After five defeats in the Southern California regionals, including a couple jaw-droppers, Del Norte, 30-28 to Lake Balboa Birmingham, and St. Augustine, 21-20 to Ventura St. Bonaventure, the San Diego Section is down to one team.

Would you believe 8-6 Sweetwater?

The same Red Devils, 0-4 at the start of the season and 8-43 from 2015-20, who won their fifth game in a row, the last four in the charged atmosphere of the playoffs, including the regional, 47-27, versus visiting Santa Monica St. Monica (11-4).

The Red Devils of coach Ervin Hernandez, will play 13-0 Colusa of the Northern Section Saturday at 11 a.m. at El Camino College in Torrance for the state VI-A title.

Sweetwater, despite some lean years after the millennium, has a long and honored history, notably the wildly successful 1960’s-‘80’s eras of coaches Dave Lay, Gene Alim, and Al Jacobus.

The latest success represented the Red Devils’ first in an intersectional game in the postseason since a Cinderella run in the 1958 Southern Section playoffs, in which they reached the semifinal round before losing, 34-20, to Santa Monica after tying Anaheim, 7-7, and beating Santa Maria, 27-7.

Dave Lay was 76-27 (.739) from 1967-77, not counting a Dreaded Administrative Glitch which cost his 1968 team eight forfeit losses and a no-contest.  Gene Alim was 74-9 (.892) from 1981-87, and Al Jacobus 23-7 (.767) from 1978-80. The trio overall was 173-39 (.816), not counting forfeits. Alim also coached again at Sweetwater from 1991-94.

WHA’ HAPPENED?

Del Norte (11-3) and St. Augustine (10-5) are asking that question.

Visiting Birmingham, from the Los Angeles City Section, trailed in the III-AA contest, 28-24, and appeared dead in the water until quarterback Kingston Tisdale launched a Hail Mary pass from his 48-yard line on the game’s final play.

Peyton Jackson, Tisdale’s intended receiver, did not make the catch at the 12-yard line but deflected the ball.  Teammate Devyn Jackson was in position at the 17-yard line, made the reception and ran untouched for the winning score.

“I just can’t believe we’re going to go out on a play like that,” Nighthawks wide receiver Ty Olsen, who had put his team ahead on a 75-yard kickoff return with 9:52 remaining, told Don Norcross of The San Diego Union.

Said Nighthawks quarterback Jack Schneider: “I don’t know what to believe.  Disbelief.”

LAST SECOND AGAIN

St. Augustine led visiting St. Bonaventure of the Southern Section, 20-14, until a halfback, four-yard touchdown pass on the game’s final play in the D-I contest.

Not as dramatic as Del Norte’s loss, but equally stunning.  St. Augustine had given up the ball on its 30-yard line with eight seconds to play.

A pass completion put the ball on the Saints’ four-yard line with four seconds to play, followed by a quarterback ball spike that left two seconds on the clock.

Two too many.

NOT AS CLOSE

Granite Hills led the I-AA playoff at Mission Viejo, 14-0, and then was buried under a 49-0 Diablos onslaught to finish the 12-1 season with a 49-21 loss.

Mount Miguel was ushered out in DIII-A, 52-21, by Lakewood Mayfair at Bellflower High and La Jolla Country Day was ousted, 41-21, in DV-A at Wilmington Banning.

TRUE GRID

Sweetwater will be making it 70^th playoff appearance, dating to a 13-6 playoff loss to San Diego High in 1922…the Red Devils were 2-6-1 in Southern Section postseason games, are 33-28-1 in the postseason since joining the nascent San Diego Section in 1960, and 35-34-1 overall…the Colusa Red Hawks are 13-0, having won the Northern California regional, 42-6 over South San Francisco after Northern Section wins of 14-7 over East Nicolaus and 42-13 over Winters…Colusa High opened in 1916, about 65 miles North of Sacramento…until 2010 the school mascot was the Colus plant, a flowering grass endemic to the area…the Red Hawks have a 10.4 Cal-Preps.com rating to Sweetwater’s -4.4…Colusa is ranked 256th in California and Sweetwater 448th by Max Preps … the computer is calling a 38-22 victory for the Red Hawks….

San Diego Section teams in bold.  Columns 4, 5, and 6 are prep outlets’ ratings of opponents.

This is the curious time of the season.

The San Diego Section rounds of championship games, concluding with Division I, II  III, and IV last week, now centers on the Southern California Regional playoffs.

And many of us are curious about these strangers suddenly looming on the postseason schedule.

How good are San Diego Section teams, which will play representatives from the Los Angeles City and Southern Sections?

Locals are 6-2 in regional 1-AA games since the present format was implemented:

The successes of San Diego’s top teams against those Southern Section squads is tempered.

The huge Section’s Open Division champion (Santa Ana Mater Dei, 35-7 winner this season over Bellflower St. John Bosco) always enjoys the  status and plays the Northern California champion each year and will meet San Mateo Serra Dec. 8.

San Diego Section Open Division champions always are slotted in I-AA in the Regional playoff.

DIVISION I-AA

Granite Hills (12-0), @Mission Viejo (11-3)  Friday, Dec. 1, 7 p.m.

South Coast League-dominant Mission Viejo has had its way with San Diego Section teams, posting a 19-4 record since 1974.

San Diego’s infrequent victories are spread out.

Morse prevailed, 3-0, in Balboa Stadium in 1986.  Rancho Buena Vista was a 45-24 winner at home in 1990.  Vista won at home, 26-14, in 2007.

Oceanside, with John Carroll in his last year as coach and headed for a 14-1 season in 2014, scored a 24-7 win over the visiting Diablos, who finished 12-2.

An 11-2 Helix team, on the road in the 2015 Regional, had the Diablos in its grasp, leading, 28-25, with two minutes remaining and in possession of the ball but fumbled; Mission Viejo recovered and pulled out a 32-28 victory en route to a state-record, 16-0 season.

Mission Viejo took field in I-AA playoff title game against Anaheim Servite last week.

COACHES

Chad Johnson, no relation to the legendary Bob Johnson, whom Chad replaced at Mission Viejo in 2018, is 51-15. That includes four consecutive forfeits at the start of his first season.

Kellan Cobbs, a 2005 Granite Hills graduate, played on the 1-9 team in 2004 and took a 1-9 punch in the nose in his first season as coach in 2012.

Cobbs, who also wrestled and played Lacrosse in high school, rallied the program to a 7-6 finish in 2013, is 93-47 overall, and riding a 21-game winning streak.

The Eagles won the state DII-A title in a 13-2 campaign in 2022 and their last loss was in Week 6 of that season, 15-12, to Madison.

TO GET THERE

Mission Viejo (69.8 Cal-Preps.com rating) outscored three Southern Section playoff opponents, 109-51.

The Diablos defeated 59.6 Westlake Village Oaks Christian, 39-14; Murietta Valley (58.9), 31-21, and Anaheim Servite (62.1), 34-15.

Mission Viejo won its 2023 opening game, 38-13, at the San Diego Section’s El Camino.

Granite Hills (65.9) defeated Carlsbad (56.9), 46-45, in overtime and Lincoln (64.0), 27-26.

EAGLES TO WATCH

Zach Benitez, a Max Preps-listed 6-feet, 2-inch, 200-pound freshman quarterback, has passed for 2,135 yards and 22 touchdowns and has a 66 per cent completion average.

Max Turner has rushed for 1,095 yards and 16 touchdowns, with two more receiving, and has a 91.3 game rushing average.

Pablo Jackson has scored 11 touchdowns and placekicker Robert Petrich made 11 field goals.  Petrich has a career 71 per cent average (25×35) with a long of 47 yards and has converted 125×132 PAT, 94.6 per cent.

DANGEROUS DIABLOS

Quarterbacks Luke Fahey and Draiden Trudeau have combined to throw for 38 touchdown passes. Three rushers averaging 6.0 yards a carry, led by Hinesward Lilomaiava’s 75.4-yard average, have combined for 2,312 yards and 27 touchdowns.

Vance Spafford has caught 74 passes for 20 touchdowns.

Individual statistics for both teams from Max Preps.

This is the year of living dangerously for Granite Hills.

The Eagles beat Lincoln, 27-26, for the San Diego Section Open Division championship Saturday night in Snapdragon Stadium in the third of a series of cliffhangers and barnburners in the last four weeks.

The east El Cajon club, 93-47 under coach Kellan Cobbs since 2013, defending state Division II-A, champion, and now winner of 21 games in a row, edged Helix, 44-43, in double overtime a month ago, and knocked out Carlsbad, 46-45, in overtime in the Open semifinals.

Those were just warmups.

Victory Saturday night at came after the Hornets had leads of 13-0 and 26-13.

Granite Hills (12-0) fought back and nudged ahead with 5:32 left in the fourth quarter on a three-yard pass from freshman quarterback Zach Benitez to Josh Zander.

The successful point after kick by Robert Petrich, grandson of Bob, a 1960s San Diego Chargers linebacker, proved the difference in the final score.

NOT OUT OF WOODS

The Eagles still faced a scary finish.

After a change of possession, Lincoln (11-1) took over on its 40-yard line with 1:30 remaining.

Akili Smith ran 6 yards and completed two passes to C.J. Williams to put the ball on the Eagles’ four-yard line with 58 seconds remaining.

Lincoln had second down on the one-yard line after the teams traded penalties and the Hornets’ Aden Jackson gained six yards to the one. Two thrusts into the middle of Granite’s defense netted nothing and a fourth-down snap from center eluded quarterback Smith.

Ball game.

Cue the celebration.

DIVISION VI

“And we’re going to be better next year,” Foothills Christian coach Joe Mackey exclaimed to Rick Hoff of The San Diego Union-Tribune after the 9-2 Knights had defeated 8-3 St. Joseph, 31-26, for their fourth eight-man championship since 2016.

Mackey, 55-17 since taking over the program in 2016, was referring to several underclassmen, notably running back Kameron Brown, who rushed for 175 yards in 32 carries and scored twice on a 15-yard run and 40-yard pass from quarterback Ben Hernandez, who also returns in 2024.

DV-AA

Holtville knows football. The Vikings (9-3) won their sixth San Diego Section championship since 1984, 27-21, over Army-Navy (8-4).

Sophomore quarterback Armando Cuevas threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes and Enrique Armas ran for a clinching touchdown with 3:35 remaining.

Holtville defeated Army-Navy, 37-27, for the Class A title in 1990 and had not appeared in the championship since a 42-6 win over Crawford for the D-V title in 2013.

D-V

Sweetwater (7-6) exploded for 25 consecutive points in the second half and defeated 9-4 Calexico Vincent Memorial, 46-37.

The Red Devils, overcoming an 0-4 start, won their first championship since they started 1-4 but went on to top Monte Vista, 7-0, for the D-IV title in 2013.

Sweetwater, in the eras of coaches Dave Lay and Gene Alim, won championships in 1972, ’83, and ’84. Brian Hay coached the 2013 championship run.

Championships in Division I, II, III, IV will be decided this week at Southwestern College.

After an essentially quiet first week, quarterfinals and Open Division semifinals brought the San Diego Section playoffs to life, starting with a couple wild Open Division battles.

Distance and facing California’s No. 8-ranked team and second seed didn’t deter third seed and California-ranked 14^th Granite Hills.

The Eagles bused 44 miles and then outlasted state No. 8 Carlsbad, 46-45, in overtime, while top-ranked Lincoln, behind in the fourth quarter for the first time, rallied to beat Helix, 45-38, in two overtimes.

Two startling contests and two outstanding teams, 10-1 Carlsbad of the Avocado League and 9-2 Helix of the Grossmont Hills, that saw their seasons come to jarring ends.

“It might have been the best game I’ve ever seen,” said veteran Union-Tribune writer John Maffei of the Carlsbad-Granite thriller.

WARHAWKS BRING DOWN FALCONS

Two surprises stood out in  Division I and III quarterfinals.

A stunner was No. 9 Madison’s upset of D-I top seed Torrey Pines, 21-0.

The loss shocked not only the Falcons but the North County cognoscenti, which proclaims, sometimes loudly, that the best football is played in the Avocado League.

Other reversals included D-I No. 5 St. Augustine’s thumping No. 4 La Costa Canyon, 32-17, in another Avocado League setback, and No. 6 La Jolla Country Day’s 35-7 win over 3 West Hills in D-III.

Madison, written off after six losses in a seven-game stretch that ended with a seemingly meaningless, 33-0 win against 1-9 University City, pitched its third consecutive shutout.

The Warhawks’ defense constricted Torrey Pines, which mustered 113 yards offense and six yards rushing.

Madison (6-6) will try to continue its late-season run in the semifinals against Western League rival 8-4 St. Augustine, a 34-14 winner in the teams’ Week 9 matchup.

Not all was despair for the Avocado League.  Mission Hills, annually tough and seasoned and the No. 2 seed in D-I, takes on loop rival 3 El Camino after a 27-13 win over 7 seed and neighbor San Marcos.

The Grizzlies  of coach Chris Hauser, making their 15th semifinals appearance in the last 18 years, gave the ball to Giovanni Harte, who responded with 286 yards in 37 carries and scored four touchdowns.

FOUR FINALS

Games at Escondido High Friday, Nov. 17, and Saturday, Nov. 18, will determine lower division champions:

V-AA—1 Holtville (8-2) versus 2 Army-Navy (8-3), 1  p.m. Saturday.

VI—1 Foothills Christian (8-2) versus 2 St. Joseph (8-3), 4:30 p.m. Friday.

V—No. 1 Calexico Vincent Memorial (9-3) versus 2 Sweetwater (6-6), 7:30 p.m. Friday.

OPEN–1 Lincoln and 3 Granite Hills will kick off at 7:30 p.m.  Saturday, Nov. 18, at Snapdragon Stadium.

Divisions I and IV will be part of a doubleheader Friday, Nov. 24, at Southwestern College.  Divisions II & III will settle matters in a twin bill Saturday, Nov. 25. Starting times are 2 and 7:30 p.m. each day

Lincoln (11-0) and Granite Hills (11-0) are the first undefeated, 11-man opponents since Christian (12-0) met The Bishop’s (12-0) in the Division III championship in 2016.

Foothills Christian (10-0) played San Diego Jewish (8-0) in an eight-man title game in 2019.

Three others undefeated but tied also have played.

Bold type  indicates winning team:

TRUE GRID

Lincoln is 2-0 all-time versus Granite Hills…the 1977 Marcus Allen-led Hornets upset the No. 1 Eagles, 19-12, in the semifinals and they repeated, 34-20, in a 2018 semifinal…St. Augustine is 13-11 against Madison in a series which began in 1968 with a 26-0 Saints victory….2 Chula Vista (9-2), which is host to 3 Westview (7-4) in D-IV, hasn’t been as successful since the 2003 team was 10-2…1 Del Norte (9-2) is in uncharted waters…the D-II Nighthawks, who entertain playoff savvy 5 Point Loma (6-5), came into the season with an all-time best record of 7-5 in 2021 and ’22…Greg Tate was Mission Bay’s fifth coach in four years when he took the job in 2019… the D-III 3 seed Bucs, who take on 5 seed Grossmont (6-5), are 27-13 with Tate…Holtville leads Army-Navy, 15-10, in a series that began in 1981 but hadn’t been renewed since 2014…latest Cal-Hi Sports state rankings:  6, Lincoln; 7, Granite Hills; 11, Carlsbad; 16, Helix.  On the bubble: El Camino, Madison, Mission Hills, St. Augustine….

The  CIF’s power ratings, a football version of diversity, inclusion, and equity, worked in all but four games in the week 12, first round of San Diego Section playoffs.

The National Football League long has fostered the “on-any-given-day-any team-can-win” mantra.  There aren’t upsets; they’re…well, surprises.

There were four “surprises” as the San Diego Section postseason got underway. Three ninth-ranked squads beat No. 8 seeds and a 5 seed upended a 4 seed.

WARHAWKS HAVE HISTORY

No. 9 Madison’s 27-0, Division I victory over No. 8 Mater Dei might be classified as an upset, considering what played out in the regular season.

The Warhawks, traditionally strong and blooded with two state championships in three seasons since 2010, limped into the Division I bracket with six losses in their eight previous games.

Mater Dei, the defending state D-IIAA champion, was riding a six-game winning streak but ran into a Warhawks defense that suffocated the Crusaders, who finished with minus 45 yards rushing.

COUGARS GET HEALTHY

Escondido coach Stephen Dixon told John Maffei of The San Diego Union that his Cougars squad was “whole” for the first time, after losing eight of 10 during the regular season, including its last six.

The 37-21 D-IV win over Calexico was a nice bounce and also maintained the Cougars’ record of never losing to the Bulldogs in this infrequently played series.

*Playoff games.

El Capitan, seeded ninth, ushered out Patrick Henry, another eight seed, 30-14 in D-III, and Maranatha ranked fifth in DV-AA, rocked No. 4 Rock, 35-14.

DREADED ADMINISTRATIVE GLITCH

Orange Glen had a whopper.

The Patriots forfeited their D-IV playoff opener to Crawford not long after it was determined the Patriots had used an ineligible player for a 10^th consecutive game.

Someone was asleep at the Academic check point.

The player was a classroom grading casualty almost from Day I but was allowed to play the entire regular season before those responsible apparently discovered the oversight.

OPEN SEASON

Action advances to the quarterfinals this week with four Open Division stalwarts beginning play in a couple blockbusters.  Helix (9-1) is at Lincoln (10-0) and Granite Hills (10-0) visits Carlsbad (10-0).

Those four rank from sixth to eighteenth in Cal-Hi Sports’ state Top 50.

There are lots of other interesting quarterfinals matchups, including but not limited to those ranging up and down the Roman numerals:

D-I—6 Cathedral (4-7), @3 El Camino (7-4).

D-II—6 El Centro Central (9-2), @3La Jolla (8-2).

D-III—9 El Capitan (7-4), @1 Mission Bay (8-3).

D-IV—5 Crawford (8-3), @4 Santana (5-6).

D-V—4 Hoover (7-4), @1 Calexico Vincent Memorial (8-3).

DV-AA—4 Maranatha (5-6), @1 Holtville (7-2).

D-VI—4 Coastal (5-5), @Foothills Christian (7-2).