Coach Hobbs Adams was in his office a couple years before, finishing some paper work

during the quiet of the Christmas vacation break.

A strapping youngster walked into the school’s recently constructed gymnasium and found Adams at his desk.

The visitor told Adams he was from Texas and wanted to play football at San Diego High.

Adams was curious.

The coach and the boy spoke for almost an hour.

At length Adams convinced the young man that he should return home to his parents.

Adams went so far as to helping purchase a train ticket that would take the youngster north to Los Angeles and then east.

The train stopped in Santa Ana.  The youth got no further.

Earle (Tex) Harris made another visit, to coach Gerald (Tex) Oliver at Santa Ana High, enrolled in school, and became an all-Coast League end in 1931.

Adams related the moment to Charles Byrne of The San Diego Union as the Cavemen were getting ready for their annual battle with the Saints.

Word had reached Adams that Harris had been declared ineligible at Santa Ana through enforcement of the “nine-semester” rule.

Harris, it was learned, had played football three years before at a Texas military school.  He had attended high school for at least eight semesters, exhausting his athletic eligibility.

Harris’ and Santa Ana’s loss was not the Cavemen’s gain.

In the midst of a 24-game unbeaten streak, the Saints defeated San Diego, 6-0, and advanced to the Southern Section championship  before losing to Inglewood, 14-0.

SAY WHAT?

San Diego’s starting 11 players averaged only 151 pounds, making for its lightest team in years.

“We won’t get to first base unless we block,” Adams said, frowning but unaware that he was mixing his metaphors.

WHO’S IN? WHO’S OUT?

San Diego was out of the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season, denied by some tough Coast League rivals.

Hoover won the four-team City Prep League and coach John Perry and principal Floyd Johnson petitioned the CIF for inclusion in the major division playoffs.

Hoover was granted the step up, but Coronado, undefeated and champion of the Southern Prep League, was denied a similar request.  The Islanders then prepared for a playoff against Wildomar Elsinore.

CARDINALS FLY

Hoover surprised, winning its first-ever playoff, 7-6,  at Los Angeles Loyola, which had won its league with a 7-0 record.

Hoover coach John Perry “laughed” when he learned that Loyola employed an unheard of four-man defensive line, as most teams deployed six linemen.

Perry said the way to defeat the 4-man line, which did not become popular until the 1950s in the NFL, was with straight ahead, power running.

The Cardinals didn’t win with offense.

Hoover’s Jack Beal launched a punt that traveled 70 yards to Loyola’s two-yard line. Possession was akin to holding a hot potato.  Loyola immediately punted back on first down.

Beal received the punt on Loyola’s 30-yard line and raced to Hoover’s lone touchdown and kicked the winning point after.

The Cardinals, who returned 18 lettermen from the 1931 City League-championship season, prepared to take on the winner of Brea-Olinda-Anaheim in the quarterfinals.

Not so fast.

CIF BOSS STEPS IN

CIF commissioner Seth Van Patten, after returning from an Amateur Athletic Union meeting in New York, apparently did not like the pairing.

Van Patten assigned the Cardinals to a game at City Stadium  against Santa Ana.

Santa Ana had beaten Hoover, 13-0, earlier in the season. The Saints made their third trip South and, after a sluggish first half, scored 26 points after intermission and won, 33-0.

The Elsinore game did not materialize for Coronado, which then awaited the champion of the Imperial Valley League.

George Herrick of the Evening Tribune a few days later wrote that Coronado was “unable to get a booking from the CIF or schedule a practice game.”  The Islanders turned in their gear, secure with a 5-0-1 record.

ESCONDIDO BACKS IN

Escondido, which tied Coronado, 6-6, in the regular season and was runner-up to the Islanders in league play, dropped a 7-6 decision to Orange in its final game.

Season over? Not quite.

Cougars principal Martin Perry announced that coach Harry Wexler’s squad would go to Brawley to play the Imperial Valley League champion for the Southern Section Southern Group title for small schools.

The Cougars would be appearing in their second finals in the last three seasons, having lost to El Centro Central, 20-6, in 1930.

Brawley won, 27-13, and created an unhappy end for Cougars halfback Ed Goddard, who completed an outstanding, four-season career.

Goddard earned an astounding 14 letters, four each in football, baseball, and track and field, and two in basketball.  A fast, breakaway runner, Goddard was equally renowned as a punter, adept at “coffin corner” kicks and many which were said to travel from 50-80 yards.

Goddard  continued on to Washington State, where he won all-America honors and was the second selection in the first round by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1937 NFL draft.

CAN YOU HEAR US?

Football was making progress regarding, to use a modern expression, “in-stadium entertainment.”

The San Diego Union and Evening Tribune again announced that they would sponsor a public address system at City Stadium for San Diego High and San Diego State games.

Local personality Hal Brucker would give the fans a play-by-play report on downs, distances, penalties, etc. Former Hilltop gridder Ed Ruffa was behind the mike when a P.A. was believed to have been installed for the first time in 1931.

Oceanside also employed a public address for its big Southern League game against Grossmont.

HONORS

San Diego quarterback Morris (Mushy) Pollock, all of 132 pounds, was named to the first all-Southern California team. Pollock was the only local player on the four squads.

Six writers, representing teams in their newspapers’ respective circulation districts, voted for Pollock and lineman Walt Beerle for the first all-Coast squad. Ed Knapp and Don Collison were on the second team.

WHAT GOES AROUND…

Lawrence Carr replaced Clair Seeley at La Jolla and Seeley moved to Point Loma to teach in the classroom and assist head coach Lawrence Purdy.

Purdy returned from a one-year hiatus at Point Loma, succeeding Algy Lambert, who took over for Purdy in 1931.  Lambert  moved to Pacific Beach Junior High and eventually coached Kearny in 1945.

Yuma, Arizona, which dropped a 25-7 decision to Hoover under a heavy nighttime fog at Navy Field, was coached by former University of Arizona athlete Marvin Clark, who became coach at La Jolla in 1937 and later the principal.

SIGNS OF THE TIME

The CIF added the football throw to the state track meet and discussed recognition of horse shoes as an interscholastic sport.

The CIF also made starting blocks mandatory in track and held the first cross-country championship.  Thigh guard pads were required in football and a pay ceiling of $10 was established for game officials.

Commissioner Seth Van Patten’s office was embroiled in its first legal challenge when Covina High sued over an issue of playoff receipts.

San Diegans had no sympathy for Covina, which cheated with the use of ineligible players in its 1925 title win over the Hilltoppers.

“GASOLINE BUGGIES” TO RACE

Artist’s concept (below) is of an auto racetrack that was to be built fronting Barnett

Avenue and the “Causeway” and would be across the street from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and the former Ryan Airport.

The 5/8th mile dirt course would be similar to the Ascot course in  the Los Angeles area, said the local promoter.

BLAMES DEPRESSION

Harvey Fall, 70, of San Diego hurled a crude bomb over a transom into the offices of a stock brokerage located on  Third Avenue at Plaza Street about 5 a.m.

The disgruntled investor told Police Captain Harry Kelly that “I wish I could have done this on Wall Street.”

No one was hurt but the explosion rocked the downtown area and caused about $10,000 damage to the building.

Fall said the fuse had been activated when he held the explosive. “It I had held it a minute longer I would have been killed,” he said.

WHERE’S THE OFFENSE?

Southern League schools played a round-robin schedule of 10 games.  Six concluded with scores of 7-0 or less and another was 9-0.

Mountain Empire’s games did not count in the standings, as the Redskins played only when one of the other four had a bye.

WRITER FEELS EXCITEMENT

The lead paragraph in The San Diego Union following the season’s opening game:

“In one of the most spectacular climaxes ever witnessed in a high school football game in San Diego County, Oceanside defeated Garden Grove of Orange County on the Pirates’  field yesterday, 15-12….”

The score actually was 13-12, but no less exciting.

Thompson of Oceanside intercepted an Argonauts pass on his 16-yard line with 1:40 remaining in the game and Thompson’s squad trailing, 12-6.

“Following a series of off-tackle smashes and with less than five seconds to play, Stevenson fought his way over right tackle for a touchdown to tie the score,” the Union report continued.

“Thompson, fullback, then proceeded to put the game on ice by smashing over right tackle for the extra point.”

The game actually turned after a third quarter touchdown put Garden Grove ahead, 12-6.  The Argonauts converted but the point was canceled by an offside penalty.

HAND-ME-DOWNS

Writer George Herrick wrote that the Santa Ana-San Diego game “has all the earmarks of a pocket-sized Notre Dame-Southern California battle”.

Santa Ana used the Knute Rockne Notre Dame Box system and the Hilltoppers employed the “mystery” shift of Howard Jones’s Trojans.

LOSE BATTLE OF BOOKS

Approximately 75 per cent of San Diego State’s freshmen team was declared ineligible, costing a game San Diego High had scheduled against the Frosh.

The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rule stated that “ineligible men are not to be used in any games, whether they are conference or not.”

Aztec coach Morris Gross then scheduled a scrimmage with his remaining players against Hobbs Adams’ Cavemen.

TRUE GRID

Sweetwater officials made a media request often repeated: “Call us Red Devils, not Sweeties”…student body president Dean Gardner had announced the previous December that the school officially was adopting Red Devils,  but newspaper habits were hard to break…future politicians Lionel Van Deerlin (U.S. Congress) and Ivor DeKirby (State Assembly) were on the rosters of Oceanside and San Diego, respectively……San Diego’s 30-6 win at Phoenix before more than 4,000 persons was the Coyotes’ worst loss in a decade…coach Hobbs Adams took the Cavemen to Arizona by bus and had them work out behind locked gates in the evening…Adams wanted his team to get used to lights…an otherwise uneventful San Diego season ended when the Cavemen were stopped inside the one-yard line as the game ended at Long Beach with Poly a 7-6 winner…a handful of Grossmont athletes defeated Mountain Empire, 26-0, and then those Foothillers who didn’t get into the game, topped Hoover’s Reserves, 20-0, in the nightcap of the afternoon doubleheader…a intersectional match between Brawley and St. Augustine was canceled because of a “misunderstanding of schedules”…Escondido’s Ed Goddard raced 105 yards with a Sweetwater interception to highlight a 28-13 victory….

Oakland Raiders managing general partner Al Davis spoke in 2006 about Art Powell, whom Davis signed out of the Canadian Football League years before.

“I wish I could take you back to 1963,” said Davis, “because I had one of the greatest receivers who have ever played this game.  His first year for me, he carried us.”

Powell caught 73 passes and scored 16 touchdowns as the Raiders, under first-year coach Davis, improved their record from 2-12 to 10-4.

Powell played one season in Canada and 10 seasons in the AFL and NFL and was a member of the all-American Football League team for the decade of the league’s existence, 1960-69.

Powell recently passed away at age 78 in Aliso Viejo in Orange County, where he and his family had resided many years.

A 6-foot, 3-inch, 210-pound receiver as a professional, Powell was the third in arguably the most gifted family of athletes in San Diego history.

His older brother Charlie earned an unequaled 12 varsity letters at San Diego High.  Ellsworth Powell was a standout basketball player at San Diego, and younger brother Jerry was the San Diego Section football player of the year at Lincoln in 1967.

Art Powell caught 479 passes in his NFL-AFL career.  His 81 touchdowns represented one touchdown for every 5.9 catches.

Powell was all-Southern California in 1954 at San Diego and was the City League player of the year in basketball in 1954-55.

A proud and principled man, Powell stood up when others sat.

Powell was one of the first to balk when black players were not allowed to stay in white hotels with the rest of their teammates in the days when pro athletes experienced segregation and discrimination.

Powell was on the verge of quitting at San Diego High in 1954, upset at head coach Duane Maley, who had elevated Powell from the junior varsity in 1953 but then played Powell sparingly.

It was Powell’s teammate; quarterback Pete Gumina, who prevailed on the youngster to stick it out.  Powell responded with an outstanding season.

As a sportswriter for the San Diego Evening Tribune, I interviewed Powell after the Raiders had beaten the Chargers, 34-33, in Balboa Stadium in 1963.

When I asked Powell who had been the most significant person in his athletic development, I expected him to identify Maley or basketball coach Merrill Douglas.

But Powell pointed to Augie Escamilla, a coach at the Boys’ Club on Marcy Avenue, not far from the youngster’s home in Logan Heights.

Art had gotten his inspiration from the energetic and encouraging Escamilla, who coached all of the Boys’ Club teams and all of the great athletes who would graduate from those playing fields known as the 40 acres.

JIMMY GUNN, LINCOLN AND USC’S ‘WILD BUNCH’

James (Jimmy) Gunn, a star on Lincoln’s San Diego Section championship team and a member of 3 USC Rose Bowl teams and the “Wild Bunch” defensive line, was 66 when he passed in Los Angeles this month.

Lincoln posted a 10-1 record and defeated Point Loma, 21-14, for the Division 1-A title in 1965.

The 200-pound Gunn also was talked into going out for track in his senior season by coach Bobby Smith, became a 50-second quartermiler, and ran on some of Lincoln’s fast sprint relay squads.

As a starting defensive end and all-America in 1969, Gunn starred on a USC unit that was named after the title of a popular shoot-‘em-up movie of the day, “The Wild Bunch”.

Gunn was selected in the 12th round of the 1970 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears and played seven seasons in the NFL.

The Star Spangled Banner became our national anthem, Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion, the Empire State Building rose in Manhattan, the small community of Las Vegas voted to legalize gambling.

And 8 million Americans, at least 16 per cent of the work force, were on the street, out of work, and soon to be joined by millions of others.

That’s the way it was in September, 1931.

Football in San Diego survived but was not untouched by the deepening Great Depression.

San Diego High was preparing for the regular-season finale against Long Beach Poly, when coach Hobbs Adams was told to extend the season and have his gridders help in “the nationwide call to charity.”

City Schools superintendent Walter Hepner announced at a press conference that the Cavemen would play a postseason game against the Riverside Sherman Indian Institute.

There were approximately 30,000 elementary, junior, and senior high students in the city.  Many of their parents were affected by the mounting despair of a failing economy and vanishing jobs.

Proceeds from the game would be apportioned to the Parent-Teachers’ Association for student nutrition support and to the City Schools’ Student Aid department, said Hepner.

The superintendent pointed out that students in elementary school were being found to be undernourished as their parents struggled to make ends meet and put food on the table.

Student Aid hopefully would help older boys and girls remain in school. Many were being forced to go out in search of work.

Also attending the event were Bud Kearns, superintendent of city playgrounds who would be the game manager, and Adams and his boss, John Aseltine, San Diego High principal.

About 2,500 persons (Kearns was quoted as predicting a turnout of 8,000) attended the Cavemen’s 24-0 victory over the Sherman Institute.

City Schools’ bands and ROTC units provided halftime entertainment and more than $1,200 was raised, a small but useful sum in a period of growing desperation and unemployment.

ADAMS’ SHORT FUSE

Hobbs Adams hoped he had found a “new Cotton Warburton” in Morris (Mushy) Pollock, a diminutive junior halfback who weighed 132 pounds and made the all-Southern California second team.

Pollock, who resided in Coronado but had come to the Hilltoppers from Memorial Junior High, lived up to expectations but Adams, impatient if not impetuous, often was on the warpath.

The coach benched 3 regulars after a 32-13 victory over San Bernardino and jerked three more regulars following a 25-7 win over Redondo Beach Redondo Union.

Headline  in The San Diego Sun:  “Adams Declares Hillmen Asleep on Feet”.

The coach was especially peevish when the Cavemen dropped an 18-14 Coast League decision at Alhambra on Armistice Day.  San Diego led, 14-0, at the end of three quarters.

Adams never was totally comfortable with his 7-2-1 team, but the season was a success after the Hillers had laid the wood to Long Beach Poly, 26-0.

ISLANDERS MAKE AMOS FAMOUS

Amos Schaefer’s Coronado Islanders tied with Grossmont and Escondido for the Southern League championship and were the league’s nominee for the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

The teams had tied for first in 1930 and Coronado was chosen after a meeting of coaches Schaefer, Harry Wexler of Escondido, and Jack Mashin of Grossmont.

Escondido principal Martin Perry made the announcement at a 1931-season-ending meeting of the San Diego County Football Officials’ Association.

Perry said the decision came after a three-way telephone conference involving Perry, Coronado principal J. Leslie Cutler, and Grossmont honcho Carl Birdsall.

Perry declined to address the question of whether there was a vote, but it was apparent the schools would ignore, for the second year in a row, the Southern Section rule that league championship ties require playoffs.

“There will be no playoff to determine the Southern League’s representative,” said Perry.

The Islanders stopped Hoover, 18-9, in a first-round game at City Stadium, but were shut out at El Centro Central, 14-0, the next week.

Coronado’s chances of victory in the Imperial Valley were doomed when star quarterback Jimmy Blaisdell was announced out of the game minutes before kickoff. Press reports did not give a reason, but Blaisdell had played hurt in several games.

COUGARS’ RAZZLE-DAZZLE

Escondido hid end Red Broerman on the sideline before Ed Goddard completed a long pass to set up a touchdown and Goddard scored on a hidden ball play as the Cougars defeated visiting Norwalk Excelsior, 27-13.

Goddard was the County’s leading scorer with 94 points (Blaisdell was runner-up with 79) and  made the all-Southern California third team.

Escondido finished the season with a 10-1 record, best in school history.  The 10 victories would be equaled by Cougars teams in 1969, 1978, and 2008.

NEW KID (AGAIN) ON BLOCK  

Mountain Empire High in Campo, which opened in 1925, took a second, hesitant  attempt at football.

The Emperors, as they were known, did not find the game to their liking, as was the case six years before in an 0-5 inaugural campaign.

Coronado pulled its regulars with five minutes left in the first quarter and still handed principal-coach James Martin’s team a 74-0 loss.

The Emperors played their schedule on the road, forfeited twice, and finished with a 0-5 record in the Southern Prep League. A game with the Oceanside varsity was not played.  Instead, the Emperors dropped a 47-6 decision to a team representing the Oceanside varsity, the Oceanside B’s.

Future football at Mountain Empire would be on a Class B or junior varsity level.

IT’S SANTA ANA’S TIME

After San Diego struggled in a 13-2 victory over Pasadena, Eddie West, writer for the Santa Ana Register, challenged the hometown Saints.

“Coach Oliver’s team has the best chance since 1927 of waxing the Hilltoppers as Santa Ana has so longed yearned to wax ’em,” wrote West.

“The Saints now know they are meeting no ‘wonder team,’” said West, “and know, too, they have a better-than-even chance of winning—if they don’t choke up as other Santa Ana teams have against San Diego.”

Gerald (Tex) Oliver, who coached Hilltoppers B teams in the mid-‘twenties, guided the Saints to a 14-2 victory, their first over San Diego since 1921.

GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS

The most signifcant application of the old saying took place  for the Hilltoppers when Mushy Pollock punted from his end zone.

Pollock raced up the field in coverage and recovered his punt after the San Ana return man fumbled.  The Hilltoppers immediately fumbled the ball back to the Saints.

Santa Ana went to defeat Covina, 34-0, for the Southern Section title and interrupted a Coast League run in which San Diego or Long Beach Poly usually finished on top.

Poly had won five championships and San Diego two since the league, in its present alignment, was formed in 1923.

TRANSFERS KEY

After becoming one of the top players in the Imperial Valley at El Centro Central in 1930, Dave Wynne moved to San Diego and was an offensive standout first at quarterback, then at halfback, when Hobbs Adams shifted junior Mushy Pollock to quarterback.

Wynn scored 8 touchdowns and drop-kicked 12 point after touchdowns.  He was the third leading scorer in the County with 60 points.

Quarterback George Albin rushed for six touchdowns as Hoover qualified for the playoffs in  its second season, a year after Albin played at St. Augustine.

HILLTOPPERS BEAT POLY

The all-time series record now  favored Long Beach Poly, 13-6-1 after San Diego defeated the Jackrabbits, 26-0, and for the second year in row Poly did not gain a first down rushing.

The Hilltoppers have gained 30 first downs to Long Beach’s 3 in the last two seasons, but have managed only a split of the games.  They lost to Poly, 14-8, in 1930.

SIGNS OF THE TIME

Federal “dry” officers raided a ranch two miles north of Escondido and arrested Tony Norris, 40, for the second time in two months for violating the national prohibition act.

Norris was in County jail, charged with being the “maintainer” of 5,000 gallons of wine and brandy.

WILD TOSSES

Mary Elizabeth Shourds sued for divorce from Richard Shourds.

Mrs. Shourds told a San Diego Superior Court magistrate that her husband threw hair brushes at her during spousal tiffs.

RACIST TO SPEAK

From The San Diego Union Oct. 20, 1931:

“As elected guardians of a public-owned auditorium, members of the board of education last night spent 45 disturbed minutes last night.

The group discussed ethics, morals, policies of the board and religions before they decided to not cancel a contract which the San Diego citizens’ committee has made for the Russ auditorium, where in two weeks former Senator James T. Heflin of Alabama will speak.”

A redneck, white supremacist, Heflin was known as “Cotton Tom.”

BEACH TRAGEDY

Oceanside High football player Henry Langford, 17,  was killed when the car in which he was riding overturned on the beach in the North County community.

Elwood Phillips, the driver, was uninjured.  The accident occurred when the front wheels of the vehicle locked in the sand.

SOUTHWEST BRAGGING RIGHTS

Phoenix Union, arrived a day early on the Arizona and California Railway for its intersectional tussle with San Diego.

Billboarded as the “Southwestern Champions of 1930” after beating teams from California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, the Coyotes and Hilltoppers were allowed to play the only intersectional game of the season in Southern California.

In time the Southern Section would pass a rule prohibiting inter-state games but okayed this year’s contest because it was the second in a series of home-and-home games.

Phoenix defeated San Diego, 22-20, in 1930 in the Arizona city.

The Hilltoppers had 16 first downs to 1 and defeated the Coyotes, 9-6, after trailing, 6-0, at the half.

TRUE GRID

Hoover’s Burnell Paddock kicked a 40-yard field goal in an 18-9, playoff loss to Coronado…Paddock”s placement from the Islanders’ 30-yard line was believed to be the second longest in County history behind a 44-yard dropkick field goal by San Diego’s Bill Garber in a 1916 playoff versus Ontario Chaffey…City League teams were limited by rule to a total of seven regular-season games, including  three league games…Coronado’s opening game victory over Hoover was not all because of Jimmy Blaisdell, who scored both touchdowns in the 12-0 win…Kent Bush’s 45-yard punting average kept the favored Cardinals backing up…businesses and stores closed for the afternoon when Escondido and Oceanside met in their annual North County battle at Oceanside…San Diego’s varsity players were invited to the Spreckels theater to see “The Spirit of Notre Dame” motion picture, which was a tribute to the late coach, Knute Rockne, killed in a plane crash in Kansas earlier in the year…Hobbs Adams took 20 Hilltoppers to the USC-Stanford game on Saturday, returned home, and then traveled to Alhambra for a Tuesday Armistice Day game…John Perry of Hoover chartered a bus for his Hoover team’s trip to Yuma, Arizona, but some players traveled in private cars…after defeating the Criminals, 6-0, the Cardinals’ were guests at a postgame dance and returned on Sunday to San Diego…El Monte defeated Oceanside, 34-0, for the Southern California Southern Group minor Class B title…Russ Saunders, a star on San Diego’s 1924-25 teams and an all-America at USC, played for the champion Green Bay Packers this season and was the second San Diego athlete in the NFL…Brick Muller played and coached for the Los Angeles Buccaneers in 1925-26, but the Buccaneers were based in Chicago, did not play a game in Los Angeles, and all of their contests were on the road….

San Diego High avoided a tragic event when star sophomore fullback Bert Ritchey almost drowned before the Hilltoppers’ “bowl game” at Phoenix Union.

After  a 12-hour ride on a special San Diego & Arizona railroad car and arriving Friday morning, the Cavemen worked out at Phoenix’s Riverside Park late Friday afternoon.  That evening many in the squad took advantage of a nearby swimming pool.

Ritchey got into trouble but was not noticed until Werner Petersen saw his teammate lying at the bottom of the pool.

Petersen quickly dived, embraced Ritchey, and got his teammate to the surface, according to the report in The San  Diego Union.   

Ritchey was shaken but okay after a few minutes.

Coach John Perry declared the youngster out of the game, but Ritchey played about 10 minutes the next day, according to various reports, and scored a touchdown in the 14-13 victory.

Perry had scheduled the game late in the season as a reward for the team after the Hilltoppers had clinched the Coast League championship.

Following the Saturday afternoon contest, the Hilltoppers boarded a railroad car for another 12-hour trip back to San Diego, arriving Sunday morning.

RITCHEY’S NAME RESONATED

Big Ritchey, a 180-pounder, was born in Kansas and moved to San Diego at a young age in 1909, when his family lived downtown at the corner of Front and F streets.  His was one of the earlier African-American families to settle here.

Bert’s younger brother, Johnny, was the first black player in baseball’s Pacific Coast League when he joined the San Diego Padres in 1948.

Ted Ritchey, the star of San Diego High’s 1947 Southern California finalist, was a nephew of Bert, who also had athletic brothers Alfred and Earl.

SOUR ORANGES

According to The San Diego Union’s Alan McGrew, the Cavemen wasted five scoring opportunities in their 0-0 tie at Orange.

“The game might be a moral victory for Orange,” wrote McGrew.  “Their ability to hold San Diego at times appeared uncanny.”

McGrew, who had been particularly critical of Perry in 1923, took a shot.  “San Diego either lacked good plays or good judgment in their many attempts to score.”

Orange scored more than a moral victory in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.  The Panthers took a 17-0 lead and returned intercepted passes 35 and 60 yards for touchdowns in a 29-20 victory over the Hilltoppers.

Orange scored three touchdowns on intercepted passes, a safety, three PAT, and two field goals, one from the 40-yard line.

The Panthers’ first touchdown came on a 95-yard intercepted pass return by Wuelff.

According to historian Don King’s Caver Conquest, San Diego stunningly outgained Orange, 559 yards to 98, and held a 33-1 advantage in first downs.

Who was keeping the stats?

PERRY WANTS TO PEEL ORANGE

The  yardage anomaly was reason enough for coach John Perry to seek a third game.  He challenged Orange to a Christmas Day showdown in San Diego.

“I am confident that our team is better than Orange,” said Perry.  “They did not score on their own plays but on our fumbles.”

The challenge was in play only if Orange did not win the Southern California championship.  Orange wasn’t interested after playing five postseason contests and being eliminated in the semifinals

COMPLEX PLAYOFFS

One had to follow closely to understand the postseason.

Orange  defeated Redlands, 39-0, in the first round.

Orange defeated San Diego in the second round.

San Diego had a first-round bye and Sweetwater had first-round and second-round byes (not an unusual procedure for that era since travel and who was available came into play).

Orange defeated Sweetwater, 14-0, the following week in the quarterfinals.

Glendale and Compton deadlocked, 0-0, in the semifinals and, by rule,  played again the following week, Glendale winning, 7-0.

The Dynamiters then defeated Compton, 24-0, for the championship as star lineman Marion Morrison played his final game before moving on to USC and later was successful in the movies under the name of John Wayne.

CAVEMEN GRIND

Having first played Santa Ana in 1905, the Saints were the Hillltoppers’ oldest intersectional rival and this year’s game, a physical, 13-0 San Diego victory, showed how much coach John Perry team liked to run the ball.

Individual game statistics for high school games were rarely published, but someone kept a record in this game.

Bert Ritchey gained 76 yards in 25 carries and scored 1 touchdown.  Phil Winnek had 50 yards in 12 attempts and scored once.  In all, the Hilltoppers rushed 58 times for 171 yards.

MONEY TIGHT

San Diego B coach Gerald (Tex) Oliver greeted 60 candidates, all reportedly fewer than 140 pounds and averaging 132 (Sweetwater had 62 B prospects, with about 30 that weighed no more than 110) and Oliver was hard pressed to outfit all.

The San Diego board of education denied an appropriation for the Hilltoppers’ B squad, so Oliver planned benefits.

The “Infants,” as Oliver’s club was known, charged 15 cents for a game with La Jolla.

‘BEES’ VITAL

Usually fast and experienced, most B players had participated in junior high or interclass competition.

With eligibility based on “exponents”–height, weight, and age–B teams, similar to junior varsity squads, were an integral part of Southern California football programs for many years.

Many players would start with the B team but advance to the varsity and return to the B’s in the same season.

The San Diego varsity generally practiced at 2 p.m. in City Stadium, followed by the Bees at 4.

IT’S ABOUT THE GREEN

Sweetwater’s student executive committee voted for the Red Devils to give up a possible home-field advantage and play San Diego in the City Stadium.

The committee rubber-stamped the request of athletic manager Cheeney Moe and head coach Herb Hoskins, who wanted the gate receipts from a larger turnout in the stadium to go to improving the school’s football facilities.

MISPLACED CONFIDENCE?

Hoskins, whose teams were in the Southern California playoffs four out of five seasons in the 1920s, didn’t flinch when asked his team’s chances against San Diego in the season opener.

Writer Alan McGrew of The San Diego Union asserted that the Sweeties had lately “taken some of San Diego’s thunder”.

“We’ll win,” said Hoskins.  “We never figure on losing when we enter a game.  I am confident we’ll win.”

The Cavemen defeated the Red Devils, 33-0, as Bert Ritchey made his debut with four touchdowns.

COLLEGE BLOWUP’S FALLOUT 

Stanford and California announced they were suspending relations with the University of Southern California at the end of the season.

Things had soured between the Pacific Coast powerhouses, with the Northern schools, original conference members since 1915, accusing the Trojans, who joined in 1922, of paying players and not enforcing admittedly vague conference academic standards.

USC promptly announced it was a canceling a home game that week with Stanford, saying that the Northern schools had challenged USC’s “honor”, had a “anti-Southern California feeling” and that the Trojans had always played by the rules.

The USC action affected that week’s San Diego-Long Beach Poly battle for the Coast League title.

Originally scheduled Saturday, Poly boss Harry Moore announced a switch to Friday, not wanting to go against USC-Stanford.

When USC bailed on Stanford, Moore switched again, back to Saturday, saying that his school would “lose too much money” and a probable big San Diego crowd by playing on Friday.

San Diego clinched a tie for the Coast League championship with a 6-3 victory over Poly in a taut defensive struggle.  The Hilltoppers’ Rocky Kemp kept the Jackrabbits backing up with booming punts, one traveling 80 yards.

CAVEMEN ON CARPET

Northern schools in the Coast League also were angry with one of their brethren.

San Diego High vice principal Edgar Anderson was called to Los Angeles for a meeting in which the Hilltoppers were forced to defend themselves against possible expulsion.

Fullerton’s principal charged the Hilltoppers with “rough tactics” in San Diego’s 33-7 victory weeks before.

One Indians player “even had a black eye”, said the school administrator.

Fullerton coach Shorty Smith complained to officials at the end of the game that the Cavemen were “holding” and “coached to play dirty.”

THEY CAN’T HEAR WHISTLE

Pasadena also pointed out that San Diego was penalized twice for roughing.

The Union’s McGrew dismissed the charge by noting that the locals only “kept on playing after the whistle”, which apparently was okay with the writer.

The meaningless vote, which needed the CIF’s approval, was 3-2, with Pasadena backing Fullerton.

Whittier, Santa Ana and Long Beach Poly sided with their Border City rival.

INELIGIBLE?

Fullerton also claimed that Hilltopper Alden Johnson, son of the San Diego City Schools superintendent, was not on the eligibility list when the teams met.

San Diego  stated that Johnson indeed was eligible but was on the “Seconds” squad and didn’t play.

Edgar Anderson then stuck it to Fullerton by producing an eligibility document sent by Fullerton during the previous track season.

The Orange County school’s list had only a scarce number of athletes cited, not nearly enough for a track meet. Instead of being on the Coast League’s official form, the information “was on a piece of scratch paper,” said the San Diego official.

CIF NOT HAPPY

The Hillers did not have clean hands.

“San Diego High was in hot water during this time period, because of not following CIF rules. There were delays in making reports (forwarding game receipts, etc) ,” said CIF Southern Section historian John Dahlem.

Similar complaints of travel were voiced many times over the years.

TROUBLE NEAR THE OCEAN

Army-Navy also drew the wrath of the Southern Section.

The Cadets’ starting backfield and three linemen were declared ineligible thirty minutes before kickoff against El Centro Central.

 

Thirty players in all were banished from football, according to coach Ed Tarr.

Alan McGrew wrote that “most of the ineligibility was caused by students transferring from other schools after being out a semester.”

McGrew was emotional.

The scribe declared that “the murder of Caesar was nothing compared to the ‘crime’ the Southern California Interscholastic Federation, boss of prep sports in this section, has committed.”

Minutes from a Southern Section executive committee meeting 10 days before did not shed much light, only that games played by Army-Navy “are not to count towards a championship in any way.”

The CIF was uneasy about the Pacific Beach military boarding school, whose perceived unfair housing advantage raised questions of residence and eligibility.

TARR REGROUPS

The Army-Navy coach announced that he would have to dismantle the “Seconds” team and that he was debating whether to field an “Ineligible” squad.

Tarr thought his ineligibles could meet the San Diego Lightning squad.

The Lightning also was comprised of  ineligible players and was coached by Rupert Costo, a 200-pound Native American lineman who was expected to be a starter on the Hilltoppers’ varsity.

Costo had gotten the rubber key from school officials after he had exhausted  his eligibility when it was discovered that Costo had attended “several other high schools.”

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

The new Coliseum Athletic Club was being constructed at 15^th and E Streets.  “Every possible modern convenience” was to be included in the 4,500-seat stucco and tile structure.

TASTY

Carlsbad celebrated its second annual “Avocado Days”.  Some 2,000 guests enjoyed Avocado soup, Avocado sandwiches, and Avocado ice cream.

A dance concluded the event, at which a local Avocado honcho said the fruit had made the North Coast of San Diego County famous.

WILSON JUNIOR HIGH ON DECK

Low bid of $247,000 was submitted by contractor William C. Reed for construction of Woodrow Wilson Memorial Junior High at 37^th Street and El Cajon Blvd., in East San Diego.

Wilson would open in 1926 and be the primary feeder for a high school that was to be built later in the decade.  That school would be named after future President Herbert Hoover.

PARK THE CARS HERE

The last quarter of Coronado’s 38-12 victory at Army-Navy was played with the aid of automobile lights.

Many scoring plays and penalties meant a longer game and late October’s dwindling sunlight contributed to the need for artificial illumination.

STEPPING STONE

Pay dues at Memorial or Roosevelt, the city’s two junior highs, which opened in 1922 and ’24, respectively, and be promoted to the high school.

Future San Diego coaches Dewey (Mike) Morrow and George Hobbs were on the Memorial staff.

FOOTBALL AT PARKER

Francis Parker in Mission Hills announced Sept. 4 it would field a high school football team this year, under the guidance of Lloyd Prante, former Nebraska player.

The school, which opened in Mission Hills in 1911, would move to Linda Vista in the late 1960s and begin playing football again in 1969.

LARGER LOOP

The County (Southern) League, inclusive of all schools other than San Diego High, entered its eighth season of operation with a double, round-robin schedule and welcomed newcomer La Jolla Junior-Senior High.

Other football-playing members were Grossmont, Sweetwater, Escondido, and Coronado. Point Loma would open and join the league in 1926.

FOOTHILLERS HEAD FOR HILLS

Twenty-one Grossmont players and coach Ladimir (Jack) Mashin engaged in a one-week camp at Pine Hills YMCA (later known as Camp Marston) in Julian.

“Most of the boys have been on ranches all summer with little time for recreation,” explained principal Carl Birdsall.

The group was accompanied by a chef.  Goal posts were added to the athletic field, and a swimming pool was available.

TRUE GRID

San Diego had one player on the all-Southern California team, blocking back Russ Saunders…Glenn Rozelle, the uncle of future NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, also was a first-team choice, from Compton…San Diego players didn’t practice on the first day of school, instead watching a slow-motion film on fundamentals, instructed by USC coach Gus Henderson and Notre Dame boss Knute Rockne…Grossmont defeated Brawley, 6-0, in the first ever game between San Diego and Imperial County clubs…the Pasadena Star newspaper ordered a phone line for the City Stadium press box so its correspondent could provide a running, play-by-play of the Bulldogs’ game against San Diego…San Diego and the Pomona College freshmen almost evenly split 25 punts and Pomona missed four field goals…”Blackboard” practice was a precursor to modern-day game film…coaches diagrammed plays on a chalkboard and tested the players…

San Diego coach Duane Maley said it best:  “He can run sideways faster than most backs can forward.”

Maley spoke of a favored player,  5-foot, 4-inch, 145-pound halfback Cleveland (Smiley) Jones, who literally carried the 1956 Cavemen.

Jones was the City Prep League player of the year despite missing almost all of two games and parts of others.

San Diego was 6-0 when Jones was healthy, 1-2 when he was sidelined.

OFF TO 3-0 START

In what was supposed to be a major rebuilding season after Jones and teammates won the 1955 Southern California championship and were declared national prep champions, the Cavers won their first three games in impression fashion.

Jones was hurt in the first quarter of the fourth, an upset, 20-12 loss to Hoover.  He played sparingly the following week, a 54-13 win over Mission Bay, and missed much of the 35-21 loss to Downey in the first round of the playoffs.

OFFENSE, DEFENSE, SPECIAL TEAMS

In between, Jones scored 96 points, with 12 touchdowns and kicked 24 points after.  He also played defense, but was  player of the year because of a 10.8-yard rushing average, 17-yard pass-receiving average, and a stunning 45-yard average on punt returns.

“Jones is a great broken field runner, the greatest I’ve ever coached,” said Maley, who was not given to hyperbole.

Of Jones’s many long runs, the most memorable came in the showdown with Lincoln, playoff berth and tie for the CPL title on the line.

Lincoln scored first to take a 7-0 lead on a short run by quarterback Russ Boehmke.

Jones juggled the ensuing kickoff and the ball  bounced back to the one-yard line.  The diminutive Caver almost lost his balance, but recovered, and ran 99 yards for a tying touchdown.

Jones scored one other touchdown as San Diego won a thrill-packed game, 26-19, earning a first-round playoff date with Downey at Long Beach Veterans’ Stadium, site of San Diego’s  epic 1955 semifinal  victory over  Anaheim.

PLAYED DOWNEY CLOSE

Jones was hurt in the loss to Downey, the eventual, 13-13 tie co-champion with Anaheim.

The Cavers’ 14-point loss, with Jones out much of the game,  compared well to the Vikings  41-point victory over Beverly Hills and 33-point win over Lancaster Antelope Valley in other playoff games.

Comparatively, Downey defeated Long Beach Wilson, 13-7.  San Diego defeated the Bruins, 21-7, and had three touchdowns called back.

This wasn’t a championship Cavers team, but it might have been had Jones not been sidelined with some untimely injuries.

PLAYED ON AND ON

Jones was on a conference championship team at San Diego Junior College in 1957, was a two-year star at Oregon,  a late roster cut of the NFL Dallas Cowboys, and then starred for the powerful San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot team.

Jones still was playing semipro football at age 38.  Compared to 21st century NFL players, he most closely resembled Darren Sproles, who thrilled San Diego Chargers fans a couple generations later.

Jones went on to a long career as an officer in the Orange County Probation Department.

He was known as “Smiley” because his facial bones were such that his countenance is a perpetual pleasant expression or smile.

Cleveland brought a lot of smiles to those who watched him and played with him.

Kearny High and Point Loma kicked off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, 1979, and the Komets clinched a 9-6 victory on Oct. 27, 1979, about 18 hours later.

Five seconds remained on the clock when the Komets’ Jim Goosens attempted the first field goal of his life and booted a 25-yard placement that sent everyone home.

Mother Nature, with a little help from the officiating crew, created this  prep football time warp.

It was pouring rain. “A bolt of lightning struck a transformer,” remembered Komets coach Tom Barnett. The lights went out at Mesa College.

But the show must(?) go on, and did.

After assessing the situation for about 15 minutes, game officials, coordinated by referee Ed Olsen, met with coaches Tom Barnett of Kearny and Bennie Edens of Point Loma in the middle of the field, rain continuing to come down, images barely visible.

Olsen directed the teams to regroup, head home, and return to Mesa the following day at 1 p.m. and to pick up where action left off, 11:19 to play in the fourth quarter, Kearny ahead, 6-0.

Darkness engulfed Linda Vista after the Komets’ Mark Reeves scored on a two-yard run on the last play of the third quarter and following a missed point after.

Rain still was falling when play resumed the next day.

FINALLY

Point Loma struck with a 78-yard pass play, Bill Waller to Pete Harris, but also missed the point after. The score was 6-6 until Goosens toed his winner and avoided the additional stress of a tension-filled overtime period.

For the second time in two days the Komets began drying out after the walk back to school.

Kearny is about a quarter-mile from Mesa.  Head coach Birt Slater started a tradition when the Komets began playing in the new community college’s  facility in 1964.  They strolled to and from home games.

Kearny squads dressed out at school, and then walked to the stadium, entering from the south end to the cheers of their fans, always after the visiting team was on the field in its pregame warm-up.

FLASHLIGHTS, ANYONE?

“We had to walk back in the rain that night and all of the lights were out  in the gymnasium,” said  Barnett, who succeeded Slater in 1977.

The Komets saw the light, somewhat, after Barnett and his coaches asked a school custodian to find some illumination.

“You could hardly see your hand in front of your face,” the coach told writer Jerry (Sigmund) Froide of the Evening Tribune. “We had to use flashlights so the kids could find their lockers.”

Players struggled to take off their wet and muddy uniforms in a maze of sweat and steam as the locker room quickly humidified, then they headed home to have the gear washed and dried for the next day.

“There never was any thought of not playing Saturday,” Barnett said.  “If we hadn’t the game would have been wiped out. It would have been declared a non-game, since there would have been no chance to replay it later on. But I credit the officials.  They could have called it off.

“We also had to get the field re-lined and get permission to use the stadium again,” Barnett said. “Mesa had a game that night.”

Olsen remembered the moment as if it were yesterday.

“Finishing was the right thing to do,” Olsen said.  “I was told later that I was supposed to have contacted the commissioner (Kendall Webb) for his okay, but my only thought was that these players and coaches would have put all that effort into nothing.”

KEARNY “WALK” SIMILAR TO CAVERS’

Birt Slater was an assistant coach to Duane Maley from 1953-57, an era of remarkable success at San Diego High.  City Prep League opponents’ combined record against the Cavemen was 1-27.

Almost all of the Cavers’ league games were in Balboa Stadium, located on the school campus.  Maley’s squads dressed in the school gymnasium, steps from the stadium, and then walked up an incline to the North end, which offered a panoramic view of the 23,000-seat facility.

From the top of the stadium steps, the Cavers descended in single file, passing between the school’s flag corps and its formed “SD”, then ran to their bench amid cheers and hoopla.

Only fireworks and skylights were missing. The visiting team, already in its pregame warm-up, stopped to watch.

As a rival coach noted, “It was 21-0 before the coin toss.”

COMMANDING PRESENCE

Ed Olsen was a football official from 1968-96 but is best known for a life in baseball.  He was captain of the Walt Harvey-coached 1953 La Jolla High squad that reached the Southern California finals before losing to Compton, 3-2.

Olsen was a bat boy for the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres of the late 1940s and early ’50s, and coached more than 30 years at El Capitan High and Grossmont College, retiring in 2004.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Area schools profited from the arrival of the San Diego Chargers in 1961.  In time sons of Chargers players and coaches contributed to the high school scene, especially this year.

–Ernie Wright, Jr., was a standout tight end at Patrick Henry.

–Tight end and future Grossmont quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst was son of  Dick Van Raaphorst, former Chargers placekicker.

–Helix’ cornerback Kevin Durden was second of three sons of  Earnel Durden, Chargers running backs coach.

–Longtime Chargers center Sam Gruneisen’s son Scott, punted and played tight end for Granite Hills.

–Chargers special teams coach Wayne Sevier’s son was Sweetwater quarterback Thane Sevier, who played the same position as did his dad at Sweetwater in 1958.

–Granite Hills quarterback Ladd McKittrick’s father left the Chargers’ coaching staff this year to begin a long and Super Bowl-successful career with the San Francisco 49ers.

Granite Hills was very much into the second generation mode.  McKittrick and Gruneisen were joined by three brothers whose father had been one of the County’s top players.

Joe Klucewich, Jr., and his identical twin brothers, Josh and Jim, were the sons of Joe, Sr., an all-Metropolitan League halfback at El Cajon Valley who led the league in scoring with 11 touchdowns and 66 points in 1956.

Joe, Jr., took dad a few steps further, rushing for more than 1,000 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns and 80 points and had a touchdown and 110 yards in 21 carries in the big regular-season game against Helix.

WHERE EAGLES DARE

Granite Hills snapped the top-ranked Highlanders’ 12-game winning streak, 17-15, in a November showdown and went through the Grossmont League with a 7-0 record.

His team clinging to a 14-9 lead,  McKittrick completed a nine-yard pass and scrambled 8 and 23 yards to keep alive a 75-yard drive that used more than six minutes of playing time and ended with a 35-yard field goal with 1:19 remaining to give the Eagles a 17-9 lead.

The field goal was more important than icing on the cake.

Helix scored with 54 seconds left.  Jim Plum pitched behind the line of scrimmage to Gary Isaacson, who then connected downfield with Willie Williams for a 46-yard touchdown.

The Highlanders finally were put away when Casey Tiamalu was tackled short of the goal line on an attempted two-point conversion.

Granite Hills’ season came to a crushing end when the Eagles dropped a 28-7 decision to Morse in the 3-A championship game at San Diego Stadium.  But their 10-1 record was a highlight of a decade-closing, five-year run in which the Eagles’ overall record was 47-6.

CAN’T HOLD THAT TIGER

No team closed  the 1970s more impressively than John Shacklett’s Morse Tigers.  Shacklett became head coach in 1971, got through a tough, early stretch (9-17-1 in his first three seasons) and was 51-10-4 from 1974-79, climaxing the decade in the 3-A championship  game.

Morse advanced after an epic quarterfinals playoff at Helix.

The Tigers came from two touchdowns behind with 10 minutes remaining to tie the score in the final two minutes, 21-21.   The  California tiebreaker format was in use. Each squad got one possession of four plays, beginning at the 50-yard line.

Morse won the coin toss and chose to go on defense.  Darrell Brown intercepted one of Jim Plum’s passes and Plum was incomplete on three others.  Michael Johnson gained 13 yards for Morse and the Tigers won the tiebreaker.

“It was a helluva game,” said Shacklett.  “No disrespect to Granite Hills, but Helix was the best team we played. They had Casey Tiamalu, Jim Plum, Leon White, some outstanding players.

“Tiamalu is one great back,” Shacklett told Jerry Froide, “but Michael Johnson has got to be the most explosive runner in the County,”

Johnson rushed for 136 yards, including 112 yards in the second half.

INACCURATE QUOTE OF YEAR

From Point Loma coach Bennie Edens:  “Morse can’t lose that many good players  (from 1978) and continue to dominate.”

NEW PLAYOFF FORMAT

For the first time since the San Diego Section was formed in 1960 champions in football, boys’ basketball and baseball no longer would be determined by two divisions of large school and small school classification.  A new alignment of 3-A, 2-A, and 1-A, based on enrollment, would be in effect.

Crawford moved from the 3-A Eastern to the 2-A Western and Mira Mesa moved from the West to the East.  The Avocado Conference was renamed the North County Conference and two leagues, Avocado (2-A) and Palomar (3-A) were created.

Schools did not change in the Grossmont and Metropolitan Leagues but the Grossmont became 3-A and Metro 2-A.  Each league had 10 members and would be facing future realignment.

IF THEY FIRE YOU, JOIN THEM

Bob Woodhouse, who created AA and AAA monsters at San Marcos, then was canned by school district trustees after 14 seasons and a 94-36-1 record, announced himself a candidate for one of the trustee posts on the school board.

Woodhouse moved to San Pasqual 1977 in the Escondido school district but retained a residence in San Marcos, where, he said, school officials informed him during the 1975-76 school year that Woodhouse couldn’t be head football coach and athletic director.

According to the Evening Tribune, Woodhouse said he opted for the administrative post but also was denied that and then quit the district.  Woodhouse said he had been  accused during a stormy board meeting of unprofessional conduct in front of the student body. The board president denied making the charge.

Woodhouse retired after the 1985 season with a 59-30-4 record in nine seasons at San Pasqual.  His overall record, one of the best in San Diego Section history, was 153-66-5 for a .702 winning percentage.  Included were 10 playoff appearances, two championship appearances and one title, and an undefeated, 9-0 season in 1965.

Woodhouse was fourth in a field of nine with 1,978 votes in the San Marcos school board election.

WAGNER REBOOTS

Hilltop’s Bryan Wagner missed four field goals and a point after touchdown in a season-opening win against Montgomery.

“I was using a three-step approach like Tony Franklin (Philadelphia Eagles),” said Wagner, who went back to his normal approach the following week and crushed a 49-yarder at Coronado, the ball clearing Cutler Field and landing in an adjacent street.

Wagner later set a San Diego Section record with a 53-yard placement and was in the NFL for nine seasons, including the Chargers in 1994, and never attempted a field goal.  He was a punter.

QUICK KICKS

Kearny (83-20-4), Sweetwater (83-21-3), and Vista (81-24) were the most successful teams of the 1970-79 decade…Lincoln was the 2-A champion and Army-Navy won the 1-A title… two other first-round playoff games were decided by the new tiebreaker:  Patrick Henry edged Grossmont after a 13-13 tie and Escondido defeated Montgomery after a 7-7 deadlock… Shacklett, an all-Metropolitan League lineman at Grossmont in 1956,  was on the same freshman team at Brigham Young University with Joe Klucewich, Sr… the Eastern League literally and figuratively was the Super League… the seven schools, Mira Mesa, Clairemont, Morse, Patrick Henry, Point Loma, Kearny, and Madison, averaged 2,368 students each…Patrick Henry was one of the largest in the state with 3,360 students in three grades… the new, 3-A, 2-A, and 1-A playoff alignment was based on enrollment and, with three divisions, the season was a week shorter… Sean Doyle, who would coach Cathedral Catholic to state championships in the next century, was a 170-pound defensive end at University… Point Loma graduate Bill Christopher, 28-8 in four seasons at Rialto Eisenhower of the Southern Section, took over at Mt. Carmel and was one of 12 new coaches in the San Diego Section… Helix sophomore Jim Plum completed 16 of 18 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns against El Capitan, setting a San Diego Section record with an 88.9 completion percentage… on the season Plum threw for 12 touchdowns in 112 attempts… Orange Glen junior Sean Salisbury, a future NFL QB, threw for 18 touchdowns in 236 attempts… other future NFLers included Hilltop kicker Bryan Wagner; tackle Keith Kartz of San Dieguito;  Carlsbad wideout Glen Kozlowski, a junior who led the section with 47 catches, and Helix linebacker Leon White… Lincoln quarterback Damon Allen would go on to a 22-year career in the Canadian League…Kozlowski, Salisbury, and Wagner were all-San Diego Section first-team choices…several other players went to NFL camps…San Pasqual’s offensive line was known as the “Hog Squad”, a few years before Chargers assistant coach Joe Gibbs, who would become the Washington Redskins’ head coach and  coin his beefy forwards the popular “Hogs”… Hoover had 20 returning lettermen from a 1-8 squad and went 1-8 again… the Cardinals’ George Rios boomed a 68-yard punt, from his 15 to Kearny’s 17… Montgomery’s Gil Sanchez, all San Diego Section in soccer, kicked a football for the first time and his 42-yarder helped the Aztecs upset Sweetwater, 9-7… Clairemont’s 7-6 win over Kearny was the Chieftains’ first over the Komets since 1964…leading 33-0 and pitching its third consecutive shutout, Helix went to the air with 19 seconds left and Grossmont’s Mike Mathis intercepted and returned the pass 100 yards for a touchdown as the game ended….