No less than seven teams still alive in the San Diego Section playoffs haven’t been this far in at least 10 years.

Sixteen teams are preparing for eight semifinal games this week, with the computer-oriented seeding process playing out well, but not much differently than when  it was with coaches hollering and screaming on Selection Saturday.

El Capitan, the 24th-ranked team in the state, has not been to the semifinals since 1991. Morse is making its first foray since 1996, followed by El Camino and Hoover (2000), Mater Dei (2003), and Castle Park and Rancho Bernardo (2004).

Pairings-wise, the Open Division is perfectly aligned with No. 1 Oceanside (11-0) acting as  host to No. 4 Mission Hills (9-2) and No. 2 Cathedral (10-1) welcoming No. 3 Helix (9-2).

The stars also are positioned in D-II with 1 El Capitan (11-0) at home to 4 Brawley (9-2) and 3 Rancho Bernardo (9-2) at 2 San Marcos (10-1).  Same for D-IV, with 4 Castle Park (8-3) at 1 The Bishop’s (11-0) and 3 El Centro Central (6-5) at 2 Mater Dei (6-5).

There were some quarterfinals surprises.

Actually, a big surprise  when 11 Morse (6-6) shut down 3 Sweetwater’s run-crazy Wing T offense and ushered the Red Devils out, 12-0,  ending their winning streak at 19 consecutive games.

D-I No. 7 El Camino (7-5), a loser of 4 in a row at the end of the regular season and outscored 106-28 during that span, won its second straight playoff, edging 2 Steele Canyon, 34-33, on a field goal by Antonio Garcia with six seconds left.

The Wildcats face 5 St. Augustine (6-5) while 4 Madison (8-3) visits 1 La Costa Canyon (7-5).

Morse now tries again against No.2 Christian (11-0) in D-III, while 5 Granite Hills (9-2) goes to 1 Hoover.

FORMER STAFFERS MEET

In surviving a game which saw six lead changes in  the second half and 31 fourth-quarter points, El Camino coach John Roberts forged an interesting matchup.

Roberts was on the staff of Richard Sanchez’s at St. Augustine before taking over the Oceanside school’s program this season.

The real racing in the San Diego Section playoffs, including competition in the Open Division, begins tonight with quarterfinals games on fields drying out from recent rain.

Teams with championship hopes also have their sights set beyond, to the state playoffs which begin in  three weeks,  following section championships.

Oceanside is seventh in Cal-Hi Sports‘ Top 25 for the third consecutive week, with Cathedral  17th, and El Capitan 24th.

Oceanside is fifth in Division I South, El Capitan first in D-III South, and Christian first in D-IV South.

Cathedral is 13th in D-I South, while Helix, Eastlake, and Mission Hills tread cautiously on the bubble.

San Diego’s Open Division champion, be it Oceanside or Cathedral, likely will get strong consideration for a berth in the State D-I playoffs.

Oceanside would be a longshot for a state Open invitation, logically because Southern Section contenders for the Open would have gone through a competitively much tougher playoff run.

Cathedral  would not be considered  even if it won San Diego’s Open.  The Dons would not be able to live down the 55-10, season-opening loss to Folsom.

El Capitan would be favored for a D-III state playoff berth should it win out in D-II in San Diego.   Christian, because it has less than 500 students, would drop from D-III to D-IV if it gets that far.

Rancho Bernardo, Sweetwater and San Marcos rank 8, 9, and 10 respectively in D-III South.

State playoff divisions are determined in part by enrollment, “competitive equity” (good wins vis-a-vis bad losses, strength of schedule), and politics.

Sixty-four playoff teams became 32, but the action was more like an 11th regular-season game, everyone awaiting the real postseason.

It all should change this week, with Open Division competition beginning in the quarterfinals and with some decent offerings.

Eastlake (7-3), seeded fifth in the Open, visits No. 4 Mission Hills (8-2).

Division I sends 6 Vista (6-5) to 5 St. Augustine (5-5).

D-IV  has 4 University City (7-4)  at 5 Castle Park (7-3), and 3 Classical (9-1) goes to 2 Calexico Vincent Memorial (9-1) in D-V.

QUESTIONS

–Has St. Augustine recovered enough from mid-season injuries and a loaded schedule to stop rising Vista, which has outscored its last two opponents, 76-21.

–What’s with Oceanside, averaging a touchdown less a game in its last three, after averaging 37 points in its first seven?  The ‘Side labored  in a 28-14 win over Carlsbad in Week 8 and take on the Lancers again.

–Can 9 seed  Francis Parker pull off the longest of long shots against 1 seed Hoover in D-III? Always low in  numbers, the Lancers, struck by a veritable tsunami of injuries,  morally  forfeited a mid-season game to Morse. They bounced back and were impressive in a 41-21 win over 8 Monte Vista.

–Will Scripps Ranch have another kookie comeback up its sleeve when the No. 11 Falcons take on almost-neighbor Rancho Bernardo, the 3 in D-III?  Coach Joe Meyer’s birds of prey were out of it, 20-0, at 6 Valley Center, then scored 27 points in the final 8:47 to win, 27-20.

–Can Madison  run the table after 3 losses to start the season?  The Warhawks have won their last seven and take on Point Loma, which they rousted, 36-14, for the Western League championship two weeks ago.

–Is 9-1 San Marcos to be discounted or is Mission Hills that good?  The Knights took a 55-13 shellacking from the Grizzlies two weeks ago and now meet 6-5 Lincoln, whose Hornets are up and down but pack a sting.

UPSETS?

Favorites won 70 per cent of first-round games, 14 of 20.  Seeds 1 through 5 escaped disaster.  Most significant reversals were by Scripps Ranch and Morse,  which topped 6 Bonita Vista, 14-7, in overtime in another 6-11 game.

Buying or selling?  No. 5 Granite Hills (8-3) at No. 4 Fallbrook (7-3) in D-III.  The East County Eagles have scored 159 points in their last three game and are averaging 38.8.

Buying or selling? No. 10 La Jolla (6-5)  at 1 Christian (10-0) in D-III.  The Vikings look overmatched against the powerful Patriots, but La Jolla has scored 121 points in its last two games and is averaging 39.

The computer and the writers, broadcasters, and administrative honchos are in agreement. The elite, top 10 teams in the UT-San Diego poll won’t be asked to mingle with the proletariat in the first round of the Division I-V postseason.

The CIF’s computer-based seedings  byed each team, from Oceanside to San Marcos.  The top 10 clubs have a combined, 89-11 record.

The poll vote after Week 11:

#	Team (1st place votes)	W-L	Points*	Previous
1	Oceanside (18)	10-0	189	1
2	Cathedral (1)	9-1	167	2
3	El Capitan	10-0	152	4
4	Mission Hills	8-2	121	5
5	Helix	8-2	122	3
6	Eastlake	7-3	66	7
7	Rancho Bernardo	8-2	48	10
8	Christian	10-0	47	8
9	Sweetwater	10-0	39	9
10	San Marcos	9-1	31	6

*Awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

Others receiving votes:  Madison, 18; Ramona, 15; The Bishop’s 10; Hoover, 5; Torrey Pines, 4; Steele Canyon, 3; West Hills, 2; Bonita Vista, 1.

Nineteen sportswriters, sportscasters, and CIF representatives from throughout San Diego County vote in the weekly poll: John Maffei, Kirk Kenney, UT-San Diego; Terry Monahan, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff (UT-San Diego correspondents); Bill Dickens (eastcountysports.com); Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions); John Kentera, Ted Mendenhall, Bob Petinak, (The Mighty 1090); Jerry Schniepp (CIF San Diego Section); Rick Willis, Brandon Stone, (KUSI-TV); Bruce Ward (San Diego City Schools); Rick Smith (partletonsports.com); Steve (Biff) Dolan, Rick (Red) Hill (Mountain Country 107.9 FM); Bodie DeSilva (Sandiegopreps.com); Drew Smith (sdcoastalsports.com).

SEEDINGS AFTERTHOUGHTS

Why not Mar Vista?

The Mariners were 6-4 but were unable to crash the D-III lineup, which included five teams with 5-5 records and another with a 4-6.

Tyler Arciaga’s team won two intersectional games and played undefeated Sweetwater to a 24-13 loss.

The computer wasn’t impressed.

EL CAP 10-0 BUT IN D-II

Ron Burner’s Vaqueros became the unexpected kings of the East County after beating Helix, 24-17, for Grossmont Hills championship.

Why wouldn’t El Capitan go into the Open Division, what with its victory over Helix and that  Helix is a No. 3 seed in that alignment?

Because teams were slotted by a formula which weighed their overall success during the previous five years (see Mar Vista, but that doesn’t make sense; the Mariners were 35-22 from 2009-13).

The five-year rule was established in 2013, not to overwhelming approval.

WHY LA COSTA CANYON NO. 1 IN D-I?

It couldn’t be that the computer also was affected by the perceived bias of the  North County media?  Could it?

La Costa Canyon finished with a 5-5 record and won the top seed, over Madison (7-3), Steele Canyon (7-3), and St. Augustine (5-5).

The Mavericks biggest win I suppose was 21-13 over Rancho Bernardo, the No. 3 seed in D-II.

La Costa Canyon defeated  lower-level Orange County squad Trabuco Hills, 34-7, and came up soft against Newport Beach Corona Del Mar, 38-0, and Oceanside, 35-6.

St. Augustine and Madison played much tougher schedules.

Off the five-year comparisons!

CAN YOU TOP THIS?

Don Carlos Stafford was an all-San Diego Section fullback at St. Augustine in 1962, but Stafford took a backseat to his nephew last week.

Torrey Pines wide receiver, Jack Bailey, headed to San Diego State,  one-upped his uncle and caught 4 passes for 217 yards in the Falcons’ 13-0 victory over La Costa Canyon.  Included was a 70-yard touchdown and gains of 74, 12, and 61 yards.

Virtues and moments that identify high school football:

Overflow crowd of more than 4,000 at San Pasqual High, under Friday night lights, for neighborhood bragging rights.

Tom Kirovski carried the ball on 24 of San Pasqual’s 28 second-half possessions and gained 155 of his game total of 173 yards as the Eagles defeated Orange Glen, 28-17, in the “Battle of Bear Valley Parkway.”

o the winner went the polished, wooden “Bear” trophy.

“This is a big game, the game of our lives!” Kirovski exclaimed to Tom Shanahan of the Union-Tribune.

“It’s for the Bear,” Kirovski reverently added after scoring on runs of 4, 13, and 2 yards.

About his workload in the third and fourth quarters, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound junior said, “That’s my job as the fullback, run hard and knock people around.”

Kirovski gained 18 yards in 5 carries in the first half.

Said Orange Glen coach Rob Gilster:  “Officials killed us in the first half (when the Patriots led, 17-7) and San Pasqual kicked the stuffing out of us in the second half.”

The schools’ addresses are about three miles apart, on Escondido’s Bear Valley Parkway.

ESSENCE OF THE GAME, II

Raging flames from a Santa Ana-driven fire created havoc around the La Costa Canyon campus, but Victor Yoshida brought some joy to the community and etched his name  in Mavericks history.

Yoshida’s 36-yard field goal with 6 seconds left gave the Carlsbad school its first-ever victory, 16-15  over Escondido.

“Winning makes food taste sweeter and smiles bigger,” said coach Tim Smith after the victory, which put the Mavericks at 1-6.  “I was so happy to see the looks on the kids’ faces after the game. It was utter elation.”

The victory was especially significant, considering  damage from the fires, which caused a short week of practice for the team, and countless hours of anxiety.

“It’s quite a victory to give back to the community,” Smith told Paula Mascari-Bott of the Union-Tribune. “It’s a symbol of rebirth, a regeneration in the community.”

DO I REALLY WANT THIS?

The honor of being a team captain at Orange Glen required  a little more than calling the coin toss or being the Big Man on Campus.

Nate Nyberg and 3 other captains led a summer exercise with the team that would make the Navy SEALs proud.

The Patriots hiked six miles up in the High Sierras, strapped to 40-pound backpacks, and camped in the elements for three nights, with snow on the ground.

Part of this bonding experience required the captains to sing the school fight song while standing in a near frozen lake.

“That’s the fastest I’ve ever sang (sic) that song,” Nate recounted to  Mascari-Bott.

MEYER TAKES STOCK IN 38^TH SEASON                        

El Camino coach Herb Meyer, at 288 victories, visiting with the Union-Tribune’s Nick Canepa:  “I’ve been doing this for so long it’s like butting your head against the wall.

“Do it enough times and it starts to feel good.  It’s still fun.  When it’s not, I’ll know it.  I’ll quit.”

Meyer would win 51 more games, retiring with a state-leading 339.

UNHAPPY HERB

After a 20-7 loss to San Pasqual, Meyer channeled his inner “Fumin’ Human”, as so described by Mick McGrane of the Evening Tribune:

“It would appear that this is the best we are capable of playing, because we don’t want to play any better than that.

“We have players who don’t want to listen to the coaches, who are hung up in the wrong place.  Football intelligence? We proved to be a very stupid team.”

Meyer was specifically hacked off about three second-quarter turnovers that San Pasqual turned into 20 points.

FINAL RANKINGS

Heading into the Division I semifinals, Morse was ranked third in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, 20^th nationally by Associated Press, and 22^nd in USA Today.

After a 21-16 loss to Vista in the D-I finals, Morse dropped to 12^th in the state, sixth in D-I, and eighth in Southern California.

Castle Park, the San Diego Section D-II champion, was No. 1 in the state in its division, tenth overall, and sixth in Southern California.

Vista’s win over Morse elevated the Panthers to 19^th in California.  Mission Bay was eighth in D-II, and The Bishop’s third in D-V.

It was a strong football season in San Diego.

RARIFIED AIR, EVEN FOR BIRDS

Hoover, 0-10 in 1995 and without a winning season since 1986, defeated Marian, 21-6.

Most impressive is that the losing Crusaders stood No. 1 in Division IV in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports’ rankings.

The victory was too much for the Cardinals, who lost their last 4 to finish 5-6, while Marian regrouped to 10-3 and was runner-up to The Bishop’s in the section D-IV finals.

OOPS

Francis Parker was in position to kick a field goal late in the fourth quarter that would have beaten La Jolla Country Day, 3-0.

The Lancers’ offensive coordinator cautiously instructed his quarterback to spike the ball on third down and allow time to set up the placement.

Parker’s quarterback took the snap and spiked the ball.

Problem.

It was fourth down.

La Jolla Country Day took possession.  The season opener ended in a 0-0 deadlock.

ARNAIZ ATTACKED

Helix coach Jim Arnaiz was walking to his car in the Helix parking lot about 10 p.m. after Arnaiz had counseled at Helix Adult School.

As he neared his automobile Arnaiz, sensing that someone was behind him, turned around and was confronted by a youth who was holding a baseball bat.

The attacker took two violent swings, but Arnaiz ducked and jumped away. The assailant fled.

Arnaiz told authorities he thought the attack was random and not one of a student or someone seeking revenge for an imagined slight.

BUCCANEERS WIN AFTER 42 YEARS

Mission Bay not only won its first league championship since the school opened in 1954 but went on to claim the D-III championship, 12-10, over St. Augustine.

The Buccaneers gave notice in 1995, when they caught fire toward the end of the season and went to the  finals before bowing to Oceanside, 31-20.

“Sometimes I pinch myself,” said coach Jerry Surdy after the Pacific Beach squad had forged  a 6-0 record and 12 wins in its last 13 games.

The Bucs went to 7-0 and finished 12-1. They avenged their only loss in the regular season, 34-31, to St. Augustine.

Mission Bay rolled behind all-state running back Darryl Conyer, who was the top scorer in the San Diego Section with 31 touchdowns and 186 points in 13 games. Conyer scored 11 touchdowns in  3 postseason games.

FIELD OF DREAMS?

Nate Wright played in 156 games in the NFL, intercepted 34 passes from his cornerback position, and was all-pro twice, but his son Nate says, “I consider myself a running back.”

Even after playing defense at Point Loma for two years.

When the Pointers’ offense stalled, Pointers coach Bennie Edens called Nate’s number on offense.

Wright gained 260 yards in 24 carries and scored two touchdowns in a 31-22 victory over University.

Young Nate turned poet when he paraphrased a line from the movie “Field of Dreams”, before racing 68 yards with 5:27 remaining  for the clinching touchdown.

“I told the line, ‘If you do it, I’ll run,’” said Wright, who got the blocks he needed and sent a Homecoming Game crowd happily on its way.

FIRST TIME ALWAYS BEST

Mt. Carmel drove 80 yards in less than a minute and scored the winning touchdown with 11 seconds left on the clock, giving Gary Jolk his first victory as a head coach, 31-27 over Mira Mesa.

J.R. Tolver had run 17 yards for a touchdown seconds earlier to put the Marauders in front, 27-24.

DOWN MEXICO WAY

Midway Baptist and Horizon opened their seasons with a game in Ensenada, Baja California Norte.  Horizon won, 32-6, but coach Dan Stolebarger said the game was only part of the reason for the trip.

Stolebarger hoped his squad would learn from the differences in the countries’ approach to football.

Among others, “I wanted our kids to see how they played (in) sweatpants with knee pads and shared helmets (because there weren’t enough to go around),” said the coach.

BURKE BRINGS IT

Torrey Pines’s Ed Burke completed his 11^th season as head coach with a record of 86-37-3 (.694)  Four other coaches, in the Falcons’ first 12 seasons, had a combined record of 48-64-4 (.431).

SAN DIEGANS IN NFL

Twenty-nine area high school football graduates made it on to NFL rosters at the start of the season.

Name	Position	Year	Team	College	High School
Eric Allen	CB	9	New Orleans	Arizona State	Point Loma
Marcus Allen	RB	15	Kansas City	USC	Lincoln
Tony Banks	QB	R	St. Louis	Michigan State	Hoover
Tommy Bennett	Safety	R	Arizona	UCLA	Morse
Matt Brock	Defensive Tackle	8	N.Y. Jets	Oregon	University City
Brad Daluiso	Kicker	6	N.Y. Giants	UCLA	Valhalla
Terrell Davis	RB	2	Denver	Georgia	Lincoln
Charles Dimry	Corner Back	9	Tampa Bay	UNLV	Oceanside
David Dunn	Wide Receiver	2	Cincinnati	Fresno State	`Morse
Donnie Edwards	Linebacker	R	Kansas City	UCLA	Chula Vista
Ray Ethridge	Wide Receiver	1	Baltimore	Pasadena City	Crawford
La’Roi Glover	Defensive Tackle	R	Oakland	San Diego State	Point Loma
Robert Griffith	Safety	3	Minnesota	San Diego State	Mount Miguel
Sale Isaia	Guard	2	Baltimore	UCLA	Oceanside
Lincoln Kennedy	Tackle	4	Oakland	Washington	Morse
Chris Johnson	Safety	1	Minnesota	San Diego State	Crawford
Ted Johnson	Linebacker	2	New England	Colorado	Carlsbad
Jeff Kysar	Tackle	2	Oakland	Arizona State	Serra
John Lynch	Safety	4	Tampa Bay	Stanford	Torrey Pines
John Michels	Tackle	R	Green Bay	USC	La Jolla
Lenny McGill	Corner Back	3	Atlanta	Arizona State	Orange Glen
Rashaan Salaam	Running Back	2	Chicago	Colorado	La Jolla Country Day
Dan Saleaumua	Defensive Tackle	10	Kansas City	Arizona State	Sweetwater
Darnay Scott	Wide Receiver	3	Cincinnati	San Diego State	Kearny
Sean Salisbury	Quarterback	8	San Diego	USC	Orange Glen
Junior Seau	Linebacker	7	San Diego	USC	Oceanside
J.J. Stokes	Wide Receiver	2	San Francisco	UCLA	Point Loma
Rich Tylski	Tackle	1	Jacksonville	Utah State	Madison
Tommy Vardell	Running Back	5	San Francisco	Stanford	Granite Hills

FUTURE  CHARGER?

Wideout Nate Nelson’s step-mother was a longtime employee of the San Diego Chargers, who could have used a performance such as Nate’s in Scripps Ranch’s 28-0 win over Kearny.  Nelson  caught three touchdown passes and made seven tackles on defense.

YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN

Gil Warren was head coach at Castle Park from 1967-77 and won a section title in 1968, then moved on to be an assistant coach for the next 14 years at Southwestern College.

Warren finally returned to Castle Park and won another championship in 1994, the first for a South Bay school since Sweetwater in 1984, and rolled through 13 opponents without defeat for another championship in Division II this season.

Castle Park topped Carlsbad, 37-10, in the D-II championship. Quarterback Gabe Lujan was San Diego Section offensive player of the year and linebacker Zeke Moreno was co-defensive player of the year with Vista’s Robbie Robinson.

CASTLE FULL OF RICHES    

Coach Gil Warren could not be accused of running up the score in Castle Park’s 61-13 win over Montgomery.

Seven different Trojans scored and Warren was able to get 14 different running backs into the game.

RAMONA LAMENT

After a 41-6 loss to Bonita Vista, Ramona coach Rick Foley was upset.  “This is the worst experience in my 17 years of coaching,” he said.

The Bulldogs were penalized 8 times for 78 yards and the host Barons celebrated the school’s first victory over a North County team.

Bonita was 0-7 dating to 1968, although Ramona, considered North, actually is East County.

There would other similar setbacks for Foley’s team, which finished with a 1-9 record and a three-year score of 6-24 for Foley, who left after the season.

TRUE GRID

Torrey Pines’ Hayden Epstein kicked a 56-yard field goal, second longest in Section history, as the Falcons beat Oceanside, 29-23…Epstein also added placements of 48 and 34 yards…La Costa Canyon in Carlsbad, the public school replacement for San Dieguito when the Encinitas school became San Dieguito Academy and dropped football, was beaten in its inaugural game by another relative newcomer…Scripps Ranch, in its second season, defeated the Mavericks, 36-13…Marian rushed for 290 yards and a 42-7, first-half lead and totaled 509 yards on the ground in a 55-7 win over St. Augustine…some 6,000 were on hand at Vista, when Concord De La Salle of the North Coast section, defeated Ranch Buena Vista, 36-19, for its 52nd consecutive victory…Dwight Morris, 20-9-1 as Mount Miguel’s head coach from 1971-73, returned to the sideline 23 years later for another three-year stint (14-19) with the Matadors…New England guard Ted Johnson, on the NFL all-rookie team in 1995, donated $10,000 to his Carlsbad alma mater so the school could upgrade its weight room…El Cajon Valley made its first trip to the postseason since 1974 and was escorted out, 47-7, by El Capitan, which beat the Braves, 45-14, during the regular season…the Braves were 8-0-1 when they met a first-round defeat 23 seasons earlier, 26-8 by Mission Bay…unhappy with what he had been seeing up close, Vista coach Steve Silverman moved to the press box and directed the Panthers’ 17-14 victory over Orange Glen from high atop the field…Mount Miguel, wiped out, 68-0, in 1995 by Monte Vista, recovered to beat the Monarchs, 18-13….

 

What a difference 70 years makes.

Jerry Ralph’s speedy, competitive Hoover Cardinals took a 63-0 halftime lead and then called off the jam, activated the running clock, and ran out the game against former arch rival San Diego.

The 63-point victory gave Hoover the City League championship and its first outright league title since Roy Engle’s 1963 club won the Eastern League championship by defeating San Diego, 20-7, on the final Friday night of the regular season.

Hoover’s 8-2 record tied the Cardinals for the fourth most victories in school history, matched by the 1956 (8-2) and 1986 (8-4) teams, and bettered only by the 10-2 of Willie Matson’s 1999 squad, Mike Wright’s 9-3 team of 2006, and Ralph’s 9-3 in 2013.

San Diego  fell on hard times years ago, but this latest, mercy killing is payback for the dwindling few Cardinals faithful who were around when the Cavemen destroyed the Redbirds, 72-0, in 1944.

Over the decades Hoover was on the receiving end of other San Diego blowouts, such as 48-7 (1946), 53-13 (1959), 56-7 (1969), 50-13 (1980), and 66-6 (2002).

League championships have been few and far between in the 85 seasons of Hoover football.  For years the school was known for outstanding basketball and baseball programs.

Hoover opened in 1930 and won titles in an early incarnation of the City League in 1931 and ’32.

The 1935 team, with Engle as its star runner, was 7-1-1 and won the Bay League championship.  That team’s .833 winning percentage has been equaled once, by the 10-2 of Matson’s Harbor League runner-up 15 years ago.

Ralph is ascending among the career leaders.

With a 23-10 record since 20-12 at Hoover, Ralph’s overall mark in 16 seasons at Santana, St. Augustine, Del Norte, and Hoover  is 119-67-2 for a .638 percentage, eighth highest among active San Diego Section mentors.

Winning at Hoover:

YEAR	LEAGUE	RECORD	PLACE	OVERALL
1931	City	3-0	1	5-3
1932	City	3-0	1	6-3
1935	Bay	5-0-1	1	7-1-1
1943	Victory	5-0-1	1	5-0-1
1956	City Prep	3-0-1	1	8-2
1962	Eastern	4-0-1	1	7-2
1963	Eastern	4-0-1	1	7-2-1
1986	Central	4-1	1T	8-4
2006	Western	4-1	1T	9-3
2014	City	4-0	1	Still competing.

REACTION BENIGN TO PLAYOFF SEEDINGS 

The computer spoke.

There was no outrage, just a few raised eyebrows when San Diego Section commissioner Jerry Schniepp announced pairings for the five divisions of postseason playoffs.

Winning a league championship does not have the cachet of the past.

El Capitan won a head-to-head battle with Helix, 24-17, for the Grossmont League Hills title this week, but was consigned to the top seed in Division II, while the Highlanders were the third seed in the Open.

With top clubs getting Open Division berths, the D-I bracket is beyond weak.  Point Loma (8-2), Madison and Steele Canyon, each 7-3, are the only winning teams of 12.

Open Division teams get first-round byes this week, then the bracket of eight clubs will battle for the Section championship and a possible invitation to the state playoffs.