The narrative originally was posted Oct. 10, 2012.

Duane Maley felt like the guy who discovered that his wallet had been lifted after being jostled in a crowded theater.

Maley  ended up on the wrong side of the coin minutes after conclusion of a tight, competitive City Prep League season.  Maley’s San Diego Cavemen and Walt Harvey’s La Jolla Vikings, each with a 5-1 record, tied for first.

Lawrence Carr, the President of the City Prep League, conducted a telephonic coin flip which went in favor of the Vikings, propelling Harvey’s club into the Southern California playoffs for the first time since 1938.

Only one CPL representative could be chosen for the playoffs.

You couldn’t blame Maley if he hollered.

That Carr resided in La Jolla and had been the Vikings’ head coach from 1932-35 was a coincidence, but Carr also was one of Maley’s bosses! Carr was the boys’ vice principal at San Diego High.

Maley’s unpleasant playoff fate was shared by the tall, gentlemanly Carr, who had a long history in athletics (three-sport star at Grossmont) and coaching (La Jolla football and Hoover basketball and track), and empathized with his frustrated colleague.

To add to the discomfort, Carr also carried a legacy that went back  a half century at San Diego High.  His father taught math there for many years and was the Hilltoppers’ baseball coach in 1911.

VIKINGS MOST DESERVING?

Supporters of each team could mount a strong argument for their favorite.

La Jolla beat the Cavers, 7-6,  in their head-to-head matchup in Week 4.  The Vikings,  perhaps looking forward to their game with San Diego, ran afoul of Hoover, 20-0, the previous week.

San Diego beat Hoover 13-6 in the season finale.  Both teams had wins over third-place Point Loma.

La Jolla won a taut, 21-14 struggle at Point Loma (“That last five minutes, my goodness, I thought the game never would end,” said  Harvey) on the last afternoon of the regular season and took home the bronze “Shoe”, emblematic of the schools’ long rivalry.

San Diego topped the Pointers 15-6 in Week 6 with defense and the kicking game. The Hillers’ Jim Duschel blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety and Terry Dale averaged 40 yards on six punts and coffin-cornered three at the Pointers’ 10, 8, and 5-yard lines.

 

BLOCK THAT KICK!

The La Jolla-San Diego game, before a fog-bound, afternoon capacity crowd of 5,000 at Scripps Field, turned when the  Vikings’ Stan Wyatt  blocked Terry Dale’s punt and Tom Tomaiko recovered the ball on San Diego’s seven-yard line in the third quarter.

A touchdown pass from Dick Greenfield to Tomaiko in the corner of the endzone and Greenfield’s successful conversion gave the Vikings a 7-6 lead.

The Jewel City club  held on for the last 19 minutes, 40 seconds, Harvey’s 4-4-3 defense keeping the fleet San Diego runners from creating mischief.

“We played the 4-4 but went to a six-man line on punts,” Harvey said in remembering the pivotal block.

Evening Tribune writer Jerry Brucker termed the La Jolla victory, which ended the Hillers’ 12-game, regular-season winning streak, “astounding.”

KEOUGH IS KEY

La Jolla also manned-up in its first-round playoff with Pomona at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, battling the favored Red Devils before bowing, 27-21.

Harvey’s team couldn’t overcome a blocked punt, which was recovered by the hosts and positioned Pomona at the Vikings’ one-yard line, resulting in a touchdown and 14-7 lead.

Quarterback Marty Keough, a future major league outfielder, also kept the Vikings on their heels, rushing for 92 yards and three touchdowns and completing 10 of 16 passes for 99 yards before a largely Pomona crowd of some 7,000 persons.

As Dick Corrick, the linebacker and blocking quarterback in La Jolla’s single wing observed, “That Keough, he was smooth as glass.”

Pomona went on to win the Southern California championship with a 26-13 victory over Monrovia.

‘NEEDY’ GOES OUT A WINNER

Hal Niedermeyer, who ended a 20-year coaching stint at Coronado after the 1950 season, guided the Southern California All-Stars to a 19-16 victory over the Los Angeles City All-Stars in the 1951, third annual  Breitbard College Prep game before 13,000 persons in Balboa Stadium.

Covina’s Jim Hanifan, a future NFL head coach with the St. Louis Cardinals and an assistant to Don Coryell at San Diego State, the Cardinals, and the San Diego Chargers, intercepted an L.A. pass and raced 30 yards for a touchdown that put the Southern Californians ahead, 19-10.

The game, played with a rubber football favored by Eastern teams in poor weather and not the traditional pigskin, involved recent high school graduates and had 10 San Diegans on the Southern roster, including San  Diego’s Charlie Powell.

Niedermeyer  joined the Coronado faculty in 1930, and posted a 62-54-10 football record in 14 seasons, beginning in 1937, and was 122-64 in basketball.  He bowed out with a co-Metropolitan League football championship.

A Long Beach Poly alum, Niedermeyer started at Coronado in 1930 and won a Southern Prep League championship his first season.

Niedermeyer’s successor, Lloyd (Jack) Whetstone, guided the Islanders to an 8-2 record this season.

The transbay team, behind halfback Harry Sykes, Swede Grimaud, John Hannon, and others, defeated Vista 32-0 in the first round of the lower division playoffs, and then bowed to eventual champion Brawley, 23-14, in the semifinals.

I WENT TO GROSSMONT, DIDN’T I?

For years actor and director Dennis Hopper said he was from Grossmont when asked where he went to high school.

A star in “Easy Rider”, “Hoosiers”, and other popular movies, including the 1955 classic “Rebel Without a Cause” with James Dean, Hopper was correct about attending classes at Grossmont, but may have had a memory lapse about which was his real alma mater.

Before he went on to a legendary Hollywood career, Hopper was voted most likely to succeed in the Helix graduation class of 1954.

Hopper’s freshman year was at Grossmont, but he was in the first wave of students at the new Helix High, which became the County’s 22^nd  high school when it opened in September, 1951.

Because the Helix campus still was under construction, Hopper and the rest of the new Highlanders attended split sessions at Grossmont.

School was for Grossmont students in the morning and Helix students in the afternoon.

COINCIDENCE, MAYBE

Hopper’s wasn’t the only Grossmont connection to “Rebel Without a Cause.” Beverly Long played the role of Helen, co-star Natalie Wood’s friend.

Beverly was a 1950 graduate of Grossmont and also appeared in television’s “Father Knows Best” before embarking on a long career as a casting director.

Was Beverly Long a possible connection to Hollywood for the aspiring Hopper?

Reader and Helix historian Roger Conlee pointed out that Hopper also acted in school plays at Helix and at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater before heading north.

FOOTBALL, TOO

The  60-odd candidates for coach Ken Maynard’s first Helix team weren’t able to take advantage of the split session and sleep in.  Football practice for Helix was at 9:30 a.m., followed by classes from 1 p.m. to 5:40 p.m.

Grossmont gridders weren’t taking the afternoon off at the beach.  Football practice began at 2 p.m. School classes went from 8 a.m. until noon.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

“West La Mesa High”, which was to open in September of this year, was admitted to the City Prep League when the CIF executive council  met in  Los Angeles in December, 1950.

Voters a month earlier had approved construction of the new “University Avenue High School”, which would be located beyond the San Diego city limits in western La Mesa at 7323 University Avenue.

Neither of the school names were for long. The name was changed in January, 1951, when the board of trustees of the Grossmont School district adopted “Helix”.

A board member suggested Helix in honor of the nearby, 1,365-foot Mount Helix, also known for religious services and a visible cross, erected at the peak in 1925.

HARBINGER 

Sophomore halfback C.R. Roberts provided a glimpse of the future, running 46 yards for a touchdown in Oceanside’s Week 2, 19-6 loss at Orange.

Roberts finished the season with five touchdowns and 30 points, a total he would match in single games more than once in his  junior and senior seasons.

HONORS

Tackle Andy Skief or La Jolla and guard Jim Schafer of San Diego were all-Southern California first team. Fullback George Stephenson and end John Van Hooser of Hoover were second team and halfback Frank Johnson of San Diego was third team.

Coronado center Wilson Whitmire and halfback Harry Sykes made the all-Southern California small schools team.

BIG GUYS SEPARATED

Hoover and San Diego did not meet in the final quarter of the 13^th annual City Schools’ carnival, in order to put other schools “on equal footing” with the two longtime giants, as school officials vaguely noted (read “jealousy”).

About 23,000 saw the West of Kearny, Hoover, and Point Loma beat the East’s Helix, La Jolla, and San Diego, 14-7.  Grossmont did not participate.

Carnival squads operated under a new CIF rule that allowed a full, two-platoon system.  The system previously was allowed only on a limited basis.

CANDY CANES?

Hoover unveiled new uniforms of striped jerseys and matching socks when coach Bob Kirchhoff’s squad took the field in the carnival.

The Cardinals, who tied La Jolla,7-7, in the exhibition, were almost perfect in their usual season opener with San Bernardino.

Hoover defeated the host Cardinals, 38-7, as George Stephenson rushed for 172 yards and three touchdowns.  The only glitch was in Hoover’s kicking game. John Clinger, who was more effective as an all-City tackle, had his last four conversion attempts blocked.

The Cardinals’ promising season was sidetracked when Stephenson’s backfield mate, Tom Chrones, went down with a season-ending injury in the third quarter of a 20-0 victory over La Jolla in Week 3.

Chrones had scored two touchdowns in the first game and three more in the second as Hoover defeated Helix, 32-6.

HOOVER’S WARRIOR

In what The San Diego Union writer Gene Earl said was a “season vibrant with excitement, explosive individual performances, close contests, and the unpredictable,” the play of George Stephenson in his final game for Hoover perhaps stood above all.

Stephenson touched the ball 40 times, either by running, catching or punting, and was unbowed, earning the admiration of the 11,000 fans in Balboa Stadium, despite the 13-6 loss to San Diego.

Stephenson was City League player of the year and enrolled at UCLA.

Unhappy, Stephenson  transferred to the University of California and was an unsuspecting participant in the breakup of the Pacific Coast Conference after Stephenson was interviewed by a Look Magazine writer who wrote of payoffs to players at conference schools.

Hoover coach Bob Kirchhoff remained friends with Stephenson, who was Kirchhoff’s partner on the sideline downs-and-markers, chain gang crew at San Diego Chargers games for more than 20 years.

TRUE GRID

Harry Sykes of Coronado was the County’s leading scorer with 81 points, 11 more than runner-up Dick Greenfield of La Jolla…Mar Vista coach Gerry Spitler resigned after two seasons to take a position in the Marshall Islands as a recreation director…Helix coach Ken Maynard did not profit from the school split, inheriting only two lettermen and a few junior varsity and sophomore veterans…the lettermen were nuggets, halfback Ernie Merk and end Howard Fackrell…San Diego dominated old tormentor Long Beach Poly, 31-7, despite three first-half touchdowns called back because of penalties…the Cavers’ Week 2 game against L.A. Roosevelt was their first against an inner-city Los Angeles school since it met Manual Arts in 1925…freshman Karl Jordan  quarterbacked Helix in its first-ever game, a 19-13 win over St. Augustine…Kearny’s Kirby Woods ran 73 yards in the carnival, La Jolla’s Frankie Rivas 80 against Chula Vista, and San Diego’s Alex Hudson 83 against Long Beach Poly, but all were short of touchdowns…Rhode Island transfer John Mellekas became a second  team all-City lineman for San Diego, matriculated at Arizona, was drafted in the fourth round by the Chicago Bears, and played eight seasons in the NFL…Week 1 was bad for the Southern Prep League…Ramona, Mountain Empire, Army-Navy, Brown Military Academy, and Fallbrook were a combined 0-4-1…Ramona was beaten by Wildomar Elsinore 40-6, but was the only league team to score…Empire struggled to a scoreless tie with Calipatria…Erwin Hedstrom kicked a 30-yard field goal for the difference in Oceanside’s 9-7 win over San Dieguito, the first three-pointer in the County since four different players launched successful placements in 1942…Hoover’s John Clinger and San Diego’s Learnold Stallings, a pair of 200-pound tackles, each kicked 27-yard PAT’s after penalties set their teams back against La Jolla and Helix, respectively…press accounts of teams’ preseason prospects stressed whether the T formation was the offensive formation of choice or the single and double wings, which some clubs still preferred…Hoover was offside on a kickoff return against Point Loma, negating a 65-yard return  by George Stephenson in a 14-0 loss…”We were terrible,” said Hoover’s Kirchhoff, whose team fell to 2-1 in league play…”It was like two sluggers pounding each other and we had the most punch,” said Point Loma’s Don Giddings, whose team went to 3-0 and added,  “Give all the credit to Hil Crosthwaite and Bennie Edens, who coach our defense”…San Diego’s 25-0 victory over Grossmont was vintage Cavers running game: Alex Hudson had 103 yards in 6 carries, Eddie Duncan 76 in 11, and Frank Johnson 64 in 6….

 

Lincoln and Cathedral scored significant  intersectional victories last week and Cal-Hi Sports noticed.

The Hornets reversed a 2024 loss to Arbor View with a 50-31 victory over the Las Vegas team, 0-3 but third-ranked in Nevada by Max Preps, and Cathedral outlasted Chandler, a tough customer and No. 4 in Arizona, 24-23.

Lincoln, up to eighth in Mark Tennis’ Cal-Hi publication, will get a very severe test this week when it plays host to Trinity League blueblood and state No. 5 Mission Viejo from the Southern Section.

Tenth-ranked Cathedral takes on 1-2 Helix, 6-9 in its last 15 games, the Highlanders’ worst stretch since the 2-7-1 season of 2005.  Don’t expect legendary Scots Reggie Bush and Alex Smith to come walking through the door anytime soon, with apologies to NBA and former Boston Celtics coach Rick Pitino.

MAFFEI MADNESS

John Maffei’s The San Diego Union Week 3 poll:
Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. *First-place votes. Previous ranking in (italics).
NR–Not ranked. MaxPreps, Cal Preps, and Cal-Hi Sports provide state rankings.

RANK	TEAM/RECORD	POINTS	MAX PREPS	CAL PREPS	CAL-HI SPORTS
1.	Lincoln (3-0) 24*	294 (1)	10 (10)	54.5 (51.2)	8 (10)
2.	Cathedral (3-0) 6*	273 (2)	13 (14)	51.4 (52.5)	10 (11)
3.	Mission Hills (3-0)	225 (3)	48 (60)	42.4 (39.7)	19 (36)
4.	Granite Hills (3-0)	209 (4)	30 (33)	37.5 (31.8)	20 (25)
5.	La Costa Canyon (3-0)	206 (5)	20 (28)	47.5 (43.1)	14 (14)
6.	Carlsbad (3-0)	156 (6)	27 (27)	35.6 (33.6)	43 (45)
7.	San Marcos (2-1)	110 (7)	80 (95)	27.6 (21.8)	NR (NR)
8.	Mount Miguel (2-1)	91 (9)	128 (161)	33.4 (25.8)	On Bubble (On Bubble)
9.	Rancho Bernardo (3-0)	56	118	20.1	NR (NR)
10.	Poway (2-1)	28 (8)	119 (101)	15.8 (17.1)	NR-NR

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Santa Fe Christian (3-0, 10 points), El Camino (1-2, 7), Imperial (3-0, 4), The Bishop’s (3-0), Mater Dei (1-2), Torrey Pines (2-1, 3 points each), Point Loma (3-0, 2), El Centro Central (3-0), Helix (1-2), Olympian (3-0, 1 point each).

VOTING PANEL

Twenty-nine sportswriters, sportscasters, and administrators from the San Diego Section, plus Max Preps:

• John Maffei (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Donald Ray Norcross, Kevin Farmer, Rick Hoff, Steve Brand (Union-Tribune correspondents)
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (San Diego Section)
• Brandon Stone, Allison Edwards, John Carroll, Chase Izidoro (KUSI-TV)
• Rick Smith (partletonsports.com)
• Braden Suprenant (3 FM “The Fan”)
• Mike Dolan (Coaching Legends)
• Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference)
• Joe Evangelist, Rex Johnson, Bruce Ward (CIF Advisory Committee)
• Raymond Brown (sdsports.net)
• Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association)
• Bodie DeSilva, John Kentera, Dennis Ackerman, Steve (Biff) Dolan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, Tom Ronco, Adam Paul (freelance contributors).

TRUE GRID

Cathedral’s Sean Doyle no longer is tied with Point Loma’s Bennie Edens and is sole possessor of fifth place in all-time coaching victories…Doyle, in his 30^th season and with three wins this year, now has 241, with Valley Center’s Rob Gilster ahead at 244, behind Ron Hamamoto’s 246 and John Carroll’s 248…up there on Mt. Everest is Herb Meyer, who won 339 games in 45 seasons at Oceanside and El Camino…Mission Hills’ Chris Hauser, in his 26^th season, has 209 victories, representing the other active San Diego Section member of the 200 Club…Mount Miguel scored an infrequent victory for local clubs against Los Angeles Loyola, when the Matadors topped the visiting Cubs, 21-0…Loyola leads the all-time series, 21-13-2, against nine different San Diego-area teams dating to 1920, when the school was known as Loyola College…San Diego High and Loyola were first-round opponents in the Southern Section playoffs in 1946…an estimated Balboa Stadium turnout of 20,000 persons only heard of the Cubs’ 19-6 victory, since fog blanketed the field and the stadium public address announcer was forced to cover the game from the sidelines, often dodging fans who had left the stands and wondered onto the playing field….

 

Brady Palmer (left) ran for one touchdown and passed for another and Parker Johnson caught a touchdown pass and returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in Cathedral’s 35-7 win at the Central Coast Section’s Mountain View St. Francis.  Courtesy, Mark Tennis, Cal-Hi Sports.

John Maffei’s The San Diego Union Week 2 poll:
Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. *First-place votes. Previous ranking in (italics).
NR–Not ranked. MaxPreps’ and Cal-Hi Sports’ are state rankings.

RANK	TEAM/RECORD	POINTS	MAX PREPS	CAL PREPS	CAL-HI SPORTS
1.	Lincoln (2-0) 25*	295 (1)	10 (10)	51.2 (52.4)	10 (10)
2.	Cathedral (2-0) 5*	248 (2)	14 (17)	52.5 (49.6)	11 (11)
3.	Mission Hills (2-0)	225 (3)	36 (60)	39.7 (34.9)	20 (36)
4.	Granite Hills (2-0)	213 (4)	33 (39)	31.8 (30.6)	25 (30)
5.	La Costa Canyon (2-0)	185 (5)	28 (24)	43.1 (36.7)	14 (17)
6.	Carlsbad (2-0)	155 (6)	27 (28)	33.6 (32.8)	45 (On the Bubble)
7.	San Marcos (1-1)	102 (9)	95 (125)	21.8 (21.0)	NR (NR)
8.	Poway (2-0)	67 (10)	101 (113)	17.1 (14.3)	NR (NR)
9.	Mount Miguel (1-1)	58 (7)	161 (174)	25.8 (28.4)	On the Bubble (On the Bubble)
10.	El Camino (1-1)	24 (8)	94 (74)	10.0 (15.7)	NR (NR)

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Rancho Bernardo (2-0, 21 points), Torrey Pines (2-0, 19), Santa Fe Christian (2-0, 6), The Bishop’s (2-0, 5)  Point Loma (2-0, 3), Imperial (2-0), Mater Dei (1-1),  2 points each), El Centro Central (2-0), University City (2-0), 1 point each.

VOTING PANEL
Twenty-nine sportswriters, sportscasters, and administrators from the San Diego Section, plus Max Preps:

• John Maffei (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Donald Ray Norcross, Kevin Farmer, Rick Hoff, Steve Brand (Union-Tribune correspondents)
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (San Diego Section)
• Brandon Stone, Allison Edwards, John Carroll, Chase Izidoro (KUSI-TV)
• Rick Smith (partletonsports.com)
• Braden Suprenant (97.3 FM “The Fan”)
• Mike Dolan (Coaching Legends)
• Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference)
• Joe Evangelist, Rex Johnson, Bruce Ward (CIF Advisory Committee)
• Raymond Brown (sandiegosports.net)
• Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association)
• Bodie DeSilva, John Kentera, Dennis Ackerman, Steve (Biff) Dolan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, Tom Ronco, Adam Paul (freelance contributors).

John Maffei’s The San Diego Union Week 1 poll:
Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. *First-place votes. Previous ranking (2024) in (italics).
NR–Not ranked. MaxPreps‘ and Cal-Hi Sports‘ are state rankings.

RANK	TEAM/RECORD	POINTS	MAX PREPS	CAL PREPS	CAL-HI SPORTS
1.	Lincoln (1-0) 25*	295 (1)	10	52.4	10
2.	Cathedral (1-0) 5*	248 (2)	17	49.6	11
3.	Mission Hills (1-0)	225 (3)	60	34.9	36
4.	Granite Hills (1-0)	213 (4)	39	30.6	30
5.	La Costa Canyon (1-0)	185 (5)	24	36.7	17
6.	Carlsbad (1-0)	155 (6)	28	32.8	On the Bubble
7.	Mount Miguel (1-0)	117 (8)	174	28.4	On the Bubble
8.	El Camino (1-0)	85 (NR)	74	15.7	NR
9.	San Marcos (0-1)	64 (7)	125	21.0	NR
10.	Poway (1-0)	27 (NR)	113	14.3	NR

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Oceanside (0-1), Rancho Bernardo (1-0), 15 points each; The Bishop’s (1-0), Torrey Pines (1-0), 4 each; Point Loma (1-0), 2; Santa Fe Christian (1-0), 1.

VOTING PANEL

Twenty-nine sportswriters, sportscasters, and administrators from the San Diego Section, plus Max Preps:

• John Maffei (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Donald Ray Norcross, Kevin Farmer, Rick Hoff, Steve Brand (Union-Tribune correspondents)
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (San Diego Section)
• Brandon Stone, Allison Edwards, John Carroll, Chase Izidoro (KUSI-TV)
• Rick Smith (partletonsports.com)
• Braden Suprenant (97.3 FM “The Fan”)
• Mike Dolan (Coaching Legends)
• Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference)
• Joe Evangelist, Rex Johnson, Bruce Ward (CIF Advisory Committee)
• Raymond Brown (sdfootball.net)
• Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association)
• Bodie DeSilva, John Kentera, Dennis Ackerman, Steve(Biff) Dolan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, Tom Ronco, Adam Paul (freelance contributors).

RIVALRY REVISITED

North County antagonists Oceanside and Carlsbad, 4.7 miles apart, have played every year since 1958 excepting 1964, 2002, 2008-09 and 2023-24.

After sustaining losses of 49-6 and 55-7 in 2021 and ’22, Oceanside left the Avocado League for the Valley and this year joined the Palomar.

Despite those blowout losses, the Pirates, mostly behind legendary coaches Herb Meyer and John Carroll, largely held the upper hand, building a 37-20-5 advantage over the decades.

They’ll roll again this week, Oceanside the visiting team.

TRUE GRID

Lincoln scored a surprising, at the time, 42-14 victory in Week 2 last season over Long Beach Poly and plays host to the apparently declining Jackrabbits this week.

Poly dropped its 2025 opener, 14-3, to Lawndale Leuzinger.  The school which has sent more players to the NFL than any other and a power almost from the time the CIF Southern Section was formed in 1914, fell to 6-6 in 2024.

Poly has made a couple coaching changes since Raul Lara, their previously highly successful coach, left and now is head coach at Santa Ana Mater Dei.

Long Beach, which has not played here since a 13-6 victory at Mira Mesa in 2006, has a 40-15-1 record all time against San Diego Section teams, including 24-11-1 versus San Diego High, its blood rival in the old Coast League of Southern California, primarily in the first half of the 20th century.

The Jackrabbits will meet a Lincoln team playing its first game since 2023 in Vic Player Stadium.  The playing field last season was in such condition and in need of repair that the Hornets traveled to every practice and every game.

Lincoln, 12-2 and state Division I-AA champion in 2024, opened last week with a 57-29 win at Honolulu Punahou as Jordan Roa, replacing graduated quarterback and now Oregon freshman Akili Smith, completed 15 of 19 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown.

Roa also rushed for 42 yards, complementing 148 yards rushing in 14 attempts by Rashad Robinson and 79 in 16 attempts by Junior Curtis. Kainan Manna completed 6 of 8 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown.  Darien Bridges caught 8 for 106 yards and Courtney Miller-Thompson 7 for 86 and a touchdown.

TRUE GRID, CON’T

Junior Keenan Ward scored 4 touchdowns on 161 yards in 11 carries and kicked three extra points and a field goal for all of La Jolla Country Day’s points in a 30-21 win over Chula Vista…Romeo Carter caught 7 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns in Point Loma’s 42-24 win over Del Norte…Zac Benitez completed 38 of 45 passes for 456 yards and four touchdowns as Granite Hills whipped Oceanside, 45-29…Carlsbad’s Lancers reversed a 20-17, opening-game loss at Lakewood last season with a 43-0 home win over the same-named Lancers…Fallbrook snapped an 0-12 streak with a 27-24 win over Escondido…Mt. Carmel beat Westview, 43-21, as Trevor Taumoepeau passed for 340 yards and five touchdowns…Enrique Armas outscored West Hills with four touchdowns, leading Holtville to a 43-21 win…Trey Arnold passed for 412 yards and six TD’s as Mission Bay beat Kearny, 55-0….

San Diego Union-Tribune prep maven John Maffei issued  a week-of-the-first-game top 20, with Western League leaders Lincoln and Cathedral at the top.

Both teams aren’t afraid to schedule tough opponents, ala legendary Duane Maley during San Diego High’s great run from 1948-59.

Lincoln coach David Dunn, a former player at Morse and a five year, tight-end veteran in the NFL out of Fresno State, drove his team to a 12-2 record and state Division 1-AA championship, posting a 3-2 regular-season record against such bluebloods as Long Beach Poly, Los Alamitos, Sacramento Grant and San Juan Capistrano J Serra, plus Las Vegas Arbor View.

Lincoln, which played every game in 2024 on a neutral or opponent field, is back home in Vic Player Stadium this year after repairs to the playing  surface. Dunn, 106-60-1 since 2011 and 78-20 since 2017, has to replace, among others, star quarterback Akili Smith, Jr.,  from the team that beat Pittsburg, 28-26, for the state championship.

Lincoln has another loaded nonleague schedule that includes Honolulu Punahou, Poly, Mission Viejo, Arbor View, Los Alamitos, and Bakersfield Frontier.

Sean Doyle is 238-115 in 29 seasons at Cathedral, which  was University of San Diego High when Doyle played there, before he became head coach in 1996.  The Dons also are scheduled up, including games against longtime power Concord de la Salle and Chandler, Arizona; Mountain View St. Francis, Watsonville St. Francis, Granite Hills, with a Week10 Western League matchup against Lincoln.

The first 20 , according to Maffei, and how three major outlets rate them in California:

RANK	TEAM	2024 RECORD	MAX PREPS	CAL PREPS	CAL-HI SPORTS
1.	Lincoln	12-2	11	50.9	10
2.	Cathedral	9-3	20	48.4	15
3.	Mission Hills	8-3	59	33.6	37
4.	Granite Hills	11-3	35	30.4	31
5.	La Costa Canyon	10-1	29	35.4	24
6.	Carlsbad	8-4	31	31.6	On Bubble
7.	San Marcos	11-2	96	22.5	Not ranked
8.	Mount Miguel	9-3	216	24.5	On Bubble
9.	Oceanside	7-4	224	2.3	NR
10.	Helix	5-7	83	3.1	NR
11.	Poway	6-8	123	10.4	NR
12.	Rancho Bernardo	9-3	185	0.1	NR
13.	El Camino	6-6	95	14.5	NR
14.	Mater Dei	9-4	85	10.8	NR
15.	Del Norte	7-5	180	-4.8	NR
16.	Torrey Pines	5-7	114	9.9	NR
17.	The Bishop’s	7-4	236	-8.6	NR
18.	Santa Fe Christian	9-2	295	-8.6	NR
19.	St. Augustine	4-11	146	-4	NR
20.	Imperial	9-2	315	-12.5	NR

ON THE ROAD

A Triple-A Trip Ticket or Rand-McNally atlas would come in handy for a dozen or so travelers, except Lincoln, which will need a flight plan.

The Hornets will make their first trip in 35 years to Hawaii, visiting Punahou, the prestigious Honolulu school and former President Barack Obama’s alma mater.

Not close to matching the Hive’s six hours and 2,600 miles in the air, but still but still a  long haul:

—Army-Navy to Las Vegas Meadows, 313 miles;

—Imperial to Phelan Serrano, 264 miles;

—Blythe Palo Verde Valley to Playa del Rey St. Bernard (replacing Francis Parker, which is downsizing to 8-Man), 243 miles;

—El Centro Central to Jurupa Valley, 168 miles;

—Horizon Prep to Helendale Careers and Exploration, 151 miles;

—El Centro Southwest to Moreno Valley Canyon Springs, 150 miles.

SAN DIEGO VERSUS HAWAII 

*Maui; **Honolulu. *!Kauai

YEAR	TEAM	SCORE	OPPONENT	SCORE
1983	Ramona	6	*@Baldwin	34
1984	Sweetwater	34	*St. Anthony	3
1985	Morse	41	*@St. Anthony	7
	Sweetwater	32	*Baldwin	7
1986	Fallbrook	38	*Kahului	14
1988	Morse	63	*@St. Anthony	8
1989	Ramona	46	*St. Anthony	0
	Morse	17	**@St. Louis	24
1990	Lincoln	13	**@St. Louis	44
	Morse	55	**@Punahou	15
1991	Monte Vista	9	**Punahou	28
	Morse	41	**Farrington	15
	Bonita Vista	24	*Baldwin	25
1992	Morse	22	**@Kamehameha	15
	Monte Vista	2	**@Castle	6
	Orange Glen	22	**@Punahou	20
1993	Torrey Pines	32	**@Punahou	21
1994	Bonita Vista	0	**@Farrington	12
	University	10	**@Damien	0
	Morse	22	**@Punahou	36
	Mount Miguel	0	**@Farrington	17
1995	Morse	36	**@Kahuku	36
	Horizon	34	*Ka‘ahumanu	0
	Orange Glen	20	**@Farrington	13
1996	Bonita Vista	7	*@Baldwin	21
	Morse	27	**@Farrington	0
	Torrey Pines	31	**@Punahou	14
1998	Horizon	40	*Ka’ahumanu	14
1999	Bonita Vista	41	*@Baldwin	24
	Horizon	53	*Ka’ahumanu	12
2001	Kearny	0	*Ka’ahumanu	56
2003	Horizon	7	*Kahului	6
2004	Otay Ranch	35	*Pukulani Kamehameha	0
2005	Bonita Vista	37	*!@Kapa’a	0
	Valley Center	45	*!@Waimea	7
	West Hills	41	*!@Lijue	13
2007	Bonita Vista	7	*Lahainaluna	37
	El Capitan	51	*@King Kekaulike	35
	The Bishop’s	44	*Kahului	2
	Valley Center	36	*@Pukulani Kamehameha	0
	West Hills	37	*St. Anthony	16
	Coronado	21	*!@Kapa’a	0
2008	Serra	7	*!@Lihue	28
2009	Coronado	13	*!Lihue	49
2010	La Jolla Country Day	0	@*Pukulani Kamehameha	32
2011	Vista	7	**Punahou	19
2013	Helix	6	**Punahou	10
2014	Francis Parker	22	**Radford	20
2016	La Jolla Country Day	19	**@Iolani	27
2017	Torrey Pines	7	**@Punahou	23
	Valley Center	34	*Pululani Kamehameha	0
2018	Classical	14	*!Waimea	35
2019	Orange Glen	41	Waimea	16
2023	Bonita Vista	6	**@Kalani	28

ISLAND BREEZES

Punahou is 1-2 in 2025,  losing to Kapolei, 46-21, and defeating Moanalua, 44-6, and ranks seventh in Hawaii, whose schools generally have opened a couple weeks before those in San Diego… mainland clubs hold a 32-21-1 lead in the interstate rivalry…Lincoln is the 28^th team from the San Diego Section to visit or host a team from the islands of Oahu, Maui, or Kauai since 1983…Morse went to the islands nine times through 1996, posting a 6-2-1 record…Don Coryell got his coaching career started with head coaching gigs at Gov. Wallace Farrington High and Punahou before his legendary stints at San Diego State and with the San Diego Chargers…Barack Obama was graduated in 1979 from Punahou, which is known as the Buff and Blue and which opened in 1842…the school is located about two miles inland from Waikiki Beach….

The narrative originally was posted Dec. 7, 2013.

This team may have been the best of all coached by Duane Maley at San Diego High, but the Cavemen lost two of their best players and five reserves as practice started and their best player at the most important time of the season.

They came up short in the Southern California playoffs.

Starting halfback Darnes Johnson and tackle Ed Wallace were gone before the first scrimmage.

Johnson was the team’s leading ball carrier and a :09.8 100-yard sprinter who anchored the Hillers’ rapid 880-yard relay team in the spring. Wallace was an experienced lineman who saw  playing time in 1949.

UNCLE SAM BECKONS

Halfbacks Richard Real, Paul Brooks and Mickey Hall, end Howard Simpson, and guard Calvin Rayford joined Johnson and Wallace, also literally hauled out of school and ordered to report to National Guard units at Fort Rosecrans on the Point Loma peninsula.

The Korean War erupted on June 25, 1950, when the North Korean army invaded South Korea. American ground troops aided the South Korean cause.

The seven National Guard Cavers were called to duty to help take the place of those deployed.

Maley soon learned there would be no “education deferments.” The only  games the players would be playing were war games.

The players had joined the National Guard in high school partly because each earned as much as $10 for every meeting attended, a handy sum for teenagers of the era.

Active duty was expected to be in the future, after graduation.

Deep and fast, San Diego overcame the personnel losses and stormed through the new City Prep League to finish the regular season with an 8-0 record.

But disaster struck in game 7.

End Charlie Powell, who would be named Southern California player of the year, sustained a bruised kidney after taking a knee in his back during a 58-12 romp over Kearny, the poorest team on the schedule.

Of all the games to lose the star player in Southern California and arguably the best in the country! San Diego went into the Kearny game with an overall 29-pound average weight advantage, 184-155.

The Cavers led, 27-0, after one quarter and 58-0 after three.

Powell did not play the following week against La Jolla, the original  thinking that he would be available for the opening round of the playoffs.

Medical reports soon indicated a more serious injury.

The 6-foot, 3-inch, 230-pounder, a marvelous player who excelled in 4 sports (the only athlete in school history to earn 12 varsity letters in three years) , including track and field (he held the school shot put record of 57 feet, 9 1/4 inches, for 31 years) and baseball in the spring, was declared out several days before the first-round game at Fullerton.

No mystery. No intrigue. No wait for a game-time decision.

Powell not only missed the game but also part  of the basketball season.

TOPPED POWELL’S FLAG TEAM

Without Powell San Diego still was favored by a touchdown over the 7-1-1 Fullerton Indians.

Without “Ness” Johnson the Cavemen still had explosion.

Frank Johnson and Harold Espy combined for 20 touchdowns. Chuck McDairmant was completing 57 per cent of his passes and had thrown for more than 800 yards.

McDairmant’s play at quarterback was a final, important ingredient. Completing his second season as starter, McDairmant’s eight-game total was 47 completions in 83 attempts for 810 yards and 12 touchdowns.

At one point during the season McDairmant was averaging 10.27 yards per pass. Evening Tribune  writer Jerry Brucker was moved to compare the Hillers’ signal caller to the Los Angeles’ Rams’ Norm Van Brocklin, the NFL leader at 9.28 yards per pass.

McDairmant had been a relatively anonymous end on the Hillers’ 1948 sophomore team, but Maley moved him to quarterback the following spring and the junior-to-be won the job.

McDairmant also had some “cred”, although that term did not become a part of the social lexicon until years later.

The Horace Mann Junior High team of McDairmant, Terry Heselius and Bruce Dietrick had won the three-man City touch football championship by defeating the Memorial triumvirate of Powell, Espy, and Darnes Johnson.

NATIONAL ANTHEM, THEN NO GAME

The loss of Powell was just one of Maley’s concerns. The coach was uneasy before the 8 p.m. Friday kickoff at Fullerton High. A dense fog was rolling in, blanketing much of Orange County.

Players on both teams were ghost-like figures in a surreal pregame warmup, rhythmically appearing and disappearing.

“I couldn’t see the holder or the kicker I was snapping the ball to,” remembered center Fred Thompson, looking back  years later on one of his most disappointing experiences.

To Maley’s almost disbelief, the stadium public address announcer declared a weather postponement, the first in CIF Southern Section playoff history, after the national anthem.

The Cavers were forced to spend the night in Fullerton.

“It was crazy, the way the coaches worked it out,” said Thompson.

“There must have been forty-five or fifty players who made the trip.  They had us spread out all over Fullerton. I spent the night with 5 or 6 other players in the fire station. I slept on a cot. We were awakened every time there was any activity by the firemen.”

THE LONG WAIT 

A long morning wait on Saturday preceded the 2 p.m. kickoff. Forces seem to be working against the Cavemen.

And why, with an 8-0 record, was Maley’s  squad the visiting team? Against an opponent that had a loss (19-0 to South Pasadena) and a tie (0-0 with Whittier) before winning six in a row?

With an oddly timed coin toss nine days before the game to determine where the teams would meet, especially since Fullerton still had a regular season game on its schedule?

Conspiracy theorists cited another example of perceived CIF Southern Section bias. The Southern Section numbered more than 200 schools, the great percentage of which were at least 100 miles north of San Diego, the so-called “Border Town”.

Fullerton proved a tough, worthy opponent.

Expected to grind it out and try to maintain ball-control, the Indians struck twice with touchdown passes in the third quarter after a 6-6 deadlock in the first half. San Diego answered with touchdowns each time but a missed extra point in the fourth quarter left the Cavers short.

Final score, 20-19.

WHAT ELSE?

Had the Hillers made the conversion and the game ended 20-20, San Diego would have advanced to the semifinals of the 10-team bracket, having more first downs than Fullerton. That CIF rule would come into play again in 1955, when the Cavers met Anaheim in an epic semifinal playoff.

The last indignity came late in the game. An apparent 15-yard touchdown run by Frank Johnson that would have put the San Diego in front, 25-20, was erased because of a rarely called rule infraction.

A San Diego lineman was penalized because his foot was lined up inside the foot of the lineman next to him.

“We had scored and I had my hand up to signal for the huddle (for the extra point),” Thompson recalled. “Then I heard the referee scream, ‘Illegal formation!’ I had no idea what was going on. I saw the referee go over to the sideline to explain the penalty. Maley was beside himself.”

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

Hoover principal Floyd Johnson, the San Diego representative on the CIF Southern Section executive committee, was in Los Angeles in February, 1950, for a weekend meeting at which the new San Diego City Prep League was formed and the Metropolitan League was realigned.

The City League would consist of San Diego, Hoover, and Grossmont, holdovers from the Coast League; and La Jolla, Point Loma, and Kearny, former Metropolitan League entries.

Metro membership went to Sweetwater, Chula Vista, Coronado, Oceanside, Escondido and Mar Vista, which became the 22^nd County school, opening its doors with a temporary campus near the Brown Field air station.

The Southern Prep presented the same lineup as in 1949. Mountain Empire, in distant Campo, was given a “passive” membership. Its representatives would attend league meetings and the Redskins would abide by SPL rules, but they played a limited league schedule.

Brown Military also remained in the SPL but would not play San Dieguito.

St. Augustine, as usual, was not a factor, wearily traipsing to and from schools in the far-flung, Los Angeles-dominated Southland Catholic League.

The Saints would mount a strong campaign for admittance to a San Diego league later in decade.

And what a decade it would be! From 1950-59 San Diego High was 85-15, the best record of any school in California. More significant, 10 new schools were welcomed as San Diego County nudged toward a divorce from the Southern Section.

BALLOT SUCCESSFUL

One of the new schools would be Helix, which was scheduled to open in September, 1951, with split sessions at Grossmont while the Highlanders’ facility was constructed.

East County voters in November, 1950, overwhelmingly passed a bond issue for $1.9 million that financed what was then known as the “University Avenue High school.”

The Helix address became 7323 University Avenue in La Mesa.

MUSTANGS ROAM WITH REID

San Dieguito was more fortunate than the San Diego Cavemen in the Minor Division playoffs.

Riding the heavyweight thrusts of Bud Reid, who finished the season with 16 touchdowns, the Mustangs defeated Metropolitan League co-champ Escondido, 13-0, then followed with wins at Brawley, 33-20, and over Palm Springs, 12-0.

Mustangs supporters were only slightly assuaged. They continued to be miffed at what they saw as disrespect for the school’s athletic program and lack of consideration when the re-leaguing of the 21 San Diego County schools took place earlier in the year.

San Dieguito wanted to sit at the big table, in the Metropolitan League, but was consigned to the weaker Southern Prep League.

Mar Vista, located in the supposedly more geographically suited South Bay and opening in September, 1950, would give the Metropolitan League its desired six teams, although Mariners games wouldn’t count in the league standings the first year.

San Dieguito, in the north San Diego County Encinitas community, claimed its second straight SPL title with a 4-0 record and outscored league rivals Army-Navy, Ramona, Fallbrook, and Vista, 142-19.

The Mustangs would join the Metro League in 1951.

HOW GOOD WERE POWELL AND CAVERS?

It’s no surprise Charlie Powell was the Southern California player of the year despite playing only 6 1/2 games and,  with Powell healthy, the Cavers arguably were one of the top teams in the state.

Powell played running back, pass-catching end, and defensive end and could turn a game either way.

The tall, graceful Powell astounded the crowd of more than 8,000 in Bakersfield by running down and making an open field tackle on halfback Hal Morgan, a 49-seconds quarter-miler and one of the fastest athletes in the San Joaquin Valley.

Morgan, who gained 40 yards on the play and reached the Cavers’ 10-yard line,  was injured on the tackle and did not return. Powell also ran for a first down with a bad snap from punt formation.

The Cavers had brought the game to the 6-0 Bakersfield Drillers, scourges of the CIF Central Section, after a five-hour bus ride.

Hal Espy scored on the first play of the game with a 72-yard dash.  San Diego held  Bill Fanning, the Drillers’ leading rusher, to 19 yards and the Cavers eased to a 19-7 victory over coach Homer Beatty’s club, which was averaging 32.3 points and wreaking havoc from Fresno to the Grapevine on U.S. 99.

As Bakersfield Californian writer Eddie Lopez noted, “Never before in all six of their previous games have the Drillers faced such dazzling speed, beefy forwards, and devil-may-care gambling  as illustrated by the visiting Cavers.”

PRINCIPALS, BUTT OUT!

Local observers generally were pleased with the alignment of the new San Diego leagues, with some reservations. Evening Tribune sports editor George T. Herrick did not like the idea that league games were scheduled by draw, coordinated by school principals.

Herrick suggested coaches would have done a better job. The schedule “pitted traditional teams against each other too early in the year,” said Herrick, who pointed out that every city school except La Jolla claimed its lowest attendance in several years at home games.

Particularly galling, said Herrick, was the scheduling of San Diego and Hoover in the league opener at Aztec Bowl as a Hoover home game.  The game drew 10,000 in the 11,500-seat stadium at San Diego State, not far from the Hoover campus. Attendance was half that of the 1949 game at Balboa.

City League officials, when announcing the schedule, indicated they wanted to minimize traditional rivalries. Point Loma and La Jolla, old antagonists from the Metro League, also were paired in a City League opener.

Evening Tribune  writer Jerry Brucker reported that CPL bosses felt the San Diego-Hoover game had gotten “too big” and needed to be deemphasized.

Tradition also took a back seat when San Diego High’s acclaimed Sergeanettes did not perform. A new rule prohibited the band and drill teams of visiting schools from participating in pregame or halftime ceremonies.

WEST WINS 12TH CARNIVAL

The pageantry and precision of ancillary groups was appreciated by the official crowd of 20,526 persons which turned out for the 12^th annual City Schools football carnival.

The West of San Diego, Point Loma, and La Jolla, defeated the East of Kearny, Hoover, and Grossmont, 18-8 in a perfect, East-West geographical alignment of three, 15-minute quarters.

Point Loma’s Marshall (Scooter) Malcolm returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown against Grossmont and La Jolla’s Oscar Ruiz scored two touchdowns against Kearny. San Diego and Hoover were scoreless.

HONORS

Powell was joined in the all-Southern California lineup by halfback Frank Johnson and tackle Terry Heselius, teammates who made the third team; Coronado halfback Harry Sykes, who earned second team honors, and Point Loma halfback Marshall (Scooter) Malcolm, a third team choice.

Future San Diego State  and Chargers assistant coach and St. Louis Cardinals head coach Jim Hanifan of Covina was Powell’s accompanying first-team end.  Guard Jack Menotti of Santa Monica, later the head coach at Madison and Ramona, earned second-team honors.

LIGHTS, FINALLY

Hoover at last introduced its new lighting system as 4,500 showed to watch the Cardinals tie San Bernardino, 14-14.

New lights had been purchased in time for the 1949 campaign but were late arriving and the Cardinals played the ’49 schedule on the road.

La Jolla installed new lights at Scripps Field on campus. Point Loma erected concrete bleachers, and Kearny acquired land to enlarge its athletic plant.

COACHES DISSED

The Breitbard Athletic Foundation announced that a “San Diego Board of Football” had been formed. Writers Gene Earl and John McDonald of The Union;  Jerry Brucker and Tom Stansberry of the Tribune, and F.W. (Bill) Whitney of the Breitbard Foundation would select the all-City and all-Metropolitan League teams.

Coaches would be asked only to fill out ratings cards on opponent players the Monday following games.  The writers would analyze and make choices, supposedly removing selection politics and coaching agendas.

WELCOME TO COACHING, COACH

Head coach Gerry Spitler summed up the first season at Mar Vista:

“A few weeks ago we were greeted by thirty-five boys, five of whom lettered in junior varsity football at Chula Vista; a practice field full of rocks, and a coaching staff (Bob Ganger, baseball, and Don Smith, basketball) new to the game.”

Players walked the field before the first practice, picking up rocks and using their helmets as buckets. A student contest resulted in the naming of the school and its teams (Mariners) and colors (green and gold).

Mar Vista students attended classes at the abandoned Naval Air Base at Brown Field near the U.S-Mexico border while the new school was being constructed.

Sweating through an opening-game, 26-0 loss at Corona,  Spitler declared, “The first quarter was the longest in my life!” Mariners players committed numerous penalties resulting in a 49-minute opening period.

WITHER BREITBARD GAME?

The summer’s second annual College Prep game, matching all-Los Angeles against all-Southern California, was won by the L.A. City team, 27-7, before an estimated 15,000 in Balboa Stadium.

Several days later game founder Bob Breitbard told the Evening Tribune‘s George T. Herrick  that there would not be a third game between recent high school graduates.   The popular contest had been a financial loser, said Breitbard.

Foundation executive director Leo Callan went before the city council in January, 1951,  revealing that the 1950 game lost $1,100.

Callan, advancing Breitbard’s wish that the game be saved, sought a break in the rental fee for Balboa Stadium and also announced that a group in  Los Angeles wanted the game if Breitbard bailed.

La Jolla’s Sid Davis scored the losers’ only touchdown with an 88-yard kickoff return in the last minute.

TRUE GRID

Compton, trailing, 14-6, in the third quarter, defeated Fullerton 26-14 for the Southern Section championship… San Diego won its opening game 14-2 over Long Beach Poly before 9,000 at Long Beach Veterans’ Memorial Stadium in  a renewal of a  preeminent Southern California rivalry…the Cavers and Jackrabbits met 30 times between 1910 and ’41 but they had not played since 1944…La Jolla, under new coach Walt Harvey, and Point Loma, led by the veteran Don Giddings, proved to be able replacements for teams from the Coast League…Point Loma beat Hoover and hung in against San Diego… Hoover played Glendale, Arizona, and San Diego played Glendale, California… the Cavers averaged almost 11 yards a carry and hammered Glendale with 323 yards on the ground… Frank Johnson had 151 yards in 9 carries, Eddie Duncan 79 in 8, and Hal Espy 88 in 6…Powell ran 63 yards on an end-around for a touchdown and scored on pass plays of 27 and 69 yards in the 33-21 victory over Point Loma…the Kearny Komets scored only 21 points and were 0-5 in the City League, prompting criticism of their inclusion in the new lineup…head coach Hal Smith was a one-man staff…he did not have an assistant coach…Hoover had two players named Bill Reed, one a guard, the other a fullback, no relation…with two touchdown passes to Hal Espy against Fullerton, San Diego’s Chuck McDairmant finished with 14 in nine games…St. Anthony forfeited to St. Augustine after discovery that the Long Beach school had scheduled Newport Harbor on the same night… fiery Hoover coach Bob Kirchhoff promoted several sophomores to the varsity and slashed the number of players dressing for home games after successive losses to San Diego and Grossmont… part of the Cardinals’ problem was a season-ending shoulder injury to halfback Don Bonatus, one of the area’s best… led by fullback Jim Frankson, Sweetwater outgained Escondido 390 yards to 90 and lost, 12-6…Lee Bogle’s team at Grossmont was known as Bogle’s Boogiemen…Harry Sykes of Coronado scored a touchdown in the final game against Montebello and finished with 100 points, seventh highest total in County history…champion San Dieguito gridders, their dads, and sundry Encinitas businessmen consumed more than 100 pounds of turkey at the Del Mar Jockey Club…players received gold footballs and heard from former Navy all-America Slade Cutter….