BY GARY MARSHALL

The new Sage Creek High School in Carlsbad is beautiful. The back-to-back baseball/softball diamonds and tennis courts are woven into a school complex that blends smoothly into the canyon hillside. It is a tribute to our community.

The facility that excited me the most was the new football stadium, with its sharply lined synthetic turf field, towering light standards and concrete stadium bleachers — all book ended by big yellow goal posts.

My reason for the excitement is that I played many high school sports — football, basketball and track — and then played college football at West Point. My son played high school football, then played football for an Ivy League college. We lived a part of the American dream. Football was tough emotionally and physically. Coupled with academics it was a real character builder.

Inspired about football in the neighborhood, I approached Sage Creek Principal Cesar Morales to see if I could help with the freshman football team. Big surprise — no football. The school offers 18 other sports, but, again, NO FOOTBALL!

Why is there a football stadium, but no football?

To date, the explanation is that Carlsbad’s school board was modeling the footprint of Canyon Crest/Torrey Pines high schools and San Dieguito/La Costa Canyon high schools. There, only one school in the district has football, supposedly creating a more “comfortable academic environment” at the non-football school.

Motivated to hopefully change the school board’s thinking, I sent “The Boys of Fall” video to Superintendent Suzette Lovely and each board member. The video demonstrates what dreams and experiences students forfeit by removing football. The superintendent and all board members are women, so my hope in having them view the video was to show how the emotion and spirit of football, like no other sport, can be transmitted to students, faculty and the community.

However, all subsequent conversations with school administrators came with the vibe that football is a potential negative and Sage Creek High School would be “a more comfortable experience” without it.

My point to them was that football is the most popular sport in the United States and is a foundational standard of the American high school experience. It teaches emotional and physical toughness, team play and responsibility.

Trying to protect students by creating an academic conclave is a mentality that weakens student experience.

In order to get an expert opinion, I contacted Ed Burke, the head coach I assisted for six years at Torrey Pines High School. Ed coached for 43 years and is in the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The football stadium at Torrey Pines High was renamed Ed Burke Stadium in his honor.

Coach Burke and I attended the Aug. 14 school board meeting. We were scheduled next to last of 40 discussion items and given five minutes. Ed eloquently explained that in 43 years he taught many subjects and coached nearly every sport. He said, “Football is by far the greatest school experience a young man can have.”

Our suggestion to the school board was to start gradually with a freshman/junior varsity team for fall 2014. Fielding a team would logically answer to the taxpaying community the question of why build a million-dollar football stadium. Lastly, each board member was given a sheet with 42 reasons a Sage Creek football program would provide a more complete and improved school experience. The board was asked if there was any discussion.

The answer from each board member was silence. No discussion. No committee to evaluate a future program.

These types of decisions, by a select few, are a microcosm of America, where comfort and protection trump individual responsibility, hard work, and endeavors that create stronger citizens.

Are these decisions moving America in the right direction?

The school board owes an explanation to the community as to who made the decision to have a football stadium and no football. The school board also owes an explanation on how it was vetted and why the community was so poorly informed.

The above appeared on the op-ed page in the Sept. 7, 2013, UT-San Diego. The author is  a 1965 graduate with academic honors from Hoover High who has  a long and distinguished background in athletics.  Marshall was a starting quarterback on the football team and also started in basketball and lettered in track and field at Hoover. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., where one of Marshall’s  coaches was Bill Parcells and his freshman basketball coach was Bobby Knight, both coaching legends.  Marshall’s football roommate was Gary Steele,  who became the first African-American letterman in football at Army. Steele is the father of ESPN anchor Sage Steele and Baltimore Ravens public relations executive Chad Steele.

I was informed this morning that Birt Slater, the legendary coach at Kearny and San Diego High, had passed away yesterday afternoon , Sept. 3, 2013.

I hope to soon have more information to pass along.

Oceanside, unapproachable in the first half and approachable in the second half of a 47-28 win over St. Augustine, picked up additional support in this week’s UT-San Diego prep football poll.

The Pirates, who led 28-0 at halftime against the Saints, will need all hands on deck for all four quarters this week when they play host to Southern Section power Gardena Serra.

Oceanside out-polled Mission Hills, 23 first-place votes to 7, and scored 302 points to the Grizzlies’ 281.  Biggest improvement went to Cathedral, which jumped from sixth to third after a 38-6 victory over Utah power Sandy Jordan.

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

Others receiving votes with points in parenthesis: Poway (38), Carlsbad (31), Ramona (27), Mount Miguel (13), Rancho Buena Vista (11), Olympian (9), Patrick Henry (5), Del Norte (2), Steele Canyon (2), El Capitan (2),  Steele Canyon (2). Valhalla (2), Brawley (1), Vista (1).

Thirty-one sportswriters, sportscasters and administrators vote each week, including:  John Maffei, Craig Malveaux, Dennis Lin, Don Norcross, Lisa Lane, and Andrew Burer,    U-T San Diego); Steve Brand, Terry Monahan, Bill Dickens, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, UT-San Diego correspondents); Nick Pellegrino, East County Sports.com; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Rick (Red) Hill (107.9 FM The Mountain); Jeff Kurtz, playonsports.com; Ernie Martinez, XTRA Sports 1360; John Kentera, Jack Cronin, Ted Mendenhall, Bob Petinak, Jordan Carruth, Bobby Wooldridge, Mark Chiebowski (The Mighty 1090), Rick Willis, Brandon Stone, Jake Fadden, KUSI-TV; Craig Elsten, 619sports.net; Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com; Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, CIF San Diego Section, and Bruce Ward, San Diego Unified School District.

Oceanside, Helix, Mission Hills, Cathedral, and Eastlake, five of the San Diego Section’s best, posted a combined, 3-2 record and scored a couple impressive, intersectional victories in the Under Armour Brothers in Arms San Diego Classic games on the season’s first weekend.

Most impressive was Cathedral’s 38-6 victory over Sandy of Jordan, Utah, ranked 25^th in the country by Max-Preps and No. 1 in Utah.

The Dons pounded the Beetdiggers with a rushing attack that gained 285 yards and averaged 4.8 yards for 59 attempts.

No. 2 Mission Hills, with only 136 total yards, handled Desert Vista of Phoenix, 13-0, on a suffocating afternoon at Cathedral.

The Grizzlies muted the Thunder, ranked seventh in Arizona, holding the visitors to 123 yards.

Hamilton of Chandler, Arizona, ranked in the top 30 nationally, managed the heat more effectively, sweeping to a 28-0 halftime lead and holding off Eastlake, 28-17.  The  Huskies outgained the Titans, 383-174.

Honolulu Punahou, with famous alum and Chargers rookie Manti Te’o watching, used a goalline stand to stop Helix 10-6.

Coach John Carroll’s Oceanside Pirates took a 28-0, second-quarter lead on St. Augustine in a battle of the section’s No. 1 and No. 5 teams and rode out a 47-28 victory.

Oceanside gets its biggest test in several years this week when it plays host to Gardena Serra, ranked anywhere from second to eighth in some national polls.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

It was St. Augustine’s home game, but the sign at the snack bar on the Northeast corner of the stadium said, “Mesa College Concessions,” with prices listed.

A smiling group of apparent Mesa students taxed the capacity of the concession stand, although it didn’t open for business until minutes before kickoff, after a couple long lines had formed.

Following a 10-minute wait I was told the hot dogs were on the grill but they weren’t available until after kickoff.

Channeling their inner “What, me worry?”, the part-time vendors were not stressed.  They probably were thinking about their postgame plans.

Meanwhile, St. Augustine personnel were aggressively hawking a football yearbook and logoed apparel.

The Saints’ side of the field was filled with about 3,000 followers, plus another 500 or so who were socializing behind the upper row of the Mesa bleachers.

Oceanside had about 600 persons on its side.  The rest may have been home awaiting next week’s big one with Serra Gardena or didn’t want to battle I-5 traffic during Friday rush hour.

QUICK KICKS—El Capitan scored 70 points, marking the 58^th time that plateau has been reached, dating to 1920, when the Vaqueros shutout Peace River of Alberta, Canada…70 points has been achieved on 13 other occasions…in what must have been a record, San Diego Section teams were involved in 54 games in Week 1…San Diego County teams were 9-5 against all intersectional opposition….Julian and Borrego Springs, now annually meeting in a nonleague game at the start of the season and playing a Citrus League contest later, engaged in another “Battle of Banner Grade”, with Julian winning 46-26 and improving its overall series record to 33-9 since 1967…

High school football has become all about ratings in California.

Cal-Hi Sports is out with its first poll of the 2013 campaign and already has Concord De La Salle representing the North in the State Open Division championship game, probably against Corona Centennial,  Bellflower St. John Bosco, or Gardena Serra.

Serra comes South in Week 2 to meet Oceanside, pride of the San Diego Section.  With the local section adding an Open Division this year, Oceanside and others are eligible to play in the State Open Division Bowl.

But if coach John Carroll’s Pirates lose to Serra, or anyone else, they will be eliminated from State Open Division consideration, according to Cal-Hi Sports.

It will be one and out.

Cal-Hi Sports has ranked Oceanside No. 8 in California, behind  De La Salle, Centennial, St. John Bosco, Serra, Long Beach Poly, and Vista Murrieta.

Mission Hills is ranked 30th, Helix 34th, and Madison 49th, among other San Diego entries.

In the breakdown by divisions, Oceanside is fifth in D-I South, Mission Hills 18th and Helix 20th.

Madison is ninth in D-II and St. Augustine 14th.  Hoover is 10th in III, with Santa Fe Christian sixth and Francis Parker seventh in IV.

Oceanside has some important business to take care of before it confronts Serra.  The Pirates visit pugnacious St. Augustine  at Mesa College in a big opening game Friday, Aug. 30.

*Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.                                                                     #Cathedral record was 8-2 before forfeits.

Others receiving votes with points in parenthesis: Ramona (27), Patrick Henry (17), Lincoln  (16), Carlsbad (13), Brawley (113), Rancho Buena Vista (12), El Norte (11), Point Loma (5), Valley Center (5), Mount Miguel (5), Olympian (4), Mar Vista (5), Steele Canyon (1), El Capitan (1), Vista (1).

Thirty-one sportswriters, sportscasters and administrators vote each week, including:  John Maffei, Craig Malveaux, Dennis Lin, Don Norcross, Lisa Lane, and Andrew Burer, UT San Diego); Steve Brand, Terry Monahan, Bill Dickens, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, UT San Diego correspondents); Nick Pellegrino, East County Sports.com; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Rick (Red) Hill (107.9 FM The Mountain); Jeff Kurtz, playonsports.com; Ernie Martinez, XTRA Sports 1360; John Kentera, Jack Cronin, Ted Mendenhall, Bob Petinak, Jordan Carruth, Bobby Wooldridge, Mark Chiebowski (The Mighty 1090), Rick Willis, Brandon tone, Jake Fadden, KUSI-TV; Craig Elsten, 619sports.net; Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com; Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, CIF San Diego Section, and Bruce Ward, San Diego Unified School District.