As the year ended last week USA Today listed its best 150 teams in the 150-year history of collegiate football.

Standing third behind the 1943 and 1945 Army squads, was the University of California “Wonder Team” of 1920.

No less than seven players from the national champion, 12-0 San Diego High Hilltoppers of 1916 played for that California team and coach Clarence (Nibs) Price was an assistant on the staff of head coach Andy Smith.

The 1920 Golden Bears were 9-0, outscored their opponents, 520-14, and defeated Ohio State, 28-0, in the Rose Bowl game.

Halfback Byron (Pesky) Sprott was the Bears’ leading rusher in the New Year’s Day contest in Pasadena, rushing for 95 yards in 20 carries and scoring two touchdowns.

To learn more about Sprott and his 1916 teammates who went on to play for California,  google partletonsports.com or San Diego Sports History and search 1916: “The Legendary Hilltoppers”.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s last poll, including San Diego Section playoffs:

First-place votes in parenthesis. NR–Not ranked. *Includes forfeit win.

Others receiving votes: La Jolla (9-4, 22 points), Madison (7-5, 22), Scripps Ranch (10-0, 10), Santana (1`1-2, 1), Torrey Pines (6-6, 1).

Voting panel of 31 sportswriters, sportscasters, various County football honchos:

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune
• Jim Lindgren, Rick Hoff, Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Thomas Gutierrez, freelance contributors.
• Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone,Ted Mendenhall, KUSI Chl. 51
• Adam Paul, ECpreps.com
• Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com
• Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com
• Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090
• Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions
• Troy Hirsch, Kaylyn McMakin, Tabitha Lipkin, Fox 5, San Diego
• Rick Smith, PartletonSports.com
• Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, Ron Marquez, CIF San Diego Section
• Joe Heinz, Coordinator, Athletics, Sweetwater School District
• Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net
• Bob Petinak, free lance.
• John Kentera, Brandon Suprenant, 97.3 FM The Fan
• Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM
• Mike Dolan, John Carroll, San Diego Section Tournament Directors.
• Christian Pederson, SoCal Prep Insider.
• Joe Heinz, Athletics Director, Sweetwater School District.
• Eric Williams, WBK Sports/San Diego Friday Night Lights Magazine.

HOW OTHERS IN CALIFORNIA SAW SAN DIEGO’S TOP 10 AT SEASON CONCLUSION:

Unranked state Division IV- A finalist La Jolla finished with 10-5 record, and respective ratings of 24.9, 158, and NR.

Cal Preps.com and Max Preps ratings are based on computer algorithms.  Cal-Hi Sports ratings are product of publisher Mark Tennis’ eye test and information from Tennis’ correspondents throughout the state.

HISTORY OF STATE BOWL PLAYOFF SERIES

Sections: *North Coast. **Sac-Joaquin. ***San Francisco.. ##Central Coast. +Central. +++Oakland.

El Camino and La Jolla were highly unlikely candidates to get this far, but they’re in the big games this week, San Diego’s last standing, and hitting the road in search of state championships.

The Wildcats travel 50 miles beyond the San Franciso Golden Gate bridge to Santa Rosa, 517 miles North of their campus, taking on the 13-1 Cardinal Newman Cardinals.  La Jolla visits the 13-1 Escalon Cougars, 448 miles north and inland.

Laboring with a 3-6 record, El Camino caught fire after a 10-0, Avocado League loss to Mission Hills and has won its last six, averaging 40 points a game, beginning with a 28-24 victory in a dynamic crosstown battle with Oceanside.

The Wildcats scored a mild surprise in their domination of Temecula Valley, 34-18 last week. La Jolla, 3-5 after a 32-7 loss to Lincoln, also has won six in a row and knocked out Huntington Beach Marina, 34-18.

La Jolla is an old hand at playoff competition, before  the San Diego Section.

The Vikings tied Calexico. 6-6, in a 1938 contest that was supposed to be replayed but was not following a dispute over the number of first downs, which supposedly favored the Vikings.

La Jolla lost to eventual Southern Section champion Pomona, 27-21, in 1951, and defeated El Monte, 7-6, but lost in the semifinals to South Pasadena, 13-6, in 1952.

El Camino dropped a 13-10 decision to Los Angeles Crenshaw in 2017.

SAN DIEGO CHAMPS BOW

Other San Diego Section teams were not as fortunate last week, Helix losing to Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, 38-20, Oceanside to Corona del Mar, 14-7, Serra to El Monte, 30-18, and Francis Parker to Gardena, 27-13.

El Camino and La Jolla represent the San Diego section’s lowest number of participants since the state CIF began the “two divisions within one division” model in 2015.

There have been as many as five qualifiers from San Diego (2016) and there were four last season.

San Diego squads are 6-11 in AA and A competition and 11-15 overall since the state “bowl” series of playoffs began in 2006.

HOW OTHERS IN CALIFORNIA RATE THE MATCHUPS

Cal Preps.com and Max Preps are services which rely on computer algorithms.  Cal-Hi Sports relies on the judgement of publisher Mark Tennis and his correspondents.

PAST RESULTS

San Diego Section teams against other CIF sections in state championship games:

(+Central. ++Northern.  +++Oakland.  *North Coast.  **Sac-Joaquin. ***San Francisco. ##Central Coast. >Overtime).

Cathedral coach Sean Doyle, average nine wins a season for the next 15 years and catch Herb Meyer.

To those who think Doyle, should he decide to challenge Meyer’s record of 339 victories, is likely to fall short, consider that the veteran of 24 seasons, all at the same school, has averaged 9.3 wins the last 15 years.

Doyle (202-98, .678) became the 10^th coach to win his 200th this season. He needs to stay in the game and have similar success at least until 2034 and win another 140 to pull even with the legendary Meyer, who led Oceanside for 17 years and El Camino for 28, and retired in 2003 with a record of 339-148-15, .690.

Sidestepping age, Doyle’s commitment and health would seem to be the most important factors.  He’s been at it several seasons less than the two active coaches ahead of him, Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto, who has 234 victories in 34 seasons, and Valley Center’s Rob Gilster, who has 230 in 31.

Two other coaches also passed significant milestones this season.

Grossmont’s Tom Karlo became the 42^nd coach to win his 100^th game and Ramona’s Damon Baldwin became the 43^rd. The Bishop’s Joel Allen came close, with his 98^th .

Doyle passed Vista’s Dick Haines to move into the top 10.  Hamamoto and Gilster leapfrogged John Shacklett to move into fourth and fifth, respectively.

Go to the Football menu on the home page and scroll to Coach 100 Club for a complete list of its members and where they’ll stand at beginning of the 2020 campaign.

The season continues for the six San Diego Section division champions.

Pairings for the Southern California regional playoffs with teams with AA classification playing on Friday, Dec .6, while teams with A designation will play on Saturday, Dec.7.

HOW OTHERS IN CALIFORNIA RATE THE MATCHUPS

ADDITIONAL RATINGS

Cal Preps.com and Max Preps are services which rely on computer algorithms.  Cal-Hi Sports relies on the judgement of publisher Mark Tennis and his correspondents.

HOMER

Talk about rank provincialism.  I plead guilty.

I picked a very pedestrian three of the five winners (El Camino, Serra, and Francis Parker) last week in the San Diego Section championships.

I made the most common mistake of amateur prognosticators.  I followed my heart.

I was sure No. 1 seed Scripps Ranch would beat No. 3 La Jolla in Division III but the fact my youngest daughter was in the Falcons’ second graduating glass and had married Scripps Ranch’s first quarterback made me dare not think about picking the Vikings.

I was not so sure but selected No. 2 Lincoln anyway to top oncoming No. 9 Oceanside in Division I, mainly because I had graduated from the Hive and got my start in sports writing as a staff member of The Buzz, Lincoln’s school newspaper.

La Jolla reversed an earlier, 17-7 loss to Scripps Ranch and won, 17-10.  Oceanside, for the first time since John Carroll retired after the 2014 season, looked like the legendary North County power it once was, driving Lincoln into submission in the second half and winning, 28-10.

OTHER TOP SEEDS GO DOWN

No. 7 seed El Camino, which won a championship in 1976 in its first season, coached by the all-time winningest Herb Meyer, won one of the wildest playoffs in state history, 75-59, over No. 1 The Bishop’s in D-II.

Knights quarterback Tyler Buchner accounted for all but one of The Bishop’s 59 points and rushed for 350 yards and five touchdowns and passed for 286 yards and three touchdowns.

El Camino, which trailed by 25 points at the half, actually would make some second half stops on defense that slowed The Bishop’s.

The difference was defense,” intoned wide receiver Alexander Fetko, with a straight face, to John Maffei of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

El Camino bettered the 71 points by Monte Vista in the 2017 championship but fell short of the playoff record set in 2018, when La Jolla Country Day defeated Santana, 76-55.

SERRA, PARKER COME THROUGH

My two other correct choices were D-IV No. 2 Serra, which shocked No. 1 Santana, 37-7, and No. 4 Francis Parker, rewarded in D-V when the Lancers’ Cito Miller kicked a 27-yard field goal as the clock dipped under 20 seconds in a 24-21 victory over 2 seed Castle Park.

Taking a look at this week’s five division championship games at Southwestern College and a doffing of the fedora to the Helix Highlanders, who overcame the loss of superstar running back Elelyon Noa:

DIVISION I

No. 9 seed Oceanside (9-3) and No. 2 Lincoln (10-2) were beneficiaries last week, gifted with forfeit victories over San Clemente, which was tossed from the Southern Section playoffs by the notorious dreaded administrative glitch.

The Tritons had employed an ineligible player all season, including in in early-season wins over Oceanside, 35-15, and Lincoln, 29-0.

The Pirates and Hornets each caught fire late in the season.

To get here, Oceanside met the win-or-die challenge of three rounds and lower (better) seeds, knocking off No. 8 Eastlake, No. 1 Steele Canyon, and No. 4 Madison, the latter convincingly, 45-21.

Lincoln, facing an Avocado League representative for the third straight week, has won five in a row, including a late, regular-season victory over Cathedral, 24-19, and a semifinal rout of seasoned and tough Mission Hills, 35-14.

State rankings by computer services:

As we see it:  Lincoln wins the week’s best matchup, 38-31.

D-II

The Bishop’s offense has been a pinball machine gone “tilt”.

The top-seeded Knights, behind junior quarterback Tyler Buchner’s passing, are averaging 54 points a game.

Joel Allen (98-34-1) could become the 43^rd coach in the 128 years of football in San Diego County to win 100 games.

No. 7-ranked El Camino is coming, having won its last four and getting through the rounds, like its rival neighbor Oceanside, by beating 10, 4, and 3 seeds.

As we see it, El Camino, blooded by more challenging competition, wins, 45-35.

D-III

Who’s more important to a Scripps Ranch program that was comatose for many years, head coach Marlon Gardinera, or the running back who happens to be the coach’s son, Nicholas Gardinera?

We’ll pass on that discussion, but there is no denying that the family combination has made football relevant on the campus in the north city community known for its forest of towering eucalypti.

The top seed Falcons already hold a win over No. 3 La Jolla, 17-7, in Week 5 and outscored their opposition, 272-51, in the last six games.

Gardinera was 2-8 in his first season as coach in 2017, improved to 6-4 in 2018, and has run the table so far this year at 12-0, with his son becoming one of the San Diego Section’s top rushers.

WILD ENDING

La Jolla is 6-1 and 8-4 overall since that loss to Scripps Ranch and defeated the tough Brawley Wildcats, 15-14, in an improbable finish.

Quarterback Jackson Stratton, his team trailing, 14-7, with less than a minute remaining, threw seven consecutive passes, beginning on his 45-yard line, the last to Diego Solis, who caught the ball on the 20-yard line and raced to the end zone.

Regulation time expired as Solis scored. Vikings coach Tyler Roach disdained overtime and succeeded with a winning, two-point conversion.

As we see it, Scripps Ranch marches on, 34-21.

D-IV

The only division pairing that brings together the No. 1 (Santana) and No. 2 (Serra) seeds.

Santana (11-1) and Serra (10-2) met in the season’s second week, the Sultans winning, 30-14.  Serra, which lost its opener, 18-0, to Scripps Ranch, was 0-2 out of the blocks.

The Conquistadores have not lost since and Santana recovered from a surprising, 37-10, loss in Week 8 to Monte Vista, the Grossmont Hills champion that went out in the first round of the playoffs, buried by Poway, 47-0.

As we see it, Serra reverses the early loss, 31-28.

D-V

The won-loss numbers favor 2 seed Castle Park (11-1) over No. 4 Francis Parker (7-5), but the Lancers beat the top seed, Calexico Vincent Memorial, and a 5 seed, Crawford, in the playoffs.

Castle advanced over No. 7 and No. 6 seeds.

The Trojans have not won 11 games since Gil Warren coached the undefeated, 13-0 team in 1996 and were 0-10 as recently as 2017.

Parker was 1-5 before it launched the six-game winning streak it will take into the game.

As we see it:  Tough to go against the Trojans but we’ll take the Lancers, 30-20.

OPEN DIVISION

Elelyon Noa’s replacement, sophomore Christian Washington, ran 36 yards for a touchdown, his 15^th of the season, and reached 1,000 yards rushing.  Washington is not Noa but he has proved be a reasonable facsimile.

The top-seeded Scots edged No. 3 Carlsbad, 28-21, in the finals before 8,200 persons at Southwestern College last week.

The game was not as close as the score.

Helix (11-1) led, 28-7, early in the fourth quarter, but Carlsbad scored late, recovered an onside kick and trailed by seven points with 18 seconds remaining, when it tried, unsuccessfully, another on-side attempt.