Lance Morton, Rich Gehring, and Sam Edwards are among former San Diego prep athletes who  recently passed away.

Morton, 81,  a founder of the Brigantine Restaurant chain, was a second team all-City Prep League  end on the 1951 Point Loma squad that finished with a 6-2 record, losing only to San Diego, 15-6, and La Jolla, 21-14, teams that tied for CPL championship.

Morton also was a standout in track and field and held the Pointers record in the shot put for several years at 51 feet, 3 1/4 inches.

Rich Gehring, 80, had bests of :15 in the 120-yard high hurdles and :20 in the 180 lows and was a double winner for Escondido in the 1953 Metropolitan League track finals.

Gehrig, also played end on the Cougars’ football team and was the leading scorer in the County with 443 points in the 1952-53 basketball season.

The 6-foot, 5-inch Gehring was an important member of the 1955-56 San Diego State basketball squad that advanced to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship tournament in Kansas City.

Gehring later was head track coach at Sweetwater High and Southwestern College.

Sam Edwards, 74,  was an end and defensive end on the 1958 San Diego High team that posted a 10-1 record, scored 457 points, and was one of the premier teams in Southern California.

Edwards, all-City  on defense for a team that allowed 57 points in 11 games, caught 4 of quarterback Ezell Singleton’s 28 touchdown passes and was one of nine Cavers who scored at least four touchdowns.

Wait till next year seems appropriate in San Diego Section basketball, according to the Cal-Hi Sports newsletter.

The Stockton-based publication is suggesting that St. Augustine could be a Top 20 team in the 2015-16 season.

That would be an accomplishment, since no San Diego squad finished in Cal-Hi Sports’ Top 20 this season.

St. Augustine was 23rd, Torrey Pines 24th, and Foothills Christian 26th in the online publication’s final top 40.

La Jolla Country Day was 15th in the girls’ ratings, Mission Hills 30th.

“”Pencil in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division champs (St. Augustine’s Saints) as a State Top 20 team next season, with five returning starters, including freshman standout Taeshon Taylor,” wrote Cal-Hi honcho Mark Tennis.

“The game that boosts the (Torrey Pines) Falcons up for the final rankings was their 54-49 win over No. 25 Long Beach Poly in one of the bigger upsets in the SoCal regionals,” said Tennis.

St. Augustine and Torrey Pines had not been ranked in prior Cal-Hi ratings.  Foothills Christian jumped from 35th after a one-point loss to Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda (No. 5) in the regionals.

La Jolla Country Day’s girls achieved a lofty position with the poorest record (18-11) of any Boys’ or Girls’ Top 20 club.

“Anyone who saw the Torreys in person (on television or at the University of California’s Haas Arena) could see this is a team of the future that arrived in the state playoffs,” said Tennis.

“Because of injuries to several girls, including promising sophomore Alaysia Styles, 2012 coach of the year Terri Bamford had to retool the team,” Tennis noted.  “LJCD definitely will be the top preseason team to beat from the San Diego Section.”

 

 

San Diego Section teams came home with one championship in the state basketball tournament, old reliable La Jolla Country Day’s girls winning in Division V, 40-36 over Palo Alto Eastside Prep.

The title was coach Terry Bamford’s fourth.  The Torreys finished with an 18-11 record, not their best, but Bamford sees the big picture, schedules tough, and points to March. Eastside was the Central Coast Section champion and No. 1 seed in the North.

The Torreys and The Bishop’s, both beaten in league and section  play by state-uninvited Horizon, owned the division, racing through the Southern California playoffs before ‘Day knocked off the Knights, 75-56, in the finals.

A disappointing boys season  concluded with Torrey Pines and Army-Navy coming up short in the D-1 and D-5 semifinals, respectively.

Coach John Olive’s Torrey Pines Falcons battled through the rounds as a No. 6 seed before losing at 2 seed Chino Hills, 64-57.

Army-Navy, coached by John Maffucci, in his 59th year at the academy, was a No. 6 seed and battled 2 seed Los Angeles Price before coming up short, 67-62.

The area top teams would have been better served had the CIF San Diego Section placed St. Augustine and Foothills Christian in their proper divisions.

Instead 7 seed St. Augustine was forced to go to the Open Division instead of D-III for the second year in a row and bowed to second-ranked Torrance Bishop Montgomery, 75-61, and Foothills, the 6 seed, came up short at 3 seed Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda, 56-55.

With largely underclass squads, the Saints and Knights could be the top teams in the San Diego Section next season.  But they again likely will face a stacked deck by being pushed into the Open Division playoffs.

It’s a system that needs more than a tweak.

BOYS

OPEN

ROUND 1

 7 St. Augustine 61, @2 Torrance Bishop Montgomery 75.

6 Foothills Christian 55, @3 Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda 56.

DIVISION I

ROUND 1

6 Torrey Pines 62, 11 N. Tustin Foothill 49.

10 San Marcos 60, @7 Riverside J.W. North 57.

QUARTERFINALS

Torrey Pines 54, @3 Long Beach Poly 49.

San Marcos 63, @2 Chino Hills 82.

SEMIFINALS

Torrey Pines 57, @Chino Hills 64.

II

ROUND 1

1 La Costa Canyon 74, 16 Las Flores Tesoro 53.

12 Mira Mesa 67, @5 Redlands East Valley 75.

15 Kearny 65, @2 Anaheim Canyon 98.

QUARTERFINALS

1 La Costa Canyon 69, 8 Santa Barbara 44.  

SEMIFINALS  

1 La Costa Canyon 46, 4 Lawndale 60.

III

ROUND 1

12 Valhalla 76, @ 5 La Habra Sonora 101. 

7 El Cajon Valley 33, 10 Newport Beach Corona del Mar 46. 

IV

ROUND 1

14 Granite Hills 49, @3 Encino Crespi 78.

6 Mission Bay 58, 11 Cerritos Valley Christian 66.

V

ROUND 1

6 Army-Navy 91, 11 Hesperia Christian 52.

10 Lutheran 52, @7 Temecula Rancho Christian 70.

QUARTERFINALS

6 Army-Navy 60, @3 L.A. Windward 52.

SEMIFINALS

Army-Navy 62, @2 L.A. Price 67.

GIRLS                                                                                                         

OPEN

ROUND 1

6 Mission Hills 41, @3 Long Beach Poly 58.    

I

ROUND 1

12 Torrey Pines 51, @5 San Bernardino 81.

15 Eastlake 50, @2 Vista Murietta 70.

II

ROUND 1

12 La Costa Canyon 57, @5 Norco 65.

III

ROUND 1

14 Westview 31, @3 Mira Costa 59.

12, Kearny 34, @5 Newport Beach Corona del Mar 70.

11 Rancho Bernardo 42, @6 Rancho Santa Margarita 48.

IV

ROUND 1

9 El Capitan  26, @8 San Juan Capistrano JSerra 67.

12 San Ysidro 31, @5 Anaheim Fairmont Prep 78. 

V

ROUND 1

1 La Jolla Country Day, bye.

2 The Bishop’s 79, 15 L.A. Price 30.

11 Escondido Adventist 18, @6 San Bernardino Aquinas 61.

QUARTERFINALS

2 The Bishop’s 73, 7 Santa Barbara Bishop Diego 49.

1 La Jolla Country Day 69, 9 Caruthers 20.

SEMIFINALS

1 La Jolla Country Day 64,  4 L.A. Ribet 36.

The Bishop’s 55, 3 Garden Grove Orangewood 48, OT.

CHAMPIONSHIP

La Jolla Country Day 75, The Bishop’s 56.

STATE

La Jolla Country Day 40, 1 Palo Alto Eastside Prep 36, @Haas Arena, California-Berkeley.

Can coach John Olive’s tough-minded, resourceful Torrey Pines Falcons pull off another victory in Tuesday’s Southern California playoff Division I semifinals?

The No. 6-seed Falcons, trailing, 43-40, after three quarters, walked down host No. 3 Long Beach Poly, 54-49, in the quarterfinals Saturday night.  The Falcons now visit 2 seed Chino Hills, averaging a turbo-charged  85.4 points and holding a 78-54 victory over Poly and an 82-63 win last week over Torrey Pines neighbor San Marcos.

The Huskies’  16-14 record is the result of seven forfeit defeats early in the season, including a forfeit loss to Foothills Christian, which came up short in an Open Division game at Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda, the state’s third-ranked team.

Coach Brad Leaf’s Foothills Knights held a one-point lead with a little more than one minute remaining, surrendered a basket, and then, in possession, could not get the shot it needed with 10 seconds left.

St. Augustine was ushered out in the Open Division, 75-61, by Torrance Bishop Montgomery.

Of the original 18 teams from the San Diego Section, three boys’ teams and three girls’ squads still are in the hunt.

La Costa Canyon, No. 1 in Boys’ Division II, faces the 22-11 Lawndale Cardinals, who defeated Redlands East Valley, 75-50.

Lawndale recently surrendered a 28-point lead in the third third quarter and 22-point advantage in the fourth and bowed to Anaheim Canyon, 105-98, in two overtimes in the Southern Section finals.

Mt. Carmel must travel to Alhambra and take on No. 1-ranked Mark Keppel in Girls’ D-II. La Jolla Country Day and The Bishop’s, seeded 1 and 2 in D-V, could be headed to a championship showdown. Pairings:

BOYS

Div.	Seed	Team	Record	Seed	Team	Record
I	6	Torrey Pines	31-3	@2	Chino Hills	16-14*
II	1	La Costa Canyon	24-7	4	Lawndale	22-11
V	6	Army-Navy	26-6	@2	L.A. Price	22-7

*Includes 7 forfeits.

GIRLS

Div.	Seed	Team	Record	Seed	Team	Record
II	4	Mt. Carmel	30-3	@1	Alhambra Mark Keppel	24-7
V	1	La Jolla Country Day	15-12	4	L.A. Ribet	24-10
V	2	The Bishop’s	23-9	3	Garden Grove Orangewood	29-4

Winning a league and section title no longer matters, according to the convoluted “power” ratings and Open divisions established by the state CIF and endorsed by the San Diego Section.

The Horizon girls’ basketball team was essentially told to drop dead by the CIF after the Panthers had won their league title and the San Diego Section Division I championship.

State regional playoffs begin tomorrow night. Horizon is out and La Jolla Country Day and The Bishop’s, teams beaten by Horizon for the Horizon League title, are the 1 and 2 seeds in D-V.

Teams can move down in the regional only if they were in Open Division in their section playoffs.  St. Augustine stays in the Open by virtue of another seeding criteria.

No less an expert and booster of high school sports than Mark Tennis of Cal-Hi Sports weighed in.

“We’ve been doing this for 35 years, longer than the CIF has even had a state tournament, and the Horizon Christian girls basketball team having its season end through a series of CIF San Diego Section policies, CIF State regional criteria, and ridiculous power ratings is one of the worst cases of how not to run high school sports that we’ve ever seen.”

“It’s a tragedy,” added Steve Brand of UT-San Diego.

Boys D-I titlist Escondido also is out.  Morse, which lost to the Cougars, 63-49, in the D-I championship, is in.

Go figure.

The ratings are the result of much statistical analysis.  A labyrinth of information goes into a computer to help determine which teams compete in Roman numeral divisions and which teams are selected for Open divisions.

Sounds good, but it hasn’t worked.

St. Augustine, which won a state D-III title in 2012-13, was denied an opportunity to defend its title and was consigned to the Open Division in 2013-14.

The Saints were forced to go on the road and  took a 67-39, first-round shellacking from Santa Ana Mater Dei.

Coach Mike Haupt’s squad again is in the Open Division and faces another tall hurdle.  As the No. 8 seed, the Saints visit No. 1 Torrance Bishop Montgomery, the state’s second-ranked squad.

Foothills Christian, which won the San Diego Section D-II title, all of a sudden is in the Open Division, apparently because the Knights have an overall high state ranking (No. 20 by Cal-Hi Sports).

The No. 6 seed Knights also have a daunting challenge, visiting No. 3 seed Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda, the state’s third-ranked team.

Torrey Pines, the Open Division loser to St. Augustine, also is in the tournament, but now has a home game  in D-I tomorrow night against Tustin Foothill.

Go figure II.

More and more teams are being invited to the state playoffs.  The once-pristine regional is beginning to look like the  bloated early rounds of the Section tournament.

Teams with losing records are creeping in.

Regional first-round pairings involving San Diego section teams:

BOYS

Div.	Seed	Team	Record	Seed	Team	Record
Open	8	St. Augustine	25-6	@1	Torrance  Bishop Montgomery	29-1
	6	Foothills Christian	23-7	@3	Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda	23-8
I	11	Tustin Foothill	28-3	@6	Torrey Pines	29-3
	10	San Marcos	25-3	@7	Riverside  J. W. North	24-3
II	16	Las Flores Tesoro	19-11	@1	La Costa Canyon	22-7
	12	Mira Mesa	25-7	@5	Redlands East Valley	25-7
	15	Kearny	23-8	@2	Anaheim Canyon	23-9
III	12	Valhalla	22-9	@5	La Habra Sonora	28-4
	10	Corona del Mar	24-7	@7	El Cajon Valley	25-6
IV	11	Cerritos Valley Christian	22-9	@6	Mission Bay	21-4
	15	Pacific Ridge	22-6	@2	Pasadena Maranatha	20-8
V	11	Hesperia Christian	23-9	@6	Army-Navy	24-6

GIRLS

Div.	Seed	Team	Record	Seed	Team	Record
Open	6	Mission Hills	26-5	@1	Long Beach Poly	25-3
I	12	Torrey Pines	22-9	@5	San Bernardino Cajon	26-3
	15	Eastlake	20-8	@2	Vista Murrieta	22-7
II	12	La Costa Canyon	23-6	@5	Norco	22-9
	13	Eagle Rock	19-10	@4	Mt. Carmel	28-3
	14	Westview	21-7	@3	Mira Costa+	24-7
III	12	Kearny	22-6	@5	Corona	22-8
	11	Rancho Bernardo	14-12	@6	Rancho Santa Margarita	18-14
IV	9	El Capitan	19-8	@8	Capistrano J. Serra	23-7
V	1	La Jolla Country Day	14-12		Bye
	2	L.A. Price	14-16	@2	The Bishop’s	21-9

FINAL UT-SAN DIEGO BASKETBALL VOTE

Foothills Christian came on strong in the San Diego Section playoffs and  finished atop the UT-SanUT-San Diego poll.

#	Team (1st place votes)	W-L	Points*	Previous
1	Foothills Christian (9)	23-7**	107	2
2	St. Augustine (2)	25-6	101	7
3	Torrey Pines	29-4	89	1
4	Escondido	23-7	64	8
5	La Costa Canyon	22-7	59	3
6	Army-Navy	24-6	47	5
7	San Marcos	25-3	44	4
8	Morse	25-7	28	9
9	El Camino	21-6	22	6
10	Mission Bay	20-4	17	10

*Awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.  **Includes two forfeits.

Others receiving votes: El Cajon Valley (25-6), 5; Mira Mesa (25-7), 4; Francis Parker (19-8), 2.

Eleven San Diego County sportswriters and broadcasters and a CIF San Diego Section representative vote each week. The panel includes John Maffei and Kirk Kenney (UT-San Diego), Terry Monahan (UT-San Diego correspondent), Bill Dickens (eastcountysports.com), Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), John Labeta (CIF San Diego Section), Bodie DeSilva (sandiegopreps.com), Aaron Burgin (fulltimeshoops.com), Rick Willis (KUSI Chl. 51), Rick Smith (partletonsports.com), Drew Willis (sdcoastalsports.com).

 

Ugly blowouts apparently in the rear view mirror, the San Diego Section basketball playoffs reach the semifinals round this week in the Open and Divisions I-V.

The so-called CIF power ratings, with  their comprehensive reviews of statistics, scores, strength of schedule, etc., raised questions when Vista was accorded an Open Division berth, resulting in Francis Parker and Morse being assigned to Division I.

San Marcos’ strength of schedule  was questioned when he it was granted a No. 3 seed in the Open.

St. Augustine, No. 6, defeated San Marcos,  60-45, and Torrey Pines, No. 1, walloped Vista, No. 8, 68-38.

IT’S WHO YOU PLAY

Torrey Pines was 4-1 in intersectional games and hosted the nationally acclaimed Under-Armour Tournament, which brings teams from throughout the United States.

Vista was 1-5 in out-of-the area competition and participated in a lower level tournament in Westminster.

San Marcos was 5-0 intersectionally and won undistinguished tournaments in Maui, Hawaii, and at Mt. Carmel.

St. Augustine was 4-3 out of the area and was in the lower level West Hills event but also competed in the Under Armour and Santa Margarita tournaments.

The Open semifinals have St. Augustine (23-6) at No. 2 La Costa Canyon (22-6) and No. 4 Army-Navy (24-5) at Torrey Pines (27-2).

Hopefully early-round games involving undeserving, losing teams and  scores of 68-21, 92-29, 77-28, and 71-27 won’t be repeated and, in the future, more weight will be given to the quality of tournaments and intersectional competition.