Records through Monday, March 7:

**Forfeited 73-64 victory over Manhattan Beach Mira Costa Dec. 26.                                    *Forfeited 57-37 victory Dec. 5 over Horizon.                                                                                  Points awarded on basis of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Others receiving votes, including record: San  Marcos (22-7, 11), Grossmont (22-7, 4); La Jolla (19-11, 2); Bonita Vista (20-12, 1); Helix (19-11, 1).

Eleven media representatives vote, including John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), Terry Monahan, Jim Lindgren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, EastCountySports.com; Rick Willis, KUSI-TV; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Lisa Lane, San Diego Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.

San Diego’s eternal quest for respect from the Southern Section renews this week with opening rounds of the state regional playoffs.

Respect still is to be earned.

Only one of 15 boys teams is seeded higher than its opponent in the six divisions, Open and I-V, brackets for which were announced yesterday by the state CIF office in Sacramento.

El Camino (27-5)  is eighth in D-IV and plays host to No. 9 Rancho Mirage (30-1) on Wednesday.

San Diego Section girls fared better.

No. 5 Los Angeles Windward (20-6) will visit No. 4 Mission Hills (28-3) in the Open Division, which begins play Friday.

The Bishop’s is top seed in D-I and will take on No. 16 Westlake Village Oaks Christian (20-8) on Wednesday and No. 7 Torrey Pines (22-8) plays host to 10 Santa Barbara (26-4).

No. 8 Mount Miguel (21-11) entertains No. 9 Crescenta Valley and 7 Westview (25-6) receives 10 Manhattan Beach Mira Costa (22-9) in D-II.

No. 7 Eastlake (26-6) plays host to No. 10 Lake Elsinore Lakeside (25-5) in D-III.  No. 8 Poway (19-11) is home to No. 9 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (16-15) in D-IV.

Thirty squads, 15 girls, 15 boys, will be in action this week.

Boys matchups to watch:

OPEN DIVISION

No. 5 seed Foothills Christian (24-4), seventh-ranked in California and 23^rd in the country by Max Preps and fifth in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, gets another shot at Santa Ana Mater Dei (27-4), which beat the Knights, 61-53, a couple weeks ago and hasn’t lost a home game in 10 years…Mater Dei, Max Preps’ state No. 4 and U.S. No. 8, and Cal-Hi Sports’ No. 4, is recovering from one of the worst defeats in school history, 102-54, to Chino Hills in the Southern Section semifinals a week ago…the winner will be “rewarded” with another shot at Chino Hills, the No. 1 team  in the United States…Foothills lost to the Huskies, 106-86 in December and 85-83 in January and is one of the few to test this squad, which has surpassed 100 points 14 times…Thomas Jefferson of Brooklyn lost a 91-90 decision and Montverde Academy of Florida was edged, 83-82…St. Patrick’s of Elizabeth, N.J., also came close but lost, 66-60, and Torrance Bishop Montgomery fell, 71-67 to Chino Hills…Cathedral (20-6) is seeded seventh and gives the San Diego Section two of the eight Open berths, compared to 4 for the Southern and one each for the Los Angeles City and Central sections…the Dons will make a 140-mile jaunt to Chatsworth and meet No. 2-ranked Sierra Canyon, a ballyhooed club that Max Preps ranks third in the state and seventh in the U.S. and is coming off a 105-83 loss to Chino Hills…the 26-4 Trailblazers defeated tough Redondo Beach Redondo Union, 74-70, and Bishop Montgomery, 78-69, in the Southern playoffs and had losses to national powers Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, 49-48, and Montverde Academy, 81-67…Cathedral is ranked 28^th in the state by Max Preps….

DIVISION III

What am I missing?  Kearny (30-3) has been dismissed as a 15 seed..the Komets visit second-ranked Huntington Beach Edison (24-9), which played a predominantly Orange County schedule with no great wins and two bad losses, 83-44 to Santa Ana Mater Dei, and 72-52 to Villa Park. Kearny lost one game by forfeit and another when star player Takoda Browne was absent..the Komets are quick, have a decent big man, defend, and hustle at both ends of the court….

Girls matchups to watch:

OPEN DIVISION

Mission Hills (26-3) and La Jolla Country Day (24-5) are the fourth and sixth seeds, respectively, and San Diego has two teams in the elite division, compared to 4 for the Southern and 1 each for the Los Angeles City and Central sections…’Day, coached by Terry Bamford, who has taken the Torreys to four state championships, opens at Long Beach Poly (25-4)…the Jackrabbits lost, 72-63, to West Hills Chaminade, the No. 1 seed, in the Southern finals but also hold a 50-39 victory over Chaminade…the Poly environment shouldn’t bother the La Jolla team, which has been steeled over the years with big games and intersectional schedules…Mission Hills’ 68-64 win over ‘Day in the San Diego finals elevated the Grizzlies…they have a home game against No. 5 Los Angeles Windward (20-6).

Other pairings:

BOYS

El Camino (27-5)  is eighth in D-IV and plays host to No. 9 Rancho Mirage (30-1) on Wednesday.

GIRLS

The Bishop’s is top seed in D-I and will take on No. 16 Westlake Village Oaks Christian (20-8) on Wednesday and No. 7 Torrey Pines (22-8) plays host to 10 Santa Barbara (26-4).

No. 8 Mount Miguel (21-11) entertains No. 9 Crescenta Valley and 7 Westview (25-6) receives  10 Manhattan Beach Mira Costa (22-9) in D-II.

No. 7 Eastlake (26-6) plays host to No. 10 Lake Elsinore Lakeside (25-5) in D-III.  No. 8 Poway (19-11) is home to No. 9 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (16-15) in D-IV.

Jerry Ralph made history earlier this week when he was announced as the head football coach at El Camino High in Oceanside, becoming the first to lead five different San Diego Section programs.

Ralph has compiled a 123-76-2  (.614) record in 18 seasons, beginning in 1997 at Santana, followed by stints at St. Augustine, Del Norte, and Hoover.

Willie Matson (184-132-6, .581) also has had five head coaching assignments, but two were at the same school.  Matson began at Mission Bay in 1984 and returned there in 2005.

Matson is still active, ranking 12^th all-time in number of wins.  Ralph is 30^th.

Dave Gross (106-123-3, .464) also was a five-time head coach, including two tenures each at Imperial and El Cajon Valley.

Ralph had shared the lead with Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto, who also guided programs at University, Rancho Bernardo, and Lincoln. Hamamoto is eighth on the career list with 203 victories.

Gil Warren and Walter (Bud) Mayfield also had four head coaching tenures.

Warren began at Castle Park in 1967 and returned there in 1992 and also was  at San Diego Southwest and Olympian.

Mayfield began at Coronado in 1979 and was reappointed there in 1989 and again in 1993.  Sandwiched between his runs at Coronado was a year stay at University in 1981.

See list of Coaches with a minimum of 100 wins here.

Open Division teams, representing the elite of San Diego Section basketball as determined by the power ratings system, don’t get under way in the  playoffs until Friday (Girls) and Saturday (Boys).

Divisions I-V begin play tonight (Girls) and tomorrow (Boys).

Several factors go into the power ratings, administered by assistant commissioner John LaBeta, who heard some complaints regarding North County teams, which receive the majority of coverage in The San Diego Union-Tribune.

.El Camino boys coach Tom Tarantino thought the Wildcats should have been in the Open Division.  His team defeated Open No. 5 seed Army-Navy, 64-53.

In defense of the ratings, Army-Navy was 7-3 in intersectional play.  El Camino was 2-5. In Max Preps’ extended, computerized ratings, Army-Navy is ranked 63rd in California, El Camino 84th.

One of El Camino’s out-of-section losses was 65-52 to Temecula Valley, a team Army-Navy defeated 77-71.

The Mission Hills girls, ranked sixth in the state by Cal Hi-Sports, were seeded fourth in the open division.

The Grizzlies are 5-1 against the best girls’ teams in the area, La Jolla Country Day (state No. 7, according to Cal-Hi Sports), The Bishop’s (16th), and Torrey Pines (on bubble).

Working against Mission Hills were its opponents in the  Avocado East, in which the Grizzlies played multiple games against weaklings.

Unsolicited advice to unhappy coaches:  Play a good, tough nonleague schedule.  You can’t control your league competition.

Boys poll and records through Monday, Feb. 22:

Eleven media representatives vote, including John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), Terry Monahan, Jim Lindgren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, EastCountySports.com; Rick Willis, KUSI-TV; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Lisa Lane, San Diego Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.

Assistant commissioner John LaBeta will be up into the early morning hours Saturday and, hopefully after a few hours sleep, at it again when the sun rises.

Basketball’s most important weekend is at hand.

LaBeta is the ratings maven for the San Diego Section.

The regular season ends Friday night and teams will have until midnight to get their results to the CIF office, where LaBeta will make the final ratings computation for the first of three tiers of postseason play: San Diego Section, Southern California Regional, and State championships.

Seedings, brackets, and divisional placements probably will be announced by early afternoon Saturday.

From the Apollo to the Valley, there are 123 boys teams in 23 leagues and 120 girls squads in 22 circuits. The only difference in boys’ and girls’ competition is that ten boys teams play in the Frontier North and Frontier South leagues, while seven girls squads comprise one Frontier League.

LaBeta, commissioner Jerry Schniepp, and other members of the CIF staff are sporting bloodshot eyes and the beginnings of cauliflower ears from all the time they’re spending in front of their computers and on the telephones this week.

The universal basketball participation demonstrates the game’s popularity. By comparison, in 2015 a total of 83 schools fielded football teams, a sport not favored by all of the section’s institutions.

The ratings system, now an accepted fixture in California prep sports, was altered again this year, hopefully ensuring no repeat of 2015, when girls champion Horizon and boys titlist Escondido were not allowed to proceed beyond the San Diego Section tournament.

Meanwhile, Foothills Christian continues to dominate the Union-Tribune poll and is fifth in the state top 20 as ranked by Cal-Hi Sports. Mission Hills is seventh, La Jolla Country Day eighth, and The Bishop’s 17th in the girls’ top 20.

Boys poll and records through Monday, Feb. 15:

*Forfeited 57-37 victory Dec. 5 over Horizon. **Forfeited 73-64 victory over Manhattan Beach Mira Costa Dec. 26.                                     Points awarded on basis of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Others receiving votes, including record:   Mission Bay (18-6, 11), San  Marcos (18-6, 9), West Hills (19-5, 4).

Eleven media representatives vote, including John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), Terry Monahan, Jim Lindgren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, EastCountySports.com; Rick Willis, KUSI-TV; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Lisa Lane, San Diego Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.

Who saw the game and who didn’t commanded almost as much attention as Kearny’s semifinals playoff victory over Escondido.

President John F. Kennedy’s death and the resulting week’s postponement generated several more days of pregame coverage by area media outlets and contributed to a building buzz about the game.

And some unforeseen problems.

The estimated attendance of 17,000 was the largest for a high school game here since 20,000 saw the 1949 San Diego-Hoover contest.

The 20,000 figure could have been topped, but at least 2,000 persons didn’t get in and others turned away in frustration.

Only two Stadium gates were open and many fans couldn’t gain entry because sellers had run out of tickets, according to  CIF commissioner Don Clarkson.  A crowd of about 12,000 had been predicted.

Until 10 minutes before kickoff, uniformed guards kept the stadium’s upper deck closed, forcing fans to find end zone seats on the lower level, when excellent midfield seats were available up above.

A decision was made to open the upper deck and fans began streaming in.

No one thought to play the national anthem before the game.  Someone realized the oversight in the first quarter.  Play was stopped, the band played the anthem, and a color guard raised flags.

One competing school is designated the home team for the playoffs, said Clarkson, throwing Escondido under the bus and inferring the CIF had clean hands.

Escondido, 40 miles North,  was an infrequent Stadium visitor. The question wasn’t asked, but in retrospect should all the blame for logistical errors at a major CIF event have been dumped on one of the schools?

I stepped onto the roof of the Balboa Stadium press box in the second quarter and could follow a line of waiting spectators in the alley between San Diego High and the stadium that stretched all the way to Russ Boulevard, a distance of about 200 yards.

KEARNY TO PLAY HOST

Things wouldn’t be the same for the championship, promised Gustav Lundmark, vice principal at Kearny.

“We’ll have all the gates open and plenty of tickets,” said Lundmark.  “We’ll also get the gates open a half hour early, at six-thirty.  This was a mess.”

Commissioner Clarkson also announced that tickets for Kearny-El Capitan would be sold at eight area business outlets.

The finals went off without a logistical hitch.  Attendance was 13,520.