They gave Tom Ault a tremendous sendoff recently at the Rancho Santa Fe First Presbyterian Church. More than 400 persons, including many San Diego State and sports luminaries from the ‘sixties and ‘seventies, were in attendance.
Ault, 72, who passed away recently, helped create a championship legacy at Crawford High.
Ault played basketball and baseball during a dawning era at the school on 55th Street in East San Diego. He was a starting guard on the 1962-63 basketball squad that posted a 24-6-1 record, sneaked into the San Diego Section playoffs after a rigorous Eastern League campaign, and won the championship.
Larry Blum, who set a County scoring record with 737 points that year, was Ault’s partner in the Colts’ backcourt.
“Tommy played a key role,” said Blum. “He was the peacemaker, mediator, and really the player/coach between Coach (Jim) Sams and the team. He was the one who kept everyone else on an even keel with each other and Coach Sams. He had the basketball IQ before anyone ever used the term.”
Blum was the team’s star player, Ault the glue.
The Colts overcame a midseason struggle and won a league vote for a playoff berth after tying for second place with Hoover. They advanced through the playoffs and defeated St. Augustine, 64-44, for the championmship.
Crawford’s Tom Ault (22) and Larry Blum (32) look on as teammate Dave (Granddad) Grear and Hoover’s Gilbert Hernandez scramble for loose ball. Tom Nettles (11) is interested observer. Crawford won Kiwanis Tournament championship game, 55-49.
Among those paying their respects were former Chargers Gary Garrison, Doug Wilkerson, Jack Milks, and Mario Mendez, along with ex-Aztecs Leonard Di Santi, Jim White, and Eddie Mendez, Utah footballer Dan Spinazzola, and Ault’s athletic Crawford classmates Tom Whelan, Mike Bladow, Dave Bruen, Bill Rainey, Ron Fox, Jim Rupe, and Fritz Ziegenduss, among others.
Blum said he and Ault forged a friendship in the seventh grade at Horace Mann Junior High after Blum’s family moved from Washington state to San Diego.
The pair were united in gym class, probably, said Blum, because their names were close alphabetically.
“Our friendship lasted over six decades and to the last day thrived,” said Blum, who went on to play at the University of San Francisco and became a successful Bay Area businessman who still finds time to play pickup basketball weekly at USF.
1957-58: Shaules Had Records, but Cavers Had Championship
A palpable buzz was heard throughout San Diego gymnasiums this season, hummed to a pitch by a 5-foot, 8-inch sharpshooter with an unorthodox jump shot.
St. Augustine’s Tom Shaules set scoring records and drew huge crowds, but Shaules and his husky teammate, Sammy Owens, were a virtual two-man team and the Saints, while making the scoreboard blink, did not make the playoffs despite a 20-6 record and 11-5 City Prep League standing.
Shaules’ shot had a backward spin upon launch and was copied by other area sharpshooters.
San Diego, Mission Bay, Hoover, and eventually Lincoln, were able to stop the Saints in the fratricidal circuit that embraced nine teams and 16 games. The league season began before the annual, pre-Christmas Kiwanis Tournament and produced Tuesday afternoon and Friday night dramas seemingly every week in January and February.
Meanwhile, Chula Vista and Sweetwater, blood rivals only four miles apart, separated themselves in the Metropolitan League. Escondido had to win a playoff with Oceanside to earn the Avocado League’s postseason bid, and Ramona went on a winning streak in the Southern Prep.
SAN DIEGO
Artist Gilbert and Edward Lee Johnson, the team’s leading scorers the year before, and Barry Landon and Eugene Sheridan formed a solid nucleus of veterans. Football players Ezell Singleton and Bobby Anderson joined after the Southern California finals loss to Downey, and a spindly junior, Arthur (Hambone) Williams, who did not play basketball as a sophomore, became the team’s playmaker and would forge a legendary career that took Williams all the way to the Boston Celtics and an NBA championship.
San Diego coach Dick Otterstad was active, nervous figure on Cavers’ bench.
The Cavers lost a fourth-quarter lead of 56-48 in the league opener at St. Augustine as Shaules scored 14 of his team’s final 18 and 35 overall in a 62-56 victory. Johnson fouled out with 3:05 left in the third quarter and Gilbert with 30 seconds remaining in the third. San Diego also was upset, 55-53, by Beverly Hills in the Kiwanis Tournament.
The Kiwanis loss was San Diego’s last in a 23-2 regular season that culminated with a 15-1 run through the City Prep League. The Hillers won the return match with the Saints, 65-57, swept Mission Bay, 47-45, in overtime and 62-50, routed Hoover, 68-42, and 54-46, and stopped Lincoln, 63-45, and 68-52.
(Shaules scored 27 in the second game against San Diego but 14 of those points came in the fourth quarter after the Cavers had taken a 50-38 lead.
(Allan Zukor, a two-year Cavers letterman in ’57-58 and ’58-59, remembered. Coach Dick Otterstad employed Zukor as “Shaules” in practice. “It was so much fun, launching it from everywhere with that side step that Tom perfected,” said Zukor).
Dick Otterstad, a portly, foot-stomping coach, looked on in disbelief with others in a crowded San Diego gym as the Cavers stumbled in their first-round playoff against a Chula Vista squad they had beaten, 50-34, in December. San Diego trailed, 48-47, and had a chance to win when Ezell Singleton was fouled as time ran out. Singleton missed two free throws and one of the best teams in school history suddenly was out of business.
San Diego’s two big guns, forward Edward Lee Johnson (left) and center Artist Gilbert.
Gilbert was CPL player of the year with a high of 35 points and 24 rebounds in a 61-38, Kiwanis Tournament win over Sweetwater. Johnson’s 37 points in an 85-38 romp against La Jolla came within one point of Ivan Robinson’s school record, set in 1944. Gilbert and Shaules each scored 98 points in the Kiwanis, one less than the 99 by Inglewood Morningside’s John Arrillaga in 1954.
MISSION BAY
Kenny Hale, a member of San Diego State’s 1940-41 small-college championship team, was coming to the end of a distinguished coaching career. Hale was 76-45 from 1947-52 at Hoover and had nurtured the Buccaneers’ program from its beginning in 1954-55. They were 8-16 their first season and 10-15 the next but advanced to 17-7 in ’55-’56 and 18-7 this season.
As in other sports and other years, Mission Bay’s emergence robbed La Jolla of its favorite area of athletes, Pacific Beach and Mission Beach. These Bucs were mostly home grown with Frank Schiefer, Jerry Dinsmore, Andy Saraspe, and Tom Tenney, but forward Doug Crockett, their leading scorer, had played his sophomore season at La Jolla, where Crockett’s older brother, Clyde, was the league scoring leader.
Frank Schiefer starred on Hale’s Mission Bay teams.
The Bucs dropped their first meeting with St. Augustine, 49-42, but stunned the Saints, 74-44, in the Kiwanis Tournament, exposing the first chink in the armor of the high scoring North Park team. Mission Bay defeated Beverly Hills for its second straight Kiwanis championship, 43-33, and was 6-0 in the league when it went to San Diego in mid-January.
Hale’s club at one point trailed San Diego by 11, fought its way back to take a 39-38 lead but was forced into overtime and lost, 47-45.
The Bucs were 5-6 overall the rest of the way and they finished 11-5 in the league, same as St. Augustine and Hoover, but their 4-0 record against the Saints and Cardinals earned the Pacific Beach team the CPL’s second playoff berth, and it exited early, losing to Los Angeles Mt. Carmel, 68-45, at Loyola University.
ST. AUGUSTINE
Shaules set County records with 60 points in one game and 736 for the season and Owens added 422. Together Shaules and the 6-foot, 185-pound Owens accounted for 69.5 per cent of their team’s 1,665 points. The Saints were 16-1 at one point but their rivals, with second opportunities to execute more effective zone defenses and double teams, took advantage.
Mission Bay repeated its Kiwanis triumph with a 61-42 victory in Round 2 of the CPL. Hoover swept the Saints, 55-48, and 71-57, and Lincoln, beaten, 74-50, in Round 1, stifled Shaules, holding him to a season-low 12 points with a “box and one” zone, the “one” being guard Pete Colonelli, won the rematch, 55-38. Shaules fouled out with 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
A 102-38 win over first-year Crawford (search also ”1957-58 Shaules and Saints…”), in which Shaules set a record with 60 points, did not break the County standard, or even the school record. The 1951-52 team topped San Diego Vocational, 104-19. Coronado also was reported to have beaten Rancho del Campo, 103-31, in 1953-54.
Greenwood set Cardinals scoring record.
The Saints cleared up the little matter about the single-game team scoring record with a 105-34 win over La Jolla a few days later. Shaules scored 37 points and Owens 30. Coach Jerry Moriarty’s team averaged 88 points in the last four games of the first round. Shaules averaged 42 in that stretch and had a 30.7 average after his first 16 games.
Saints students and followers were so vocally abusive and disruptive in a 61-42 loss to Mission Bay that school principal John Aherne twice walked onto the basketball court and admonished the team’s followers.
Shaules scored 53, second highest total in County history, as the Saints went past 100 for the third time in a 104-43 repeat romp over La Jolla. Tied with Mission Bay going into the final week, each with an 11-3 record, the Saints lost their last two, at Lincoln and at home versus Hoover. Mission Bay also dropped a pair but advanced.
HOOVER
Forward Norris Greenwood, who would set a school record with 446 points and become the first African-American Senior Class president at the school, was coach Charlie Hampton’s only returning starter in what essentially was a rebuilding year after two straight league championships and deep runs in the Southern California playoffs.
The Cardinals managed to earn a three-way tie for second with Mission Bay and St. Augustine and they upset the Saints and dealt them their first CPL loss, 55-48. Hoover swept St. Augustine but lost a pair to Mission Bay, allowing the Bucs to win the league vote for the second playoff bid.
Hoover’s downfall in the 17-8 season was a 69-52 upset loss to Lincoln in Round 2. The Cardinals had beaten the Hornets in overtime in the first round.
LINCOLN
The Hornets were 6-1 down the stretch after a 5-8 start and they overcame Hoover and Mission Bay, teams that had meted out misery to the Hornets the last two seasons. A 50-47 loss in 1956-57 was virtually repeated when Lincoln visited Hoover in the first round and led, 42-40. “We finally beat Hoover!” shouted vice principal George Parry, as the game apparently ended.
Parry groaned, however, as a foul had been called on Hornets center Juarez Meals, who committed an offensive violation going to the basket as time ran out instead of passing the ball or doing nothing. Hoover’s Wayne Britt drained two free throws with no time on the clock and the Cardinals went on to win in overtime, 48-47.
Lincoln dominated the Cardinals in the rematch and then got even with Mission Bay, which had punished the Southeast school, 50-33, 38-24, 55-33, and 67-39, in four recent meetings. The Bucs led the Hornets, 48-41, with four minutes to go but Kern Carson’s eight points down the stretch pushed Lincoln to a 53-49 victory and their second big win in a week. They stopped St. Augustine, 55-38, three days earlier and finished with a 10-6 league record, 11-9 overall.
Kern Carson of Lincoln retrives rebound, as he’s contested by Hoover’s Ron Crosby (23). Juarez Meals (39) and Jim Catlett (37) of Lincoln look on with Hoover’s Norris Greenwood (15). Lincoln won, 69-52.
SWEETWATER-CHULA VISTA
Sweetwater won its second straight Metropolitan League title with a 9-1 record, losing only in the final game to 8-2 Chula Vista, 44-32. The Red Devils won an earlier match on Wayne Sevier’s late jump shot, 42-40, on the Sweetwater floor.
While vaunted City League teams went out in the first round of the playoffs, Sweetwater (13-5) and Chula Vista (16-9) won their openers. Sweetwater outlasted the 23-6, visiting Anaheim Colonists, 41-37, and Chula Vista scored a stunning, 48-47 victory over the heavily favored San Diego Cavemen.
The Spartans were not awed by San Diego’s record or reputation. They took a 14-10 first-quarter lead and increased it to 26-19 at halftime. The Cavers seemed to be in command after knocking down all 10 of their field goal attempts and taking a 39-32 advantage at the end of three quarters.
Dsn Diego’s Ezell Singleton gto around Chula Vista’s Phil Lind (12), but Cavers couldn’t get past Spartans.
But Coach Al Gilbert’s Spartans did not shrink. They pecked away at the Cavers’ lead and finally went ahead on Art Johnson’s looper from the baseline with 50 seconds left and then rode out what they thought was a one-point victory.
The Spartans began celebrating at the final gun but an official had called Dick Baumann for a foul on San Diego’s Ezell Singleton, who could not convert, and Chula Vista, behind Baumann’s 11 points, 10 each by Phil Lind and Bill Foley, and 9 and 8, respectively by Johnson and Dennis Mesker, moved on to a home game at the Chula Vista Recreation Center against the Colton Yellowjackets.
The formula that beat San Diego was missing as the Spartans, shooting poorly, lost a lead of 20-18 early in the second quarter and were eliminated by the visitors’ three-sport star Kenny Hubbs and his teammates, 45-37.
Sweetwater was knocked out by Compton Centennial, 53-45, in the dimly-lit Compton High gymnasium. The taller Apaches held Sweetwater’s Bobby Jordan to four points at halftime and took a 24-14 lead which they extended to 37-25 after three quarters.
Bob Jordan (Left), the twice Metropolitan League player of the year, led Sweetwater teammates Milton Horton, Jack Lensing, Wayne Sevier, and Gary Orrell (from left) to 13-5 record.
Point Loma’s Ray Golden may be looking to official to see who fouled whom after Mission Bay’s Doug Crockett ends up on floor. Buccaneers won, 41-33.
ESCONDIDO-RAMONA
The Cougars, behind brothers Toby and Steve Thurlow and coached by former Point Loma and San Diego State standout Don Hegerle, posted a 20-11 record and tied with Oceanside (17-7) for the Avocado League title.
Toby’s 18 points led the Cougars in a fourth-quarter run that resulted in a 55-49 playoff win for the big Avocado and a berth in the Small Schools playoff quarterfinals.
Escondido edged Santa Ana Mater Dei, 50-48, at Bing Crosby Hall in Del Mar, where it had beaten Oceanside. The Cougars defeated Thermal Coachella Valley, 53-37, in the semifinals but were beaten, 49-40 in the finals by Orange at Fullerton High. The Panthers, who won 30 of 33 games, including 27 in a row, finally put away the Cougars with a 19-13 fourth quarter.
Fontana Newman topped visiting Ramona, 45-44, and ended Ramona’s 16-game winning streak on a last-second shot for the smallest schools title. Newman, which scored 124 points in a game earlier in the season, also had ousted Army-Navy, 59-38, in a first-round game.
Ramona, trailing, 41-36, at the end of three quarters, overcame a stall by Newman and took a 44-43 lead on Don Donahue’s basket with 14 seconds remaining. A basket as time ran out by Newman’s Gilbert Velasquez spelled defeat for the Bulldogs.
Donahue scored 14 points and Neal Walters 12 for Ramona, which finished with a 16-3 record.
Coach Dick Ridgeway gathered with his fledgling Mount Miguel team, including John Conlee, Jeff Cox, Rocky Barsotti, Darrell Rathje, and Bob Lucas (from left).
BOMB?
The Chula Vista pep band and cheerleaders rallied the student body during the noon recess before the first Sweetwater game. A false threat of an explosive forced an evacuation of everyone to the football stadium, where the cheerleaders rallied the students again. Sweetwater won, 42-40.
Chula Vista took the rematch from its nearby rival before an overflow crowd of 1,800 at the Chula Vista Recreation Center. A standing-room crowd of more than 1,300 filled Sweetwater’s 1,000-seat building for the teams’ first meeting.
GROWING PAINS
Crawford in the City Prep League and Mount Miguel in the Metropolitan circuit were newcomers and the results were as expected. Crawford finished with a 2-19 record, Mount Miguel, 5-14.
Crawford’s first-ever game was a 42-35 loss to El Cajon Valley. Mount Miguel, as part of the doubleheader, was beaten by St. Augustine, 55-37. The Matadors topped Crawford the next night, 53-49, as Darrell Rathje scored 26 points.
Crawford, which played only 10th and 11th graders, got a reality check when its first league game ended in a 54-15 loss to San Diego.
The Colts did not look forward to their second-round game against St. Augustine, after surrendering 102 in the first. The Saints won, 64-40, Tom Shaules played only in the third quarter and scored 14 points.
John Wible (left) and Keith Hall used school building as backdrop to accentuate fact Helix did not have a home court.
MAN WITHOUT A HOME
Having to practice on the school’s outdoor courts because there was no gymnasium didn’t stop Helix’ John Wible, the Metropolitan League’s leading scorer.
Wible scored 42 points, breaking Gail Barsotti’s school record of 32, in a 57-54 loss to Lincoln and had 27 points as Helix won third place in the Fillmore Tournament with a 67-48 victory over Santa Barbara.
Wible averaged 20.4 with 388 points in 19 games. Helix was 7-12 and had to play all home games at Grossmont High.
PETE WHO!
Fallbrook’s Pete Sachse labored in virtual anonymity with a pedestrian Fallbrook team (11-11), but coach Jack Sandschulte said he wouldn’t trade the 6-1 sniper for anyone, including Tom Shaules.
Sachse set an Avocado League record with 33 points in a 72-54 loss to San Dieguito and broke the record again with 34 in a 63-48 win over Carlsbad. He averaged 21.2 points a game and scored 446 points,
JUMP SHOTS
San Diegans Don Clarkson and Shan Deniston were given a plum assignment…they were the game officials for the Southern Section championship game…Compton defeated Compton Centennial, 57-55…Chula Vista claimed the consolation championship in the Chino tournament, 35-33, over Escondido…St. Augustine converted 28 of 35 free throws in its 74-50 victory over Lincoln…Escondido’s Toby Thurlow made 11 consecutive free throws in a 69-52 win over Vista…San Diego and Hoover won three of four on their annual Northern trip in December…the Cavers beat Glendale Hoover, 58-49, and Glendale, 68-53…Hoover lost to Glendale, 51-44, but defeated Glendale Hoover, 56-39…Mission Bay became the third team to win two Kiwanis Tournaments, succeeding El Monte (1948-49) and Beverly Hills (1953-54)…
Mission Bay’s Doug Crockett drives past Beverly Hills defenders in Buccaneers’ 43-33, championship- victory in Kiwanis Tournament.
2017-18 Week 8: Leaders Can Look Down Road
Fast forward about month, to the round of 4 in the San Diego Section Open Division championships.
If the Max Preps’ power ratings hold and the first and second rounds play out as expected, Torrey Pines (20-2) would play Mission Bay (21-4) in one semifinal and Foothills Christian (19-5) would meet San Marcos (18-2) in the other.
Not bad.
The power ratings, as presented by Max Preps, generally are accepted by San Diego Section bosses and will continue to evolve until the playoff seeding meeting in late February.
Mission Bay closed in on its first league championship since the 1988-89 season with a 51-45, Western League victory last night over St. Augustine, No. 6 in Max Preps.
Foothills Christian still holds sway in the weekly Union-Tribune poll (I have voted each week for Torrey Pines as No. 1). The Knights have five Coast League games left and Torrey Pines has six Avocado League encounters plus a nonleague contest against Francis Parker.
There are a couple troublesome opponents on the horizon for each, but both figure to strongly close out the regular season.
AREA CRED
Foothills Christian rose from 13th to 10th in Cal-Hi Sports’ weekly ratings and Mission Bay went up one position to 13th. San Marcos and Torrey Pines remain on the bubble.
West Hills’ Cameron Barry (no relation to Rick, Drew, or Brent) has fallen off a little in the last two weeks but still ranks 12th among U.S. scorers.
Barry is averaging 33 a game with 660 points in 20 games. The leader is Tommy Murr of Lindsey Lane Christian in Athens, Alabama, with 1,031 points in 26 games for a 39.7 average.
Barry is the state leader, ahead of Camarillo’s Jaime Jaquez, who is averaging 32.8 with 688 points in 21 games.
Jc Canahuate of Army-Navy is No. 2 in San Diego and 12th in California at 27.9 with 585 points in 21 games. Torrey Pines’ Bryce Pope (22×509, 23.1) is third in San Diego and 40th in California.
Union-Tribune Boys’ poll through Monday, Jan. 29:
Rank
Team
Record
Points
Last Poll
1
Foothills Christian (7)
19-5
115
1
2
Torrey Pines (5)
20-2
112
2
3
Mission Bay
20-4
96
3
4
San Marcos
18-2
85
5
5
Vista
17-6
67
4
6
Mater Dei
17-6
63
6
7
St. Augustine
12-4
50
7
8
La Jolla Country Day
16-7
21
8
9
Montgomery
17-4
13
9
10
Canyon Crest
14-7
10
NR
Others receiving votes: Santa Fe Christian (12-9, 9 points), Mount Miguel (19-4, 8), The Bishop’s (13-6, 4), El Camino (13-8, 3),Orange Glen (14-7, 3 ).
Poll participants: John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Terry Monahan, freelancer; Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions; Adam Paul, Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com; John Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM; Christian Pedersen, S.D. Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, Fulltime Hoops; Brad Enright, L.A. Court Report.
2017-18 Week 6: Buck Stops With Bucs
Mission Bay has not been a “brand” name in San Diego Section basketball, but the Buccaneers continue to hold sway in the Union-Tribune weekly poll. They’re now 15-3 after Tuesday night’s 71-63 victory over Patrick Henry.
The Bucs have beaten so-called brands No. 3 Foothills Christian and No. 8 St. Augustine and lost to No. 5 La Jolla Country Day.
It’s been that kind of year. A dominant team has not surfaced.
The West Hills Wolfpack don’t travel in the above circles, but Cam Barry, a 6-foot, 1-inch senior guard is developing his own brand. Barry is the state leader with a 36.6 scoring average through 10 reported games and ranks fifth in the country, according to Max Preps.
Foothills’ ballyhooed Taeshon Cherry is one of the San Diego Section leaders with a 20.6 average in 10 reported games. Max Preps did not have any stats for Mission Bay’s catalyst, Rejean (Boogie) Ellis, whom the school listed as 7-foot, 2-inch point guard, along with several other “seven-footers”.
Poll participants: John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Terry Monahan, freelancer; Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions; Adam Paul, Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com; John Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM; Christian Pedersen, S.D. Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, Fulltime Hoops; Brad Enright, L.A. Court Report.
2017-18 Weeks 1-5: It’s Been a Wild Ride
Like the automobiles that are continually jarred by San Diego’s city streets, the supposed top teams in the San Diego Section negotiated a December full of potholes.
Which is the best, as the season enters league play and the weekend shootouts or the so-called”classics”?
I cast my vote for Torrey Pines, followed by Mission Bay, Foothills Christian, St. Augustine, La Jolla Country Day, Vista, Mater Dei, Montgomery, Santa Fe Christian, and San Marcos.
Don’t press me. I can’t explain why.
There were so many surprising results, some stunning. Perhaps it was the grind of the four-day Torrey Pines Holiday Tournament, one of the country’s premier events, or coaches just trying to find the right combinations and still evaluating personnel.
–But Torrey, 10-0 and an early championship favorite, fell behind by 15 points and was beaten in the Falcons’ annual Holiday Classic, 69-68, by St. Augustine, despite the Saints featuring an all-underclass lineup and missing two expected starters who transferred.
–St. Augustine followed its inspired win over Torrey Pines with a 78-52 loss to state-ranked Los Angeles Fairfax, which was beaten by Foothills Christian.
–Mission Bay beat Foothills Christian, 72-56, but lost to La Jolla Country Day, 62-50.
–Foothills Christian not only lost to Mission Bay, but also to 7-7 Westview, 73-71, in overtime and then beat two Los Angeles City Section powers, Westchester, 73-49, and Fairfax, 74-73.
Mission Bay (12-3) is Cal-Hi Sports‘ No. 12 team in the state and Foothills is 14th. Torrey Pines surprisingly was not even at least on the newsletter’s “bubble” .
Union-Tribune Boys’ poll through Tuesday, Jan. 2:
Rank
Team
Record
Points
Last Poll
1
Mission Bay (6)
12-3
109
3
2
Torrey Pines (4)
13-2
100
1
3
Foothills Christian (1)
9-5
95
4
4
St. Augustine (1)
7-2
88
5
5
Vista
10-5
78
2
6
San Marcos
12-2
60
7
7
La Jolla Country Day
11-4
49
8
8
Mater Dei
11-5
46
6
9
Montgomery
11-3
14
NR
10
Canyon Crest
9-5
8
NR
NR–Not rated.
Others receiving votes: Poway (9-5, 5 points), Rancho Bernardo (6-4, 4), Santa Fe Christian (8-5, 3), Mount Miguel (14-2, 2), Helix (8-6, 1), Westview (8-7, 1).
Poll participants: John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Terry Monahan, freelancer; Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions; Adam Paul, Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com; John Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM; Christian Pedersen, S.D. Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, Fulltime Hoops; Brad Enright, L.A. Court Report.
A nagging, Week 2 loss to Lancaster Paraclete that Helix appeared to overcome reared up again after the Highlanders were beaten by Folsom, 49-42, in the state 1-AA championship.
Helix, seventh in the state going into the game as selected by Cal-Hi Sports, dropped to a final ranking of 10th. Helix might have finished eighth or ninth, but the loss to Folsom, combined with Harbor City Narbonne’s stunning, 50-13 win over Paraclete, sealed the Highlanders at 10th. Narbonne was ninth and Long Beach Poly eighth.
Mission Hills is 12th in Cal-Hi’s final rating and Torrey Pines, which came close in Avocado League battles with Mission Hills, crashed the top 50 at 49th. San Marcos was 54th and Ramona and Steele Canyon earned honorable mention.
HIGH SCORER IN DESERT
Tyler Saikhon of El Centro Southwest led all San Diego Section scorers with 234 points after finishing second in 2016 with 188.
Saikhon is the third Valley runner to outscore all others, joining Brawley’s Zay Shepard, who had 192 points in 2003 and 276 in ’04, and Imperial’s Royce Freeman, whose three-peat probably never will be surpassed.
Freeman had 240 in 2011, 216 in ’12, and 258 in ’13 before embarking on a collegiate career at Oregon that will likely conclude with his selection in the 2018 NFL draft.
Scoring totals are not always accurate or are incomplete, because they often are impossible to find in newspapers or are unreported. Max Preps, from which the below totals come, tries to keep score.
