The narrative originally was posted Dec. 30, 2013.

San Diego High had an unusual relationship with The San Diego Union.

Student Alan McGrew, who also served in a business position as the “Temporary Football Manager of San Diego High School,” was the de facto Hilltoppers beat writer for the newspaper.

McGrew filed daily reports on the Hilltoppers, the headline sports attraction in the city. He provided  inside information on coach John Perry’s team along with up-to-date messages on scheduling.

Who the Cavemen were playing and where often was the question of the day, as money guarantees were negotiated and games agreed to on virtually a moment’s notice.

McGrew’s access to the team was apparent on the pages of the Union:

—A player reported to be smoking on a downtown street and who admitted his “guilt” when quizzed before the entire team was suspended by coach John Perry for the opener with Sweetwater and lost half of his letter-earning, game quarters participation.

—Perry had established an 8 p.m., be-at-home curfew with retirement by not more than an hour later.  The only evening players would be allowed to stay out “late” was after a game, when curfew would be at 10 p.m.

According to McGrew the team voted unanimously to abide by the Perry Rules. The third-year head man was 24, not much older than his players.

UNBEARABLE VICTORY

McGrew’s San Diego High bias also was obvious. The intrepid high school correspondent was one unhappy camper after the Hilltoppers’ 6-3 victory over Sweetwater in the season’s opening game.

Expecting a rout, McGrew was forced to acknowledge a stunningly difficult outing.

“The local players were taken off their feet by the county gang,” wrote McGrew.  “They were dazed, it appeared.”

McGrew continued.  “Possibly some of the players were unstrung, the game being the first of the season, and when they discovered the Sweetwater team had all kinds of power (they) went to pieces.”

Sweetwater had been 0-3 against the San Diego varsity, losing, 54-6 in 1915, 65-7 in ’20, and 40-0 in ’21.

Fullback Charles Williams drop-kicked a 25-yard field goal to give coach Herb Hoskins’ Red Devils a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter.

Norton Langford scored to put the Hilltoppers ahead, 6-3, later in the quarter, after which San Diego was stymied by the determined National City squad.

The following week, under a story without byline, the writer hadn’t yet moved on, still unhappy and describing the Sweetwater game as a “catastrophe”.

RED DEVILS NO PUSHOVERS

Sweetwater opened as National City School 1907 and, according to available records, played football in 1910.

For the first 11 years, including the 1913 season when they didn’t field a team, the Red Devils were 10-24-3, according to infrequent newspaper reports.

Herb Hoskins took over as coach in 1919 and was 5-9-2 in his first three seasons, but the Red Devils won the four-team County League with a 5-0-1 record this season and manned up once more in the playoffs against San Diego.

The Cavemen this time prevailed by a 13-6 score, but Sweetwater had established itself as a credible program.

The Red Devils were 34-16-5 under Hoskins from 1922-27 and made three playoff appearances.

NO ROOM FOR HERB?

Writer Jess Puryear pointed out that Hoskins apparently had not been considered after the Sweetwater mentor showed interest in filling a position that opened on the San Diego coaching staff.

Hilltoppers basketball coach A.E. Shaver had left after the 1921-22 school year.

RESEMBLING EARLY MAN

San Diego High historian Don King corrected a story which promoted many different versions over the years.

How did the name Cavemen evolve?

In 1921 the football team dressed in dingy quarters beneath the 400 building on campus, King wrote in Caver Conquest, the 1993  history of San Diego High athletics.

There was only one entrance to the dressing room and that was through a long, dark tunnel that supposedly looked like that of a passageway to the caves used by our earliest ancestors, King noted.

Alden Ross, a reporter for the school newspaper (and a future member of the 1922 squad), was standing outside the players’ entrance when the  squad exited for a game and was struck by the similarity to cave dwellers of the past.

Ross referred to the “Cavemen” in the next issue of The Russ.

“Cavemen” caught on and was used thereafter along with “Hilltoppers”,  “Hillers”, and “Cavers.”

When girls began participating in the 1970s, the name was officially amended to “Cavers,” to correct gender inequity, said King.

PREGAME HYPE?

USC Freshmen coach H.W. Hess, responding when asked in a telephonic interview with  San Diego writers if there were “any stars who have been showing up” on the Trobabes’ squad:

“There are no stars, but eleven men on the team…and they’re all rotten,” declared the coach.

San Diego coach John Perry said he expected his squad “to be fighting all through the game (but) I do expect to be beaten by more than forty points.”

Interest in the USC team was such that the frosh’s pregame meal was assessed:  two poached eggs and a cup of tea.

The frosh, featuring many 1921 prep stars from throughout the state, prevailed, 21-0.

THE LONGEST TRIP

According to one writer, 19 players and two coaches traveled for a game to Bakersfield by automobile.

Certainly more than one automobile, although Alan McGrew wrote that the team was scheduled to leave  at 8 a.m. on a Friday morning for an 11-hour trip by “stage”.

Travel would include 48 miles on what was known as the Ridge Route, beginning at the Castaic Junction and featuring switchbacks and sudden  turns over the mountains north of Los Angeles.

Climax to this sometimes dangerous stretch was the Grapevine, a six-mile downgrade that took travelers from 4,233 feet to the floor of the San Joaquin Valley, passing native grapevines growing on the hills near Fort Tejon.

WHY?

In this still developing period of motorized conveyance (passenger railroad travel then or now was not available to or from Bakersfield), why schedule a game so distant and so difficult to reach?

Alan McGrew pointed out that “almost every school south of the Tehachapi pass had received letters seeking games from Hilltop management, but refused.”

San Diego High was feared in the North, particularly around Los Angeles, said McGrew. Scheduling the defending state champion Drillers would curtail some of the criticism about Perry’s perceived reluctance to schedule strong opponents.

There was some history with Bakersfield.  The Hilltoppers declined an invitation to play a state championship playoff with the Drillers after San Diego had posted 12-0 record and won the Southern Section championship in 1916.

Hilltop coach Clarence (Nibs) Price sensed his team was fatigued and was not interested in a New Year’s Day game in San Diego. The Drillers claimed the state championship and that San Diego had forfeited.

Price did schedule the Drillers in 1917, when the school known as Kern County Union High came south and was beaten by the Hilltoppers, 18-7.

This year’s result was different.  Dwight (Goldie) Griffith’s Drillers, who were rumored to play some adult roughnecks from the neighboring oil fields, scored a 32-0 victory.

Age limits were seemingly flexible and nonexistent.  San Diego’s outstanding lineman was Al Scheving, who would be 21 when he graduated in June, 1923.

“I was only eighteen months older than my team captain,” coach John Perry told writer Jim Trinkle in 1954.

TWO GAMES IN TWO DAYS

Without a league and of independent classification, San Diego was required to have five victories against high school competition for inclusion in the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

Scheduling was madcap.

With the SCIF postseason beginning in a week, the Cavemen were pressed to play two high school games in two days.

John Perry shrugged when it was suggested that no prep team in California had ever been asked to meet such a challenge.

The  Hilltoppers teed up at 9:15 a.m. Friday in City Stadium, where they defeated the 7-2 Whittier Cardinals, 26-0, then followed at 12:30 the next afternoon with a 41-0 victory over weak Anaheim, against which Perry employed only four varsity starters.

Students were all for the doubleheader.  They were dismissed from school Friday to watch the games.

The Hilltoppers were fortunate not to have to travel for the Anaheim contest, which originally was scheduled in the northern community but was moved to San Diego because of an Armistice Day parade in Anaheim.

HOW MANY GAMES?

HOW MANY GAMES?

Don King’s Caver Conquest listed 14 games on San Diego High’s schedule, as did the first Evening Tribune Prep Football Record Book, published in 1965.

According to The San Diego Union of November 30, 1922,  the Cavemen had played 17 games and, after meeting  Santa Ana, Gardena and Bakersfield, would finish the season with a stunning total of 20, their record being 14-5-1.

NFL teams don’t play that many, unless they’re a wildcard team that plays in the Super Bowl.

The line between scrimmages and games was blurred in The San Diego Union.  

A midseason exercise with Sweetwater was loosely described as a game but also as a “practice.” Nonleague, not yet a part of the lexicon, would have been a better description.

The Cavemen played five “games” with teams from military institutions and seven “games” in 13 days from late September to early October.

Games with military squads were common for San Diego-area teams.

COEDS SHUN HILLTOPPERS

San  Diego’s playoff with Santa Ana matched not-so-friendly rivals in a series that dated to 1905. The Cavemen claimed the Orange County school’s students and players were the poorest losers in the state.

“Besides ‘razzing’ the players on the street  and at the hotel where the team was lodged, the girls at a public dance in Santa Ana refused to dance with the San Diego boys,” reported Alan McGrew.

According to historian Don King, “Santa Ana fans threw soda pop bottles and ripe fruit as Kenny Zweiner ran 65 yards with an intercepted pass for a touchdown.”

Coney Galindo raced 35 yards for another score in a 12-0 victory. The winners rushed for 112 yards, Galindo leading with 50 yards rushing and completing a 17-yard pass.

The win over Santa Ana elevated San Diego into a Southern Section championship game against Gardena.

ROCKY TOP

Perry remembered years later what it was like to practice on the “Rock Pile,” and to play on a dirt surface in City Stadium.

“We weren’t allowed to practice in the stadium, but had to go across the highway by the horse barns,” said Perry.  “Before working out we’d try to get all the rocks we’d kicked up the previous day out of the way.”

The stadium layout would be sprinkled, then rolled before each game.  “There wasn’t any grass and it was as hard as concrete,” remembered the coach.

SCHOOL DAYS, SCHOOL DAYS!

San Diego High pupils paid student dues of .75, plus they were required to make a $4 deposit to assure return of textbooks at the end of the school year.

Students were required to purchase locker padlocks that were available from San Diego merchants.

Incoming freshmen received a 128-page “manual”, detailing all activities and regulations at the school.

National City School, renamed Sweetwater, moved to a new location on Highland Avenue at the South end of National City, serving approximately 325 students from Chula Vista and to as far south as San Ysidro.

Construction of Grossmont’s permanent campus on the hill overlooking El Cajon Valley was almost complete, with 350 students listed as having enrolled.

Two-pant tweed sports suits were available for $19.65, Shoes for $6.50, and caps for $2.50 at Lion Clothing Co., Fifth Avenue at E Street.

THERE WERE PERKS

Prospective San Diego High players were feted in a banquet at the San Diego Hotel the night before the first practice.

Team leader Norton Langford addressed the players on the “value of close association and the necessity for no petty jealousy” (apparently a problem the last couple seasons, along with questions of soft scheduling and Perry’s not coaching “fundamentals”).

Langford said he hoped to “see a game up North” at the end of the season “for the state championship and with San Diego returning victorious.”

CART BEFORE HORSE

San Diego players favored a rematch in the state playoffs with Bakersfield, rather than  participate in a so-called national championship game.

The Cavers received challenges from the Amarillo Golden Sandstorm of Texas, Twin Falls, Idaho, and a team in St. Louis.  Coach John Perry postponed any decision until after the Gardena contest.

LOVE THAT GRASS

Gardena, which won at Bishop, 31-0, the week before, was accorded an edge by the San Diego media because it had played on the Bovard Field turf gridiron at USC.

Whatever advantage Gardena possessed disappeared in the fourth quarter, when the Cavemen trailing, 14-12, scored 19 points to win, 31-14.  Coney Galindo ran for three touchdowns and scored another on an intercepted pass.

HERE COME THE DRILLERS

San Diego accepted a challenge to play 9-0-1 Bakersfield in a state playoff, but only if the game was played in the City Stadium.  In a telegram to Bakersfield officials, McGrew said the Cavemen were “not in condition for another trip.”

The Drillers agreed.

The journey south was easier on the visitors, who were reported to have “passed through Los Angeles” and were spending the night in Santa Ana after practicing at Whittier College.

Transported in two motor coaches, Bakersfield arrived in San Diego on the day of the game.

The Cavemen battled in vain before about 6,000 City Stadium fans who represented the largest turnout in school history, according to the Union, although the 1917 game drew a reported 10,000.

It was 17-0 before Ed Ruffa scored a touchdown in the final two minutes to send the Hilltoppers home 17-6 losers.

READ IT AND WEEP

That was the lede (first paragraph) on The San Diego Union account of the Cavemen’s 106-6 victory over Army-Navy.  The writer also suggested that flags would be at half mast at the Pacific Beach academy.

Nothing out of the ordinary about that, but in the second paragraph it was noted that the Cadets fully expected to win and to qualify for the Southern California playoffs!

Coach Paul Jones, who exuded such confidence before the game, was slightly off the mark.

Contributing to the carnage was a rule of the day:  Teams scoring touchdowns received the ensuing kickoff, i.e., Army-Navy kicked off after every San Diego touchdown.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Future World War II hero aviator Lt. James Doolittle left Jacksonville, Florida, at 7:30 p.m. Pacific  time and hoped to land at Rockwell Field, located on Coronado’s North Island, at about 4 p.m. the next afternoon.

The 18 1/2-hour flight included a fuel stop in San Antonio, Texas.

TRUE GRID

San Diego High dropped its ninth-grade, freshmen class when two junior highs, Roosevelt and Memorial, opened…the schools had grades of 7, 8, and 9…by contract with the CIF and Santa Ana, expenses were provided for 18 players when the Cavemen took the train north for the second of three semifinal playoff contests, but coach John Perry traveled a squad of 23… San Diego High was not the only team to play games on back-to-back days…Grossmont sustained a 40-7 loss to the Hilltoppers, then went out the next day and dropped a 7-6 decision to the sailors from the U.S.S. Rapahannock…when writers referred to a team concentrating on its ground game, it was described as “straight football”…passing, infrequently used,  was just that, “passing”…The San Diego Union published the roster of San Diego High and players’ numbers before the game with the USC Freshmen…24 players were numbered from 1 to 25, with only jersey No. 2 omitted… …Escondido was greeting “a whole set of husky Indians from the backcountry,” according to the Union… County League teams Escondido, Sweetwater, and Grossmont were considered “backcountry”…”The Winning Play,” an article that appeared in Redbook magazine, was read to the team by San Diego coach John Perry before it took the field against Gardena…Sweater and Letter Day at Sweetwater was attended by the entire student body, which honored the County League team as Herb Hoskins awarded monograms to 15 players….

Looking Back: The narrative originally was posted on June 9, 2014.

As far back as early season 1989, Morse coach John Shacklett was able to smile through a 2-2 start and a forfeit win, supported by a belief that the best was yet to come.

This was after the Tigers had defeated Orange Glen, 31-28, for the 1988 3-A championship and not about the potential of the team that would reach the 3-A finals again in 1989 before losing, 21-7, to Rancho Buena Vista.

Shacklett was thinking further ahead, to 1990, and to Teddy Lawrence’s senior season.

Built around the explosive running and passing of Lawrence and junior running back Gary Taylor, Morse returned 29 lettermen and 18 players who started at least one game in 1989.

Rancho Buena Vista, El Camino, Helix, Mira Mesa, Chula Vista, Orange Glen, Oceanside, and Kearny also would be formidable. Morse met five of those teams, but only George Ohnessorgen’s Chula Vista Spartans came within a touchdown, in the 3-A semifinal.

Did this group of gifted players gathered on the 28-year-old campus at 69^th Street and Skyline Drive represent the all-time, No. 1 San Diego County team?

—Better than the 1916 San Diego High mythical national championship squad?

—Better than the 1955 Cavers national champions?

—Better than the 1985 state No. 1 Vista juggernaut?

—Or some of the Oceanside, Vista, Rancho Buena Vista, and El Camino teams that reflected the population explosion and increased talent pools in the 1970s and ‘80s in the North County?

—Not to mention Birt Slater’s 1963 Kearny Komets; any of a number of Duane Maley’s other San Diego High clubs; the Helix teams coached by Jim Arnaiz and Gordon Wood, or the Sweetwaters of David Lay and Gene Alim?

The Tigers built a case for themselves, game by game, beginning in Hawaii Aug. 26.

MORSE 55, @ HONOLULU PUNAHOU 15.

Barack Obama’s alma mater, a storied program on the islands, was no match. Teddy Lawrence rushed for 206 yards in six carries and scored on runs of 85, 42, and 67 yards and passed for touchdowns of 65, 11, and 36 yards.

A couple weeks later Punahou defeated St. Louis, Hawaii’s No. 1 team.

MORSE 28, RANCHO BUENA VISTA 14, @Mesa College

A headline read, “Taylor Runs Morse to 28-14 Upset”. It was the last time Morse would be associated with the word upset.

The Tigers were  clearly superior.

Gary Taylor burst for 234 yards in the first half, scoring on runs of 75, 85, and eight yards as Morse avenged the 1989 championship loss.

“I was surprised how easily we were able to get outside on them,” said Shacklett, who, not pleased, added, “We self-destructed with penalties.”

MORSE 56, @SWEETWATER 28

Pundits suggested the Tigers would be flat after their big victory and Sweetwater, featuring Willie Branch, who ran for 226 yards in a 25-0 victory over Crawford, was waiting.

Branch returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown and the Red Devils’ home crowd of 5,500 exploded.

Branch’s brother, Danny, rushed 71 yards for a touchdown on Sweetwater’s first offensive play and Willie Branch ran 96 yards with another kickoff.

But Morse found  its stride and ran away from the hosts.  Gary Clark had 262 yards in 19 carries and matched Willie Branch’s three touchdowns.

“I thought we were in for it (after Branch’s opening kickoff return),” said Shacklett, “but our offensive line wore ‘em down.”

MORSE 57, @VISTA 14

“I’m real pleased with our first four ball games,” Shacklett said.

Really?

Morse had just hit Dick Haines with the most lopsided defeat in Haines’ 21 seasons and 226 games as the Panthers’ head coach. The only more decisive loss for Vista was a 46-0 blowout by Tustin in 1946, a span of 433 games.

Gary Taylor rushed for 5 touchdowns and 177 yards and Conan Smith for 104 yards and 1 touchdown.

MORSE 44, LINCOLN 6, @MESA COLLEGE

After a 26-10 loss to Lincoln in 1989, Shacklett ordered the Tiger paws logo removed from the team’s helmets.

The paws reappeared briefly in the 1989 playoffs but permanence was going to be determined by what happened in the neighborhood fling with the Hornets.

Usually overshadowed by the offense, the Tigers’ defense decided the game with three first-half pass interceptions that led to touchdowns.

“The defense gets it all going,” said safety Tommy Bennett.

MORSE 57, @KEARNY, 6

At 5-0 and ranked seventh in the The San Diego Union poll, Kearny expected to be in the game.

Wide receiver Darnay Scott, who would go on to a solid NFL career, operated on the same offensive level as Morse’s big hitters.

Scott was regarded by some as the section’s top college prospect but went scoreless and caught  two passes for 15 yards.

“During (pregame) exercises they would point at us,” said Teddy Lawrence.  “We wanted to score on every possession after that.”

“I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t tell you I’m surprised at how easily we’re scoring,” Shacklett told writer Steve Brand.  “You look up and boom….”

MORSE 60, SERRA 8

Gary Taylor raced 67 yards for a touchdown on Morse’s first play.  He added three others and rushed for 274 yards in 17 carries.

MORSE 40, @POINT LOMA 13

A matchup of the state’s No. 3 and No. 10 teams doesn’t occur often during the regular season, but here was Point Loma adding temporary seating to augment the concrete bleachers at Ross Field.

The game was such that Wayne Lockwood, The San Diego Union columnist, covered his first high school game in years.

Morse was 7-0, averaging 50.3 points, while Point Loma was 6-0, holding a win over powerful El Camino and having surrendered only 27 points.

“I think we have as good a chance as they do to win,” Point Loma coach Bennie Edens told Steve Brand.  ”We’ll move the ball, they’ll move the ball.  There will be no 0-0 tie.”

Morse moved to a 26-0 lead at halftime.  Point Loma fought back, closing to 26-13 and battling on defense.

“They were hitting hard,” said Lawrence.  “Those Glover brothers (La’Roi and Darcell) are good.”

But just as soon as the Pointers caught the Tigers’ scent it was over.  Lawrence passed to Tommy Bennett for a touchdown and ran 29 yards for another.

“They shot down the option,” Shacklett said of the Point Loma defense, “so we tried to get Teddy into the open field.”

Lawrence scored on a 59-yard dash on a trap play and got off a couple punts on bad snaps that could have changed the game’s complexion.

MORSE 57, PATRICK HENRY 13

Another Taylor, Gary’s twin brother, Cary, caught a 35-yard touchdown pass.   Gary scored three touchdowns and running mate Conan Smith scored two.

MORSE 35, @MIRA MESA 14                                                        

Jose Villalana added his fifth point after Morse’s final touchdown, which made for a nice evening’s work for the kicker, but the point had greater significance.

The Tigers passed the 1954 Vallejo team that featured future NFL star Dick Bass as the state’s highest scoring team in the regular season, according to Cal-Hi Sports.

Morse now had 489 points, one more than Vallejo, although the Tigers needed 10 games and the Apaches did it in nine.

MORSE 49, GRANITE HILLS 6, @SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE

It was 42-0 at halftime in this first-round playoff, at which point Shacklett reined in the offense.  Morse’s sometimes skittish defense intercepted four passes as the Tigers went to 11-0 and the Eagles to 4-7.

MORSE 48, VISTA 14, @SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE

Vista manned up, successfully executing an on-side kickoff to start the game, then hitting on a 41-yard pass and scoring on the next play to take a 7-0 lead.

Revamping their attack after their early-season loss, the Panthers went to the air 24 times. They recovered another on-side kick to start the third quarter and closed to 28-13, but Tommy Bennett intercepted a pass and Gary Taylor ran 66 yards for a touchdown.

Vista’s decision to promote its passing game was reflected in its rushing game:  22 attempts, 0 yards.

MORSE 35, CHULA VISTA 28, @SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE

“I thought we had ‘em,”  Spartans coach George Ohnessorgen dejectedly remarked to Buster Olney of The San Diego Union.

The battle-tested Tigers had to fight back after trailing, 28-13, at halftime amid a slew of turnovers and three Spartans touchdowns in three minutes.

“I was scared at halftime, but I knew we could pull it out,” said Lawrence, who fumbled two times and had three interceptions in the first 24 minutes as fog and a roaring Chula Vista crowd engulfed the stadium at Southwestern College.

But it was Lawrence’s 44-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that finally beat the charged Spartans, who still were coming in the final minute.

A Morse defensive back fell down covering Neviett Richardson, who took a pass over the middle from Brandon Gregg and raced to  the Tigers’ five-yard line. But a Spartan was flagged for clipping  a Morse defender on the play, nullifying the gain.

Morse had survived a barnburner.

MORSE 28, ORANGE GLEN 7, @JACK MURPHY

Teddy Lawrence‘s 99-yard kickoff return turned a 7-7 tie into an eventual walkaway and another championship, Shacklett’s third.

Lawrence’s 71 yards in 12 carries allowed him to meet a 100-attempts  minimum  for section record consideration. His 101 carries for the season averaged 13.79 yards, breaking Markeith Ross’ 11-man record of 10.83 in 1989.

Gary Taylor’s 2,625 yards rushing broke the 1988 record of 2,568 by Rancho Buena Vista’s Scott Garcia.

Morse’s 649 points and 46.3 scoring average set a state record, topping the 639 of the Southern Section’s Diamond Bar in 1984.

POLLS

La Jolla Country Day, led by Rashaan Salaam’s 51 touchdowns and 314 points, was Cal-Hi Sports’ 8-man team of the year.

Morse finished second to Merced, which was  13-0 and the Sac-Joaquin Section champion.

The Merced Bears were located only 70 miles from headquarters of Cal-Hi Sports, which was located in Stockton in the middle of the Sac-Joaquin Section.

Morse was No.1 in Southern California and No. 4 in the country as selected by USA Today.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER?

Several Tigers received Division I scholarships, but only one played in the NFL and he was undrafted. Safety Tommy Bennett signed a free agent contract with the Arizona Cardinals out of UCLA and played six seasons.

Other Tigers who went D-1: Teddy Lawrence, UCLA; Cary and Gary Taylor, Arizona; Kevin Nolan (Purdue), John Moe (Navy), Donnie Rich (Fresno State), and Danny Williams (Fresno State).

Lawrence was a three-year starter at defensive back for the Bruins but was released in training camp by the NFL Baltimore Ravens.

FALCON TAKES FLIGHT

Torrey Pines, coached by Bob Davis and quarterbacked by his son, Chad, wanted to put the ball in the air.

Chad set San Diego Section records with 55 attempts and 35 completions for 365 yards, the sixth highest total since records began being kept in 1960. All of that offensive airpower was to no avail.  The Falcons dropped a 21-9 decision at Sacramento-area Elk Grove.

BEWARE, WOLVES

West Hills, which sustained a 65-8 loss to Grossmont in the Wolf Pack’s 1989 inaugural season, improved from 3-7 to 9-3, won the Grossmont AA title, and defeated the Foothillers, 16-14.

The Wolf Pack’s Nathan Vail toed three field goals, including a 30-yarder with 30 seconds remaining to bring West Hills from behind to victory.

MARINERS SUNK

Mar Vista, down to 12 active players, forfeited its last two games to bottom out at 1-9.  Fifteen players had been declared academically ineligible and three others were removed because of disciplinary reasons.

Athletic director Pat O’Neil blamed the season’s academic disintegration on the fact that not one of the varsity coaches worked or taught at the school.

“I think it’s very difficult to keep on the kids to find out how they’re doing if you aren’t on campus,” O’Neill told writer Buster Olney.

O’Neill pointed out that “it’s hard to communicate with the other teachers.  The teachers are gone by 3 (p.m.) and the coaches get here at 3:30.”

The problem was not new and would not go away.

STARS APLENTY

Morse’s collective power was matched by individual standouts throughout the section.

–Kearny receiver Darnay Scott became a No. 2 draft choice of Cincinnati and caught 408 passes in an eight-season career with the Bengals and Dallas.

–Hoover quarterback Tony Banks played nine seasons with St. Louis, Baltimore, and Houston after being the Rams’ second-round draft choice in 1996.

–La Jolla tackle John  Michels played four seasons in the NFL and was a No. 1 pick of the Green Bay Packers out of USC. Michels made the NFL all-rookie team but his career was cut short by knee injuries.

–Rashaan Salaam went on to the Colorado University and won the Heisman Trophy.  He was a first-round selection of the Chicago Bears.

–Junior defensive tackle La’Roi Glover, who had 17.5 quarterback sacks, was a fifth-round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders out of San Diego State,  played 13 seasons, and made 6 Pro Bowls.

–Point Loma wideout J.J. Stokes was the 10th player selected in the first round out of UCLA to the San Francisco 49ers.

–Chula Vista ‘s Donnie Edwards was a standout at UCLA, drafted in the fourth round by Kansas City, and played 13 seasons with the Chiefs and San Diego Chargers.

–Markeith Ross of Rancho Buena Vista set a career rushing record of 4,486 yards  and, like Rashaan Salaam, scored seven touchdowns in one game.

–Running back-linebacker Wayne Pittman of Mira Mesa  probably was the best two-way player in the Section, his mind each day on his dad, who was deployed in the Gulf war.

NORTH COUNTY POWER

Want to be a high school coach and qualify for the postseason?  Become a coach in the Avocado or Palomar leagues.

Twelve teams, six from each circuit, earned AAA or AA playoff berths. Vista, Torrey Pines, Fallbrook, Vista, Mt. Carmel, and Orange Glen were in the AAA bracket and San Marcos, Carlsbad, Ramona, Oceanside, El Camino, and Escondido were in the AA alignment.

Castle Park (5-5) did not attend the seeding meeting, which eased the way for 5-5 Fallbrook.

PLAYING AND FILMING

He would become the head coach at Grossmont years later, but for now Tom Karlo was the Foothillers’ quarterback and an occasional  sideline photo assistant at NFL games.

Karlo’s dad, Tom, Sr., was a sideline cameraman at NFL games for NFL Films..

THE PROPHET MEYER

After El Camino was shut out, 19-0, by Point Loma in the season opener, ending the Wildcats’ 12 game winning streak, Herb Meyer spoke:

“We’ve done this before and survived.  It wasn’t as much as what they did as what we didn’t do.   This isn’t the best Point Loma team I’ve seen, but they kicked our butts.  We’ll put it behind us and move on.”

The Wildcats lost three of their next four, then ran the table with 9 straight wins to a 10-4 record and the Section AA title, 26-7 over Kearny.

Point Loma was beaten by Rancho Buena Vista, 27-12, in the playoff quarterfinals and finished with a 9-2 record.

RUSHING RASHAAN

In a season in which he played six eight-man and five 11-man games, La Jolla Country Day’s Rashaan set an 11-man record when he ran for seven touchdowns as the Torreys crushed Marian, 68-0.

Salaam didn’t play favorites.  He scored seven more in a 65-37 repeat win over The Bishop’s in the eight-man championship.

For the season, Salaam had 51 touchdowns and eight, two-point conversions in 11 games for  322 points.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

A population of 2.2 million persons was predicted in San Diego County, up about 500,000 from 1980.  The figure, released by the U.S. Census Bureau, represented a 22 per cent increase over the previous 10 years.

SAFE HARBOR

St. Augustine, Coronado, Clairemont, Christian, and Marian joined forces as football-playing members of the  AA Harbor League, which was created in 1989 with this season as the target date for football.

The schools essentially were too large for 1A classification and too small for AAA.

The move was Coronado’s sixth  in 17 years.  The Islanders were longtime members of the Metropolitan League before joining the short-lived Coast League in 1973.  They bounced back to  the Metropolitan ’77,  moved to  the South Bay in ’81,  and, for the previous two seasons, was an independent.

TRUE GRID

Southwest’s Riley Washington scored 23 touchdowns in 11 games but was more known for his record-setting, :10.3 100 meters in spring track and the state championship…Serra celebrated the first night game at the Tierrasanta school campus, then took a 28-6 loss from St. Augustine…University’s quarterback was Michael Henning, son of Chargers coach Dan Henning…Rancho Bernardo picked a difficult opponent for its inaugural game…the first-year Broncos lost to Orange County’s Rancho Santa Margarita, 27-0…Randy Walker stepped in at quarterback for Lincoln and led the Hornets to 4 wins in their final 5 regular-season games and into the playoffs after an 0-5 start, the Hornets’ poorest in school history…Lincoln was eliminated by La Jolla, 14-13…Vista coach Dick Haines stuck with Eric Jencks through an 0-5 start and Jencks guided the Panthers to 6 wins in a row including a playoff victory before a 48-14 loss to Morse….

 

Looking Back:  The narrative originally was posted on Nov. 5, 2012.

Hoover’s Eddie Crain (31) set up Hoover touchdown before being brought down from behind by San Diego’s Everett Posey (36). No. 21 in all-white helmet is Cardinals’ Bennie Edens.

The most important letter in the alphabet was V.

World War II was nearing the halfway point.  The dark days of early 1942 were receding and Victory, while not in sight, would come.

V had become a symbol, visible everywhere throughout the country. There were hundreds of references, from military training programs (V-12), to graphics on sporting event tickets, to the ultimate goal of V-E (Victory in Europe) and V-J (Victory in Japan).

School honchos in San Diego had created the Victory League and put the Metropolitan League on hiatus just weeks before the start of the 1942-43 basketball season.

The move was part of the wide-ranging war effort that would extend until Victory was achieved.

Football followed this season.

LONG TRIP

The Metropolitan League stretched more than 40 miles, from National City (Sweetwater) to Oceanside and Escondido.

The California Interscholastic Federation, which governed sports in Southern California, invoked a limit of 6 scheduled games and a  travel distance of 15 miles.

The travel mileage restriction seemed to have some leeway, but there was no travel outside teams’ league reaches.

The Northern San Diego County schools were aligned in what the CIF called the Group 12 League, comprising Oceanside, Vista, Escondido, Army-Navy, San Dieguito, and Ramona.

St. Augustine and Brown Military were members of the Group 12  but played a limited schedule and their games did not count in the standings.

The season did not start until October and ended in late November.  There would be no Southern California playoffs.

A smaller, travel-safer, and more manageable high school football world was important, as was fuel and rubber conservation.

The players also contributed to the war effort.  Many left school during the season, before graduation, and answered a call from Uncle Sam.

ADDRESSES CHANGE, AGAIN

San Diego and Hoover were in a different league for the fourth consecutive year.

They left the Coast League, which the Cavers had help found and were members of from 1923-40, as the CIF experimented with a 17-school “Major Conference” in 1941.

With the war on and travel an issue, the Cavers and Cardinals split into two squads each and became part of a 11-team Metropolitan Conference in 1942.

The Cavers and Cardinals each dressed out one squad as part of 1943’s seven-member Victory, which also included Grossmont, Sweetwater, Point Loma, La Jolla, and Coronado.

There were 18 high schools in the County, but only 15 played football.  Julian would not field a team until 1967.  Fallbrook had suspended play in 1942 and there is no published record of Mountain Empire’s fielding a squad.

CARNIVAL PICKS UP TEAMS

The fifth annual carnival, which featured only city schools San Diego, Hoover, Point Loma, and La Jolla since 1939, took in all seven teams in the second-year Victory League, adding Sweetwater, Coronado, and Grossmont.

Another change in the format was elimination of the second half kickoff.  Play was to resume at  spot of the ball when the second quarter ended.

The East, consisting of Sweetwater, Coronado, Grossmont, and Hoover scored a 19-0 victory over the West.

Sweetwater and Hoover each scored touchdowns against  San Diego and Coronado reached the end zone on La Jolla.  Big plays included the Islanders’ George Massek intercepting a lateral and returning 50 yards for a touchdown and a Hoover touchdown passing strike from Bob Paramore to Bob Kynaston that went 65 yards.

CARDINALS  FLY

Raleigh Holt, who began his coaching career in the Imperial Valley and who turned out outstanding cross-country and track teams for three decades at Hoover, guided the Cardinals to a 5-0-1 record and the Victory League title.

Holt, assisted by former Cardinals lineman Bob Breitbard, relied on a meat-and-potatoes attack that featured  Eddie Crain, Gene Ricard, Julius Kahn, Freddie Espy, Frank Smith, and Bob Paramore.

Crain scored on runs of 14, 35, and 1 yard and completed the only pass (for a touchdown) Hoover attempted in a 40-13 victory over Coronado the week before the Cardinals met San Diego in the 11^th annual rivalry game for city bragging rights and the league championship.

Bill Bailey had moved from Point Loma to San Diego, replacing Joe Beerkle, who went into administration and became principal at Memorial Junior High.

Beerkle had advocated the  T formation introduced by coach Clark Shaugnessy at Stanford University and which was hailed as the difference in Stanford’s 1941 Rose Bowl victory over Nebraska.

Bailey, assistant to Charlie Wilson  several years at Point Loma, led the Pointers to a 6-1-2 record in 1942, and then brought his single-wing attack to San Diego.

Formations and modes of attack were taking a back seat.

CAVERS LOW IN NUMBERS

Bailey facetiously told Bob Lantz of The San Diego Union that he considered suiting up a tackling dummy, his team was so short-handed.

Of more import to the San Diego coach, pass-catching Everett Posey, who  missed a week of practice,  would be available for the Hoover game.  Posey had received his induction notice and reported to Fort McArthur in Long Beach.

Another Caver, junior halfback Sam Balesteri would be playing his final game.  He was awaiting a call from the military.

SMALLEST TURNOUT

A crowd of 9,000, representing the lowest attendance in the history of the game, saw the Cardinals strike with a third-quarter, 84-yard drive in six plays to score the game’s only touchdown in a 7-3 victory.

Crain and Espy collaborated on a 45-yard touchdown pass.  Guard Frank Smith toed the point after.

The Cavers had taken a 3-0 lead in the second quarter on Neal Black’s 23-yard field goal, the first such placement in the series.

Hoover was fighting off a threat at game’s end.

Sam Balesteri’s  passing had moved the Hillers 63 yards but they came up short. Harlan Davenport caught a pass from Balestreri and was tackled on Hoover’s four-yard line. The game ended before another play could be run.

HONORS

Single wing quarterback (actually, blocking back) Al Sawaya of San Diego earned a CIF Southern Section first-team honor. Second team choices were La Jolla quarterback Ed Teagle, San Diego tackle Ralph McCormick, and Coronado center John Ludwig. Hoover tackle Dick Chase made the third team.  Another third-team selection was Compton’s  Ed Snider, later known as Duke, the slugging Brooklyn Dodgers outfieder.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Mayor Harley Knox told the Carlsbad Rotary that, for the first time in generations, San Diego was ready to abandon dumping in the bay and that Harbor Drive, bordering the bay from Point Loma to Chula Vista was almost complete.

Knox also said that the city had asked the government for 13,000 more new housing units.  Previous construction of 13,000 units of government housing mostly was occupied by aircraft plant workers.

TRUE GRID

Coach Dick Rutherford’s Oceanside-Carlsbad Pirates, behind quarterback and future Fallbrook coach Al Waibel,  swept the CIF Group 12 League with a 6-0 record…the Pirates defeated  host Escondido 31-6 in a  showdown which drew a record crowd of 3,000 persons to the inland community…newspapers’ accounts variously identified Oceanside, Army-Navy, Escondido, Vista, Ramona, and San Dieguito as representing the CIF County League, CIF Northern County League, or the CIF Northern Victory League….about 8,000 servicemen, students, and a few fans watched the fifth annual carnival…San Diego got it coming and going in the Carnival, surrendering touchdowns to Sweetwater in the first quarter and to Hoover in the fourth…Coronado scored the East’s other touchdown against La Jolla…Point Loma-La Jolla matched two graduates of an Imperial Valley shuttle…La Jolla’s Larry Hanson was head coach at El Centro Central and Point Loma’s Bill Maxwell was Hanson’s assistant in 1938 and ’39 …Hanson went on to coach the nationally-recognized, often-100-point Los Angeles Jefferson basketball teams in the 1950s…tailback Larry Purdy of Point Loma was son of the Pointers coach of the same name in 1929-30…after 8 consecutive losses dating to 1915, Sweetwater’s Leroy Jackson returned an intercepted pass 65 yards with 40 seconds remaining in the game to give the Red Devils their first victory, 6-0, over San Diego…Grossmont saved all its points for a 26-0 victory over St. Augustine…the Foothillers did not score a point in six Victory League games….

Max Turner of Granite Hills wrapped the San Diego Section scoring championship after he rushed for three touchdowns in the Eagles’ 34-28, Southern California regional playoff loss against Huntington Beach Edison.

Turner’s 216 points outpaced the 188 of Calipatria’s Dominic Hawk and the 5-foot-8, 185-pounder was a model of consistency for coach Kellan Cobbs’ team, scoring an average of at least three TD’s a game, with a 7.6-yard average for 268 rushing attempts, according to MaxPreps.

Turner, who scored 32 rushing touchdowns, also caught 23 passes for a 9.2-yard average and four touchdowns.  He passed once for 44 yards and a touchdown.

The scoring total put the Eagles senior into a tie for 22nd with Imperial’s Royce Freeman (2012) among all-time San Diego Section ballers.  Oceanside’s C.R. Roberts had 194 points in 1953 and Ramona’s Gary Mayer 193 in 1958 for all-time highs in the period of 1915-59, when the County was aligned in the CIF Southern Section.

Turner bettered the school record of 150 by Jacob Siegfried in 2017.

John Maffei’s final The San Diego Union poll (first published after the San Diego Section playoffs) plus MaxPreps, Calpreps, and Cal-Hi Sports rankings that include end-of-season CIF state playoffs):
Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. *First-place votes. Previous ranking in (italics).
Bold indicates latest. NR–Not ranked. MaxPreps‘, Calpreps’, and Cal-Hi Sports‘ are state rankings.

RANK	TEAM/RECORD	POINTS	MAXPREPS	CALPREPS.COM	CAL-HI SPORTS
1.	Lincoln (10-2) 30*	300 (1)	10 (12)	67.5 (63.3)	7 (12)
2.	Cathedral (9-3)	264 (3)	23 (25)	53 (52.8)	23 (21)
3.	Mission Hills (9-3)	214 (5)	39 (37)	43.2 (44.4)	34 (32)
4.	Granite Hills (10-2)	210 (4)	34 (34)	44.9 (46.6)	32 (24)
5.	La Costa Canyon (10-1)	209 (2)	31 (30)	47 (48.6)	31 (31)
6.	San Marcos (10-3)	146 (6)	50 (48)	49.5 (41.1)	43 (46)
7.	Carlsbad (8-4)	123 (7)	45 (42)	41 (42.3)	71
8.	El Camino (7-5)	57(NR)	86 (82)	30.6 (32.4)	NR (Bubble)
9.	Poway (6-7)	52 (NR)	109 (95)	26.4 (30.1)	NR (NR)
10.	Mount Miguel (9-3)	22 (8)	111 (110)	26.2 (27.8)	NR (NR)

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Torrey Pines (5-7, 16 points) Monte Vista (9-5, 11), Rancho Bernardo (9-3, 9), El Capitan (10-3, 7), St. Augustine (4-10, 5), Scripps Ranch (9-2, 2), Del Norte (7-5, 1).

VOTING PANEL

Twenty-nine sportswriters, sportscasters, administrators from San Diego County, plus Max Preps.com.

• John Maffei (San Diego Union-Tribune).
• Don Norcross, Steve Brand, Rick Hoff, Kevin Farmer (Union-Tribune Freelance contributors).
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (CIF San Diego Section).
• Brandon Stone, Allison Edmonds, John Carroll, Chase Izidor (KUSI, Channel 51).
• Rick Smith (partletonsports.com).
• Braden Suprenant (97.3-FM The Fan).
• Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association).
• Tom Helmantoler, (Southern Conference advisor).
• Rex Johnson, Bruce Ward (CIF Advisory Committee).
• Mike Dolan, Joe Evangelist (San Diego Coaching Legends).
• Raymond Brown (sdfootball.net).
• Bodie DeSilva, John Kentera, Steve (Biff) Dolan, Dennis Ackerman, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, Tom Ronco, Adam Paul (Freelance contributors).

 

San Diego Section teams were 1-2 in state championship games last week, with Lincoln’s hard fought, 28-26 win over Pittsburg at Mission Viejo Saddleback College in Division 1-AA a tribute to coach David Dunn and his staff.

Dunn coached the Hornets to a second D1-AA title in three seasons and their 35^th victory in the last 39 games.

The 12-2 Hornets kept the North Coast Section Pittsburg Pirates at a distance, never trailing and completing a year in which they never were at home, for practice or a game.

The playing surface at Vic Player Stadium on the Hornets’ campus was declared unsafe, so Lincoln bused for games to Southwestern College, nine miles away in Chula Vista, and they bused to more than one venue for practice.

According to Hornets assistant coach Brian Crusoe, Lincoln practiced at Logan Memorial Education Center, a soccer field with no goal posts or correct yard markings; San Diego State, and Crawford.

“Never had a season like it,” understated Dunn, who played at Morse and Fresno State before being a fifth-round draft choice of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1995 and playing seven seasons as a wide receiver-tight end in the NFL.

“We said we’d be road warriors and we backed it up,” added offensive coordinator Jason Carter to Don Norcross of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Lincoln took to the low forties football temperature and rushed for 272 yards in 64 attempts.  Quarterback Akili Smith, Jr., completed 6 of 11 passes for 171 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 44 yards in 10 carries, including the Hornets’ final touchdown with 3:44 remaining. The score culminated a12-play, 80-yard drive.

Leading rusher Aden Jackson, who had gained 1,462 yards and scored 20 touchdowns, did not play, out with an ankle injury.  Donald Reed, Jr., who hadn’t handled the ball since Week 5, stepped in and contributed 126 yards in 21 carries.  Junior Curtis had 121 yards in 28 as the deep and talented Hornets mounted a stout running attack.

Akili Smith, Jr., (left) and Lincoln  teammates celebrate with trophy after state Division 1AA championship.  Courtesy, Mark Tennis, Cal-Hi Sports.

DIVISION V-AA

Central Coast Section champion Carmel defeated El Capitan, 48-7, at the Fullerton Union High School District Stadium.

“We have nothing to be sad about,” Vaqueros coach Ron Burner told John Maffei of the Union-Tribune.  “We played hard.  We competed.  I’m sorry it had to end this way for the seniors…but we’re still (San Diego Section) champions.”

DIVISION VI-A

Tuolumne Summerville of the Sac-Joaquin Section, defeated Monte Vista, 38-21, at the Fullerton stadium.

Coach Ron Hamamoto’s Monarchs were treading water with a 5-5 record at the end of the regular season and were about to turn out the lights.

But Rancho Buena Vista opted out of the playoffs and the Monarchs went in as a 12 seed in Division 5 of the San Diego Section playoffs.

The Monarchs gathered and went deep into the post season with five straight wins, along the way elevating Hamamoto to No. 3 among San Diego County coaches in all-time wins.

Hamamoto’s 246 victories trail the 339 by Herb Meyer and 248 by John Carroll.  Ron passed Bennie Edens (238) and Rob Gilster (243) this season.

“I’m proud of what this group accomplished,” Hamamoto told John Maffei. “We improved so much over the course of the season.”

Monte Vista became the fifth team in County history to play a 16th game, following La Jolla Country Day in 2016, Steele Canyon, 2017, Lincoln, 2018, and El Camino, 2019.