Helix had 16 first-place votes and Oceanside the other three as the two big shots from opposite points of the County are beginning to separate from the rest of  the Top 10 in the UT-San Diego poll.

Helix gained only one point to 187 but Oceanside gained 41 to 174, while No. 3 Mission Hills dropped 35 points to 123.  St. Augustine was static with 120 points at No. 4.

A revived Cathedral picked up 28 points for a total of 97 and is No. 5.

Big game this week has St. Augustine at Los Angeles Loyola, which is installing lights, running bus shuttles from Pershing Square, setting up temporary bleachers for 4,000 persons, charging $15 for available parking, and celebrating its first home game since 1949.

Don’t make the trip unless you have a ticket. None will be sold at the gate.

Coincidentally, St. Augustine was the visiting team for a Southland Catholic League  game with Loyola on Oct. 22, 1949.

Whether that game was played at Loyola or at one of the Cubs’ other “home” playing sites is not known,  but it remains as  one of the final games  in the last 65 years on the near-downtown-L.A. campus located at Venice Blvd. and Normandie Avenue.

Other intersectionals send Mar Vista to Santa  Cruz Harbor, Eastlake to Long Beach Veterans’ Stadium to play Los Alamitos, and Oceanside to Temecula Chaparral.

*Awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
NR: not ranked.
Others receiving votes: San Marcos, 14; Carlsbad, 13; La Costa Canyon, Sweetwater, 7 each; Otay Ranch, 6; Westview, 5; Poway, 2; Steele Canyon, 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).

Rick Jackson’s program at Madison took off in 2008.  The Warhawks are 66-9-1 since and success is noted everywhere.

The school, hard by I-805 and Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, has a modern, aluminium stadium that hosted about 4,000 persons Friday night when the opponent was St. Augustine.

Multiple signage points out the Warhawks’ state division championships in 2010 and ’12.

The Madison logo is of NFL quality and stunningly displayed from both sides of the 50-yard line.

Electric scoreboards at each end of the stadium provide essential game information. At $5, the game program was worth the purchase.

Most important, the Warhawks are led by the seasoned Kareem Coles, a slick, lefthanded quarterback.

And despite a second straight loss, 36-29 to the Saints, Jackson’s team should contend again for a Western League championship.

NICE COMEBACK, BUT…

Madison trailed throughout, at 14-0, and 28-14, but scored with more than four minutes remaining and then successfully converted a two-point conversion to go ahead, 29-28.

Richard Sanchez’s Saints retook the lead with a little more than a minute left in the game.

And that’s when it got interesting.

TO TAKE THE BALL, OR…

The Saints opted to “pooch” the kickoff in an attempt to keep the ball away from Shaheed Madyun, who had taken a kickoff 92 yards to the house in the first half.

Andrew Seelert’s kickoff went out of bounds, however, and Madison had a choice:  Take the ball at its 35-yard line or move the Saints back from their 40 and have them re-kick from the 35, hopefully improving the Warhawks’ field position.

DO IT AGAIN

Madison chose to have St. Augustine kick again.  Seelert, who had been kicking short of the end zone all night, boomed one that went through the end zone for an automatic touchback.

There was no possible return for Madyun and Madison now took over on its 20 with 1:09 left.

Kareem Coles’ pass was intercepted on second down.

Ball game.

TRAVELING BAND

St. Augustine students and boosters overwhelmed the approximate 1,000-seat visiting section at Madison and were forced to standing room on the ramps.

The Saints “travel” as well as anyone in the San Diego Section.

INTERSECTIONALS? PIECE OF CAKE

San Diego County teams made a dramatic comeback on the intersectional circuit after some first-week disasters.

Local squads were 3-0 in Honor Bowl games at Oceanside and 4-0 in the major divisions.

Cathedral, trailing, 14-7, at halftime beat regarded Westlake Village Oaks Christian, 28-21. Helix topped Loomis Del Oro, 34-10, and Oceanside handled Mission Viejo, 24-6.

La Costa Canyon rebounded and dispatched Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills, 34-7.

Through two weeks, County schools are 9-13 against  California, Arizona, Utah,  and Hawaii.

The record also includes two lower division losses this week, Army-Navy losing to Temecula Rancho Christian, 36-6, and Santa Fe Christian falling to Santa Barbara Bishop Diego, 20-16.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME?

That a team outscored an opponent, 84-6, as did CETY’s of Mexicali, Mexico, against Calipatria?

San Diego in 1916 crushed Orange, 84-6.

Calipatria has surrendered 152 points in its first two games.

THRILL OF VICTORY, AGONY OF DEFEAT

The day after had to be miserable for Tracy McNair.

The Morse coach watched his team seemingly clinch a 12-9 victory with 15.4 seconds left in the game.

But on the next play Scripps Ranch backup quarterback  Kyle Mullen combined with receiver Jay Numanlia-zone on a 65-yard touchdown  pass play with 2.1 remaining and the Falcons escaped with a 16-12 victory.

QUICK KICKS

Jackson, who became head coach in 2005, was 24-18 in his first three seasons at Madison and that included an 0-10 disaster in 2006…Jackson’s  overall record is 90-29-1…Madison’s enrollment is about 1,200 for four grades…at one point in the ‘seventies Madison was second only to Patrick Henry…the Warhawks counted more than 3,800 students for three grades in 1972-73…they’re 41 miles apart and don’t see each other very often…when San Marcos defeated host Chula Vista, 41-34, it marked the teams’ first meeting since 1995… Rancho Bernardo, 2-19 in 2012 and ’13, and 7-25 since ’11,  is 2-0 for the first time since ’10 and has scored 73 points in two games….

Dr. Tebb Kusserow, an all Southern California lineman at Santa Monica High in 1960, is involved with the Samohi Archival Project and provided this rare footage of a Southern Section playoff in 1954 between San Diego High (dark uniforms) and Santa Monica at Corsair field on the Santa Monica College campus.

Led by future NFL quarterback Lee Grosscup, Santa Monica defeated San Diego, 14-13, and moved on to the semifinals of the postseason in search of their third consecutive championship. The Vikings were eliminated the next week  by Glendale Hoover.

Many of the losing Cavers came back the following season to win the championship, but they were a year away in 1954.

This video has many plays in the game, on a field heavy and wet from recent  rain.

A come-from-behind-win against a ranked team from the Southern Section resulted in coach Troy Starr’s Helix Highlanders landing 15th in Cal-Hi Sports‘  State Top 25 this week.

Oceanside is 16th, Mission Hills 21st, and St. Augustine is “On the Bubble”.  El Capitan is third in Southern California in Division III, and Christian third in D-IV.

The Highlanders, trailing, 20-17, scored on Curtis Holmes’ two-yard run with less than two minutes remaining  to defeat No. 18 Ventura St. Bonaventure, 24-20, in an Honor Bowl game at Oceanside.

Helix, which was 22nd in Cal-Hi Sports’ preseason rankings, stayed grounded, rushing 50 times for 316 yards.

Oceanside, 21st in the preseason rankings, defeated St. Augustine, 34-28.

Mission Hills, 12th in the preseason, fell nine places after falling to Timpview of Provo, Utah, which outscored the Grizzlies, 14-0, in the fourth quarter of a 42-28 victory.

More Honor Bowl games are scheduled this week at Oceanside. Helix takes on Loomis Del Oro and Oceanside meets Mission Viejo.

Other games find Mission Hills playing host to Torrey Pines, St. Augustine visiting Madison, Mater Dei going to El Capitan, and West Hills at Christian.

Thanks to Hoover  alumnus and  school historian Chuck Hansen, we were able to  acquire footage of Hoover’s celebrated football victory over San Diego in 1956, plus a 1992 televised interview with the late Walt Baranski, a star on that Cardinals team.

Baranski, who was slowed by  a progressive, crippling disease and  passed away at age 69 in 2008, was a three-sport standout at Hoover and played end and placekicked for the team that upset San Diego and went on to win the City Prep League championship.

Baranski was a starting guard on two Hoover basketball teams that were a combined 47-9, a young member of the 1954 American Legion Post 6 championship squad, a starting third baseman on the Hoover club that reached the 1957 Southern California finals, and played baseball and basketball at the University of Oregon.

The game film reflects the technology of the day, but has been preserved by Mr. Hansen and is a memorable moment in school history.

No turnout in the 80-plus seasons of Hoover football  ever approached the estimated 7,000 which overflowed the Cardinals’ stadium on the night they came from a 12-0 deficit to defeat arch-rival San Diego, 20-12.

Baranski, No. 84,  played end and was on offense and defense for Hoover, kicked off, and kicked points after touchdowns in the memorable game.

The video is 9 minutes, 48 seconds.  It does not include the entire game film.  San Diego scored when Bobby Staten ran 20 yards with a recovered fumble and on a blocked punt recovered in the end zone.

Hoover’s touchdowns were scored by Bob Williams, quarterback Gary Bailey, and fullback Denny Berg.

Search “1956: Then and Now for Hoover’s Engle” and “1956: “Smiley Was San Diego High Legend” for a review of the County’s 1956 football season.