Duane Maley, his voice hoarse and body soaked from an impromptu shower by the coach’s shouting, celebrating players, stood amid the bedlam of the San Diego High sideline in Balboa Stadium.

“My kids played the best football game I’ve ever seen,” said Maley after the gritty, 7-0 victory over the 7-0 Hoover Cardinals in perhaps the biggest regular-season game in the history of either school.

“It was strictly a team job,” Maley told Jerry Brucker of the Evening Tribune.  “All our guys played their best ball.  We beat Hoover up the gut (151 yards rushing), where they’re toughest.”

Only weeks before the headlines in San Diego newspapers seemed to say it all:

“CAVEMEN, AT LONG LAST, LOSE FAVORITE’S ROLE”

“CAVE FORTUNES AT LOW EBB”

The latter referenced a stunning, 25-0 defeat in the second game of the season against a middling Pasadena squad the Hillers had annually pushed around when the schools were members of the Coast League.

The Bullpups, eventually renamed Bulldogs, who had dropped their opener to Compton, 28-0, scored in every quarter and stunned the visitors from the Border City.

San Diego had won or shared City Prep League titles since the circuit was formed in 1950, but the 7-3 team of 1953 had graduated virtually everyone and that team had made an unexpectedly early departure from the playoffs, spanked by Anaheim, 21-7.

At 1-1 (the opener was a 7-2 victory over visiting Lynwood) Duane Maley’s team appeared ready to be had, especially after Hoover opened with a 34-20 win over Santa Monica, the reigning, two-time Southern California champion,  and followed with a 20-0 victory at San Bernardino.

The Cavers’ three lettermen were end-linebacker Deron Johnson, who had been promoted from the junior varsity in ’53, halfway through his sophomore season; fullback Joe Banks, and halfback Don Strickland.

POWELL, GUMINA, AND WEST

Maley and his assistant coach, Birt Slater, talked about what needed to be done on the long bus ride back to San Diego after the loss at Pasadena.

They hadn‘t yet proved themselves but junior halfback Willie West and junior quarterback Pete Gumina were going to be stars, as would end Art Powell, Charlie’s younger brother.

Halfbacks James Grady and Leonard Kary, center Henry Wakefield, tackles Tom Collins, A.C. Mills, and  Dick Szakacs, guards Wayne Melvin and Don Hiler, fullback Eldridge Cooks, and others till now unknown, also would have to rise.

Maley and Slater spent the weekend looking at their team’s now uncertain future but with their eyes fixed on a destination game against Hoover, six weeks down the road.

MOMENTUM

Essentially routine victories of 39-19 over La Jolla and 32-0 over Lincoln got the Hillers back on track.  They moved to 4-1 with a 28-6 win over Point Loma that took on some added cachet considering the Pointers had scared Hoover before bowing, 20-13.

San Diego didn’t put Kearny away until the fourth quarter of a 26-13 exercise but it climbed to 6-1 with a 41-19 victory over old punching bag Grossmont as Gumina passed for three touchdowns and had two others dropped.

CARDINALS SOLID FAVORITES

San Diego had come a long way from 0-25, but oddsmakers probably would have made Hoover at least a seven or eight-point favorite in the rivals’ upcoming title showdown.

The Cavers were ready when Grady signaled their intentions by returning the opening kickoff to his 37-yard line, stopped  by John Adams, who made an ankle-top tackle.

From there it was a back-and-forth struggle that wasn’t decided until the Cavers’ Joe Banks nudged over for the game’s only touchdown with a little more than six minutes to play.

LAS VEGAS, LONG BEACH WILSON FOLLOW

The  victory was challenged by a chorus of Hoover complaints about the game officials, but they were drowned out by the euphoria of  San Diego’s victory in this rare role as an underdog.

The Cavers weren’t finished.  They went to 8-1 the next week at home with a 26-13 triumph over the 7-2 Las Vegas Wildcats, Nevada’s top team, and then opened the playoffs at home with a 26-13 victory over Long Beach Wilson.

Wilson, which upset the Hillers, 27-13, in the 1945 playoffs and with a 5-3 record this season, led San Diego, 13-7, with just under eight minutes remaining in the game.  Touchdowns by West, Cooks, and Kary finally vaulted the Cavers past the pesky Bruins.

Next would be a quarterfinal test at Santa Monica, which had rebounded from the loss to Hoover and was 7-2, seeking its third straight Southern Section championship.

Trouble loomed.

Deron Johnson sustained a broken hand and Leonard Kary suffered fractured ankle in the third quarter against Wilson. Both  were done for the season. Art Powell came down with a broken toe on the last play of the game but would play against the slightly favored Vikings.

Santa Monica, a 13-12 winner over the Hillers in the 1947 championship game, held on to win,14-13, as Vikings supporters flooded the field  at the end of the game, more relieved than anything else.

Quarterback Lee Grosscup converted 10 of 15 passing attempts for 148 yards and a touchdown and kept the Cavers on their heels.  The Vikings won the yardage battle 344-273, but the visitors rushed for 238 yards and were in position to take the lead in the fourth quarter.

HILLERS DENIED

Trailing, 14-13 (a fumbled snap nullified one point-after-touchdown attempt on a field wet from recent rain), the Cavers began from their 20-yard line, where Gumina pitched to Banks, who lateraled to a trailing Willie West.

West weaved 60 yards downfield to the Vikings’ 20, then lateraled to the trailing Gumina, who finally was downed on the 12.

Three plays later the Cavers were back on the 14.

Gumina passed to Alden Kimbrough, Deron Johnson’s replacement.  Kimbrough juggled the ball in the end zone, then saw the ball squirt from his hands.

Santa Monica rode out the clock.

Despite the loss, Maley noted that no team of his “had started with so little and come so far.”

The Cavemen already were thinking ahead to 1955.

WHEN AND WHERE?

San Diego had two representatives for the first time in the CIF Southern Section large-school playoffs, the postseason bracket having increased from 10 to 16 teams, the additional six including selected league second-place finishers or deserving free-lance teams.

Despite a crushing loss to San Diego and a struggle the following week in a 14-7 victory over start-up Lincoln, Hoover was in for the first time since winning the Bay League in 1935.

The first-round was scheduled for Friday, Nov. 26, in the middle of the Thanksgiving weekend.  Southern Section commissioner Ken Fagans ruled out the possibility of two Friday night games in San Diego and what their effect would have on ticket revenue.

San Diego was booked for a Saturday afternoon contest in Balboa Stadium against Long Beach Wilson, the Coast League runner-up.

Hoover, the San Diego City League’s No. 2 team, would meet Coast league champion Compton.

Six days after the loss to San Diego and before the final regular-season game, Hoover principal Floyd Johnson and head coach Bob Kirchhoff were in Oceanside for a 9 a.m. meeting with Compton coach Gordon Orr and athletics director Keith Lee.

The Cardinals won a coin toss at the meeting and hosted a Wednesday night game the next week. Leading, 12-0, at halftime, the Cardinals fell to the Tarbabes, 20-18.

HONORS

Art Powell and John Adams made the all-Southern Section first team.  San Diego’s Johnson and Hoover tackle Troy Barbee were on the third team.  Another third-team choice was Compton Centennial’s Paul Lowe, later to become one of the San Diego Chargers’ all-time running backs.

Back Bob Erwin of Chula Vista and center Bill Cooper of Hawthorne were co-players of the year in the lower division. Chula Vista end Carroll Clowers was on the second team.

SIGNS OF THE TIME

Halloween rascals were not out in force, according to County sheriffs, but don’t tell that to Escondido principal Guilford (Bud) Quade.

Inventive vandals hurled light bulbs filled with paint, damaging Quade’s automobile, and “grease bombs” were tossed at his home.

This Bud definitely wasn’t for the Cougars’ boss.

HORNETS’ GYM APPROVED

The San Diego Board of Education accepted the low bid on construction of an auditorium-gymnasium at the new Lincoln High after having delayed action when the bid turned out to be $12,409 in excess of the estimate.

Chamco Construction won the bid at $378,669, which reconciled at  $13.46 a square foot.  The same contractor won  a bid for a similar gymnasium-auditorium at Mission Bay for $10.10 per square foot.

Assistant superintendent George Geyer suggested accepting the Lincoln offer because it would take a year to redesign the building and call for new bids.

PIGSKIN OR RUBBER…NO MATTER

Oceanside won the inaugural Avocado League championship by virtue of a 0-0 tie with old rival Escondido on a field left sloppy from rains.

The teams had prepared for an off track by introducing an easier-to-grasp rubber football, similar to that used by teams from the Eastern part of the country when bad weather hits in the late fall.

But as Union writer Dave Gallup pointed out, fumbles and intercepted balls were caused by a slick ball.

Escondido had 93 yards total offense, Oceanside 31.

SORRY, WRONG NUMBER!

Lincoln halfback Sam Goldstein was The San Diego Union City Prep League back of the week after he led the Hornets to their first ever victory with two touchdowns in a 19-0, opening-game shutout at Escondido.

Identity theft?  Actually, two or three.

As noted in a much smaller story the next day:

Goldstein didn’t score on a 35-yard pass-run play with quarterback “Don” Seeley or on a 75-yard pass play later in the game.

Doyle Seeley was the quarterback in question, but it was Percy Campbell who threw the two touchdown passes.

And it was halfback Charlie Cox who scored the touchdowns.

The Union declared the mistaken identity on Goldstein-Cox was due to a switch in jersey numbers.

But what about Don, er, Doyle Seeley and Percy Campbell?  They didn’t change jersey numbers.

22-POINT LOSS IS IMPROVEMENT

Grossmont’s 41-19 loss to San Diego actually qualified as a moral victory.

–Grossmont was winless in 11 games against Cavers’ varsity dating to 1922, the season which ushered in the series with a 40-7 San Diego victory.

–The teams didn’t meet again until 1943.  From that season through 1949, Grossmont was outscored, 128-7, in five losses.

–Grossmont was on the sore end of a 67-0 score in 1953.

–Eight of San Diego’s 11 wins were by shutout.

–The 19 points scored against the Cavemen this season almost equaled the 21 Grossmont had scored in the previous 33.

Grossmont  also had a 1-4-1 all-time record against San Diego’s Reserves, B teams, or the split squad of the World War II 1942 season.

FUTURE CHARGERS

First-year Compton Centennial was a surprising winner in the Southern Section playoffs, defeating Glendale Hoover, 12-6.  Single-wing tailback Paul Lowe completed a 50-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the game for the victory.

Santa Monica and Compton, teams which eliminated San Diego and Hoover, were themselves beaten in the semifinals.  The Cavers and Cardinals still ranked among the best of the 227 schools competing in the CIF Southern Section.

QUICK KICKS

Don Giddings was the veteran Point Loma coach…Don Giddings also was the name of the horse that ran out of the money at Jamaica Racetrack on Long Island, N.Y….Ray Blasingame, who also answered to “Boomer” and “Blaster”, Point Loma’s 1953, all-league end, was an all-league fullback in 1954…21,000 persons were in Balboa Stadium as the East (La Jolla, Hoover, Kearny) topped the West (Lincoln, Point Loma, San Diego),  18-13, in the CPL carnival…6,000  jammed Spartan Stadium in Chula Vista for the Metropolitan League carnival, matching the Grossmont school district league schools against teams from the Sweetwater district…the Avocado League got into the carnival spirit two weeks into the season, when 4,000 filled Escondido’s new, Vallecitos Stadium to watch the inland schools, Escondido, Fallbrook, and Vista, defeat the Coastals, San Dieguito, Oceanside, and Coronado, 21-13…San Diego’s Art Powell wore jersey number 49, same as worn by brother Charlie five seasons before…Mar Vista, enrollment 410, bailed from the Metropolitan League and would go into the Avocado loop in 1955…the Split T formation favored by college powerhouse Oklahoma was en vogue…La Jolla finally gave up the single wing for the Split T under second-year coach Frank Smith….University of California coach Lynn (Pappy) Waldorf was guest of honor and speaker when the North Park Kiwanis honored the Hoover and  San Diego squads with a postseason dinner at the Imig Manor Hotel on El Cajon Boulevard….

Frank Greene had spent much of his life around a football field or in law enforcement when he was shot and killed at age 43 on Oct. 12, 1954.

Greene set the standing California high school record of 80 points in one game when he scored 11 touchdowns and 14 points after in a 108-0 Coronado victory over Sweetwater in 1929.

Greene, whose  death came 25 years and two days after his  feat, was a lieutenant on the Coronado police force, working the graveyard shift with Richard Lutsey, a Navy shore patrolman.

Newspaper reports said Greene had received a tip that a robbery was planned to take place at the Mexican Village Restaurant on Orange Avenue.

It was 1:25 a.m. when Greene and his partner noticed with suspicion a 1947  Ford sedan and signaled for the vehicle to pull over as it drove slowly down Coronado’s main thoroughfare.

…”THEN THE SHOT”

Three men were in the vehicle.  Greene approached the driver’s side and asked, ‘Where are you going?'” and motioned the occupants to step from the car.

“The fellow sitting next to the driver got out right away,” said Greene’s partner, shore patrolman  Lutsey.  “The passenger was facing me when the lieutenant made some remark, like he was insisting on identification papers from the driver.”

A moment or two passed.  “Then it happened,” said Lutsey.  “”I heard a slight scuffle and then the shot.”

Greene fell backward.  He probably was dead when he hit the pavement, from a bullet that entered below Greene’s right cheek and lodged in his neck.

The shooter, Roberto Rodriquez, 27, and Rafael Gruber, 22, a passenger in the backseat, fled.  Benjamin Brozowski, 39, who sat next to Rodriguez, was held at the scene by Lutsey.

KITCHEN EMPLOYEES

All three worked in the Hotel del Coronado kitchen as dishwashers, although Brozowski also was described as a “salad man.”

A manhunt involving peace officers from Coronado, San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, the Naval Air Station, and National Guard resulted in arrests of all three within 31 hours.

Officers went house to house, helicopters were deployed along beaches and the Coronado ferry slips were guarded. The community of 12,500 residents was sealed off.

Rodriguez was found days later huddled in the attic of the Hotel del Coronado annex.

Gruber had escaped to Tijuana by traveling on foot 10 miles down the beach on the ocean side of the Silver Strand, Coronado’s only outbound (and blocked) road.

Gruber turned himself in at San  Ysidro after reading in a Tijuana newspaper that he was accused of being the shooter.

Rodriguez was tried and sentenced to life in prison for first degree murder and given consecutive sentences for conspiracy to commit robbery and for possession of a gun by a felon.  Rodriguez had been in and out of prison since his teenage years.

Brozowski was given a life sentence for murder and five years to life for conspiracy to commit robbery. Gruber received five to life for robbery conspiracy.

MOCKS JUDGE’S ADMONITION

Rodriguez smiled and waved when the sentence was pronounced by Superior Court Judge John Hewicker, who criticized the jury’s decision, believing Rodriguez should have gotten the gas chamber.  A juror said the jury vote was 11-1 for death.

Gruber, who had testified against the other two defendants, attempted to hang himself while in the San Diego City Jail.  He said he feared prison and “friends” who would seek revenge on Rodriguez’ behalf.

Greene is the only Coronado policeman killed in the line of duty.  He was active in the community as a founder of Coronado’s Little Theater and as a coach of the semipro Coronado Colts football team.

Greene had been screen tested by the RKO Radio Pictures studio.

PLAYED AND COACHED

Greene received all-America honorable mention as a kicker and single wing blocking quarterback under the legendary “Gloomy” Gus Henderson at Tulsa University.

Greene played  for the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL in 1934-35 and was a player-coach with the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the American Football League in 1936.

Greene scored 164 points for the 8-1 Coronado Islanders, whose only 1929 loss was to Southern California champion Long Beach Poly, 20-7.  He held the school season scoring record for 74 years, until J.R. Roggin bettered the mark in 2003.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoover principal Floyd Johnson was thinking of making a change when he met with football coach Bob Kirchhoff before the 1954-55 school year.

Johnson was dissatisfied.  A 1953 season that began with much promise was sullied by a 4-4-1 finish that included a 39-0 loss to rival San Diego High.

Johnson would retire after the 1955-56 school year. He had been at Hoover since it opened in 1930 and had guided the East San Diego school as it  became one of the most respected academically and athletically in Southern California.

The Cardinals had their share of victories against San Diego High in all sports but football.

After an 0-8 beginning in 1948, Kirchhoff had built a strong program, including a 28-13 win over the Cavers in 1949.  Five successive losses followed.

“Floyd Johnson hated San Diego with a passion,” said the late coach Walt Harvey, who remembered Johnson as a powerful community figure who would sit on the players’ bench during basketball games and walk the sidelines at football games.

Johnson, possibly thinking of retirement in a couple years and that this marked his school team’s best chance to beat the Hillers, posed a direct question to Kirchhoff:  “Are we going to beat San Diego this year?”

Kirchhoff, now aware of a tenuous position, was confident, answering in the affirmative that yes, this was going to be the Cardinals’ year.

Hoover was returning more than 30 players and a letterman at every position.

Johnson would give Kirchhoff one more chance.  “If we don’t win it, I’m going to make a change,” Kirchhoff years later said the principal promised.

Rumors had circulated that Kirchhoff’s line coach, Herbert (Hub) Foote, a 1941 Hoover graduate, would be the next coach of the Cardinals.  Foote thought he had a promise from Johnson.

But events that began a couple years before would work against Foote…and Kirchhoff.

Stan Williamson, the coach of San Diego’s Naval Air team, had completed a military deployment and was returning to his pre-Korean War position as head football coach at Santa Barbara State.

The Gauchos’ football and baseball  coach since 1950 was Roy Engle, who would be out of a job.

Engle was a Johnson favorite.

Engle scored the Cardinals’ first touchdown against San Diego and was the pivotal figure in their first victory over the city rivals when Engle led a fourth-quarter touchdown drive to a 7-6 victory over the Hilltoppers in 1935.

After graduating from USC, Engle returned to Hoover.  He was the 24-year-old head coach of the 1942 baseball team that was led by future major leaguer Ray Boone and won the CIF Southern Section championship.

Engle now returned to Hoover a second time in 1953, appointed by Johnson to teach science and biology.  Kirchhoff’s coaching assistants were Bill Matthie, Don Henson, and Hub Foote.

It was with this backdrop that Hoover and Kirchhoff  embarked on the 1954 campaign.

CARDINALS OFF FAST

Hoover passed its first test, a big one.  The Cardinals fell behind, 13-0, at Santa Monica, then rolled to a 34-20 victory over passing ace Lee Grosscup and dealing the two-time defending CIF champion Vikings their first loss since 1952.

Point Loma, middle of the road but tough, also took a 13-0 lead, but  John Adams, the 6-foot, 2-inch, 215-pound fullback who was the prized recruit in Southern California prep circles, and quarterback Gene Leek brought the Cardinals back to a 20-13 victory.

Adams, a member of Hoover’s City Prep League-champion 880-yard relay team could cover 100 yards in 10 seconds.

Adams bruised  La Jolla for three touchdowns and 160 yards rushing and ran his Southern California-leading scoring total to 101 points in a 27-0 victory.

(Adams’s La Jolla thrusts were preceded by  equally explosive efforts in routs of Kearny, 45-0, St. Augustine, 66-0, and Pasadena Muir, 39-14).

—Hoover now was 7-0 and its destiny, and ultimately Kirchhoff’s future as football coach, would be decided against the 6-1 San Diego Cavemen.

—A crowd of more than 15,000, largest in the series since 1949, turned out on a damp evening and braced for the most compelling battle in the history of the rivalry.

(Although contested in Balboa Stadium, next to the San Diego campus, the game was the feature of Hoover’s Homecoming Day).

—The Cardinals and Cavers sparred through the first half, Hoover stopping San Diego on its seven-yard line in the second quarter, while Hoover did not strike beyond San Diego’s 37 until the third quarter, when the game changed.

—On third down from the Cardinals’ 29 halfback Dan Bonetti raced to the 35, then lateraled to big Adams, who took off down the sideline.

—San Diego’s Leonard Kary made what Jim Trinkle of The San Diego Union described as a “desperate, diving tackle” on the 2-yard line, bringing down Adams after a 63-yard run.

—San Diego linebacker Tom Collins stopped Adams at the one-foot line on the next play. .

HOLDING AND NO PASS INTERFERENCE

—Trinkle wrote:  “The next two maneuvers—in the mind of Hoover coach Bob Kirchhoff—will live in infamy in Hockerville.”

—Denny Hill crossed the goal line at right tackle but Hoover was penalized for holding, pushing Hoover back to the 15.

Kirchhoff contended the penalty was called after Hill scored and should have been assessed on the subsequent kickoff, which meant that Kirchhoff was misreading the rule book or the newspaper report was inaccurate.

You can’t have a holding penalty on  a scoring play, count the touchdown, and then assess the penalty.

—The next play was a pass into the end zone from Leek to John Vanderlinde.  “If there was interference, it wasn’t detected by the officials,” wrote Trinkle.

—A photograph of the play was in the column next to Trinkle’s report on the front page of the Union‘s sports section.  The right arm of San Diego’s Art Powell is clearly inside the left arm of Vanderlinde’s.

—The official on the play was Jack Garner, a friend of Kirchhoff’s who worked with Kirchhoff and former Hoover star George Stephenson as part of the chain crew at Chargers games for more than 20 years.

—“He told me, ‘How could I make a call in that situation against San Diego  High?’” Kirchhoff said years later.

—Joe Banks pushed over from the one-yard line with 6:16 to play for the game’s only score, set up by Pete Gumina’s 25-yard completion to Powell.

—Hoover moved to the Cavers’ 12 late in the game, but tackle Don Hiler sacked Leek for a 16-yard loss and and the Cardinals were done.

—The favored Redbirds were beaten on the scoreboard and in the statistics.  San Diego led, 9-5, in first downs and in total yardage, 238-127. Adams had 103 yards in 16 carries.

Willie West led San Diego with 108 yards in 13 carries.  Leek was 0 for 7 passing and Gumina completed 5 of 9 for 87 yards.

—Hoover beat neophyte Lincoln, 14-7, in its final regular-season game the next week.

The Cardinals’ somnambulant performance was partly influenced by Kirchhoff’s  playing the game under wraps, with scouts from potential CIF Southern Section playoff opponents on hand.

—Leading, 12-0, at halftime, Hoover dropped a 20-18 decision to Compton in a first-round playoff  shrouded in fog at Hoover the next week.

—The fog was a sadly prophetic omen for Kirchhoff, who had coached his last game and would be replaced by Engle.

CONFIRMATION

News of Kirchhoff’s being out didn’t surface until May of the following spring.  Evening Tribune reporter Jerry Brucker contacted Johnson after rumors began to circulate.

Johnson and Kirchhoff had met the previous week, according to the principal, and Johnson told Brucker, “It wasn’t a complete surprise.  He told me at the start of the season he thought he might coach just one year.  He had a good team coming up and wanted to see them through, then would probably hang ’em up.”

Kirchhoff, at times volatile in practice and in game situations, allowed only that the timing  was not to his advantage. “I had a pretty good job offered me about three months ago.  Guess it’s too late now.”

Kirchhoff could have stayed at Hoover, he said.  “I wouldn’t do any coaching.  I’d be a classroom instructor.”

Johnson continued to be vague when asked by Brucker about a new coach.  “We’ll be looking around, I guess,” said Johnson. “We have no definite plans for the non-uniform spring training.  It might be someone on our physical education staff now or someone from the outside.”

Bob Kirchhoff coached again, as head coach at Brown Military Academy in 1957, and accepted the position of track coach after Clairemont High opened its doors in 1958, Clairemont stunned favored Point Loma and the Chieftains won the Western League dual meet championship in 1959.

The man appointed by Johnson to replace Kirchhoff was Roy Engle.

Kenny Hale, one of the last surviving members of San Diego State’s 1940-41 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics basketball championship team, passed away at age 90.

A 1938 San Diego High graduate, Hale eventually went into coaching and had winning records at Hoover and Mission Bay.

Led by superstar Bill McColl, Hoover was 20-8 in Hale’s first season as coach and second in the Coast League in 1947-48.

Hale’s last team at Hoover was 23-3 in 1951-52 and won the City Prep League with an 11-1 record.

Hoover’s overall record under Hale was 76-45, with other years of 9-11, 10-16, and 14-7.

Kenny took over the new Mission Bay program in 1954-55 and built a winner before retiring from coaching after the 1957-58 campaign and going into administration.  Hale later  was principal at Horace Mann Junior High.

Hale’s record with the Buccaneers was 53-45.  They were 8-16 and 10-16 in the first two seasons and then got rolling with successive seasons of 17-7 and 18-6.

The Buccaneers won the prestigious, 32-team San Diego Kiwanis Tournament in 1956-57 and 1957-58.  They tied for second in the City Prep League in each of the last two seasons.

John Carroll got some good news the day before his Oceanside Pirates were to meet Carlsbad for what would be the title-deciding game in the Avocado League.

Coach John McFadden of Eastlake called Carroll and told the Oceanside mentor that Eastlake had used an ineligible player in the 23-19, season-opening victory over the Pirates.

Instead of an 8-1 record, the Pirates were 9-0 the next night after they defeated Carlsbad, 17-7, in the annual battle of North County titans at Swede Krcmar Field, named after the  Lancers’ first coach.

Carlsbad was ranked No. 1 in the County and had come into the game with an 8-0 record.

The forfeit “is a win on paper, but that’s all it is,” said Carroll, downplaying the Dreaded Administrative Glitch regarding Eastlake eligibility protocol. Carroll had his eye on  another target, a seventh trip to the big stadium in Mission Valley.

OCEANSIDE  ON MOVE

Oceanside clinched the league championship the next week with a 32-0 triumph over cross-town rival El Camino.

The Pirates’ momentum was snowballing.

Oceanside rolled through the playoffs, defeating Steele Canyon, 34-10, Castle Park, 52-14, and Helix, 27-10 for the Division II championship.

NORTH COUNTY CLOUT

Oceanside, Torrey Pines, Vista, Valley Center, and Santa Fe Christian were champions in Divisions I, II, III, and IV, a four-of-a-kind winner by teams located  North of the Ted Williams Parkway, also known as State Highway 56.

Torrey Pines, which shared its crown with Vista, generally was recognized as part of this group because of its league affiliation, but was located within the San Diego City Limits.

The combined record of the four squads was 46-4-4.

Oceanside was 13-0 with a fifth championship in John Carroll’s 16 years, all coming in the last nine seasons.

Vista (10-2-1) and Torrey Pines (10-2-1) played to a 14-14 tie for the D-I title, and Valley Center (11-0-2) outlasted Brawley 39-33 for the D-III championship.

SHIFTING SANDS

Three of eight playoff semifinals venues were changed days before the games.

Monte Vista (11-0), the top-seeded D-III squad, was to meet Valley Center (9-0-2) at Escondido High.  The Monarchs appealed for a more centrally located site and were granted a switch to Serra High.

Advantage, Monarchs?  Hardly. Valley Center, forced to travel an additional 25 miles from its location fairly close to Escondido, took it out on Monte Vista and surprised the Monarchs 24-22.

Helix (9-2) and Grossmont (8-3), blood enemies for more than 50 years, agreed that they didn’t want to play at Serra, Grossmont going even further by acquiescing to meet the Highlanders on Helix’s turf, which for years also was Grossmont’s.

COACHES AGREE

In this case, both coaches, David Napoleon of Grossmont and Donnie Van Hook of Helix, preferred to play on the Highlanders’ artificial layout after playing all of their home games on an ersatz surface.

Helix won 23-17 in overtime to advance to the D-II finals for the fifth season in a row.

The playing field was not affected by rainy weather which persisted throughout the game, although Helix missed a 20-yard field goal attempt as regulation play ended. The Highlanders stopped Grossmont on the first possession of the overtime, then scored for the victory.

RIDE SHORTENED FOR BLYTHE

Palo Verde Valley of Blythe (9-1), sitting in the furthest reach of the San Diego Section, got a break when its matchup with Horizon (6-4), was moved from La Jolla to El Centro Central.

The trip ticket for the Riverside County team was downsized from about 225 miles to slightly more than 100 and Horizon’s was lengthened from about 10 miles to 120.

Coach George Dagnino’s squad prevailed over the Panthers 40-27, thus guaranteeing at least one 200-miles-plus junket for the Yellowjackets, to Qualcomm Stadium, where they were beaten by Santa Fe Christian in the D-IV finals, 20-12.

BLYTHE, BRAWLEY BREAKTHROUGH

With Palo Verde Valley and Brawley, the Imperial Valley League, which joined the San Diego Section in 2000, was represented in the Qualcomm Stadium championships for the first time.

Palo Verde Valley, Brawley, Calexico, El Centro Southwest, and El Centro Central followed Holtville, Calipatria, Imperial, and Winterhaven San Pasqual, which took on the San Diego designation in 1980.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

St. Augustine and University of San Diego High…Uni or University to most locals…were playing for the last time.

Not exactly, but Uni was leaving its campus near the University of San Diego and moving to an opulent, new facility in Carmel Valley and beginning in 2005 would be known as Cathedral Catholic.

Marketing-oriented officials at both schools were calling it “The Final Showdown” and the 9,759 sold tickets guaranteed an overflow crowd at Southwestern College.

The Dons shot down their parochial school rivals 45-34. Junior running back Demetrius Sumler, who rushed for 224 yards in 30 carries and scored three touchdowns, summed up his feelings to Steve Brand of The San Diego Union:

“I expect Cathedral versus St. Augustine to be just as intense,” said Sumler.  “I try to just do my job, whatever it takes, and not think about who we’re playing.

“But this was St. Augustine, so it means a little more.”

DÉJÀ VU

Oceanside,  gradually moving up after losing its opener (before Eastlake forfeited to the Pirates) and its preseason No. 1 ranking, won the battle of State Highway 78 over top-ranked Vista,17-15, on Sergio Valdez’ 38-yard field goal with 33 seconds remaining.

Valdez had toed the winning kick in the Pirates’ 27-24 win over their old North County rival in 2003.

“I would have preferred that we would have blown them out,” said Valdez.

LONGHORNS HAVE THEIR CORRAL

“We have realized our dream,” said Rancho Buena Vista athletic director Dave Whiddon as he surveyed a crowd of 5,000, which helped dedicate the Longhorns’ new, campus stadium.

RBV teams’ home games had been at neighboring Vista since the school opened in 1986.

The visiting Colton Yellowjackets spoiled the inaugural, 30-14.

TORRES REGROUP

Coach Jeff Hutzler’s La Jolla Country Day squad shook off a discouraging, opening-game loss to Canoga Park Faith Baptist to win 11 in a row and earn the San Diego Section 8-Man championship.

The Torreys and Faith were tied at the end of three quarters but a 24-point fourth quarter gave the Contenders, the top-ranked Southern Section squad, a 38-14 victory.

PARKER RALLIES

A Johnny Unitas-Joe Montana replay?

Francis Parker quarterback Matt Morrison connected on five passes in a row on a 68-yard drive that ended with Ian Yoder’s 21-yard field goal with 18 seconds remaining, lifting the Lancers to a 10-7 win over Calexico Vincent Memorial.

HAUSER MOVES TO MISSION HILLS

Chris Hauser, 34-14 in five seasons and with a 2001 championship at Vista, moved to the new Mission Hills High in San Marcos. Without a senior class, the Grizzlies started 10 sophomores in their first game, a 21-0 loss to Madison, and began a 1-10 learning experience.

As a welcome (?) to Hauser, the field sprinklers went off during the game at Madison.  District officials finally figured out a way to shut off the water.

SUCCESS FOLLOWS OTAY’S FIRST COACH

Gene Alim, 98-23-3 in twelve seasons and with two championships at Sweetwater, returned to the sidelines for the first time since 1994 and led the first-year Otay Ranch Mustangs to a 8-2 record.

GIVE ME AN H…GIVE ME A T…

H-Town Christian opened in Paradise Hills, coached by Frank Henry, former Patrick Henry athlete with coaching experience at Utah, San Diego City College, Laguna Beach, and Horizon.

The Lions would be on the football scene for three seasons.  Henry, who also served as principal, was succeeded by Ray Toilolo in 2005 and the campus moved to the Encanto community, competing in the Pacific League.

BURKE CONCISE

Discussing Torrey Pines’ victory over Castle Park, coach Ed Burke (“Defense won it for us”) kept his counsel regarding  play of the Falcons’  special teams after Torrey trailed 4-0 at halftime—yes, 4-0—before overcoming Castle Park 24-4.

It was one of the more unusual coaching nights for Burke, who won 243 games in a legendary career at King City, Taft Union, Torrey Pines, and San Dieguito.

The Falcons’ kicking teams were in for some additional work and pointed observations the next week from the veteran mentor, who looked on peevishly when a low snap and botched punt resulted in a second quarter safety that put the Trojans in front 2-0.

Burke’s jaw dropped a few minutes later after a high snap botched another punt and stunningly resulted in two more points for Castle Park.

TIGERS’ MERRY-GO-ROUND

Morse released head coach Mike Moran in July, eight months after the Tigers finished the 2003 campaign with a 1-9 record. Moran’s replacement, Stewart Roper, was replaced after 13 days because of problems with his job application.

Robert Savage was named interim coach, then was joined by co-coach Tony Valencia, a school district veteran of almost 40 years who had been hired as Morse’s athletic director.

Savage was 1-1 as the sole head coach but was not a credentialed teacher.  Valencia’s addition would allow a head coach to be available to students during the academic day.

Morse topped Kearny 38-0 in the first game with co-head coaches and posted a 6-5 record overall and earned their first playoff berth since 1998.

FORFEITS OKAY WITH COACHES

Hilltop, 1-9 with three forfeits for using an ineligible player, was in the D-II playoffs.  El Cajon Valley, 4-6 and “clean”, was out.

Coaches doing the seeding correctly  followed existing criteria and were essentially unconcerned about forfeits, according to Bill McLaughlin, San Diego Section assistant commissioner.

“Letting a team that is one and nine with three forfeits into the playoffs is sending the wrong message,” said El Cajon Valley coach Joe Hubarth.

Hubarth said he didn’t address the Hilltop situation when he made his team’s presentation to the coaches’ committee because he didn’t think Hilltop was in the conversation.

“It was shocking,” said Hubarth.  “If they were 6-4 and dropped to 4-6, sure, but not 1-9.”

San Pasqual sent the Lancers home early, winning the first-round game, 31-7.

TRUE GRID

Quarterback  Jason Forcier, who resided in Carlsbad and was an Amtrak veteran, commuting to  Mater Dei in Santa Ana, transferred to St. Augustine…Forcier passed for 35 touchdowns and 2,641 yards in a 7-5 season…Oceanside defeated Marian Catholic, 34-12, in Week 2, ending the Crusaders’ 27-game winning streak,  third longest in San Diego Section history…Jack Neumeier, who coached John Elway at Granada Hills High and, after retirement, moved to Fallbrook and helped turn the Warriors into an offensive powerhouse in the 1980s, passed away at age 86 at his home in Camarillo…eight different Helix running backs rushed for a combined 403 yards as new coach Donnie Van Hook celebrated his first game with a 47-0 victory over Patrick Henry…not to be outdone, St. Augustine rushed for 419 yards in a 33-13 victory over El Capitan in its opener…Hoover rushed for 477 yards in a 59-0 win over Army-Navy…Bonita Vista’s well-traveled Barons  scored the final 14 points to win at  Linganore of Frederick, Maryland,  27-21…the Barons played La Jolla in Havana, Cuba, in  2003…Oscar Fernandez kicked a 19-yard field goal as time expired and Clairemont surprised Mission Bay, 13-10…with five seconds remaining Chris Schearing of Madison kicked a 40-yard field goal to give the Warhawks a neighborhood bragging rights win over Clairemont, 23-20…Silver Strand rivals Coronado and Mar Vista battled for the Adrian Taufausau Trophy, named after the Coronado quarterback who died in 1996…the Islanders honored their fallen graduate with a 47-7 victory…Serra lost its first four games and was outscored 206-52, then won five in a row and made the playoffs, finishing 5-6…La Jolla Country Day’s first-ever night game at home resulted in a 62-20, eight-man victory over Tri-City Christian…the Torreys won  the eight-man title, defeating San Pasqual Academy, 53-12….

San Diego Section athletes in both genders stepped up in the Saturday finals of last week’s state track and field championships.

The college-like campus at Clovis’ Buchanan  High was a wonderful venue for the 95th Boys’ championship and 40th Girls’ meet and drew more than 17,000 persons over two days.

Saturday’s finals began under a late-afternoon sun, in heat that reached 100 degrees, and after many from the local contingent of 90 entries were  eliminated  in Friday’s trials.

My Saturday favorites:

1–Hannah Labrie-Smith, Cathedral Catholic.  She revealed a strong competitive edge when the sophomore battled back from a potentially disastrous mid-race crisis.

Leading coming into the homestretch turn, Labrie-Smith was thrown off stride when she struck a hurdle and fell back to fifth place.  Composing herself, Hannah knocked off two runners near the finish line  and nudged into third place in :42.58, after coming within 1/10 of a second of Gale Devers’ 1984 Section record of :42.26 on Friday.

2–Poway’s 4×400 relay team.  San Diego teams almost never post a good time in this event before the Section finals or, more often,  the state trials.  Maybe it’s because coaches are trying to win dual meets and enter their best runners in multiple events each week.

Poway was sixth in  a very strong field but its time of 3:15.78 was almost six seconds better than what it was running a month ago.  The Titans overcame a terrible pass on the first exchange.  They had virtually lost contact with the field halfway into the second lap but rallied and finished with the 13th best 4×400 in Section history.

3–Alex Grigoriev, Rancho Bernardo.  At one point Grigoriev was running in 11th place but he didn’t panic, climbing the hill to third  with a career best  of 1:51.61, No. 8 all-time in  the section.

4– Dotun Ogundeji, Madison.  I feel that winning a state championship is not always the ultimate. Ogundeji has to feel good about himself.

An unheralded junior, Ogundeji was the only local athlete to qualify for two finals events.

A two-way lineman on Madison’s 2012 State III championship football team, Dotun added more than a foot to his previous best, coming in at  58-11 3/4 for sixth in the shotput and was out of the money in the discus but still managed an excellent 175-2.

5–Melissa Mongiovi, West Hills.  She let the field get too far ahead but blazed a finish that got Mongiovi a fifth-place medal.  Melissa’s 54.70 400 meters is No. 7 all-time in San Diego and she has two more years and enough time to get over the habit of  having too much left at the finish.

6–Brenden Song, West Hills.  The San Diego Section’s only gold medalist, Song won the discus by three inches at 188-8 after finishing second in 2012 and third in Friday’s trials.

7–All of the others who got to Saturday and earned medals or came up with personal bests.