San Diego High fell with a resounding thud in quarterfinals of the Southern Section playoffs.

A 26-18 loss to old nemesis Long Beach Poly in Balboa Stadium was surprising in its decisiveness, devastating in its finality.

Especially for coach Duane Maley, who announced his intention to retire from coaching and go into administration at the end of the school year. This team was supposed to be the best since Maley was named head coach after the 1947 season.

How could the Cavemen lose, having outscored their first 10 opponents by an average score of 44-3?   With a half-dozen runners who punctuated the trademark, long-distance San Diego running game? And led by perhaps the outstanding prep quarterback in the country?

BENNIE WAS RIGHT

An observation by Point Loma coach Bennie Edens would ring true down the road:

“San Diego has a more dangerous backfield than last year, but a weaker line, both offensively and defensively,” said Edens.

Edens spoke after his team had dropped a 40-0 decision to the Cavers in Week 3.

Hillers loyalists scoffed.  Sour grapes, they said.

After all, Edens had been outscored a combined 143-13  by Maley’s squads since Bennie became the Pointers’ mentor in 1955.

NO INTERSECTIONALS

It’s hard to be critical of a team that allows only 6 points during the regular season and wins its first playoff, 54-13 over an outclassed opponent from El Monte Arroyo.

But San Diego obviously had faced only inferior opponents from a weak and thin lineup during the season.

Stunned by Poly’s speed and power, San Diego’s shock could be attributed in part to a crowded City Prep League.

Formed in 1950 the CPL had grown to eight schools and this year played a schedule of seven league games.

A loaded CPL meant that, for the first time since 1949, Maley was unable to book early intersectional games against tough Northern teams.

Those games against Los Angeles or Orange County opponents allowed Maley to gauge the Cavers’ strength and prepare them for postseason challenges.

Finding competition from out of the area becomes more difficult as the season progresses. Those schools have their own league seasons under way.

San Diego opened with league games against Kearny (25-0) and La Jolla (59-0) and could fill its only open date in Week 5 against the winless Chula Vista Spartans.

ELUSIVE HARES

Despite losing CIF player of the year Dee Andrews to a shoulder injury early in the game, the Jackrabbits rushed for a whopping 397 yards as Lonzo Ervin, Willie Martin, and Willie Brown picked up for Andrews and ran over and around the  slower San Diego defenders.

Ervin had 150 yards in 16 carries, after getting only seven attempts in the previous two games.  Brown gained 140 yards in 18 carries.

The bigger, faster Poly linemen manhandled the Cavers and the Jackrabbits’ team speed easily was equal to San Diego’s.

San Diego quarterback Ezell Singleton threw for two touchdowns but completed only 10 of 21 passes for 184 yards.

POSSESSIVE HARES

The Cavers moved the ball but they didn’t have it very often, four possessions in the first half and six in the last 24 minutes.

Long Beach signaled its intentions at the outset, moving 60 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown as Andrews contributed 31 yards in three carries before he left the game.

San Diego immediately hit back as Singleton passed 38 yards to Robert Osborne for a touchdown, but Richard (Prime) McClendon was stuffed on the extra point try and the Cavers never got closer than 7-6.

Poly had leads of 19-6 and 26-12 before Singleton connected with Steve Andrews for a late touchdown and final score.

“Long Beach did nothing we did not expect, offensively or defensively, so we have no alibis,” said Maley, who added that he did not believe Poly was the equal of the 1956 or ’57 Downey teams that had beaten the Cavers in the playoffs.

Maley put his retirement on hold. Lots of good players were returning in 1959 and so would Duane, for a final season.

DIVORCE INEVITABLE

Dick Grihalva, a local car dealer, school board member, and sports fan, fired probably the first shot in the eventual separation of San Diego schools from the CIF Southern Section.

Grihalva, who had been complaining to anyone who would listen, was quoted in The San Diego Union on June 17 as being critical of the academic standards of the CIF Southern Section.

(Local schools and school districts set academic standards, not the CIF; the San Diego board invoked a C average but no F’s rule).

The salesman ramped up his rhetoric about academic standards at a board meeting on Oct. 22 and took a curious shot at J. Kenneth Fagans, the Southern Section commissioner.

Grihalva said Fagans “is building quite an empire within the school district (?) and is trying to get everything as far east as Phoenix, Arizona, to as far north as possible.”

That Phoenix and some Nevada schools had been at-large members of the CIF years before Fagans became commissioner in 1954 didn’t matter.

LET’S GO SMALL

Grihalva sought a San Diego Section of the nine city schools.  He perhaps was thinking of the similarly tiny Oakland and San Francisco sections, each bounded by their city limits.

Fagans thought a border city bolt from the 44-year-old Southern Section was premature but asked only that the San Diego contingent give two years’ notice if it planned to withdraw.

Those affected most, the coaches and athletes, student bodies, and fans were almost unanimously against a departure.

But Grihalva had the ear of supt. Ralph Dailard  and other school board members, people whose organs of hearing could have been made of tin.

Within one year, San Diego announced it was leaving the Southern Section and one year after that, in 1960, almost all schools in the County formed the San Diego Section.

Mountain Empire and Rancho Del Campo stayed with the older group.  Fallbrook played football in a Southern Section league in 1960 but joined the locals in all other sports.

RANCH HANDS

Rancho Del Campo, a school for wayward young men in the mountains east of San Diego, fielded a football team for the first time.

The Rangers, through help of a benefactor, were able to purchase uniforms and other equipment discarded by the Naval Training Center in San Diego.

Campo students learned gardening and general maintenance, helped raise fowl, beef, other farm animals, and vegetables, and worked in auto and other shops besides attending school classes.

An arm of the San Diego County Probation Department, the Rangers coached by Chester Yanke, posted a 4-1 record in their inaugural try, losing only to Ramona, 58-6.

The Rangers were members of the Southern Prep League in 1958 and ’59 but joined the Mountain-Desert League with neighbor Mountain Empire and played against mostly Imperial Valley clubs after the San Diego-Southern Section divorce.

Campo would shut its football program following the 1963 season.

ROWDYISM

Grihalva also weighed in on recent incidents at night games and suggested that day games would be easier to supervise.

The parents of a son who attended Hoover wrote Dailard a letter about an episode following Lincoln’s game with Hoover on Nov. 14:

“Without warning he and another Hoover student were hit from behind, knocked down, eyes blackened and slugged around the head by a group of unidentified hoodlums.”

LESS INCOME

Dailard noted that the attack also could have taken place in the afternoon and that pressure to play games at night came from citizens who could not otherwise attend.

Day games would interrupt school, and daytime box office receipts are less than night receipts, said Dailard, who approved moving the annual football carnival from the evening to afternoon in 1959.

Assault would be a better word than rowdyism and it had been a fact of life around area high school football and basketball games going back decades.

Night athletics periodically would be suspended but return after cooling off periods.

131-YARD DRIVE

It was a game so bad it was memorable.

Point Loma edged Hoover, 13-12, overcoming 14 penalties for 149 yards, including eight, 15-yard assessments.

Hoover was fined 8 times for 75 yards.

Point Loma moved 71 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown in the second quarter that gave the Pointers a 13-0 lead.

Point Loma’s success was achieved in defiance of an additional 60 yards in penalties during the drive.

That wasn’t all.  Hoover was hit for 15 yards during the Pointers’ march and there were four, 15-yard fouls in a span of five plays.

UNSEEN OBSTACLE

A full house of 5,000 persons at Chula Vista watched San Diego’s Ezell Singleton pass for 307 yards and 4 touchdowns and direct a ground attack that gained 219 yards in a 54-6 victory.

The host Spartans were feeling pretty good, however, after they closed to 14-6 with 1:17 remaining in the first half.  Chula Vista, in the season’s fifth game, was the first to score against San Diego.

What followed was a Cavers touchdown with 16 seconds left and a bizarre scene in which several Chula Vista players, charging off the field to their locker room for the halftime intermission, were seen stumbling and crashing to the ground.

An attached rope to restrain spectators had been left unattended.

No one was injured, just embarrassed.

FUEL IGNITION

Henry (Sparky) Bishop of Point Loma sustained two severely bruised or broken thumbs

early in the season, and played only 5 minutes versus Kearny, 2 versus Crawford, and not at all at Santa Barbara.

Healthy, Bishop was not all thumbs.

Bishop blocked and tackled from his offensive and defensive line positions in a 26-7 win over La Jolla, scored a touchdown, and also helped out at safety.

FOOTBALL REIGNS

Almost 32,000 fans attended the two area football carnivals.

There were an estimated 19,500 persons in Balboa Stadium for the City Schools’ event and they saw a West team of San Diego, La Jolla,  Point Loma, and Mission Bay, defeat the East of Lincoln, Hoover, Crawford, and Kearny, 14-6.

A overflow crowd of 12,200 was on hand in Aztec Bowl for the Metropolitan League carnival in which the East squad of Sweetwater, Chula Vista, Mar Vista (guest from Avocado League), and Mount Miguel edged the West’s Escondido, Grossmont, Helix, and El Cajon Valley, 12-6.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

Coach Dave Levy led a renaissance at Long Beach Poly, which made its first trip to the CIF playoffs since 1940.

After consecutive Southern Section championships in 1958-59, Levy coached for 16 years at USC and, when Chargers offensive line coach Jim Hanifan took the St. Louis Cardinals’ job in 1980, Levy answered a call from Chargers coach Don Coryell, with  whom Levy served on John McKay’s first USC staff in 1960.

Levy coached the Chargers’ offensive line from 1980-87.  After retiring from the NFL in 1994, Levy coached in Canada and then returned to his high school roots, continuing to mentor as an assistant at Harvard-Westlake in Studio City before finally hanging up his whistle in 2014.

SEXISM OR CHAUVANISM?

The Buccaneers eliminated girl cheerleaders, because “they can’t lead,” said head coach Harry Anderson.

Bill Swank, a member of Mission Bay’s class of 1958, described the “curious throwback to the 1930s” in his Mission Bay history chronicle Gold Leather Helmets Black High Top Shoes:

“Head cheerleader Charlie Ramos was assisted by the lovely Bill Gould and John Westwood.  They wore gold ivy league sweaters and black Bermuda shorts.”

All three also participated in sports at the school and Gould was one of the better hurdlers (:14.6 in the 120-yard highs) during the Southern California track season.

BOLD PREDICTION

Mission Bay coach Harry Anderson left school after the year for an assistant coach position at San Jose State, where Anderson eventually became head coach.

But Anderson set the tone for his last season  in an interview with Jerry Magee of The San Diego Union:

“We’re the team to beat,” said Anderson, who added, “We always feel that way.  We’re going to surprise some people.”

The Bucs were 0-5-3 in 1957.

Behind quarterback Bill Cravens, Mission Bay put together a 7-2 record, tempered only by 13-6 and 34-0 losses to St. Augustine and San Diego, respectively.

Mission Bay then embarked on a 18-65-1 stretch from 1959-68 that was interrupted by a 6-3 season under coach Bill Hall in 1969, followed by a 2-25 disaster with Al Lewis, who righted the ship with 7-3 and 7-2-1 finishes in 1973-74.

BUC STOPS WITH HIM

Quarterback Bill Cravens probably was the best, all-around athlete in Mission Bay history.  He was all-City in football and basketball and the team scoring leader in both sports.

Cravens also had baseball or track and field potential but eschewed spring sports in favor of surfing at one of the nearby beaches.

KNOCKS EVERYONE BUT BOSS

Mount Miguel coach Tom Welbaum, a Woody Hayes disciple from Ohio State, sounded off about conditions on the Matadors’ hard tack practice field.

“We have 236 boys out for football and have had five broken bones  in three weeks,” said Welbaum.

The coach was careful in his criticism and who he declared was at fault.

Covering himself, Welbaum said, “I don’t blame Lewis Smith, the district superintendent.”

Although Smith was the boss of bosses in the Grossmont district, Welbaum claimed that Smith’s “hands are apparently tied by a minority group within the district which refuses to spend money to get the field in proper condition.”

Welbaum’s son, Jim, a reserve quarterback, had been sidelined with a broken arm.

The team finally received permission to move its practices to Helix, beginning at 7 p.m.

HONORS

Ezell Singleton and center Roy Pharis of San Diego were all-CIF Southern Section first team.  Escondido end Toby Thurlow and Sweetwater guard Max Freetley made second team.  Sweetwater end Joe Meeker earned a third-team berth.

Ramona’s Gary Mayer, whose 193 points were more than anyone in the state, was a first-team, lower division choice.  Center Les Mathews of Mar Vista and teammate Jerry Overton, who would play in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys, earned third-team selections.

TRUE GRID

Ezell’s Singleton’s 27 touchdown passes tied the number thrown by Santa Monica’s Ronnie Knox in 1952 but fell short of the Southern Section record of 32 by Hawthorne’s Jack Contestible in 1953…Mar Vista halfback  Jerry Overton was a 15^th round draft choice out of Utah in 1963 and played one season for the Dallas Cowboys…St. Augustine’s 7-2 record was its best since 6-1 in  1941…Santa Monica star end Kenny Graham was a San Diego Chargers safety in the 1960s and led the Vikings with 17 touchdowns and 36 points after for a total of 144…500 Grossmont students took several chartered buses to watch the Foothillers drop a 27-6 decision at Yuma, Arizona…Sweetwater and Mar Vista installed lights at their campus stadiums…after bowing to  Long Beach Poly, San  Diego coach Duane Maley was 0-2 the next week…Maley predicted a Colton victory over Poly (the Yellowjackets lost, 41-27) and a Santa Monica win over Sweetwater (the Vikings won, 34-20)…Claremont Webb lost two games in the last four seasons, 6-0 to Ramona in 1957, and 26-6 to the Bulldogs this year…San Diego ran its record to 20-6 against Hoover in the fading city series, topping the Cardinals, 40-0, and outgaining them, 383-78…2-0 Lincoln changed offenses, going from Wing-T to Split-T before a game with Kearny…the Hornets lost, 18-13…the week before in a 13-0 win over Point Loma, Lincoln ran 42 running plays and threw 1 pass…halfbacks Ralph Hensley of Mission Bay and Kenny Griffin of Kearny played in the same jazz band…San Dieguito’s 19-6 victory over Oceanside was the Mustangs’ first over the Pirates…Oceanside held a 9-0-2 advantage in the series, which began in 1936….

The CIF power ratings are holding up fairly well as the final round of San Diego Section play takes place Friday and Saturday at Southwestern College.

The two highest power rated clubs will meet in the Open Division and in D-1 and D-3.

Winning teams will progress to a variety of divisions in a Southern California round of 4, with the ultimate winners meeting teams from Northern California in the state championship.

OPEN

No. 1 Cathedral (12-0) versus No. 2 Helix (10-2) Saturday at 7 p.m.

Cathedral overcame a 21-7, Helix halftime lead to defeat the Highlanders, 35-28, in Week 4.

Helix eliminated the Dons in the semifinals in 2014 and 2015.

Cathedral is making its eighth championship appearance since  2006 and Helix its 11^th since 1999.

Are the Dons as good as the Tyler Gaffney-led squad that was 14-0 and the state D-III champion in 2008?

As we see it:  Cathedral 34, Helix 21.

DIVISION  I

No. 2 St. Augustine (10-2)  versus No. 1 and 10-2 Madison Friday at 7 p.m.

Madison’s team speed was too much for the Saints in a 56-42  Warhawks victory in Week 6.

The Saints were No. 1 in The San Diego Union-Tribune poll for a few weeks after they defeated a touted Los Angeles Loyola team, 17-14, in Week 3, but Loyola flattened out to 3-8 and the Saints were decisively beaten by Madison and Cathedral.

Madison lost its opener at Vista Murrieta, 20-9.  That team was a Los Angeles Times top 20 squad for weeks and represented a rare, regular-season intersectional opponent for the eastern Clairemont squad.

Vista Murrieta was only the eighth Warhawks regular-season opponent from outside San Diego County since Madison opened in 1962.

This might be coach Rick Jackson’s best team since the 14-1, D-IV state champion of 2012.

As we see it:  Madison 41, St. Augustine 30.

DIVISION II

No. 2 Mater Dei (11-1) meets neighborhood public school rival No. 4 Olympian (8-4) Saturday 3 p.m.

Though only one mile and probably 3 minutes apart in Chula Vista, Mater Dei and Olympian have met only three times since Olympian opened in 2006.

One of those games resulted in a 28-7 Crusaders victory this season.

Coach John Joyner has got it going at Mater Dei.  The Catholic school is 53-22 since Joyner weathered a pair of 1-9 seasons after he took over the program in 2009.

Included in the victories was a 2015 state V-AA championship, 56-21 over Reedley Immanuel.

Mater Dei’s only loss this year was 51-42 at Cal-Hi Sports’-ranked Los Angeles Hawkins.  The Crusaders led that game in the fourth quarter.

Olympian is coached by Paul Van Nostrand, son of a former Evening Tribune reporter of the same name.

The younger Van Nostrand is 25-21 since taking over for the legendary Gil Warren in 2013.  Van Nostrand was 64-32-1 at Castle Park from 1999-06.

As we see it, Mater Dei 35, Olympian 14.

DIVISION III

No. 2 The Bishop’s (12-0) versus No. 1 Christian (12-0) Saturday at 11 a.m.

Both teams have continually upgraded  their programs.  Eastern League entry Christian appears to have played a heftier schedule than the rising, La Jolla-based Coastal League program.

Joel Allen is 73-22-1 in eight seasons with The Bishop’s Knights and claimed a state D-5 title with a 40-14 victory over Stockton Brookside in 2010.

Other than a year’s hiatus in 2003, Matt Oliver has guided the Christian Patriots since 1998 and his 148 victories rank 15^th all-time in San Diego County.

The Patriots are making their sixth championship appearance since  2001.  The Knights are making their third straight appearance in the finals and their seventh since  2007.

As we see it, Christian 31, The Bishop’s 28.

DIVISION IV

No. 5 La Jolla Country Day (10-3) versus No. 3 Santana (8-4) Friday at 3 p.m.

Dave Gross retired after an 11-2 season and 20-14 loss to Valley Center in the 2011 D-IV finals but did not leave a full cupboard at Santana.

Tim Estes took over in 2012 struggled through 1-8 and 1-9 seasons.  The Sultans improved to 4-6 in 2014, to 7-5 in 2015, and now are 8-4.

The Country Day Torreys are 10-3 this season and 25-13 under Tyler Hales, who replaced career 101-game winner Jeff Hutzler in 2013.

The teams have one comparative opponent.

The Bishop’s defeated Santana, 41-19, in the season opener and topped Country Day, their No. 1 rival in the Coastal League, 37-21, in Week 8.

As we see it, La Jolla Country Day 42, Santana 35.

STATE RANKINGS

Cathedral is sixth in Cal-Hi Sports’ top 25, behind Santa Ana Mater Dei, Bellflower St. John Bosco, Corona Centennial, Harbor City Narbonne, and Concord De La Salle.

Helix is 14^th and Madison and Rancho Bernardo are on the bubble.

HOOPS DU JOUR

Cal-Hi Sports’ first top 25 lists Cathedral as No. 6, followed  by Foothills Christian, 16^th, and St. Augustine, 21^st.

Mission Hills is No. 6, followed by La Jolla Country Day, 8^th, and The Bishop’s, 15^th in the Girls’ ratings.

First athletes and then coaches, each experience leaving a lifetime of memories.

BOBBY KENNEDY

The San Diego State graduate was  head baseball coach at Chula Vista from 1957-82, his teams winning six Metropolitan League titles, earning 19 playoff appearances, and compiling an overall record of 329-266.

Kennedy also was a championship softball player, almost to the end, participating all the way to age 89 and along the way teaming with several other locals of his generation to win 10  national association “World Series.”

Kennedy hit a three-run home run on his last time at bat.

You could look it up, as Casey Stengel would say.

Bobby, who passed days before his 94^th birthday, grew up in the San Bernardino area and played two seasons in the Philadelphia Athletics’ system.

Kennedy’s San Diego State jersey No. 12 was retired.  He also was a basketball game official for 25 years and president of the local association.

Kennedy was one of a group of coaches and ex-players, mostly from baseball who met for coffee each week for years  at the Lake Murray Café.  Bobby remained active up the end, attending the annual Coaching Legends event at the Scottish Rite Temple in October.

Pitcher Ron (Flame) Tompkins, a member of the Kennedy’s 1962 squad, toiled for the Kansas City Royals in 1965 and California Angels in 1971.

JOE GALINDO

A 1947 St. Augustine graduate, Galindo was the Saints’ head football coach in 1986-87 and played on Saints teams that occupied a unique niche in school athletics history.

Galindo was an end and defensive back for the Saints during an era when the Catholic school was shunned by its city and county counterparts and  forced to find a league that required substantial travel.

The Saints were part of the Southland Catholic League that included Los Angeles teams Loyola, Mt. Carmel, and Cathedral, plus Santa Monica St. Monica and Long Beach St. Anthony.

Galindo, 87, began his career as a playground director for the City Recreation Department and coached many sports on many levels for more than 40 years.

MIKE CUNNINGHAM

A quarterback on the Saints’ 7-2 squad of 1958 and catcher on the baseball team, Cunningham, 75, was the Saints’ head football coach from 1978-81.

He also was head coach at Ramona from 1975-77, and at Julian from 1988-92 and 1995-96.

Cunningham’s teams in the mountain community posted an overall record of 30-14-1 and claimed a San Diego Section 8-man championship in 1992.

Power ratings honcho John LaBeta can look at the semifinals pairings in this week’s San Diego Section playoffs and feel pretty good, if not vindicated, about the controversial seedings process.

History has not recorded a season in which all teams and coaches involved were happy with the results, be they computer generated or by the human eye test.

But LaBeta and his I-pad have been right on 86 per cent of the selections this far into the postseason.

Of the 22 clubs still alive in Divisions Open and I-V, 19 represent seeds 1 through 4.

The top four will compete in the semifinals in D-I and D-3.  Horizon (4) and Tri-City Christian (3) will play for the D-V title this week.

Bonita Vista (11) crashed the party with a 5-7 record in D-II. Mission Hills (5) and La Jolla Country Day (5) are still in the mix in the Open and D-IV, respectively.

Upsets Friday night could paint a different picture going into next week’s finals, but the power ratings have gained some credibility, even if those 5 and 11 seeds should create some shock waves.

DOUBLE CENTURY

Ron Hamamoto of Monte Vista and Rob Gilster of Valley Center are among nine who have won at least 200 games as coaches of San Diego County teams.  Both will be on the sidelines this week.

Five others with at least 100 victories also still are working, including Poway’s Damian Gonzalez, who earlier this season became the 42^nd County coach to hit the century mark.

Name	School(s)	Years	W-L-T	Pct.	Rank*
Ron Hamamoto	University Rancho Bernardo Lincoln Monte Vista	31	209-140-4	.601	8
Rob Gilster	Orange Glen Valley Center	28	207-122-5	.624	9
Sean Doyle	University Cathedral	21	172-84-0	.659	13
Matt Oliver	Christian	17	147-60-0	.710	15
Chris Hauser	Vista Mission Hills	17	135-58-2	.695	22
Rick Jackson	Madison	13	117-36-1	.765	34T
Damian Gonzalez	Army-Navy Poway	17	107-85-3	.556	36

*All-time standing in total victories.

RB MAKES MOVE

Rancho Bernardo jumped from 25th to 16th in this week’s Cal-
Hi Sports‘ top 25 and will play No. 14 Helix in one of two attractive semifinals playoff matches.

Cathedral, which takes on  Mission Hills, stayed at Cal-Hi‘s No. 7, leapfrogged by Concord De La Salle, which moved from eighth to sixth.

BEEN THERE

Rob Gilster-coached teams have made 15 trips to the semifinals, followed by Sean Doyle (13) Matt Oliver (13), Chris Hauser (12), Rick Jackson (8), Ron Hamamoto (7), and Damian Gonzalez (5).

QUICK KICKS

St. Augustine’s Richard Sanchez could reach 100 victories sometime in the 2018 season…Sanchez is 75-23 since 2009 with the Saints and was 6-14 in 1998-99 at San Diego for an overall record of 81-37… Ron Hamamoto has taken 4 teams to the playoffs, at University (9), Rancho Bernardo (9). Lincoln (4), and Monte Vista (5), a total of 27 out of 31 seasons….

HOOPS, ANYONE?

Cathedral, with 7-foot Brandon McCoy leading the way, opened as Cal-Hi Sports’ No. 7 team in the newsletter’s 2016-17, state  preseason top 25. Foothills Christian, minus T.J. Leaf, now at UCLA, is ranked 16^th and St. Augustine 21^st.

In the “Just Missed” category are La Jolla Country Day and Torrey Pines.

Teams rated ahead of Cathedral:

1) Torrance Bishop Montgomery, which beat Cathedral in the state Southern regional semifinals last season;

2) Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, which the Dons topped, 82-80, in the quarterfinals;

3) Chino Hills, 4) Santa Ana Mater Dei, 5) Encino Crespi, and 6) Los Angeles Fairfax.

 

 

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 of Camp Funston on the Fort Riley army reservation in March, reached almost every corner of the earth.

Including the growing city on the California-Mexico border.

San Diego and the surrounding communities didn’t feel the virus’ effect for months. Not until September, after school opened and football practice started.

Four months later, when the bug finally was arrested, the flu had hit with force: A reported 5,040 cases and 366 deaths locally, according to an article by Peter Rowe of The San Diego Union in 2009.

The number of documented illnesses represented about 7 per cent of the city’s approximately 75,000 citizens.  Taken in 2018, 7 per cent would be almost 100,000 of San Diego’s 1.3 million inhabitants.

Probably 100 million persons around the world were incapacitated or died.  The death toll has been variously estimated at from 50 to 70 million, the latter figure at least 3 per cent of the earth’s 1.8 billion population.

SUMMER DILEMMA

School began on August 26 at San Diego High and new coach Clint Evans, fresh from Pomona High, was in a quandary.

Evans was unsure about which veteran players from the 1917 squad would be returning to school, as some had “left for the colors,” with others expected to follow.

The 1918 schedule had not been formulated.  No team manager had been hired, as Gustave Harding, appointed last year, had left for the military.

Evans planned to book one or two northern squads and fill the rest of the schedule with service teams, of which there were many in the area.

The coach hoped to start practice on Aug. 28, but there would be no practice until an arrangement was made with the Balboa Park board to use the City Stadium field.

Seventy-five candidates turned out for the first practice, held on the girls’ indoor baseball field.

UNCLE SAM CALLS

The United States declared war on Germany and officially entered World War I on April 6, 1917.  Gustave Harding, captain of the 1918 squad, along with classmates and teammates at least 18 years of age, eventually answered the call.

Harding enrolled at Oregon Agricultural College (future Oregon State) for military training.  Others entered Redlands University.  Still others affiliated with local branches of the military.

The government had established military programs at colleges throughout the U.S.  Harding and others were able to return to school after the war ended on Nov. 11, 1918.

WEIGHTY ISSUES

Evans expected his first varsity to be lighter than previous Hilltoppers clubs.  Older, heavier players apparently had departed for the military.

“This team is so light, but we’re going to make it so fast that nothing in the South will pass us,” said Evans.

SLOW REALIZATION

A couple weeks after the start of school a San Diego Sun article, giving passing acknowledgement to rising statistics on the East Coast and in Europe, declared mildly, “San Diego is full of colds, just now.”

The Sun had advice and promised all of the facts “about Spanish Flu” for its readers but in the form of a paid advertisement, according to a 2009 article in The San Diego Reader:

–To avoid infection: “Steer clear of secretions of the nose and throat passages, conveyed on handkerchiefs, towels and mess-gear.”

–If you come down with the flu, “treat it as a bad cold…be sure to take Dover’s Powders.”

Around this time sailors at the Balboa Park naval training camp and soldiers at Camp Kearny were coming down. By October, the bases at Balboa Park, Camp Kearny, Fort Rosecrans, and North Island were under quarantine.

SO FAR, SO GOOD

Evans, a University of California graduate, had the Hilltoppers unbeaten after 3 games.

They played to a scoreless tie with the La Playa Navy, defeated Coronado, 19-7, and Los Angeles High, 14-0.

Not uncommon to the era was the response of the L.A. High captain, as Don King noted in Caver Conquest:

“The miffed Roman tried to convince his team to walk off the field in protest of some officiating calls that favored the Hilltoppers.”

Meantime, Coronado was said to “have a great liking for piling up points this season,” after the Islanders took National City (before being named named Sweetwater) to the shed, 61-0, following a 53-0 victory over Army-Navy in County  League contests.

The schedules of San Diego, Coronado, Army-Navy, Escondido, and National City soon were suspended.

SHUTDOWN

As the flu rampaged throughout the country, San Diego education bosses decided to close all schools on Oct. 13.  They did not reopen until Jan. 6, 1919.

Initial reaction was that teams would continue to practice until reopening.

The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months.

Evans attended a meeting in Los Angeles on Nov 4.  Opinion of Northern coaches was that practice would begin around Nov. 30, allowing for games on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

The San Diego public health board adopted a resolution on Nov. 9, saying a quarantine on public entertainments and gatherings would be lifted at midnight on Nov. 17.

Opinion of the four-man board was that the “epidemic had materially subsided and is in control.”  Twenty-two new cases had been reported the day before.

On Nov. 15 the quarantine was rumored to be extended after an outbreak on successive days of 57 and 66 cases and one death raised new alarms.

OOPS?

Quarantine confusion came to the surface.

San Diego vaudeville, stock,  and motion picture theaters, pool and billiards parlors remained open in defiance of the quarantine, with the health board hopeless to enforce its edict, said the Union.

No quarantine officially existed, according to the city attorney.  The health board had omitted making its order a matter of record at a formal meeting.

The health board then made it official, adding churches, dance halls, public bathing establishments, and other gathering places.

AHEAD OF THE PACK

On Dec. 3, Evans, himself having recovered from a set-to with the flu, reported that Northern schools on the Orange League schedule would begin play on Jan. 1.

Evans scheduled Los Angeles Poly for a New Year’s Day nonleague game at City Stadium.  The Hilltoppers won, 13-6, to go to 3-0-1.

Some Southern California school bosses wanted to scrub the season, according to a Dec. 4 Los Angeles Times story.

The bosses noted that the season would run into the rainy months and any schedule could not be depended on to be played out.

However, as would be the case a century later, “Football is considered the paying athletic proposition of the year and the loss of the gate receipts would have to be made up in some other way to carry on the basketball, track, and baseball programme (sic).”

The season would be salvaged, no matter how late into the spring.

SCHEDULING MISMASH

Daily reports in January indicated the CIF was trying to create a path to the playoffs, hopefully salvaging some flu-related loss of revenue.

The path was strewn with detours and obstacles.

—San Diego had lost to Pomona, 10-7, before a 13-6 victory over Fullerton and was scheduled to play league opponent Orange.

—Orange decided to turn in its gear, effectively forfeiting to San Diego.

— -San Diego now would play the winner of a Pomona-Fullerton game for the Orange League championship.

—Fullerton defeated Pomona, 13-10, creating a three-way tie for the  title, each team with a 2-1 record.

—A decision then was made that San Diego and Pomona would play for the right to host Fullerton.

—Pomona bailed, ending its season.

—With Pomona out, Fullerton changed its mind about being the visitor against San Diego and demanded that the rematch be played at a site of its choosing.

—Evans and Fullerton coach Culp attended a protest meeting at Fullerton, where representatives from other schools heard arguments.

—The protest committee sided with Evans.

—Fullerton made the trip South and turned the tables on San Diego, 20-13, winning the league title and a berth in the playoffs.

—San Diego’s season was over.  So was Clint Evans’ tenure as coach.

ISLANDERS IN PURSUIT

Coronado meanwhile also was in the playoffs and defeated visiting Redlands, 14-7, as “Ed Suggett passed, ran, blocked, and punted” the Islanders to victory.

Fullerton advanced to the championship game against Coronado with a 60-0 win over Santa Monica.

The Islanders and Fullerton met a month later, on March 18, almost 90 days after the season’s normal conclusion.

With the addition of Suggett, who had played on Jan. 1 for the Balboa Park Sailors against the Mare Island Marines of Vallejo for the West Coast military title, Coronado liked its chances.

Fullerton, which remained active and played through the flu epidemic, capped a 10-1 season, by blanking the 5-3 Islanders, 18-0.

The season had finally come to an end.

COACH TO TILL EARTH

Saying he could not turn down the opportunity to partner with his brother in a farming business in Idaho, Clint Evans resigned his position at San Diego and said he was retiring from football.

“I have an attractive farming proposition, one which I believe will return me more finances and be more lasting than coaching,” said Evans.

Evens eventually returned to  Berkeley and coached the California Golden Bears’ baseball team from 1930-54.

SAY, AREN’T YOU…?

San Diego players must have blinked when they looked across the line at a familiar face on the La Playa Navy team. Howard Morrison, former yell leader for Hilltoppers cheering sections, played for the military base squad in the 0-0 tie that began the season.

LET’S RALLY

Elated at the prospect of playing again, 21 coed volunteers canvassed the entire downtown district selling tickets to the New Year’s Day contest against L.A. Poly.

Hilltoppers students added to the festive atmosphere with a serpentine that began at the courthouse on lower Broadway, headed east to Fifth Avenue, north to C Street, West to Fourth Avenue, and South to the plaza.

A “coffin” of the Poly team was displayed, followed by a bonfire near school grounds, and remarks by coaches.

The game drew a crowd of almost 3,000 to City Stadium.

SIGNS OF THE TIME

Four airplanes from Rockwell Field on Coronado’s North Island flew to Warner Springs.  The trip was completed in slightly more than one hour.

After landing, the pilots swam in the springs, had lunch, and then flew back to deliver a dispatch to The San Diego Union, extolling the Warner Springs Ranch.

VEGGIE GETS A BOW

Oceanside celebrated its second annual “Bean Day” on Labor Day.  The event honored the bean, “one of the chief assets of the Oceanside country,” according to a press release.

BUY IT NOW

It was possible to purchase a seven-room bungalow with hardwood floors on a large lot near the ocean in Coronado for $3,350.

TRUE GRID

San Diego ‘s league alignment was flimsy.. Fullerton and Pomona were permanent…other teams seemingly were added and dropped during the season…to be eligible a player could not be more than 21 years of age, had attended school for a full, previous semester, and had passing grades in at least three classes…the “21” rule existed until 1935, when lowered to 20…Coronado’s Ed Suggett made the all-Southern California first team…Charles Fletcher, San Diego football team manager, reported a season profit of $350…Coronado practiced at Fullerton before the championship, was honored by the host school student body at an assembly, and Islanders players were guests of honor following the game at was described as a “theater party”….

The sportswriters and broadcasters and CIF power ratings maven John LaBeta have spoken and there is some agreement.

Cathedral, Rancho Bernardo, and Helix, 1-2-3 in The San Diego Union final regular-season poll, are the top three seeds in the Open Division playoffs, which begin Nov. 18 with quarterfinals play.

But there were some surprises and shock waves in other divisions, with teams having higher  finishes and better won-loss records being left out (see 2016 scores in the Football drop down menu).

LaBeta is unique.

He is  one of the 27 persons on the panel that vote each week to determine the Union top 10 and he’s also the guy who  coordinates the power ratings, which eventually determine who gets into the playoffs, in which division, and with which seeding.

How does LaBeta’s vote in the Union‘s poll compare with the power ratings, which essentially are determined by Labeta’s informational input in a computer generated system that compares what teams do over a season against what their scheduled opponents do?

No answer there.  LaBeta wasn’t able to participate in the vote this week.

He was  busy aligning the 68 teams in the five postseason divisions plus the eight-man tournament and probably fielding questions (and complaints) about the power ratings.

Many in the media and some of the coaches did not understand why St. Augustine and Madison, powerful Western League clubs with 8-2 records, did not make the Open Division.

Maybe the Saints and Warhawks will be better served as Division I participants.

Rancho Bernardo was a twice-beaten and not particularly well-regarded team in 2015. The Broncos were slotted in Division I and won out, going 13-2, and claiming a state championship.

An overall winner will be named in a  final Union poll that will be conducted at the end of the season.  Cathedral remains No. 7 in Cal-Hi Sports‘ state top 25.  Helix moved from 16th to 14th and Rancho Bernardo is 25th.  Madison is on the bubble.

First-place votes in parenthesis.

Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

Rank	Team	W-L	Points	Last Week
1.	Cathedral (25)	10-0	268	1
2.	Rancho Bernardo (2)	10-0	240	3
3.	Helix	8-2	212	4
4.	Mater Dei	9-1	182	5
5.	Madison	8-2	165	2
6.	St. Augustine	8-2	116	7
7.	Torrey Pines	8-2	79	8
8.	Poway	9-1	71	6
9.	Grossmont	9-1	56	10
10	The Bishop’s	10-0	40	9

Others receiving votes: Christian (10-0, 24 points), Oceanside (8-2, 21), Valley Center (9-1, 5), Santa Fe Christian (8-2, 2), Valhalla (8-1, 1).

Twenty-seven sportswriters, sportscasters, and other representatives comprise the voting panel:

John Maffei, Union-Tribune. Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren,  Union-Tribune contributors. Paul Rudi, Brandon Stone, Rick Willis (KUSI Chl. 51). Michael Bower, Pomerado News. Lisa Lane, Fox 5 News. Montell Allen, MBA Sports-SDFNL Magazine. Brandon Stone, Rick Willis, KUSI, Channel 51. Adam Clark, Ted Mendenhall, Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090. Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Radio 107.9 FM. Bob Petinak, 1360 Radio. Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, Chris Davis, eastcountysports.com. Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com. Drew Smith, sdcoastalsports.com. Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net. Rick Smith, partletonsports.com. Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions. Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, CIF San Diego Section. John (Coach) Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator.

FOR THE RECORD

Who won the league?

The question has not had as much resonance since the still-trying-to-please power ratings system  came into vogue, but a championship in the regular season still means a lot to coaches, players and student bodies.

This season’s 18 league champions, with special bows to Patrick Henry, on top for the first time since 1997, and Calipatria, first after not being there since 2000:

League	Team	Record	Last
Avocado	Torrey Pines	5-1 (8-2)	2010
Central	Coronado	4-0 (8-2)	2010
Citrus	St. Joseph	5-0 (6-2)	First
City	Patrick Henry	4-0 (6-4)	1997
Coastal	The Bishop’s	4-0 (10-0)	2014
Eastern	Christian	4-0 (10-0)	2015
Grossmont Hills	Helix	4-0 (8-2)	2015
Grossmont Valley	Granite Hills	4-0 (6-4)	2015
Imperial Valley	Brawley	5-0 (7-3)	2014
Manzanita	Calipatria	3-1 (7-3)	2000
	Holtville	3-1 (5-5)	2012
	Calexico Vincent Memorial	3-1 (5-5)	2002
Mesa	Mater Dei	4-0 (9-1)	2015
Metropolitan Pacific	San Ysidro	4-0 (5-5)	First
Pacific	Classical	4-0 (6-4)	2014
Palomar	Rancho Bernardo	4-0 (10-0)	2015
South Bay	Mar Vista	3-0 (8-2)	2012
Ocean	Calvin Christian	3-0 (8-0)	2015
Valley	Valley Center	5-0 (9-1)	2015
Western	Cathedral	4-0 (10-0)	2014