant after a slump that spanned generations. How far the Hilltoppers have come back will continue to be measured when James’ club travels about 560 miles ...

No team could match, or come close to, the withering pace of Bill Walton and the Helix Highlanders, but individual play was at an all-time high. Eleven players, meeting a minimum of 15 games, averaged at least 23 points.  Eleven also scored more than 600 points. By comparison, just 10 players averaged 23 points or more from ...

Get your kicks on Route 101 or I-5. And be sure to pack for cool…well, maybe cold weather. That’s the forecast for 3 of the San Diego Section teams still competing in the state football playoffs. Lincoln knows that it will play next week in Division III-AA but not where after winning the Southern California regional last week, ...

Sixth and final in a series on San Diego Section state playoff matchups. VI-A After coach Rob Gilster departed to fledgling Valley Center following a 9-3 season in 1997, Orange Glen went into free fall.  They were 51-155 from 1998 until this season when fifth-season coach Jason Patterson, 1-9 in ‘17 and 15-28 overall, turned to another ...

Fifth in a series this week on San Diego Section playoff matchups. V-A San Diego coach Charles James, while returning the city’s oldest and perhaps most beloved high school to prominence, recognized tradition and greatness. After multi-generation tough sledding, which began with a gradual shift in demographics and school boundaries after Duane Maley retired following a championship in ...

Fourth in a series this week on San Diego Section teams’ playoff matchups IV-AA Morse, staggered by a late-season, 47-6 loss to St. Augustine, recharged to win its last four games and claim the Tigers’ first San Diego Section championship in 24 years. The Skyline Drive squad was rewarded with the longest trip of the Southern ...

Third in a series this week on San Diego Section teams’ Southern California playoff matchups. III-AA Lincoln rallied down the stretch with five consecutive victories and now is 10-4 after it appeared to be sliding into the abyss. Coach David Dunn explained that injuries and other problems left him without enough players to take on Cathedral in the ...