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Give it up for Fallbrook! The Warriors claimed their first league title since 2003 this week with a 31-6 victory over Orange Glen. The Valley League championship  might also get the Warriors more than a cursory look from area observers. Quietly, almost surreptiously, Fallbrook has crept to  a 7-2 record but hasn’t received one vote of a possible 190 (19 ...

Oceanside dropped from sixth to seventh in Cal-Hi Sports‘ weekly State Top 25. The 8-0 Pirates, driving toward their first undefeated regular season since 2009, are joined among the state’s elite by Cathedral, which moved up to 22nd from 23rd, and Helix, which gained to 24th from 25th. It’s been noted that Oceanside has not been as ...

There’s no room at the top in the UT-San Diego weekly poll.  Some points adjustments were noted, but the same eight teams remained in place from the previous week. While there were no changes, Cathedral took one of Oceanside’s first-place votes.  Helix had swiped two first-place votes two weeks ago. The Dons gained as result of eight straight wins and ...

Cathedral has been on a rampage and Oceanside may be losing some steam. So Cathedral was No. 1 when I emailed my weekly Top 10 selections to John Maffei of UT-San Diego today. The Dons ran away from St. Augustine, 57-22, in the battle of Catholic school titans last week and Oceanside gradually put away Carlsbad, 28-14. The Pirates are still unbeaten, but ...

Noel Mickelsen, Charlie Paulk, and Richard Verlasky recently passed. Mickelsen, 80, had a lengthy coaching career in San Diego’s East County after posting a 71-62 record in nine seasons of professional baseball, including three years in  the AAA Pacific Coast League. The 6-foot, 6-inch Mickelsen was a star player on the 1955-56 San Diego State basketball team that posted ...

You win your last four games by combined points of 168-21  and lose votes? That’s what happened to Oceanside (7-0) in this week’s  UT-San Diego poll.  The Pirates, who defeated Torrey Pines, 42-21,  remained on top,  but it wasn’t unanimous. No. 3 Helix (6-1) claimed two first-place votes. Cathedral, ranked second with a 7-1 record and a victory over Helix, must ...

U.S. citizens have elected 11 Presidents since 1946, but Point Loma hasn’t gotten with the program. The Pointers have had three head coaches in the 69 seasons since World War II. Count ‘em. Don Giddings replaced Bill Maxwell in 1946 and guided fortunes on Chatsworth Blvd., through 1954, succeeded by Bennie Edens, who didn’t hang up his whistle ...

Can anyone topple No. 1 Oceanside? We’ll just stick with the regular season for now. The Pirates’ last 4 opponents have a combined 16-8 won-loss record. On paper, no  other team in the UT-San Diego weekly top 10 (see below) has a  more difficult month ahead except No. 9 El Camino and No. 4 El Capitan, whose final 4 opponents ...

“We couldn’t convince ourselves that this team was as good as the Sweetwater and Oceanside teams we defeated.” Such was the lament of Chula Vista coach Chet DeVore, whose Spartans’ season ended with a 19-0 loss to Laguna Beach in a CIF lower division, Southern Group semifinal playoff. The small crowd of about 2,500 at Coronado’s Cutler ...

The opponents and the milestones continue to pass for John Carroll and his Oceanside Pirates. The 42-16 victory over Mission Hills left the Pirates with a 6-0 record and within shouting distance of an unbeaten, 10-0 regular season. Herb Meyer doesn’t hear shouts or footsteps, but Carroll’s 240th career victory moved the Oceanside coach past Point Loma’s Bennie ...

The article originally was posted Oct. 9, 2014. The dreaded coin toss was back. The flip of a silver dollar had elevated La Jolla into the Southern California playoffs after a first-place tie with San Diego in 1951. Now, with a week remaining in the regular season and La Jolla and San Diego again headed for a tie ...

Rest not only can cure what ails you but can help in the rankings. Oceanside and Mission Hills, idle last week as they ramped up for this week’s battle of the Highway 78 corridor, each was elevated in Cal-Hi Sports’ weekly State Top 25. Oceanside moved from eighth to seventh and was positioned at fifth in the ...

With a nod to the beginning of league play next week, seven of the top 10 teams in the weekly UT-San Diego poll this week took the night off. Through Week 6, ten teams still are undefeated, compared with seven a year ago. The 2014 unbeatens: Team Record Best* Year Borrego Springs 6-0 5-0 2006 El Capitan 6-0 11-0 2006 Calexico Vincent Memorial 5-0 9-0 2002 Christian 5-0 9-0 2008 Oceanside 5-0 14-0 2009 Orange Glen 6-0 12-0 1988 San Marcos 5-0 9-0 1966 Steele Canyon 5-0 3-0 2010 Sweetwater 5-0 13-0 1983 The Bishop’s 5-0 14-0 2010 *Wins in a row from ...

Coach Ron Burner has El Capitan on a fast track, but will its wheels hold up? The Vaqueros have started 5-0 twice, in 1967 under  Joe Till, and in 1973, with Joe Rockhold. They can become 5-0 this week, but a 5-0 visitor, Granite Hills, stands in the way, as do Steele Canyon (5-0), Helix (4-1), Grossmont and ...

Mission Hills at Oceanside this week brings together the top  teams in the UT-San Diego poll and coaches with a combined 358 victories in their careers. Oceanside’s John Carroll (239), generally acclaimed major domo of San Diego Section mentors, holds a 7-2-1 record against Chris Hauser (119), but the Mission Hills coach is 2-1-1 against Carroll since 2011, ...

As the first woman coach in San Diego County history and believed to be the second in California, Knengi Martin’s advice was simple. “Whatever stereotypes might be out there, break through them and follow your passion,” she said. The jovial Martin, who replaced Doug Packwood at San Diego High, spoke with Don Norcross of UT-San Diego: “My real ...

Christian can’t get no respect. Pardon the double negative, but maybe the UT-San Diego poll voters should train an eye on the Patriots of El Cajon.  Me included. The Patriots are 4-0 and the No. 1-ranked Division IV team in Southern California, according to Cal-Hi Sports. Should coach Matt Oliver’s club be ranked in the Top 10? It ...

Tomrorow’s UT-San Diego football poll undoubtedly will list Oceanside No. 1. How far will Helix fall from first after its 9-7 loss to Cathedral? I listed them fourth in my vote, behind Oceanside, Mission Hills, and Cathedral. “I told you we weren’t that good,” Helix coach Troy Starr reminded writer Don Norcross. Starr knew whereof he spoke. Slick and fast, ...

The gentle breezes of Oahu were calling San Diego Section football teams. Morse coach John Shacklett, who first brought his club to the Hawaiian Islands in 1985, led a vanguard of four local squads, there to play in the annual Shawn Akina Classic. Shawn was a University of Utah football player who passed away suddenly at age ...

Services for Jeff Staggs will be held at the Immaculate on the University of San Diego campus on Friday, Oct. 3, at 11 a.m. A celebration of life follows at the San Diego State Hall of Fame center on campus. A legion of friends remember and mourn Staggs, who passed away at age 70 at his home ...