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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 ...

Six area teams, from Granite Hills in the East suburbs of El Cajon to Valley Center in the rural North, won San Diego Section championships and are moving on and (possibly/maybe/who knows?) moving up in the super postseason. Regional playoffs are this week, with winners advancing to State championship games Dec. 12-13  at Saddleback College in ...

This is perhaps the finest pair of Open Division and Division I championship game matchups  since the San Diego Section was formed in 1960. Mainly because of the four coaches leading their teams, veterans who have stood the test of time and turn out winners annually,  as their records attest in the table below. Championship week ...

Eight more underdogs overcame seeding challenges last week as the San Diego Section playoffs tightened in the quarterfinals. A second week of 26 games saw two No. 1-ranked squads go down, with additional upsets by 12, 11, 10, and six, and five seeds. Most significant was No. 9 Hoover’s 52-49 win over top ranked Sweetwater in Division ...

Rankings and favoritism didn’t matter to eight underdogs in the 26 San Diego Section first-round playoff games. Two each of 11, 10, and 9 seeds prevailed over sixes, sevens, and eights in the divisional brackets.  The most significant reversal saw 12 seed Scripps Ranch put it to No. 5 La Jolla, 42-0.  Clairemont, another No. 5, ...

The finals results displayed the overall skill quality and parity of the leagues in the San Diego Section’s third season, plus  the effect of 2025 defensive rule changes. Not a single top seed found the finals! All finalists were 2-to-7 seeds, plus 12 seed Canyon Crest. The ability to rush the quarterback unheeded was particularly effective. Full ...

The postseason begins this week and the Open Division is so stacked that season-long  No. 1 Lincoln is out and placed in Division I. Mission Hills, Open Division-seeded No. 1 and the leader in John Maffei’s last regular-season poll,  meets visiting No. 4 Cathedral and  No. 2 La Costa Canyon is host to No. 3 Carlsbad.  ...