Three veteran coaches will lead the San Diego Section contingent in state championship games this week at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and Fullerton High.

Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto, who also coached at University, Rancho Bernardo, and Lincoln, has an all-time record of 246-193-2 (.560) and trails only Herb Meyer (339) and John Carroll (248) in victories.

El Capitan’s Ron Burner (122-102-2 (.547) has state championship game experience, losing to Moraga Campolindo, 35-28, in 2014.

Lincoln’s David Dunn (104-60-1 (.633) goes for his second state 1-AA title after winning in 2022 and is 35-4 in the last three seasons.

The competing teams:

DIVISION I-AA

Lincoln (11-2) versus Pittsburg (12-2) Friday, 8 p.m., Mission Viejo Saddleback College.

David Dunn’s Hornets played one of the toughest schedules in the state and emerged in the final seconds last week to win the Southern regional, 34-27, over Newbury Park…Lincoln opponents posted an overall record of 101-60, actually bettered by the 105-53 by opponents of Pittsburg, about 41 miles East of San Francisco and winner of the Sac-Joaquin Section, 28-27 over 13-1 Folsom…the Pirates lost to Bellflower St. John Bosco, 35-14, and Concord de La Salle, 10-7…Pittsburg is Cal-Hi Sports No. 7 team this week, followed by Folsom and  then Lincoln at No. 9…Calpreps.com is calling a 31-27 victory for Lincoln….

DV-AA

El Capitan (11-3) versus Carmel (14-0) Friday, 8 p.m., Fullerton High.

Ron Burner is in 20^th consecutive season as Vaqueros’ coach…14-0 El Cap lost the state D-III championship game in 2014 to Moraga Campolindo, 35-28…Carmel won the Central Coast Section title and the Northern regional, 42-41, over Acalanes Lafayette…Carmel High opened in 1940 and the school mascot is known as the Padre…a beautiful community along state Highway 1, Carmel’s many attractions include the Hog’s Breath Inn, opened in 1970 by Clint Eastwood, who sold the restaurant a few years ago…a popular item still on the menu is the Dirty Harry New York strip steak with garlic mashed potatoes, chef veggies and grain mustard mushroom sauce…Calpreps.com predicts a 41-26 Padres victory….

DVI-A

Monte Vista (10-5) versus Tuolumne Summerville (13-1) Saturday, 3 p.m. at Fullerton High.

Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto won San Diego Section championships in 1994 at University (34-0 versus La Jolla), 2017 at Monte Vista (71-48 versus San Diego), and 38-20 over Bonita Vista two weeks ago…the Monarchs, a No. 12 seed, got into the San Diego Section DV playoffs only after 1-9 Rancho Buena Vista bailed on the postseason, opening the door for Monte Vista to squeeze in…a graduate of Long Beach Poly, Hamamoto became a head coach in 1985 at University…succeeded at Uni in 1996 by Sean Doyle and succeeded in 2011 at Lincoln by David Dunn…the orange and black-clad Summerville Bears’ only loss was to Mother Lode League rival Calaveras San Andreas (9-3 with minus 1.2 Calpreps.com rating), 35-34…the Sac-Joaquin Section champion defeated Atherton Sacred Heart, 45-28, in the Northern California regional final…Tuolumne is located in the California Gold Country, approximately 60 miles east of Modesto…Calpreps.com predicts  a 48-21 Summerville victory….

The six San Diego Section teams playing in the Southern California regional playoffs this week, their opponents, and the Calpreps.com rating for each team.  Winners will play champions of the Northern California regional.

Competitive Equity is defined by the CIF as “finding ways for teams to compete that are similar with each other in a competitive nature.”

Back in the day school enrollment and geography determined the levels on which teams competed. You wouldn’t see a school with almost 2,500 students playing one with 120 in the playoffs.

You will this Saturday when big school Poway (6-7) plays host to tiny Arcadia Rio Hondo Prep (12-1) in the Southern California regional III-A playoffs.

It’s happening because The CIF gradually moved to the system employed this year, in which teams’ won-loss record and strength of schedule is computed by Calpreps.com.

Rio Hondo, with 71 boys and total enrollment of 120 for grades 7-12, has a higher Calpreps.com grade (31.6) than Poway (30.1), which was 4-7 in the regular season but won a San Diego Section championship by outscoring its last two opponents, 63-27 and 62-24.

Titans coaches probably had conversations with Francis Parker coaches this week.

Rio Hondo defeated the Lancers, 55-28, in the 2024 opener enroute to a season in which its only loss was to a large school, Torrance, 28-21.

Poway’s opponent may have set a CIF record for enrollment differential last week when many of the school’s 71 males teamed to defeat Warren High of Downey, with 3,635 students, 43-16.

Noah Penunuri led the winners’ attack with 228 yards in 36 carries and three touchdowns.

The Kares, in business since 1964 to Poway’s 1961, own a 6-2 record against Parker, Midway Baptist (now Ocean View), and Santa Fe Christian since 1977.  They played eight-man football many years in the Prep League but switched to the Gold Coast loop in 2018 to play the 11-man game.

John Maffei’s final The San Diego Union poll:
Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. *First-place votes. Previous ranking in (italics). Previous rankings were before San Diego Section playoffs.
Bold indicates latest. NR–Not ranked. MaxPreps‘ and Cal-Hi Sports‘ are state rankings.

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Torrey Pines (5-7, 16 points) Monte Vista (9-5, 11), Rancho Bernardo (9-3, 9), El Capitan (10-3, 7), St. Augustine (4-10, 5), Scripps Ranch (9-2, 2), Del Norte (7-5, 1).

VOTING PANEL

Twenty-nine sportswriters, sportscasters, administrators from San Diego County, plus Max Preps.com.

• John Maffei (San Diego Union-Tribune).
• Don Norcross, Steve Brand, Rick Hoff, Kevin Farmer (Union-Tribune Freelance contributors).
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (CIF San Diego Section).
• Brandon Stone, Allison Edmonds, John Carroll, Chase Izidor (KUSI, Channel 51).
• Rick Smith (partletonsports.com).
• Braden Suprenant (97.3-FM The Fan).
• Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association).
• Tom Helmantoler, (Southern Conference advisor).
• Rex Johnson, Bruce Ward (CIF Advisory Committee).
• Mike Dolan, Joe Evangelist (San Diego Coaching Legends).
• Raymond Brown (sdfootball.net).
• Bodie DeSilva, John Kentera, Steve (Biff) Dolan, Dennis Ackerman, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, Tom Ronco, Adam Paul (Freelance contributors).

Coach Kellan Cobbs’ Granite Hills Eagles (11-2) take on another tough Orange County opponent when they visit Huntington Beach Edison (10-4) Saturday at Huntington Beach High.

Granite Hills was a 49-21 loser to eventual state champion Mission Viejo in a 2023 regional playoff and Edison dropped a 49-24 decision to Mission Viejo this season.

Another of Edison’s losses in 2024 was 21-17 to San Clemente, a 27-17 loser to La Costa Canyon.  The Chargers lost their first two games, 29-28, to Clovis West and 22-21 to Yorba Linda.

Granite Hills dopped a 39-21 decision to Perry of Gilbert, Arizona, at Cathedral and, in a shocker later in the season, to Cathedral, 52-6.

The Eagles, with a 46.6 Calpreps.com rating, will face one with a 56.1 Calpreps grade and a strong running attack, led by Julius Gillick, who is averaging 163 yards a game rushing and has scored 33 touchdowns.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Edison is not named after Thomas A. Edison, whose many inventions included the electric light.

A contest to name the school, which opened in 1969, resulted in honoring Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated during the 1968 presidential campaign.

School honchos stepped in.

The land on which the campus was built had been donated by Southern California Edison, a public utility, and after some discussion Kennedy High became Edison High.

Perhaps as a bow to electricity and to Thomas Edison, the green and gold-clad school athletic teams became identified as the Chargers.

Granite Hills has never played Edison, but the Chargers have vintage and recent history here.

Coach Dick Haines’ Vista Panthers split a home-and-home series with Bill Workman’s Chargers, winning here, 6-0, in 1982, and losing, 20-15, at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa in 1983.

Helix split a series with the Chargers, winning at home, 38-34, in the 2023 opener and losing this season, 42-14, at Westminster High, near Edison.

Next:  D-II, Poway versus Arcadia Rio Hondo.

Beginning with hot summer practices in late July through close to 1,000 games and 14 weeks of action, six teams still are standing.

Champions Lincoln (Open), Granite Hills (Division I), Poway (D-II), St. Augustine (D-III), El Capitan (D-IV), and Monte Vista (D-V) embark on another season in the CIF State Southern Regional this week.

San Diego Section teams are 28-22 in the regional series, which began in 2014 and includes teams from the Los Angeles City, Central, and Southern sections.

San Diego squads are 16-16 in the state bowl championship series that began in 2007 but do not participate in Open Division championships on the regional or state level.  They compete from 1-AA down to VI-A.

We’re taking a look at the regional matchups this week:

D-1AA

Lincoln (10-2), 12th in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, versus Southern Section Newbury Park (14-0), ranked  ninth in California, @Southwestern College, Friday, Dec. 6.

Lincoln was forced to move its home games this season to the community college in Chula Vista after damage and wear to the field in Vic Player Stadium.

Head coach David Dunn is compiling a record (104-60-1, .633) comparable to Player’s (130-58-3, .688), is 34-4 since 2022, and won a state 1-AA title in ’22.

Lincoln’s 6-foot, 6-inch Akili Smith, Jr., is a legacy quarterback, following his father, Akili Smith, who starred at the school in the early-1990s and played at Oregon, where the son is committed.

Smith’s playmakers include running backs Junior Curtis and Aden Jackson and wide receivers Isaiah Grant, and Ty Olsen.

Lincoln’s 31-13 San Diego Section Open championship over Cathedral was a bow to the art of the running game, all of 394 yards.

Curtis gained 173 yards in 17 carries and scored a touchdown.  Jackson had 154 yards in 24 carries and two touchdowns, and Smith added 67 yards in 10 carries.

RUGGED OPPONENT

Newbury Park also has a tall quarterback, 6-foot-5 Brady Smigiel, who threw for 322 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-28 victory over Vista Murrieta in the Southern Section 1-AA title game.

Newbury Park is more or less a suburb of Thousand Oaks and was champion of the Conejo Coast League, which includes Santa Barbara, Oxnard Rio Mesa, Thousand Oaks, Calabasas, and Westlake Village Westlake.

The Panthers, coached by Joe Smigiel, the quarterback’s father, will bring a 66.8 Calpreps.com rating, compared to Lincoln’s 63.3.

Newbury Park is ranked 10^th and Lincoln 12^th in California by Max Preps.

The trip South for the visitors will be about 180 miles.  The school is located west of U.S. 101 and about 35 miles Northwest of the Southbound I-405 Sepulveda Pass.

Tomorrow:  Division I-A Granite Hills at Huntington Beach Edison.