A celebration of Don Donnelly’s life will be held at the La Mesa Community Center on Nov. 14 from 2:30-5:30 p.m.

Donnelly, 87, passed recently after a lifetime of athletics and coaching, principally track and field and cross country.

A 1947 graduate of Hoover High, where he played football and competed in track, Donnelly got into coaching after service during the Korean war and graduation from San Diego State.

His first appointment was in 1956 at Hart High in Newhall, where Donnelly helped mentor Bob Avant, a future state champion in the high jump and who later was principal at Valhalla High.

Donnelly returned to San Diego the following year and was involved in cross country and track at Mission Bay, where he was an assistant to Chuck Coover and coached Jim Cerveny, the 1957 state champion in the 880-yard run and future world-class 800-meter competitor.

When the new Crawford High opened in 1957, Donnelly coached cross country and was assistat track coach to Walt Harvey, succeeding Harvey in 1963.

Donnelly opened the new Morse High in the fall of 1963 and coached track and cross country and guided future Olympic long jumper Arnie Robinson, among others.

Donnelly eventually moved to Santana, coached boys’ and girls’ track and cross country, and stayed active in retirement, competing in senior track events and as a member of various local sports organizations.

“He lived every moment right up to his final day, upbeat and positive all the way,” said the coach’s widow, Mary Donnelly.

Hoover did it.

The Cardinals scored, not once but twice, in a 49-14 loss to Patrick Henry.

Hoover had not even registered a blip in its first eight games and was closing in on a record set in 1976 by San Diego Southwest.

The Southwest Raiders were blanked on the field in a 0-9 season in 1976 but scored one point legislatively after Chula Vista forfeited a 76-0 victory.

Many Hoover players come from around the globe and never were introduced to American football until they arrived at the vintage East San Diego campus at El Cajon Boulevard and 44^th Street.

Hats off to coach Jimmy Morgans and his team.

The Cardinals trailed 42-7 at halftime and, with help of a running clock, played the Patriots even in the second half.

Patrick Henry clinched a tie for the City League title and, with a win over Serra this week, would finish the regular season with a 6-4 record, its best since 2012.

ANOTHER CHALLENGE

Cathedral burst for 21 points in the first quarter, shut out St. Augustine, 35-0, before more than 8,000 persons at Mesa College, and can clinch its first undefeated regular season since the Tyler Gaffney-led Dons were 10-0 en route to 14-0 and a state Division III championship in 2008.

Standing in the way of coach Sean Doyle’s Dons are the fast, efficient Madison Warhawks, 8-1, with only a 20-9 loss to Vista Murrieta in the season opener.

Cathedral is home to Madison, with the Western League championship and probable top seed in the San Diego Section Open Division playoffs to the winner.

The Dons remained No. 1 in the Union-Tribune poll this week and Madison stayed at 2.

BACKYARD BEEF

No. 3 Rancho Bernardo visits neighboring Poway, No. 6, in a battle of 9-0 teams with the Palomar League championship on the line.

Mater Dei (8-1) can clinch the Metropolitan Conference Mesa League championship with a win over visiting Olympian (6-3).

Helix (Grossmont Hills), San Ysidro (Metropolitan Pacific), and Granite Hills (Grossmont Valley) gained ties for first and will go for outright league titles against Valhalla, El Cajon Valley, and San Diego Southwest, respectively.

Cathedral remained seventh in Cal-Hi Sports’ state rankings, with Helix moving up from 18^th to 16^th and Rancho Bernardo crashing the top 25 for the first time.

Madison is on the bubble and St. Augustine’s bubble burst.

Union-Tribune poll:

First-place votes in parenthesis.

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

Others receiving votes:  Oceanside (7-2, 25 points), Christian (9-0, 20), Valhalla (8-1), Valley Center (8-1), 2 each; Olympian (6-3), Mission Hills (6-3), 1 each.

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.

Take a good look at this week’s Union-Tribune Top 10 poll.  It won’t be the same next Tuesday and likely will change even more after the last of several blockbuster matchups take place 10 days from now on the final Friday of the regular season.

THIS WEEK  

No. 1 Cathedral (8-0) meets Western League rival No. 6 St. Augustine (7-1) at Mesa College and No. 8 Grossmont (8-0) visits Grossmont Hills nemesis No. 5 Helix (6-2) this Friday.

League championships and bragging rights are in the mix for the winners in these old and intense rivalries.

Helix, originally the little brother to Grossmont when it opened on the Foothillers’ campus as the schools split sessions in 1951,  holds a 40-18-2 lead in the series.

Grossmont was a competitive, 12-10 leader from 1951-72, when Jim Arnaiz became coach at Helix.

After losing his first four games against Grossmont, Arnaiz guided the Highlanders on a path  of 19 victories, two defeats, and two ties until he retired in 1999.

Arnaiz and four successors are a combined 19-0 against Grossmont since 1992, the victories by an average score of 41-12, including 68-16 in 2015.

Grossmont’s last victory, 28-14 in  1991, was quarterbacked by Tom Karlo, who has compiled a 39-16 record since becoming the Foothillers’ head coach in 2011.

Cathedral is 30-23  against St. Augustine since 1966. Dons coach Sean Doyle, a graduate of the school when it was known as University of San Diego High, is 11-12 against the Saints, including a forfeit loss in 2012.

Richard Sanchez, a 35-21 winner last year, is 4-3 versus Cathedral from the time of his appointment as the Saints’ coach in 2009.

NEXT WEEK

If all goes well this week, neighborhood don’t invitems Poway and Rancho Bernardo will take undefeated records into a Palomar League championship tussle and Olympian will meet Mater Dei for the Metropolitan Mesa loop title.

WOES CONTINUE

Hoover still is looking for its first point, crushed by a cumulative total of 405-0 in  a record-tying eight games.

If the Cardinals are shut out by Patrick Henry this week (the Patriots have won 3 in a row for the first time since 2012) they will be alone at the bottom with nine consecutive zeroes since the start of the season, although an asterisk may be appropriate.

Southwest was blanked in all nine games in 1976, but was credited with a 1-0 “win” after Chula Vista forfeited a 76-0 victory.  The Raiders officially were outscored, 335-1, that season.

CAL-HI STATIC

There were no changes as Cathedral remained seventh and Helix 18th in the weekly Cal-Hi Sports ratings.  Rancho Bernardo, St. Augustine, and Madison were joined on the bubble by Grossmont.

Union-Tribune poll:

First-place votes in parenthesis.

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

Others receiving votes:  Christian (8-0, 5 points),  Oceanside (6-2), San Marcos (5-2), 4 each.   Torrey Pines (6-2)  Valhalla (7-1), Valley Center (7-1), Olympian (6-3), La Costa Canyon (5-3), 1 each.

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. 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.

QUICK KICKS

Patrick Henry is positioned to win the City League championship, which would be the Patriots’ first since 1997, when the Jerry Varner-coached squad raced to a 6-0 record in the Eastern League…Chula Vista’s 40-29 victory over Sweetwater meant that the two South Bay rivals had played 70 consecutive seasons, beginning in 1947…Sweetwater leads the all-time measuring stick, 38-29-3 and Red Devils running back Marty Sesma turned in one of the more impressive performances in the series…Sesma carried the ball 37 times for 197 yards and one touchdown…

Six teams are  7-0 (Calvin Christian is 6-0)  and the trend figures to continue as San Diego Section clubs head into the stretch run of the regular season.

The Bishop’s (7-0) visits La Jolla Country Day (6-1) in the feature game involving one of of the unbeatens.

The Knights, who have bigger things in mind, can salt away away their second  Coastal League championship in the last three seasons.

Win and the Bish would seemingly be home free as only Orange Glen and Francis Parker, both struggling, remain on its schedule.

The undefeated and their Week 9 opponents:

THE OPPOSITE 

Seven teams are at the other end of the spectrum, all winless, with Hoover bearing down on an all-time record for a scoring drought comparable to California’s water shortage.

The Cardinals do not have a point this season.

Hoover  tied its 1974 team for ineptitude in a 44-0 loss to University City that was their seventh consecutive loss without scoring.

Forty-two years ago Hoover got on the board in its eighth game, a season-ending, 41-7 loss to St. Augustine.

Hoover actually was not the San Diego Section’s most unsuccessful team that season.

The 1974 Ramona Bulldogs set the standing record of eight straight shutouts from the beginning of the season.

The Bulldogs “rallied” in their season-ending ninth game, a 63-7 loss to San Dieguito.

Borrego Springs also has a piece of the shutout record.  The Rams were scoreless in 1978, although their 0-7-1 record included an 0-0 tie in the season opener.

After this article was published, Jess Kearney of The San Diego Union-Tribune correctly pointed out that Southwest did not score in nine games in 1976.  But a 76-0 loss to Chula Vista later turned into a 1-0, forfeit victory for the Raiders when 9-0 Chula Vista became 5-4 and out of the playoffs after  forfeiting four victories because of an ineligible player.

Legislation aside, Southwest competitively has our vote as having the all-time poorest record for one season.  Hoover hopes to keep that way.

Other winless clubs in 2016 are Castle Park (0-7), San Diego (0-7), Warner Springs Warner (0-6), Ocean View Christian (0-4), Christian Life (0-3), and Salton City West Shores (0-1).

THE POLLS

Cathedral is seventh in Cal-Hi Sports’ top 25, followed by Helix at 18th.  Rancho Bernardo, Madison, and St. Augustine are on the bubble.  R.B. moved ahead of Madison into second in the Union-Tribune rankings.

First-place votes in parenthesis.

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

Others receiving votes:  Christian (7-0, 8 points), Torrey Pines (5-2, 6), Oceanside (5-2, 5), San Marcos (5-2, 4), Valhalla (6-1, 2), La Jolla Country Day (6-1), Valhalla (6-1), 1 point each.

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. 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.

It’s not a stretch to declare that this was the year San Diego, the growing city at the geographical bottom of California, stepped into the modern age.

The vision and determination of San Diego’s civic leaders launched the successful Panama-California Exposition on Jan. 1, 1915, even though in competition with the larger, federally-funded expo in San Francisco.

That San Francisco’s population of 400,000 was about 10 times that of San Diego’s made the event here, honoring construction of the Panama Canal, a lasting accomplishment.

The California Tower, Cabrillo Bridge, Organ Pavilion and other landmarks built for the exposition stamped Balboa Park as a cultural center, with many of the original buildings still in service more than 100 years later.

And down at the Southern edge of the park, in a canyon steps from the San Diego High campus rose a 23,262-seat, concrete horseshoe that served the community for more than 60 years.

IT WAS THE CITY FOR THE CITY

First named City Stadium and renamed Balboa Stadium in 1939, the building was the site of concerts, presidential visits, graduations, baseball games, auto racing, track meets, and other sports events, but football was king.

It had been 47 years since Rutgers and Princeton played the first recognized game of football. The game had slowly moved west across the time zones.

There were five football-playing schools in San Diego County:  San Diego, Coronado, Escondido, National City, which became Sweetwater in 1920, and Army and Navy Academy, located in Pacific Beach.

The remote communities of Ramona, Fallbrook, and Julian had high schools but no teams.

San Diego High, in an alliance known as the Southern California Interscholastic League with Ontario Chaffey, Pasadena, Long Beach Poly, Santa Ana, and Whittier, shared home fields at the Coronado Polo Grounds with Coronado High.

The field, on the future site of the Coronado golf course, would be a far cry from the coming stadium across the bay that would open near the end of the school year on May 31, 1915.

DOWN IN FRONT!

A spectator concern before San Diego’s home game against Santa Ana was sight lines.

Major Ross, Polo Grounds honcho, to the rescue.

According to The San Diego Union, “…Ross has decided to permit the use of the field for the game in front of the “stand”.

Ross’ approval was welcome news not only to players but to those sitting in the bleachers.

The Major also declared that “it is also of advantage to automobile parties as those…in machines in the parking space–can view the game without obstruction of crowds moving around in front of them.”

With seating in the stand, fans would be more genteel and not inclined to interfere with the players by encroaching on the field, Major Ross added.

NOT SO FAST

San Diego was the local colossus and Coronado coach Johnny Johnson may have thought his team was being picked on.

Johnson didn’t like what he saw when the Islanders were set to kickoff against the San Diego “Seconds,” or, in modern parlance, the junior varsity.

Johnson would not let his team take the field against the Seconds if the Hilltoppers were going to play a lineman named Sprott.

Bryan (Pesky) Sprott, who became the legendary star of the 1916 national championship team?

Could Sprott have moved from lineman as a sophomore to stardom two seasons later as a halfback, or was the 1914 Sprott, Pesky’s older brother?

San Diego captain Al (Pug) Mallette finally offered to play Sprott only half the game.

Johnson was not appeased and declined the offer.

The Coronado players then took a vote and decided to play the game independent of the school.

The San Diego Seconds held on for a 16-12 victory.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

If betting odds were official in the early years of football, the weight of the teams probably would have been the determining factor in selecting a favorite.

Most advance stories accentuated the players’ weight.  Teams seemed destined to win or lose on that basis.  It didn’t matter if the winner ran its plays more efficiently, had more team speed, or more deception.

The Hilltoppers  had a significant weight advantage over Coronado, according to a report in The San Diego Union.

TRAVEL

Northern teams most often arrived on a late-afternoon or early-evening train at the Santa Fe Depot the night before a Saturday afternoon contest.

A group of students and school bosses from San Diego would greet the squad and lead a caravan to its hotel.

The highlight of Long Beach’s 14-0 victory over the Hilltoppers  may have been the postgame dance in the high school ballroom that was hosted by the San Diego senior class in honor of the visitors.

TIMES CHANGE

Games could start at anytime.  Some were at 10:30 a.m., others at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE THE GIRLS ARE

From The San Diego Union Nov. 7, 1914, before San Diego’s game at Pasadena:

“Miss Bromley, history instructress at the school, will act as chaperone for the dozen girls who will make the trip in the hope of encouraging the scrimmage artists to victory.”

The Bullpups, as Pasadena was known, scored 3 touchdowns in the first five minutes and won, 54-0.

THEY SAID IT

“I have taught school for 15 years and I find that the Coronado school is the best in the country”–Ivan Deach, supervisory principal of kindergarten-to-grade-12 classes, enrollment 450.

TRUE GRID

Part of the original thinking behind San Diego’s hosting the Panama-California Exposition was that City bosses hoped ships traveling through the canal would make San Diego their first port of call…Clarence (Nibs) Price, a University of California graduate from Iowa who would lead San Diego to the mythical national championship two years later, was hired as the school’s football, basketball, baseball, and track-and-field coach…San Diego’s 7-7 tie with Ontario Chaffey was a season highlight…Chaffey had won the Southern California championship in 1913 and was the state champion…Fallbrook high opened in 1893 and there were reported games involving the school or town, although its first reported season in football was not until 1937… …San Diego end Ernest Pike was named to the second all-Southern California team…Coronado traveled north on the steamer Harvard for its game with South Pasadena….

Paul Douglas (Pete) Jernigan, one of the San Diego area’s most accomplished athletes and coaches, passed away recently at his home in Hereford, Arizona.

Jernigan, 75, played 10 seasons of professional baseball and later coached successful high school and Under 18 softball teams.

He was named “Mr. Youth Sports” by the El Cajon Parks and Recreation Department in 1984 for his contributions to girls’ athletics.

Jernigan’s teams at Santana and El Capitan posted a combined record of 118-41-4.  Santana won the San Diego Section championship in 1984 and El Capitan was runner-up in 1987.

Jernigan was a standout in football, wrestling, and baseball at Mount Miguel High, class of 1959.

After a season at San Diego Junior College, Jernigan signed with the Boston Red Sox in 1960, and was one of the Red prize minor league prospects.

Jernigan hit .342 with 19 home runs and 77 RBI in 62 games for Alpine in the Sophomore League in 1960.

His average was a combined .347 at Waterloo in the Midwest League and Johnstown in the Eastern League in 1961.

Jernigan played most of his career with Seattle and Phoenix in the AAA Pacific Coast League.

He hit .303 in 115 games with 10 home runs and 56 runs batted in for the Phoenix Giants in 1967 and retired after the 1969 season..