Originally posted Nov. 18, 2017.

Two young coaches destined to become legendary in San Diego basketball lore arrived as varsity mentors at the city’s two prep powerhouses.

Rickey Wilson, a former San Diego High player, succeeded Lawrence Carr at Hoover and Merrill Douglas, a transplanted Montanan, took over for Bill Schutte at San Diego High.

The schools  continued to be San Diego’s prime representatives, the Hilltoppers going 15-3 under Douglas and Hoover 10-4 under Wilson.

Teams in the Metropolitan and Southern Prep Leagues also commanded their shares of attention, but most headlines were about the war clouds looming in the West after a summer and early fall dominated by  the “The Battle of Britain”, fought between the British and Germans in the skies above the English Channel and London.

EARLY FINISH

San Diego, Hoover, and Long Beach Poly were the only members of the Coast League. The three would join a 17-team super conference beginning in 1941-42 as the CIF attempted to separate large schools from small schools.

Down to three teams since Santa Ana bailed after the 1935-36 school year and Alhambra after 1938-39, the Coast basketball season was shortened.  The Hilltoppers and Hoover seasons ended  in late January.  The Metropolitan and Southern Prep were active through the end of February.

CIF commissioner Seth Van Patten often had to hustle to fill playoff brackets.  Some leagues, notably the Metro, at the geographical bottom of the Federation, just didn’t want to be bothered.  Records in the CIF archives showed only a four-team field this year.

Poly won the Coast, taking three out of four from San Diego and Hoover, but the Jackrabbits were beaten in the CIF finals by Glendale Hoover, 23-20.

BULLDOZING BULLDOGS

Ramona ran the table with a 12-0 record to win its sixth consecutive Southern Prep championship and then claimed a CIF Southern Section championship at Calexico, topping the Bulldogs, 29-23.

The victory, for the overall 13-0 Bulldogs of coach Charlie Snell, was for the San Diego-Imperial County area.

A spirited, six-game Metropolitan League race ended with Coronado, Escondido, and Grossmont, each 5-1, tying for first place.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

It took the San Diego news corps awhile to get it right with Ermer Robinson, the San Diego High star and future Harlem Globetrotter.  He was known as “Irma” Robinson for the first month of this, his junior season.

Martin Payne, the sports editor of The Russ, San Diego High’s weekly newspaper, covered several games for The San Diego Union and was the first to ensure that Robinson was correctly identified, when Payne covered the Hilltoppers’ 25-19 league victory over Long Beach Poly.

DECEMBER FANCY

—Known as the County Interscholastic Tournament, an eight-team event took place with games at San Diego High, Hoover, Municipal Gym, and San Diego State. Grossmont defeated Point Loma, 30-12, for the championship.

—San Diego and Hoover at the same time were in the Huntington Beach Tournament, which also included Coronado. The Islanders opened with a 46-7 victory over Laguna Beach as Bud Ingle scored 20 points.  They were eliminated the next day by Ontario Chaffey, 22-17.

San Diego defeated Hoover, 24-15, for the Huntington Beach title after advancing with wins of 28-20 over defending champ Chaffey and 29-23 over Long Beach Wilson.  Hoover was in the finals after defeating Whittier, 36-26, and Santa Barbara, 20-19.

San Diego was forced to give up the Huntington Beach trophy when Bob (Lefty) Felthaus was declared ineligible by the CIF a few days later for having signed a professional baseball contract in 1939, days before his 17^th birthday.

Brooklyn Dodgers scout Tom Downey, under heavy criticism from local prep officials, said that he signed Felthaus after the player stopped attending school, his having dropped out of Hoover.  Felthaus became a student again at San Diego and had turned out for basketball.

—“Irma” Robinson scored 10 points as San Diego, playing for the first time without Felthaus, opened the post-Christmas Chino Tournament with a 42-9 win over San Juan Capistrano.  The Hilltoppers buried Huntington Beach, 38-13, but lost to Burbank, 30-20, in the semifinals.  Poly won its second straight title, 34-24, over Burbank.

—St. Augustine lost to St. Mary’s of Phoenix, 36-27 in the Los Angeles Catholic League tournament.  Hoover defeated Grossmont, 11-7, and Point Loma topped Hoover, 26-8, in finals of the San Diego High invitational for Class C and D teams, respectively.

WE’LL PLAY ANYONE

Army-Navy’s 34-33 victory clinched a best, two-of-three series against the Oceanside chapter of the Knights of Pythias.  The cadets were not as fortunate against the so-named Vista Outlaws, who prevailed, 21-15.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURSTS

Ramona’s 59-17 victory over Fallbrook represented the single-game scoring high for the season. The Bulldogs also defeated Julian, 53-26.

Julian’s Bud Farmer had the top individual performance with 24 in a 38-31 victory over Army-Navy and added 22 in a 30-24 win over San Dieguito. Julian’s 51-6 rout of Fallbrook, with Farmer scoring one point, represented the third, 50-plus game in the county.

LATE ADDITION

San Diego’s season was over but Coach Merrill Douglas enticed Chino to come south a couple weeks later.  Douglas employed only players who would return for the 1941-42 season, opening with a starting lineup of Ermer Robinson, Jim Warner, Ron Maley, Denzil Walden, and Gerald Patrick.

The underclassmen delivered a 32-15 victory. Douglas would respond to a call from Uncle Sam after the next season and not return until the 1946-47 campaign.

ANYTHING FOR THE TEAM

Hoover’s Willie Steele set a record of 24 feet, ¾ inch, in the broad jump at the Southern Section track finals in Glendale in May, a few months after Steele served as student manager of the varsity basketball squad.  Steele was awarded a letter by coach Rickey Wilson, as was B squad manager Monroe (Bookie) Clark.

Steele, who played class B basketball the season before, went on to win the national collegiate broad jump championship at San Diego State and was the 1948 Olympic gold medalist in the event, with an all-time best of 26 feet, 6 ½ inches.

BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE

St. Augustine principal the Very Rev. W.B. Kirk announced that the Saints had found a home and would join the Southern Prep League in the next school year, after free-lancing and scuffling as an independent since the school opened in 1922.  The agreement was for one year, depending on the circuit’s ability to develop a schedule for eight teams.

Ramona, Julian, Fallbrook, Brown Military, Army-Navy, San Dieguito, and Vista were the other SPL members.  St. Augustine’s games would not count in the standings and the Saints eventually joined the Southland Catholic League of the Los Angeles area in 1945.

SIGNS OF THE TIME

The U.S. census for 1940 reported San Diego County’s population at 289,348, including 203,737 in the city.   Other “township” totals: Borrego, 90; El Cajon, 20,160; Encinitas, 4,473; Escondido, 9,487; Fallbrook, 2,308; Jacumba, 1,214; National City, 32,213; Oceanside, 8,191;  Ramona, 3,384, and Vista, 4,091.

San Diego State, which would win the 1941 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship, drew a record 19,256 persons to 17 home games in the 1,800-capacity Men’s Gym.  The largest turnout was 1,713 for Santa Barbara State, although the record was 1,907 for a 1939 game against the Broadway Clowns.

SET SHOTS

The San Diego High gym figuratively was packed to the rafters with an estimated 1,900 persons when Hoover upended the Hilltoppers, 32-17…seven days later San Diego won at Hoover, 32-17…Coronado’s Metro League co-championship was achieved despite Coach Hal Niedermeyer’s suspension of Bud Ingle, the Metro’s leading scorer in 1939-40; Bill Hakes, and Al Galpin, early in the season…the three-team Coast’s all-league squad featured San Diego’s Bob (Lefty) Felthaus, Bob Carson, and Jack Maupin…Felthaus’ selection apparently was made on his reputation; he didn’t participate in league play…Hoover’s Rupert Crosthwaite, later well-known in San Diego circles for his ownership of a local sporting goods store, made second team….

The so-called “Maffei Madness” San Diego Section poll, conducted by the very sane John Maffei of the Union-Tribune:

First-place votes in parenthesis. Previous ranking in italics.
Cal-Hi Sports rankings are by Mark Tennis, the newsletter’s publisher, with contribution from statewide correspondents.
Max Preps essentially relies on individual school representatives.

TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS	MAXPREPS.COM	CAL-HI SPORTS
1. Santa Fe Christian	19-2 (14)	174	1	17 (18)	29 (28)
2. Victory Christian	16-4 (3)	162	2	34 (38)	NR (Not Ranked)
3. Francis Parker	12-9	143	3	67 (78)	30 (On Bubble)
4. San Marcos	16-5	114	(7)	57 (72)	NR
5. Cathedral	14-8	89	5	101 (100)	NR
6.Mission Bay	14-8	72	(4)	84	NR
7. Olympian	17-4	68	(8)	72	NR
8.Mira Mesa	16-6	51	(9)	83	NR
9. Torrey Pines	11-10	49	(10)	129 (144)	NR
10. La Costa Canyon	16-6	48	(6)	78	NR

Others receiving votes: Montgomery (16-5, 10 points), St. Augustine (11-11, 7), Poway (15-7, 3) Army-Navy (15-7, 1), Calexico (16-4, 1), Christian (14-8, 1) 3) Brawley (14-4, 1), Madison (14-5, 1),
VOTING PANEL (18)
John Maffei (San Diego Union-Tribune).
Aaron Burgin (Full-Time Hoops),
Steve Brand, Bodie DeSilva (Union-Tribune freelance contributors).
Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (San Diego Section honchos).
Rick Smith (partletonsports.com).
Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference).
Joe Evangelist, Rex Johnson (San Diego Section Advisory Committee).
Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association).
Braden Surprenant (97.3-FM The Fan).
Dennis Ackerman, Steve (Biff) Dolan, John (Coach) Kentera, Adam Paul, Tom Ronco, Eric Williams (freelance contributors).

 

 

Tayden Bryant of Ramona set a school record of 51 points in a 77-43, Valley League victory over San Pasqual last week.

Fifty points was once an extremely rare accomplishment.

There have been many games of 50 points or more by an individual player since St. Augustine’s Tom Shaules scored 60 in the 1957-58 season against Crawford, years before the three-point field goal came into play.

The innumerable number of games and points and lack of sustained record keeping, or reporting, in earlier years make basketball a most challenging sport when it comes to posting stats of the “most”.

The table, which begins decades after the game came to San Diego, lists an evolution of individual high scoring.  Additions, corrections welcomed:

YEAR	NAME	TEAM	POINTS	OPPONENT	SCORE
1939-40	Bud Ingle	Coronado	35	La Jolla	57-16
1943-44	Ivan Robinson	San Diego	38	Kearny	70-25
1950-51	Paul Lockridge	Fallbrook	47	Brown Military	90-31
1956-57	Tom Shaules	St. Augustine	49	Helix	86-72
1957-58	Shaules		60	Crawford	102-38
1969-70	Rob Petrie	Julian		Mountain Empire	115-76
1976-77	Mitchell Lilly	Madison	61	San Diego	118-84
1989-90	Tony Clark	Christian	64	La Jolla Country Day	103-65
2004-05	Tyrone Shelley	Crawford	76	Burlington Central, Canada	138-29
2019-20	Mikey Williams	San Ysidro	77	Kearny	116-42

The so-called “Maffei Madness” San Diego Section poll conducted by the very sane John Maffei of the Union-Tribune:

First-place votes in parenthesis. Previous ranking (if changed) in italics.
Cal-Hi Sports rankings are by Mark Tennis, the newsletter’s publisher, with contribution from his statewide correspondents.
Max Preps essentially relies on individual school representatives.

TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS	MAXPREPS.COM	CAL-HI SPORTS
1. Santa Fe Christian	18-2 (11)	170	1	18 (12)	28 (Not Ranked)
2. Victory Christian	16-4 (4)	160	2	38 (47)	Not Ranked
3. Francis Parker	10-9	135	(5)	78 (99)	On Bubble
4. Mission Bay	13-7	116	(3)	68 (84)	NR
5. Cathedral	13-7	95	(4)	99 (100)	NR
6. La Costa Canyon	16-5	83	(9)	61 (71)	NR
7. San Marcos	13-5	81	(8)	72 (94)	NR
8. Olympian	16-4	51	(10)	86 (83)	NR
9. Mira Mesa	15-5	36	(Not Ranked)	82	NR
10. Torrey Pines	9-10	22	(6)	159 (144)	NR

Others receiving votes: Madison (14-5, 18 points), Montgomery (14-5, 6), Brawley (14-4, 1), Pacific Ridge (16-4, 1), Rancho Buena Vista (11-10, 1).
VOTING PANEL (18)
John Maffei (San Diego Union-Tribune).
Aaron Burgin (Full-Time Hoops),
Steve Brand, Bodie DeSilva (Union-Tribune freelance contributors).
Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (San Diego Section honchos).
Rick Smith (partletonsports.com).
Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference).
Joe Evangelist, Rex Johnson (San Diego Section Advisory Committee).
Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association).
Braden Surprenant (97.3-FM The Fan).
Dennis Ackerman, Steve (Biff) Dolan, John (Coach) Kentera, Adam Paul, Tom Ronco, Eric Williams (freelance contributors).

First-place votes in parenthesis. Previous ranking (if changed) in italics.
Cal-Hi Sports rankings are by Mark Tennis, the newsletter’s publisher, with contribution from his statewide correspondents.
Max Preps essentially relies on individual school representatives.

TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS	MAXPREPS.COM	CAL-HI SPORTS
1. Santa Fe Christian	17-1 (18)	180	1	12 (15)	28 (Not Ranked)
2. Victory Christian	13-4	1552	2	47 (42)	Not Ranked
3. Mission Bay	13-5	134	(4)	84 (68)	On Bubble
4. Cathedral	12-6	117	(3)	100 (89)	NR
5. Francis Parker	8-8	98	5	99 (119)	NR
6. Torrey Pines	8-9	67	(7)	144 (165)	NR
7. Madison	13-3	59	(6)	89 (57)	NR
8. San Marcos	11-5	48	8	94 (101)	NR
9. La Costa Canyon	13-5	42	(NR)	71	NR
10. Olympian	14-4	40	(NR)	83	NR

Others receiving votes: Mira Mesa (13–5, 30 points), St. Augustine (8-8. 11), Montgomery (13-5, 5), Morse (15-0, 4), Calexico (12-3, 1), Westview (14-3, 1).

VOTING PANEL (18)
John Maffei (San Diego Union-Tribune).
Aaron Burgin (Full-Time Hoops),
Steve Brand, Bodie DeSilva (Union-Tribune freelance contributors).
Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (San Diego Section honchos).
Rick Smith (partletonsports.com).
Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference).
Joe Evangelist, Rex Johnson (San Diego Section Advisory Committee).
Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association).
Braden Surprenant (97.3-FM The Fan).
Dennis Ackerman, Steve (Biff) Dolan, John (Coach) Kentera, Adam Paul, Tom Ronco, Eric Williams (freelance contributors).

 

Originally posted June 22, 2017.

Coronado paid an old debt.

Hoover’s playoff advance was halted at the foul line.

Merrill Douglas ended a great run at San Diego High.

Lincoln showed that patience had virtue.

—John Kovac was a football coach who happened to come along at the right basketball time at Coronado.

The dour Kovac without prompting often recalled that he coached future NFL stars Lenny Moore and Roosevelt Grier when Kovac guided the Penn State freshmen team.

Relocating to San Diego’s trans-bay community in the early ‘fifties, Kovac still saw football in his future but found himself directing the Islanders’ basketball program, with stunning success.

Kovac’s teams posted a three-season, 63-13 record with players who weren’t very tall but had roadrunner speed and swarmed on defense.

Despite starters Charlie Love, Willie Dickey, and Roger Nix returning from the 21-4 squad in ’54-55, Kovac’s preseason appraisal was loaded with typical coach speak:

“We will be very short and not nearly as fast or sharp as last year.  We hope we’re not in for a long year.”

Coronado raced through the Avocado League schedule, finishing 12-0 and winning by an average score of 65-40.  They were 27-1 overall, losing only to Hoover, 49-45, in an early December game.

Love, Dickey, Nix, Jon Crawford, Steve Solier, and Dennis (Swede) Grimaud, none taller than Nix’s 6-feet, 1 inch, were the principals as the Islanders won their last 25 and the CIF Southern Section Southern Group (small schools) championship.

As one of the top seeds, the Islanders had a first-round bye in the playoffs and then blew out Tustin, 75-55, with a 28-13 fourth quarter on the neutral Sweetwater floor as  Herman Wright led all scorers with 25 points. Charlie Love added 16, and Roger Nix 15.

They sweated out  a 55-50, semifinals victory over San Jacinto, after having built a 34-19 halftime lead at neutral Hemet High and then seeing top scorer Roger Nix foul out midway through the second half.

(“Neutral” courts, as mandated by the CIF, meant that host teams usually played at venues close to home.  Hemet was less than three-and-a-half miles from the Tigers’ facility.)

Nix and his teammates then surprised and silenced most of the 2,300 persons in attendance at Azusa College with a 60-54, championship game victory over Azusa Citrus and high scoring Billy Kilmer.

Winning on the road was the sweetener.  Citrus had beaten Coronado, 63-58, in the finals the year before as the visiting team at Point Loma High.

Kovac left Coronado and moved to Hoover as an assistant football coach in 1956.

Two years later the transplanted Pennsylvanian joined the staff at San Diego Junior College and became the Knights’ head coach in 1961.  Kovac started the new Mesa College program and posted a 30-14-2 record from 1964-68.

CARDINALS HAVE HUGE RESUME

Hoover won the postseason Beverly Hills Tournament title in 1944-45 when there were no CIF playoffs because of World War II.  The East San Diego squad had not gotten that far before or since.

Three days prior to their win over Coronado, the Cardinals came from behind in the fourth quarter for a  41-39 win at Long Beach Poly, giving them victories over two of the three eventual Southern Section champions in less than a week.

Poly won the Central Group (large) playoff championship, defeating Montebello, 74-63, after the Oilers had beaten Hoover, 69-57, in the semifinals.

Hoover was 11-1 in the City Prep League and opened the postseason with a 63-52 win at Point Loma over Newport Beach Newport Harbor, which had knocked out Helix, 66-60, in the first round.

Next was a quarterfinals test at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa against nearby Redondo Beach Redondo Union.

Hoover led, 54-47, with 2:45 remaining.  Redondo went into a press.  Rex Hughes, who had 28 points and 15 rebounds, scored with 46 seconds left to forge a tie at 54.

The Seahawks stole a pass as Hoover attempted to get the ball down court after Hughes’ basket.  Traveling was called on Redondo.  Hoover inbounded again, Walt Baranski to Larry Elliot, who passed crosscourt, where Bill Landry drained a 15-foot jump shot with 15 seconds remaining for a 56-54 win.

The Cardinals were eliminated in the semifinals before an overflow crowd at Long Beach City College by Montebello and jump-shooting Jerry Pimm, whose lovely floaters and 28 points kept the Cardinals at a distance and in foul trouble.

Pimm found the range firing behind screens as Hoover’s man-to-man defenders, trying to keep up with Pimm, constantly bumped into one of Pimm’s teammates, usually center Bill Doner.

HOOVER’S EDGE IN FIELD GOALS

The Cardinals outscored the Oilers, 46-40, from the field, but the winner had an 18-point advantage at the free throw line, converting 29 of 39 attempts, 10 by Pimm, and 13 by Doner.  Hoover was 11×23.

Larry Elliot, Hoover’s all-City forward and second-team all-Southern California selection, scored 22 points, 14 in the second half, but Elliot fouled out, as did guards Bill Landry and Walt Baranski.

Landry actually held Pimm scoreless for the game’s first seven minutes, but acquired three personals during that time.

Hoover defeated Glendale Hoover, 57-53, the following evening for third place and a final, 25-5 record.

HORNETS STEP UP

Lincoln, 2-18 and 6-16 with virtually the same squad in its first two seasons, reaped the fruits of their sometimes painful development, which originated with games on the Hornets’ outdoor, asphalt court and in Municipal Gym.

Coach Don Smith’s club, with City League player of the year and three-year starter Bob Mendoza leading the way, were 10-2 in the league and 20-4 overall.

A 62-46 loss to Hoover in the first round of play was erased with a 56-43 victory before a packed house in Lincoln’s new gymnasium in the second round of CPL play.

The Hornets’ foray into the playoffs started with a 62-54 win over Grossmont.

The postseason ended quickly and with finality in a 71-52 loss to Long Beach Poly, led by the  Southern California player of the year, 6-foot, 7-inch Jim Hannah.

Two busloads of Lincoln students arrived at Long Beach Jordan at halftime of the second-round contest.  Poly led, 36-23.

The seemingly awestruck Hornets were outnumbered everywhere. Poly had more cheerleaders than Lincoln had players and the Jackrabbits’ bench was a long, green and gold line.

“We were like a bunch of elementary school kids (in that environment),” said Hornets guard Brad Griffith.

DOUGLAS MOVES ON

—Merrill Douglas, who succeeded Bill Schutte as head coach in 1940-41, stepped down at San Diego High and moved across Russ Boulevard to San Diego Junior College.

Douglas, who missed three seasons serving in the military in World War II,  guided teams that averaged 19 wins and posted a 236-76 (.756) record in 12 seasons.

The San Diego Junior College Knights won the Metropolitan Conference championship in Douglas’ first season.  He also served as the school’s athletics director and took the same position when Mesa College opened in 1964.

Olympians teams and high schools eventually would play football and compete in track and field and soccer in the Merrill Douglas Stadium on campus.

DAVEY, DAVEY…?

No, not Davey Crockett, but La Jolla had a couple sharpshooters by the same name. Clyde Crockett led City Prep League scores with 209 points in 12 games, a 17.4 average. Crockett’s younger brother, Doug, had 94 points and a 7.8 average.

Mission Bay’s Leroy Brandt (15.2) was runner-up to Clyde in league scoring, followed by Jim Gilchrist (14.0) of San Diego, Lincoln’s Bob Mendoza (13.6),  Willie West (13.2) of San Diego, Bill Landry (11.7) and Larry Elliot (11.3) of Hoover, and Brad Griffith (10.8) of Lincoln.

Helix’ Gael Barsotti led Metropolitan League scorers with an 18.4 average in eight games. Chula Vista’s Bill Collins (15.8), Helix’ Ronnie Mulder (15.4), and Grossmont’s Lowell Raper  (12.5)  followed.

Prep writers of the day did not list scoring beyond league play and Avocado and Southern League scorers, such as Coronado’s Roger Nix and others, were not listed at all.

NORMANS DEFEND

Beverly Hills defeated Hoover, 45-42, for its second consecutive Kiwanis Tournament Unlimited Division title.

San Diego, waiting on several players still playing football, surprised Inglewood Morningside, 51-46, in the first round. Months later Morningside scored a 64-62 win over Beverly Hills for the CIF Northern Group (small schools) playoff title.

Mar Vista’s Larry Boyd, who earned all-Southern California second-team honors in 1954-55, scored 99 points in four games to break the Kiwanis scoring record of 96, set  the year before by Morningside’s John Arrillaga.

Boyd scored 25, but the Mariners couldn’t overcome the 19 each by Jon Crawford and Willie Dickey, who led Coronado to a 53-49 triumph in the Limited final.

ABOVE THE TREE LINE

Helix reportedly had 14 players on varsity and JV, standing at least 6-3.  The varsity measured 6-6 Bill Turpin, 6-5 Ronnie Mulder, and 6-5 Mel Robinson.

Tallest Metro Leaguer was Grossmont’s Lee Carick, a 6-9 reserve center.

Andy Dunn, a reserve forward at Point Loma, and Lincoln backup center Bill Beatty stood highest in the City League, each at 6-5.

JUMP SHOTS

Julian was ousted from the playoffs for the smallest schools, 78-43, by Brea-Olinda…Grossmont won a coin flip with Helix to determine playoff pairings after the teams tied for the Metropolitan League title…Lincoln topped the Foothillers at Hoover behind 20 points by Bob Mendoza and 14 by Brad Griffith…Helix led Newport Harbor, 17-12, after one quarter at Garden Grove High, but Ronnie Mulder was sidelined for long periods with 4 fouls…Lincoln’s first victory over San Diego in football or basketball was a 55-53 thriller in which the Hornets overcame a six-point San Diego lead in the fourth quarter…Mendoza’s two free throws, after a layup by Griffith, put Lincoln in front, 54-51, in the final minute…San Diego coach Merrill Douglas surprised Lincoln in the league opener with a zone defense that stymied the Hornets, 35-30…late-arriving football stars Willie West (guard) and Deron Johnson (center) were starters for the Cavemen…Escondido made 29 of 44 free throw attempts in a 65-59 win over Vista…the Cougars and Panthers committed 46 fouls in the 32-minute game …Coronado set an Avocado League points record in an 81-55 victory over Escondido…Helix posted the highest total in the Metropolitan League in a 79-50 conquest of Sweetwater…Coronado’s starters played all but two minutes in a 71-32 rout of Escondido…La Jolla’s George Graham set a City League Class B record with 33 points in a 68-46 win over Kearny…San Diego’s sophomore team, paced by Edward Lee Johnson’s 17.2 average, was 20-0…Vista played in the post-Christmas Banning tournament and Helix was in the Fillmore event…Chula Vista topped Bell Gardens, 50-46, for the consolation title at Chino….

We bided our time for several weeks before tuning in to the Union-Tribune writer’s 2025-26 season weekly poll, which he began weeks earlier.   That explains our Week 1 designation for winter Maffei Madness.

So far, other than a few intersectional victories along the way, it’s been a relatively quiet season in the San Diego Section.

Two small private schools, Santa Fe Christian in Solana Beach and Victory Christian in Chula Vista, are holding sway; traditional big shots Mission Bay and Cathedral have represented, but Torrey Pines and St. Augustine are treading water.

Things should change in the next several weeks. The season is at about the halfway juncture.  League play now is paramount, along with the occasional weekend “classics”.

Cal-Hi Sports, which publishes a top 50 in football, so far has scaled basketball down to 30, without a single San Diego Section team in the mix.  Santa Fe, Mission Bay, and Francis Parker are on Cal-Hi’s bubble.

First-place votes in parenthesis.
Points awarded on  10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Cal-Hi Sports rankings are by Mark Tennis, the newsletter’s publisher, with contribution from his statewide correspondents.
Max Preps essentially relies on various school representatives.

TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS	MAXPREPS.COM	CAL-HI SPORTS
1. Santa Fe Christian	15-1 (18)	180	1	15	Not Ranked
2. Victory Christian	10-4	145	5	42	NR
3. Cathedral	11-5	132	3	89	NR
4. Mission Bay	12-5	109	4	68	NR
5. Francis Parker	7-8	113	2	119	NR
6. Madison	12-2	92	6	57	NR
7. Torrey Pines	7-8	56	10	165	NR
8. San Marcos	11-5	41	9	101	NR
9. Mira Mesa	13-5	38	8	108	NR
10. St. Augustine	8-7	33	7	146	NR

Others receiving votes: La Costa Canyon (11-5, 26 points), Olympian (12-4, 15) Rancho Bernardo (8-6, 4), Army-Navy (10-5, 2), Morse (14-0, 2), Poway (12-5, 2), Calexico (11-2, 1).

VOTING PANEL (18)
John Maffei (San Diego Union-Tribune).
Aaron Burgin (Full-Time Hoops),
Steve Brand, Bodie DeSilva (Union-Tribune freelance contributors).
Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (San Diego Section honchos).
Rick Smith (partletonsports.com).
Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference).
Joe Evangelist, Rex Johnson (San Diego Section Advisory Committee).
Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association).
Braden Surprenant (97.3-FM The Fan).
Dennis Ackerman, Steve (Biff) Dolan, John (Coach) Kentera, Adam Paul, Tom Ronco, Eric Williams (freelance contributors).