Army-Navy, Grossmont, Olympian, and Otay Ranch continue to win, each improving to a 6-0 won-loss record.  Calexico, Patrick Henry, Hoover, and West Hills all were beaten after winning their first five games.

Army-Navy scored a 1-0, forfeit win over Calvin Christian.  Grossmont defeated Granite Hills, 48-6.  Olympian beat El Capitan, 41-6, and Otay Ranch topped Bonita Vista, 40-10.

Week 7 will mark  showdowns in the second week of league play.

Otay Ranch visits Olympian in the Metro Mesa League.  Grossmont visitsSteele Canyon in the Grossmont Hills and Army-Navy is host to Maranatha Christian, which returned to 11-man football this season, in the Pacific League.

NO CHANGE IN TOP 10

As in Week 5, Oceanside is No. 1 in the North County Times Top 10 through Week 6, followed in the same order by La Costa Canyon, Helix,  Cathedral  Catholic, Mission Hills, Poway, Olympian, St. Augustine, Otay Ranch, and Grossmont.

COUNTRY DAY ENDS LOSSES

La Jolla Country Day’s 27-6 win over Francis Parker was its first over the Patriots since 1993.  The Torres snapped a 0-9-1 streak  to Parker, which holds a 20-8 edge since the series began in 1971.

SPARTANS’ MISERY

Chula Vista’s 49-21 loss to Eastlake embodied frustration.

The Spartans took the third quarter kickoff trailing, 34-21, and held the ball for 18 consecutive plays before settling for a field goal attempt, which was blocked and returned 88 yards by Kiefer Graham for a Titans touchdown.

TRUE GRID

Helix’ 5-foot, 9-inch, 260-pound defensive tackle Amu Milo was everywhere in the Scots’ win over Valhalla,  even passing on the halftime team meeting to be crowned Homecoming King…Orange Glen celebrated the school’s 50^th anniversary with a 24-20 victory over San Marcos…Rancho Buena Vista is 3-3 after 17 consecutive losses since 2010 and the 36-0 rout of Vista marked the Broncos’ first win over the Panthers since 2006…Oceanside’s cheerleaders were worn out after the 54-3 victory over Carlsbad, having dropped to the track at Simcox Field and doing pushups until matching the number of  points posted by the Pirates….

It has been said for years  that San Diego produces many  of the best of the best players, but falls short when matching up with teams from North of the County line. That holds true in 2012.

Not counting Imperial County members, San Diego Section squads were 29-25-2  in pre-league intersectional games this season, but many of those involved lower division or 8-man squads.

Well-regarded local clubs were 0-5 in high profile contests against ranked, Southern Section tough guys from Orange and Riverside Counties.

The breakdown, including up-to-date won-loss records of the Southern Section  teams in parenthesis:

(4-1) Temecula Chaparral 40, Oceanside 30.

(6-0) Mission Viejo 35, Mission Hills 21.

(4-2) San Clemente 21, La Costa Canyon 10.

(5-0) Vista Murrieta 21, Cathedral 10.

(6-0) El Toro 77, Valhalla 46.

There were exceptions:

LaCosta Canyon 42, Baldwin Park  0 (0-6).

Orange Glen 41, Oxnard Hueneme 7 (1-4).

Oceanside 34, Oakdale, Sac-Joaquin Section, 14 (4-1)

Steele Canyon 49, Canyon Country Canyon 49 (3-1-1).

Oceanside is the No. 1 team in the latest North County Times poll.  La Costa Canyon is second, Cathedral third, and Mission Hills fifth.  Valhalla is unranked.

Demographics, population areas, interest, and facilities aren’t that much different.  Most Orange and Riverside County  schools are within at least an hour from most of the San Diego schools.

Despite the losses, those San Diego coaches willing to schedule the tough nonleague games at the expense of wins and win streaks deserve some props.

WHAT GIVES?

 Why the domination?

“It’s the intensity of the programs up here,” says Dave Ogas.   “Nothing is overlooked.”

Ogas played for Don Coryell at San Diego State and was with the Oakland Raiders and Buffalo Bills in the NFL.  Ogas  was head coach for more than 20 years at Rancho Santiago College  in Santa Ana and coached in San Diego at Mount Miguel  and Mission Bay.

Intensity may be the answer if you’re to believe the report out of Orange County recently that the coach and team president  were offering bounties …to their Tustin Pop Warner League team.

Give those San Diego Section coaches credit  who are willing to schedule the tough nonleague games year in and year out.

Hoover, Otay Ranch, Olympian, Calexico, Grossmont, Army-Navy, Patrick Henry, and West Hills represent the  San Diego Section’s Elite 8 this week as teams reached the halfway pole in the season and get ready to open league play.

The eight teams are the only 5-0 squads of the 95 playing football in the San Diego Section.

Grossmont  (11) and Hoover (8), the oldest schools, have more 5-0 starts than the others combined.

5-0 prior to 2012:

Grossmont , 1925, ’33, ’34, 47, ’61, ’66, ’67, ’70, ’95, ’02, ’10.

Hoover, 1934, ’35, ’49, ’54, ’56, ’99, ’07, ’09.

Patrick Henry, 1971, ’74, ’96, ’97, ’99.

Army-Navy, 1987, ’90, ’02.

Otay Ranch, 2004, ’05.

West Hills, 1995.

Olympian, 2009.

Calexico’s 5-0 is its first in the San Diego Section.  The Bulldogs and other Imperial Valley schools  joined the San Diego Section in 2000 and prior records have not been researched.

ONE UNHAPPY POWEGIAN

No one is claiming a record, except on the frustration meter.

Poway’s Ryan Sharpe returned three second-quarter punts for touchdowns against Valley Center…and all three were nullified by penalties.

The Division II Titans still overpowered the Jaguars, 38-6.  It was the second straight smackdown for D-IV Valley Center, which stepped up to face D-I  Mission Hills in Week 4 and lost 38-14.

This could become a habit.  Vista won another 2-0 game.

The Panthers defeated Torrey Pines, with a safety the only score in the game last week.

It was the second safety-only game in the 758  Vista has played since the school opened in 1937.  Not a trend, but the Panthers are working on it.

Vista last won 2-0 when it defeated Palm Springs  in 1958.

Vista has won its last two  games and scored or been credited with three points…total!

After a 1-0 forfeit victory with the automatic score over Temecula Rancho Christian, the Panthers returned and rang up a couple more  points to edge the Torrey Pines Falcons, who never, in their 39-season history,  had been in a 2-0 contest.

There have been 11 other 2-0 games in the history of teams in San Diego County or the San Diego Section, covering pfobably more than 35,000 games, dating to the first recorded contest, San Diego High versus “The San Diego Football Club in 1891.

The list:
1915 — Sweetwater 2, Escondido Athletic Association 0.
1919 — San Diego 2, 32^nd Infantry 0.
1926 — San Diego 2, Glendale 0.
1940 — St. Augustine 2, Hoover Sophomores 0.
1958 — Vista 2, Palm Springs 0.
1963 — Point Loma 2, La Jolla 0.
1974 — Poway 2, La Jolla 0.
1978 — La Jolla 2, Lincoln 0.
1990 — Coronado 2, San Diego 0.
1997 — Calipatria 2, Wellton Antelope, Arizona, 0.
1997 — Granite Hills 2, Mt. Carmel 0.
2012 — Vista 2, Torrey Pines 0.

PASSES AND POINTS

Contrary to Vista-Torrey Pines, offense was alive and well when Valhalla took on El Toro.

Conner Manning of  El Toro threw for 613 yards and seven touchdowns as the Chargers, a 5-0, South Coast League power in the Southern Section, defeated the Norsemen  77-46.  The 123 points by both teams are the most ever involving a San Diego  Section 11-man team.

Rancho Bernardo and West Hills held the record with 119 points in a 71-48 R.B. playoff victory in 1999.

The San Diego County record for most points by both teams is 137, set in 1920, when San Diego High unloaded on Army-Navy, 130-7.

St. Joseph defeated Lutheran 94-76 in 2008 to set a record for most points by both teams (170)  in an 8-man game.

OCEANSIDE STAYS NO. 1

Despite an uneven performance in the second half, Oceanside’s 23-13 victory over Poway solidified the Pirates’ lead with 22 points in the North County Times‘  Week 4 football poll.

The Pirates jumped to a 23-0 halftime lead, but the Titans finished with a strong second half.

The same teams occupy the first five positions as last week, although there was movement.  La Costa Canyon remained second, but Helix went from fourth to third and Mission Hills from fifth to fourth.

Cathedral dropped from third to fifth place, although the Dons held a 14-10 lead on the road in the second half against Vista Murrieta, a Southern Section powerhouse which overcame Cathedral 21-10.

Three 4-0 newcomers were Chula Vista (8) and Grossmont and Otay Ranch, tied for ninth.

Oceanside plays host to Mission Hills in the County’s feature game this week at the Pirates’ new on-campus stadium.

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

1^st = 1^st place votes; Prev# = Last week #

Others receiving votes (points): Valley Center (31), Olympian (26), St. Augustine (23), San Pasqual (14), West Hills (7), Torrey Pines (4), Hoover (2).

At least five games have been canceled against San Diego Section teams this season and are being considered forfeited, not because of the usual Dreaded Administrative Glitch reasons of player academic ineligibility or residential  transfer no-no’s.

Temecula Rancho Christian suspended its season and fired the head coach after a 43-6 loss to Whittier La Serna in Rancho’s first-ever game.

Rancho Christian also was scheduled to play Orange Glen, Vista, Mater Dei, and Eastlake, which each would pick up a victory unless a substitute opponent could be found (Orange Glen scheduled a replacement game at Oxnard Hueneme and won 41-13).  Mission Hills’ game with West Adams Prep of Los Angeles also was canceled.

The President of Rancho Christian indicated that the superior quality of the team’s opponents were part of the problem.  “The schedule should never have been played,” Scott Treadway told Terry Monahan of the North County Times.

West County Prep, 6-6 in 2011 and a playoff team in the L.A. City section, lost its first two games this season, 56-0 to San Clemente and 53-0 to San Pedro.  “They’re not canceling the season, just the game,” Mission Hills athletic director Ken Putnam told the Times‘ John Maffei.

According to Putnam, Mission Hills thought the game still was on as late as the Thursday afternoon before last week’s Friday night game.  Sometime after 7 p.m. Thursday, West Adams Prep bailed.

FORFEITS=VICTORIES?

“There’s no other way to look at this,” San Diego Section assistant commissioner John LaBeta said to Monahan, citing the situation with two North County schools.

“Games were scheduled and contracts were signed,” said LaBeta.  “I’m sure Vista and Mission Hills will pursue some kind of financial restitution based on the contract.”

A larger issue also was in play.  “This now becomes a budget problem that superintendents and principals, who scream about revenue flow all the time, will have to address because it’s very difficult to recover from losing twenty per cent of your gate revenue,” said LaBeta.

The 20 per cent figure is based on teams generally playing five home games.

OCEANSIDE ON TOP AFTER WEEK 3

Cathedral Catholic shut down Helix, 16-9, last week and toppled the Highlanders from their perch atop the North County Times‘ prep football poll.

Oceanside routed Mira Mesa, 48-0, and now is No. 1, followed by La Costa Canyon, Cathedral, and Helix.  St. Augustine and Valley Center, each 3-0, are the only remaining undefeated teams in the Top 10.

Oceanside received 16 first-place votes.  LaCosta Canyon, despite a 21-10 loss to San Clemente, was accorded 4 first-place votes.  Cathedral and St. Augustine (2 each), and Valley Center and Torrey Pines also received first-place support.

Coach Troy Starr’s Helix Highlanders received all 27 first-place votes for a maximum 270 points in the North County Times sportswriters-sportscasters poll after defeating Vista 43-7 last week.

Helix had 13 first-place votes in the preseason poll and 20 after games of Week 1.

The Highlanders take on a third, ranked opponent from the San Diego Section when hit plays host to Cathedral this week.

Coach Troy Starr’s Helix Highlanders received all 27 first-place votes for a maximum 270 points in the North County Times sportswriters-sportscasters poll after defeating Vista 43-7 last week.

Helix had 13 first-place votes in the preseason poll and 20 after games of Week 1.

The Highlanders take on a third, ranked opponent from the San Diego Section when it plays host to Cathedral this week.

LaCosta Canyon moved up to second from fifth after a 10-9 victory over Poway and is home this week to San Clemente, which defeated the Mavericks 58-6 in 2011.

First-place votes in parenthesis

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

+Record +Points +Last Week

1. Helix (27) 1-0 270 1
2. La Costa Canyon 2-0 226 5
3. Oceanside 1-1 178 2
4. Mission Hills 1-1 146 6
5. Poway 1-1 136 4
6. Cathedral Catholic 1-1 124 3
7. Valley Center 2-0 103 7
8. St. Augustine 2-0 81 10.
9. Eastlake 1-1 67 8.
10.  San Pasqual 2-0 36 NR.

WHAT DID HE REALLY THINK?

“It was a mess offensively,” said quarterback Josh Harris, describing Helix’ victory over Vista.

How will Harris feel after the “mess” is cleaned up?

The Scots’ signal caller lost two fumbles but also completed 15 of 22 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns.  “We did some good things, but we have a lot of things to improve,” said Harris.

DOWN GOES OCEANSIDE

Two offensive linemen were out and quarterback Tofi Paopao was not 100 per cent.  Temecula Chaparral, a strong Southern Section squad Oceanside defeated in 2010 and ’11, slapped the Pirates with a 40-30 defeat, the final score closer than the difference between the teams.

Chaparral is 3-0 with a big game coming up against the Las Flores Tesoro Titans.   The Pumas also defeated San Bernardino Cajon 42-0 and Moreno Valley Valley View 48-0.

A better read on Oceanside may be forthcoming after Chaparral plays the 4-0 Titans,  No. 6 in the Los Angeles Time Top 25 (Tesoro topped Chaparall 17-14 the following week).   

HOOVER HONORS MR. B

The refurbished Hoover High Stadium was renamed in honor of  Bob Breitbard, a 1937 Hoover graduate who founded the Breitbard Athletic Foundation out of an office at his father’s California Laundry business in 1946.

Breitbard played baseball and football at Hoover, was co-coach of the football team in 1944, and held the position of cheerleaders’ coordinator.  He honored San Diego athletes and promoted  sports in San Diego for more than 70 years.

The Cardinals dedicated Bob Breitbard Stadium, with new, permanent lights before a 27-14 home-game victory over Brawley in their first home game in two years.  Breitbard’s daughter and son-in-law took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

For more than 60 years the Hoover gridiron was in a South-to-North configuration, end zones facing the gymnasium and Monroe Street. The wooden bleachers on the home, East side burned down in 1949. Steel-framed seating with lights were completed before the 1950 season and stood for years.

Several years ago the gridiron was reconfigured and now faces East and West.

SHADES OF ’58 SWEETWATER…ALMOST

Crawford used 13 minutes, 39 seconds of playing time, driving 75 yards in 26 plays, and converted three third downs and three fourth downs on its opening possession against San Pasqual Academy.

The Colts stalled at the Dragons’ 13-yard line and came up empty.

It would be difficult to find a longer possession or more total plays, but Sweetwater won an epic, 1958 playoff game at Anaheim with a touchdown drive of 24 plays and 83 yards, taking ball possession with two minutes remaining in the third quarter and scoring with two minutes left in the game.

The touchdown made the final score 7-7, but the Red Devils advanced to the Southern California semifinals with a 14-9 advantage in first downs.  The late Wayne Sevier, Sweetwater’s quarterback, once recalled  that the Red Devils won six third-down measurements and converted  a fourth and 24.

The fourth-and-forever,  drive-saving first down came on a flea-flicker pass  Sevier passed laterally to Mike Fogelsong, who threw back across the field to Sevier, who lumbered down the sideline.  “We made it by six inches,” Sevier said.

Also in the backfield for that Sweetwater team was Gil Warren, still coaching, and winning, at Olympian.

Helix’s 28-6 victory over Eastlake on the season’s opening weekend assured the Highlanders of remaining No. 1 in the North County Times sportswriters-sportscasters poll.

Helix had 13 first-place votes in the preseason poll last week and picked up seven more this week for a point total of 253.

Oceanside blew out Oakdale, a Northern California Division II power, 34-14, and remained second to the Highlanders with six first-place votes and 229 points.

Cathedral Catholic stayed at third in an unchanging top 3 after defeating Steele Canyon, 35-6.  Poway moved from fifth to fourth.

First-place votes in parenthesis
Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis
+Record +Points +Last Week

1. Helix (20) 1-0 253 1
2. Oceanside (6) 1-0 229 2
3. Cathedral Catholic (1) 1-0 215 3
4. Poway 1-0 145 5
5. La Costa Canyon 1-0 134 8
6. Mission Hills 0-1 125 4
7. Valley Center 1-0 78 9
8. Eastlake 0-1 55 7.
9. Vista 0-1 49 6.
10.  St. Augustine 1-0 39 NR.

ROLL,  ‘SIDE!

Coach John Carroll’s Oceanside Pirates stunned Oakdale, the Sac-Joaquin Section’s top-ranked Division II team, leading 34-0 at halftime in a game that was part of the Battle for Veterans Invitational at Westlake Village.

It was a long trip for each team to the neutral site, 120 miles for Oceanside and 334 miles for Oakdale, located minutes northeast of Modesto.

Said Oakdale coach Trent Merzon:  “We got shellshocked.  We’ve never seen that kind of speed.”

OF A DIFFERENT STRIPE

Because of a National Federation rule, the distinctive, vertical  shoulder stripes on the Kearny Komets’ uniforms have been diminished.  Something about the uniform stripes clashing with the stripes on a football and creating an advantage for a ball carrier.

Former Kearny coach Birt  Slater ordered uniforms with stripes in 1961 and they were a part of the Kearny tradition thereafter.

The straight-talking Slater once joked to me, sort of,  that the stripes reminded him of prison bars and that they’d made his team look bigger and tougher.

Almost impossible to prove is one San Diego County football official’s claim that only three teams in the country have the same stripes as Kearny, including  a team in North Carolina, and one in Texas, which reportedly is not part of National Federation and not subject of the ruling, which has been in effect but not  enforced for several years.

FIRST-GAME PENALTIES
Whistles could be heard and flags were flying in the North County.

San Pasqual and Torrey Pines were penalized 25 times for 209 yards.  Vista and Colorado’s Aurora Grand View were whistled 24 times for 223 yards, including a series of five plays in which there were three penalties and three false starts.