The result of the Eastern League’s vote to determine its champion after a three-way tie for first was considered by some so egregious that even the coach of a potential playoff opponent led the shouting.

San Diego High was the selection of the league’s principals after the Cavemen finished with a 5-1 record, same as St. Augustine’s and Patrick Henry’s.

That the Cavemen were in the playoffs for the first time since 1960, following a 2-7 season in 1968, should have been enough for a collective doffing of headwear to Allan (Scotty) Harris.

Harris, a retired major and former coach of the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot team, took over the Cavers’ program in 1968 and the team found its stride after a 2-3 start this season.

San Diego won the renamed City Conference playoffs  and went on to tie County Conference titlist Escondido, 21-21, for the AA title, but not before critics, including Kearny coach Birt Slater, were heard, loudly.

REPRESENTATIVES SWAYED?

One complaint was that San Diego’s closing run of victories over Crawford (57-6) and Hoover (56-7) gained too much currency with the league’s voting representatives.

Another was that the Eastern League schools, by choosing the Cavers, “were punishing St. Augustine” for unproven charges of misconduct.

St. Augustine virtually had to shoot its way into the City Prep League in 1957 and some schools still chafed at the Saints’ perceived advantages of recruiting and in eligibility.

The most vocal beef was that St. Augustine’s head-to-head victory over San Diego and the Saints’ superior team statistics were dismissed.

The issue even got the attention of the San Diego Section board of managers, made up of district superintendents or their appointees.

The CIF bosses had been fielding their own dose of criticism from coaches, fans, and media about  another subject, the short, two-week football playoff.

The bosses finally extended the postseason one week for the first time this season, allowing the two conference champions to play in a winner-take-all, AA title contest.

The ruling body of the San Diego Section also hung with the Eastern League, citing Article 24 of the CIF bylaws.

The article states…“leagues shall determine their own champions in any way they see fit, provided their methods are not contrary to the rules of the San Diego Section.”

THREE-WAY LOSSES

San Diego entered the playoffs with a 6-3 overall record and with a 21-14 victory over 6-3 Patrick Henry but with a 24-21 loss to St. Augustine, which was 8-1 and with a 7-0 loss to Henry.

The eight playoff teams, four in each conference, posted a combined record of 62-11.

Escondido (9-0) was the County’s top seed. Kearny (9-0) was the City’s top seed and would play a lower-seeded, at-large team, one that was to be added to the bracket after league winners were positioned.

SLATER CODE RED

Kearny suddenly was forced to the take on at-large St. Augustine in the first round.

Birt Slater fumed. He figured his first opponent would be San Diego, a team the Komets whipped, 21-7, early in the season.

“There is no question which team proved itself this season,” Slater told Bill Finley of the Evening Tribune. “It would (even) have made more sense to choose Patrick Henry than San Diego.  At least (Henry) was good enough to beat San Diego.”

Slater compared the San Diego selection to a student who “flunks the first half of the semester, then passes the second half.  You don’t give him an ‘A’.”

RURALS DISTRUSTFUL?

Slater veered direction.  “The reason we have two separate playoffs (since 1967) is because the County has always distrusted us.  This is why.”

The Kearny mentor, a former San Diego High assistant, was referring to a selection process the County felt always favored the city schools.

Slater, never one to duck controversy, railed that the “democratic” league vote was faulty because “there’s too much self-interest.”

The coach’s solution was a “dictatorship”.  He favored allowing CIF commissioner Don Clarkson to  select the teams. “He’d be fair and this type of thing wouldn’t happen.”

Kearny was flushed out by St. Augustine, 14-6, and San Diego had the last laugh.  The Cavers, behind the thrusts of Robert Jones, cousins Lee and Paul Davis, and Arnold Miller, rushed for 321 yards and ran St. Augustine into a 31-7 submission in the City final.

Four running backs!  Shades of the Duane Maley Cavers of the ‘fifties.

The Eastern League had gotten it right.

SEA OF WHITE

Greg Durrant was a fledgling teenager and his parents helped guide Greg’s passion for football, taking the youngster to all 11 Castle Park games.

According to Durrant, citing the Castle Park Trumpet newspaper, the Trojans were the first high school team in the country to be outfitted with white shoes, joining the pros’ Joe Willie Namath and Fred (The Hammer) Williamson as history makers of this color footwear.

When Castle Park came out on the field for the pregame warmup before their kickoff against Morse, the Trojans were in all white.

“Morse thought Castle Park was wearing only socks,” remembered Durrant.

The Trojans scored a 24-0, opening game victory in a battle of 1968 conference champions, then ran off nine more victories in a row.

COUGARS CLAW BACK

Escondido  fell behind, 27-14, in the second quarter but finally knocked out Castle Park, 35-33, in the County final at Aztec Bowl.

Escondido coach Chick Embrey called a quarterback sneak as the San Diego Section championship ended before 13,572 at San Diego Stadium.  This after the Cougars had tied San Diego with 2:09 remaining.

“Sure, I’d be in favor of sudden death,” said Embrey, fearing the worst after a series of mishaps leading up to the last play, “but it’s unfair to say we were playing for a tie.”

The 21-21 deadlock was only the third in Embrey’s 14 seasons and 136 games as Escondido coach. San Diego had a 17-7 advantage in first downs.

“A” GETS SQUARED AWAY

For the first time since 1966 the Southern League was able to formulate a true playoff bracket.

The eight-team circuit (three would be added for other sports) was divided into two divisions, with each division’s winner meeting in a championship game.

La Jolla Country Day, San Miguel School, Army-Navy, and San Diego Military were in the Coastal Division and Borrego Springs, Mountain Empire, Julian, and Ramona comprised the Mountain Division.

Ramona (6-3) topped Army-Navy (3-5), 32-0, for the title.

FOR ONE OR FOR TWO?

That was a new and often anxious decision awaiting coaches.

Eleven years after the colleges, nine years following the American Football League, and 25 years before the NFL, the nation’s high schools, including the 48 football-playing squads in the San Diego Section, opted for the rule allowing the two-point conversion try following touchdowns.

Football scientists over the years determined that the 2-point option probably is successful 50 to 55 per cent of the time, depending on time and situations in the game.

Accordingly, San Diego Section teams attempted 22 two-point attempts and converted 12 on the first weekend of games.  The success rate was 52.2 per cent.

PASSES MORE SUCCESSFUL

Teams were good on 7 of 10 passing attempts and 5 of 12 running attempts.  None of the successful two-pointers played a direct role in the outcome of the game.

The traditional, one-point kick still was en vogue.

Mission Bay’s Mike Marquez, who scored touchdowns on runs of  six and nine yards, booted two points after  to give the Buccaneers a 14-13 victory over Mar Vista.

MORE PLACEMENTS?

Kicking also was going to become more optimal, suggesting a long-delayed acknowledgement of the vintage and mostly unused field goal.

Goal posts were being widened from the existing 18 feet, 6 inches, to 23 feet, 4 inches, in compliance with National Collegiate Athletic Association guidelines.

Football cleats also would be reduced from 7/8-inch to ½-inch in an effort to decrease knee injuries. The goal posts and cleats would be implemented gradually but become mandatory by 1971.

‘SIXTIES FAVORITES

Kearny’s season came to an abrupt end but the Komets and Escondido, completed the first decade of the CIF San Diego Section as the preeminent teams from 1960-69:

TEAM	RECORD		COACH
Kearny	68-23-5	.719	Birt Slater
Escondido	67-29-3	.687	Bob (Chick) Embrey
Oceanside	64-26-5	.692	Herb Meyer
Helix	62-25-2	.701	Dick Gorrie, Warren Vinton, Al Hammerschmidt
Lincoln	61-27-4	.677	Shan Deniston, Earl Faison
University	56-29-5	.640	Robert (Bull) Trometter
Grossmont	55-25-1	.688	Ken Maynard, Sam Muscolino, Pat Carroll, Pat Roberts
St. Augustine	55-33-3	.636	Tom Carter, Ed Doherty, Joe DiTomaso
Point Loma	54-32-6	.607	Bennie Edens
Carlsbad	53-35-3	.592	Sveto (Swede) Krcmar

GROSSMONT ROLLS NINE

A state CIF decision near the end of the summer allowed the Grossmont League to count its preseason carnival as a scrimmage.

District schools now were allowed to schedule a ninth regular-season game. The ninth annual Grossmont League carnival, which spun off the original Metropolitan League carnival that began in 1956, attracted almost 12,000 persons to Aztec Bowl.

SOUR ON CARNIVAL

But the carnival “leaves most of the league’s coaches cold,” said the Evening Tribune’s Jack Williams.  “I’d play my JV if I could get away with it,” said one coach.

A complaint that dated to the City Schools’ carnival in the 1940s was that teams often had to play full games the next day in order to fill nonleague schedules.

Coaches worried about the quick turnaround and carnival injuries and deplored the interruption of season preparation.

CITY RESET?

A City Schools carnival comeback?

No, but it was under consideration because of the rising cost of athletic programs.

The City Schools carnival, a September fixture since the second carnival in 1940, was discontinued after the 1962 contest when schools asked for, and were granted, the option of scheduling a ninth game, according to Bill Center of The San Diego Union.

But a strong contributing factor to its demise was that the carnival also had become a hot potato for city honchos as rowdiness and violence in and around Balboa Stadium seemed to occur each year.  

The carnival had been under the lights since its origin at the end of the 1939 season until moving to the afternoon in 1959. Program costs were such that  numerous budget measures were on the table, including, but not confined to, the scary idea cutting of coaches’ game film and equipment.

STARS AND SONS

Castle Park standouts included future NFL first-round draft choice Steve Riley, a tackle out of USC, and future Metropolitan League coaches George Ohnessorgen and Andy Sanchez.

Another lineman was Coronado’s Ken Huff, who did not make the all-San Diego Section team but became a first-round selection after playing at North Carolina. Coronado’s quarterback was George Murphy, son of a former USC player and longtime NFL game official.  

Fallbrook quarterback Eddie Feigner was the offspring of the world-famous fast-pitch softball star of the same name.

 

Point Loma tight end Peter McNab was the son of San Diego Gulls hockey coach Max McNabb and a future, 15-season NHL player.

Mar Vista quarterback and all-purpose Gene Alim, who went on to dominate the 1980’s as head coach at Sweetwater, may have intercepted as many as 12 passes from his safety position.  Years later Alim was reported to have ended his career with a CIF record-tying total of 22.

Alim’s three field goals, from 15, 21, and 17 yards, were enough for Mar Vista to defeat Coronado, 9-7.

Kearny wide receiver Dwight (Shaky) McDonald went on to play at U.S. International in San Diego.

McDonald’s senior season was across town at San Diego State. Dwight  led the nation with 86 catches in 1974 and caught the eye of NFL scouts.

He signed as a rookie with the San Diego Chargers and played four years with the local pros.

David Plaut was the student representative from Patrick Henry High, reporting on Patriots games to the Union. Plaut followed a journalism path at Northwestern University and  enjoyed an award-winning career as a writer and director for NFL Films in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey.

HIATUS FOR PALOMAR

The unwieldy Palomar League, featuring Marian in South County, Ramona in the East County, and Army-Navy and San Marcos in North County, shut down, to return in a subsequent year.

While Ramona and Army-Navy stayed together in the Southern League, in separate divisions, Marian found residence in the Metropolitan League and San Marcos in the Avocado.

HENRY JOINED BY PARKER

The Patrick Henry Patriots played a complete varsity schedule in their second year and in the school’s first year with sophomore, junior, and senior classes.

The Francis Parker Lancers teed it up for the second time in the school’s 57-year history, playing a junior varsity schedule. The school, then located in Mission Hills, played an abbreviated schedule in 1924.

MIKE’S NO FAKE

Sweetwater’s Mike Faketty, a 6-foot, 2-inch, 220-pound tackle, recovered a fumble, sacked the quarterback twice, blocked a punt, was in on 11 tackles, and provided the essential block on a touchdown run.

“It was the finest game I’ve seen a linemen play in the four years I’ve been here,” said Red Devils coach David Lay.

Faketty’s fury was directed at Mount Miguel, a 30-0 loser to Sweetwater.

In the Red Devils star system, which awards outstanding performance, Faketty received five stars. “Nine or ten is the most we’ve had, in a whole year,” Lay told writer Jack Williams.

WELL TRAVELED

Marian’s new coach, Bill Craven, was at Buena Park High in 1968 after stops at Norwalk Excelsior, Artesia, San Juan Capistrano (now San Clemente), and Garden Grove Bolsa Grande.

Craven moved on again following the overmatched Crusaders’ 0-9 debut in the Metropolitan League.

QUICK KICKS

When you’re winning you can say almost anything, witness Grossmont coach Pat Roberts’ description of his  linemen for Union writer Bill Center:  “We’re so slow we’d drown in a car wash”…Hilltop’s A.J. (Art) Sisk resigned about a week before the season to take a job in the publishing business…Byron Meyers replaced Sisk, who was 29-24 in six seasons…coach Scotty Harris on San Diego High’s  defense, to Bill Finley:  “They don’t  care about their lives.  They just throw their bodies at the ball”… Helix coach Al Hammerschmidt estimated that quarterback Steve Coover threw almost 3,000 passes since the end of the 1968 season and before the start of September practice…La Jolla fans were cheering hurrah when Jim Harrah was on the field…the riffs in the Sweetwater offense were orchestrated by sophomore quarterback Steve Riif…Brad McRoberts went from being a quarterback at El Cajon Valley in 1968 to a tailback-linebacker at Santana this season…Mount Miguel coach Ben Cipranic listed nine assistant coaches on his staff, including Duane Freeman, a star on the 1960 team…after a 0-0 first quarter, Castle Park savaged Marian, 54-0, setting a school record for most points and amassing 524 yards in total yards…three Castle touchdowns were called back by penalties…Coronado’s 63-0 victory over Army-Navy represented the most points by the Islanders since a 73-6 win over La Jolla in 1929….

Not exactly the stuff of Agatha Christie, but mystery surrounded  “The Missing First Downs”.

La Jolla and Calexico engaged in a Southern California Lower Division playoff at La Jolla.

The game ended in a 6-6 tie, but The San Diego Union reported the next day that the Vikings “won”, 7-6, and advanced to a championship encounter.

As Union writer Mitch Angus noted, “An extra point tossed in for an edge in first downs made gave La Jolla High school a 7-6 victory over an invading Calexico High eleven in a bitter minor football playoff on the Jewel City gridiron.

“The Vikings scored 13 first downs to nine for the visitors to win the game on a CIF ruling,” wrote Angus.

Headlines the next few days tell a story.

Calexico did not protest but asked CIF commissioner Seth Van Patten for clarification of the rule pertaining to tied playoff games.

Van Patten went to his rule book.

According to a Mr. Lawson, the principal at Calexico, the commissioner said that because no official record of first downs was kept  the game either would be replayed in Calexico or go down as a tie.

(Van Patten had ordered replays before.  Search 1927: Foothillers Bring Championship to Grossmont).

The Union conducted a review and reported that in an unofficial count of five newspapermen and “other interested parties”, La Jolla was given the edge in four first down tabulations and one was even.

La Jolla principal Clarence Johnson was out of town and could not be reached for comment.

Days later the matter still was unsettled as thoughts turned to Christmas and basketball.

The game wouldn’t be replayed.

According to the Union, the head linesman assigned to the game was responsible and failed to keep a record of first downs.

The official in question was Joe Beerkle, the head coach at San Diego High.

Area coaches manned the other officiating positions. Grossmont’s Jack Mashin was referee, Morris Gross of San Diego State was back judge, and Sweetwater’s Cletis (Biff) Gardner was umpire.

The CIF Southern Section record book lists no lower division champion for 1938.

METROPOLITAN PLAYOFF OUT

There was talk of a postseason, Thanksgiving Day game for the Metropolitan League title after Point Loma and La Jolla tied for first with 5-1 records (La Jolla beat Point Loma, 22-7, and Coronado upset La Jolla, 6-0).

A decision not to play was made after principals from each school met with coaches.

Point Loma honcho Clarence Swenson stated, “We felt it might hinder the chances of the Metropolitan League entry in the CIF minor league playoff.”

Point Loma had won league titles in 1936 and 1937 but had declined invitations to participate in the postseason.

La Jolla later won a coin flip with the Pointers to determine the league’s playoff representative against Calexico.

FIVE TROJANS FROM SAN DIEGO

USC coach Howard Jones mined the recruiting fields in San Diego with great success during his tenure as the “Head Man” at USC from 1926-40.

Six players  from San Diego were on Jones’s 1938 squad that upset undefeated Notre Dame, 13-0, then defeated a Duke team that had not been scored on, 9-0, in the 1939 Rose Bowl.

From left:  blocking halfback Joe Shell (Hoover), end Sal Mena (San Diego), guard Ben Sohn (San Diego), fullback Roy Engle (Hoover), and quarterback Oliver Day (San Diego). Not pictured, back Ambrose Schindler.

WHAT DO YOU REALLY MEAN?

Coach-speak could be ponderous at best, or did sportswriters of the day just report quotes the way they wanted to hear them?

La Jolla boss Marvin Clark was quoted thusly when Clark spoke of the team’s prospects after 40 candidates turned out:

“Since we have no outstanding threat—no player capable of breaking away for touchdowns with enough frequency to be considered a menacing ball packer—we must work extra hard for our touchdowns, which means that we are not apt to be more than a good defensive (sic) team.

“The club is too small to be overly powerful, for our players will not average more than 150 pounds, and that means we will have to content ourselves with making trouble for the big fellows.

“We hope to have a good team but our prospects are not brilliant.”

La Jolla, 3-5 in 1937, improved to 8-1-1.

TOO MUCH HYPE

Coach Joe Beerkle moved from Point Loma to San Diego and one of his standout Pointers, halfback Paul (Red) Isom, followed Beerkle, accompanied by much hoopla.

The coach complimented Isom, sort of.

“They’re trying to put Red on the spot,” said Beerkle.  “He’s no flashy, triple threat man. He’s good, however.”

Isom played through  injuries and led the Cavemen with five touchdowns and 30 points.

Red guided the Cavers 70 yards to the winning touchdown in the final minutes  as San Diego defeated Phoenix Union, 19-14, on the sixth annual Homecoming weekend. The school honored graduates from the class of 1891.

The Cavers had met the Arizona squad 12 times since 1923 but the series would be suspended because of travel concerns and not renewed until 1946.

FAREWELL, MOORS!

Alhambra won the Coast League championship after the Cavers missed a point after touchdown in a 6-6 tie, but the Moors were ending an affiliation with the Coast that began in 1925.

Games on the road with San Diego and Hoover usually were two-day trips, sometimes three.

Ground breaking for Mark Keppel High meant a new school would open on the east side of the city, cutting into the enrollment of the largest school in Southern California.

Alhambra would join the Foothill League, made up of mostly neighboring San Gabriel Valley schools, and the Coast League would be reduced to three teams, San Diego, Long Beach Poly, and San Diego Hoover.

3 LEAGUES MEET

A meeting in Long Beach among the 16 Bay League, Coast, and Foothill schools resulted in a realignment proposal that was adopted at a meeting at South Pasadena High in early 1939.

Representatives, including San Diego High vice principal Edward Taylor,  agreed to guarantee five league games in 1939-40 for the six Foothill, seven Bay, and three Coast League squads in football, basketball and baseball.

San Diego would play Hoover, Poly, Whittier of the Foothill League, and Compton and Inglewood of the Bay.

The Bay League’s Long Beach Wilson and the Foothill League’s Alhambra and Glendale Hoover were scheduled to be San Diego Hoover opponents.

The intersectional games would count in the teams’ league standings and hopefully revitalize the struggling Coast League.

NO PLAYOFFS URGED

Rivalries, partisanship and potential charges of bias were noted by commissioner Seth Van Patten when opponents were to be selected.

Van Patten named an executive committee that was charged with drawing up schedules.  Members of the select group did not have any connection to the schools involved.

Another recommendation that was not passed at a subsequent meeting called for the elimination of all playoffs.  The postseason apparently was not profitable and therefore not popular, but they would continue.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Seventeen bomber planes, from Navy Patrol Squadron 4, flying in formation all night, set a record for air time from San Diego to Honolulu on Sept. 7.

The planes covered the 2,150 miles in 17 hours, 17 minutes.

The trip, described politely as a “routine transfer of patrol bombers,” was made at an average speed of 145 knots, according to officials.  Converted, 145 knots was equal to 167 miles per hour.

CLIMATE CHANGE?

The San Diego temperature of 94 degrees on Oct. 2 broke the record of 88, set in 1893. Six weeks later, on Nov. 12, the temperature dropped to 18 in Descanso, 25 in El Cajon, and 30 in Escondido.

Tomatoes suffered in El Cajon and water froze on Palomar Mountain.

WHO’S GOING TO PAY?

The San Diego State Aztecs attended the USC-Notre Dame game in Los Angeles and then spent the night in a downtown L.A. hotel.

The next morning, after a team breakfast, graduate manager Al Morrison prepared to pay.

Morrison discovered that his wallet had been emptied of its contents. A further check revealed that currency had been removed from the billfolds of head coach Leo Calland and athletic director Morris Gross.

One other hotel guest reported that he, too, had been robbed. The Aztecs made good on the breakfast tab after returning home.

MR. TOUCHDOWN

Bobby Cifers, a triple-threat halfback from Kingsport, Tennessee, set a national high school record with 233 points in 12 games. Cifers scored 34 touchdowns and 29 PAT to break the mark of 211 set by Chicago prep Bill DeCorrevont in 1937.

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?

They were  mostly former San Diego High players  and they represented the Golden Hill Gophers, who defeated the Hilltoppers’ junior varsity, 12-0.

COOVER OF HOOVER

Chuck Coover was a 140-pound, second-team all-Coast League end and one of many future coaches mentored by Hoover’s John Perry.

Coover coached many years in San Diego, taking on almost impossible tasks at football-barren St. Augustine (1947), Mar Vista (1952-53), and Mission Bay (1959-61), before moving to Morse.

The school South of Encanto in the city’s Skyline District opened in 1962 and Coover built the program from the ground up.  He retired after a 9-2 season in 1968.

ADVERTISING FOR PLAYERS

Joe Beerkle was desperate for backfield help and placed a faux help-wanted ad in the morning newspaper.

“Any halfback, quarterback, or fullback not regularly employed at present kindly report to the San Diego High practice field at 2:30 this afternoon for a tryout.”

Beerkle was elated when Dempsey Holder, a 180-pound halfback, transferred in from a school in the Phoenix area in Arizona.

Like some Hollywood marriages, the relationship was brief and ended unhappily for Beerkle.

Holder, who stepped in at right halfback against Long Beach Poly, was gone three weeks later, moving back to Arizona.

EVENING TO REMEMBER

The first night game at Coronado turned into a frenetic last quarter.

Coronado scored two touchdowns in the last five minutes to overcome St. Augustine, 13-6, after the Saints took a fourth-quarter lead on Les Duffy’s 100-yard punt return.

MOVIES

Film study still was in its development stage, but San Diego coach Joe Beerkle took up most of one practice day by showing the squad “slow motion pictures” of the California-UCLA game from the previous week.

Beerkle hoped the film would aid Cavers backs blocking for Red Isom.

HONORS

Guards Bill Seixas of San Diego (first team) and Dave Cobb of Point Loma (third team), and halfback Al Walden of La Jolla (fourth team), earned all-Southern California honors.

TRUE GRID

A fight almost started at midfield  over possession of the game ball after  San Diego defeated Hoover, 14-0, before 16,000 in City Stadium…the ball finally was delivered to San Diego coach Joe Beerkle…San Dieguito spoiled dedication of Escondido’s new field, edging the Cougars, 7-6,  in the season opener for both teams…Fallbrook, in its third season of football, welcomed a turf playing surface; so did San Dieguito…Ramona won its inaugural game, 7-0 over Fallbrook…Metropolitan League rivals Oceanside and Escondido played a Thanksgiving Day nonleague game with proceeds setting up a fund for injured players…Escondido made it two in a row over the Pirates, 20-0…Hoover and Tucson drew 5,000 spectators in the  Arizona city the day after Thanksgiving…the Badgers beat the visitors, 14-6…Point Loma’s ace blocking back and defensive star Jack Farrell turned 20 in the middle of the season and had to leave the team, having exceeded the CIF age limit…

The narrative originally was posted on June 9, 2014.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—Better than the 1955 Cavers national champions?

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

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

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

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

MORSE 55, @ HONOLULU PUNAHOU 15.

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

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

MORSE 28, RANCHO BUENA VISTA 14, @Mesa College

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

The Tigers were  clearly superior.

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

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

MORSE 56, @SWEETWATER 28

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

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

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

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

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

MORSE 57, @VISTA 14

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

Really?

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

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

MORSE 44, LINCOLN 6, @MESA COLLEGE

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

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

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

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

MORSE 57, @KEARNY, 6

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

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

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

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

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

MORSE 60, SERRA 8

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

MORSE 40, @POINT LOMA 13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MORSE 57, PATRICK HENRY 13

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

MORSE 35, @MIRA MESA 14                                                        

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

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

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

MORSE 49, GRANITE HILLS 6, @SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE

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

MORSE 48, VISTA 14, @SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE

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

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

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

MORSE 35, CHULA VISTA 28, @SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE

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

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

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

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

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

Morse had survived a barnburner.

MORSE 28, ORANGE GLEN 7, @JACK MURPHY

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

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

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

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

POLLS

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

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

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

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

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER?

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

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

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

FALCON TAKES FLIGHT

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

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

BEWARE, WOLVES

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

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

MARINERS SUNK

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

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

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

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

The problem was not new and would not go away.

STARS APLENTY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NORTH COUNTY POWER

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

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

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

PLAYING AND FILMING

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

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

THE PROPHET MEYER

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

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

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

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

RUSHING RASHAAN

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

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

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

SIGN OF THE TIMES

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

SAFE HARBOR

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

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

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

TRUE GRID

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

 

Modified Sportsmen race cars and the arrival of the San Diego Chargers may have saved night football in the hills and valleys east of San Diego.

An unusual alliance.

Grossmont School District teams, faced with an illumination problem, played many games on the infield of the dirt track oval near the Gillespie Field airport from 1958-66.

New schools (Mount Miguel, 1957, El Capitan, 1959, Granite Hills, 1960, and Monte Vista, 1961) created an exponential need for lights on East County gridirons.

No lights, no night football.

Helix and Mount Miguel were the only schools in the new, seven-school Grossmont League that were able to host games after dark. Cajon Speedway, formerly County Stadium, became increasingly important.

The Speedway in north El Cajon near the future Eastbound State 52, was home for El Cajon Valley, Granite Hills, and Grossmont.

El Capitan played home games at Aztec Bowl.

BASEBALL AT GILLESPIE? 

Earle Brucker, Sr., who played and coached for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics and had a long career in the minor leagues, had baseball on his mind when he  became involved in plans to build a spring training facility for a major league team.

A plot of land next to Gillespie Field seemed destined to become the site, according to Bob Gardner, an El Cajon Daily Californian staffer who later became publicist at Cajon Speedway.

A hotel chain sought a lease from the County of San Diego to build on the land in 1955. The corporation also hoped to erect a major property on one of the hills to the  west, but a change in state tax laws forced the innkeepers to abandon their plan.

Brucker, according to Gardner, stepped up and acquired the lease.

“At the time the idea still was to build a ball park,” said Earle Brucker, Jr.  “After we got it built the baseball team (Detroit Tigers) decided to go elsewhere.

“Since the high schools around here didn’t have anywhere to play night football and since we were committed to put in some lights, we converted the baseball field into a football stadium,” said the younger Brucker.

A motorcycle track was installed after the first year of football. “The money we got from the motorcycles was the only income we had other than the minimal amount we got from the high schools,” said Brucker.

The struggling Bruckers would be gifted with some good luck.

PRO FOOTBALL COMES TO TOWN

Auto racing, a fixture at downtown San Diego’s Balboa Stadium since 1937, ceased when the San Diego Chargers relocated from Los Angeles this year and moved into the stadium.

The Bruckers hooked up with the San Diego Racing Association. County Stadium’s motorcycle track was renamed Cajon Speedway after a regulation, quarter-mile dirt oval was put in place  and modified sportsmen racers got the green flag.

By 1966, more Grossmont League schools had lights and Cajon Speedway was no longer needed.

Newspapers generally described the football-motorcycle layout as Gillespie Field, although the Bruckers originally identified their facility as  “County” Stadium.  That nomenclature officially changed with the Cajon Speedway naming in 1961.

NUTS AND BOLTS?

Al Carroll, a wide receiver-defensive back at Granite Hills in 1960-61 whose son and grandsons played for the Eagles, remembered Cajon Speedway and its peculiarities for Bill Dickens of The San Diego Union.

Despite having the gridiron regularly combed by several human metal detectors, Carroll told Dickens that players routinely had extra cuts and bruises from stray auto parts.

At halftime the Eagles retreated not to a locker room but to the school bus that brought them to the game.

Coach Glenn Otterson addressed his squad in a sweaty, humid atmosphere.

“I remember the windows fogging up more than what was being said by our coach,” said Carroll, who also married the school’s first homecoming queen.

WRONG WAY GALLUP

Dave Gallup was a tennis and prep writer at The San Diego Union.

And a curmudgeonly presence.

Gallup would take the opposite side in an  argument concerning virtually any subject. The veteran scribe was a self-styled expert on many issues but finding his way was not one.

Gallup was assigned a game for the first time at Cajon Speedway  and obtained instructions on how to get to there.

The writer was traveling at a reasonable speed on  a suddenly deserted roadway when he was startled to hear sirens and see red lights in his rear view mirror.

Pulled over by a Sheriff’s cruiser, Gallup was informed that he was motoring on the Gillespie Field runway and was about to be arrested.

Police relented after Gallup convinced the cops he was lost and not some sinister crazy up to no good. The officers ushered him to his proper destination.

Dave, of course, blamed the incident on poor directions.

EX-FOOTHILLER REPORTS BRIBE

Mickey Bruce, an all-Metropolitan League halfback and the league’s leading scorer in 1957 at Grossmont, was a star defensive back-running back at Oregon and had been subject of a bribe attempt in 1960 that came to light this year.

Bruce, testifying before a Senate committee on racketeering in Washington, D.C., identified gambler Frank (Lefty) Rosenthal during a hearing in September.

Rosenthal  and two associates approached Bruce at a hotel in Dearborn, Michigan, where the Ducks were preparing to play Michigan in September, 1960.

Bruce said the strangers invited him to their room to discuss tickets ordered by one of Bruce’s classmates, but quickly cut to the chase, offering Bruce $5,000 if he would “let a Michigan pass receiver get behind him” and helping ensure that Oregon would lose by at least 8 points.

Bruce also was offered another $5,000 if he could get Oregon quarterback Dave Gross “to call the wrong plays.” Bruce immediately informed his position coach, who told head coach Len Casanova, who notified authorities.

Bruce was asked to remain silent for almost  a year as authorities completed their investigation.

Rosenthal glared at Bruce during the hearing and took the fifth.

The Robert DeNiro portrayal of  “Sam (Ace) Rothstein”  in the 1995 Martin Scorcese-directed movie “Casino” is said to have been based on the life and Las Vegas career of Rosenthal, who died at age 79 in 2008.

After his testimony Bruce declined further participation, including serving as a witness in a possible trial in Michigan later in 1961. “I did my duty and that’s it,” said Bruce, who was advised by his father, an attorney in San Diego.

Bruce practiced law in San Diego and Oroville and passed away in the Northern California community at age 70 in 2011.

HONORS

Crawford’s Bill Rainey was on the all-Southern California first team and teammate Duane Farrar, who played tackle, was on the second team.  Third-team selections were Kearny end Bob Richardson and La Jolla quarterback Dan Berry. This was the next-to-last season that San Diego Section representatives were among the electors on  the Helms Athletic Foundation’s all-Southern California board for football, basketball, track, and other sports.

Nineteen of the 21 selectors were from the Los Angeles area and did  not feel they knew enough or saw enough of San Diego players in action. Basically the Northern representatives did not want to be pestered by the vocal, sometimes-desk-pounding San Diegans on the panel.

Guard Frank Chambliss (second team) and end Jack Waldvogel (third team) of Oceanside made lower-division honors.  Coronado back Kent Crawford was on the second team and Carlsbad back Joe Cienega made the third team.

The San Diego selectors were myself and F.W. (Bill) Whitney of the Breitbard Athletic Foundation.

POINT LOMA PLOY

Bennie Edens was going to hide a player in plain sight.

The Point Loma coach took Jeff Staggs, a tackle-linebacker, and moved him to fullback. Edens figured that if he changed the jersey Staggs was wearing each week it would confuse the Pointers’ opponents.

Staggs, who was identified by No. 62 as a junior, changed jersey numbers weekly, beginning early this season. He went from 61 to 62 to 86 to 23 to 44,  and finally to 66.

Edens thought the changes would make it difficult for upcoming opponents to identify the strapping, 235-pound Staggs in game films.

Nice try, Bennie.

Staggs later  earned Little All-America honors at San Diego State and played six seasons with the Chargers, L.A. Rams, and St. Louis Cardinals of the NFL.

TWO NEW LEAGUES

East County growth was such that the Grossmont League was formed this year.  At the same time the Palomar League for  North County squads was created.

From 1920-50 there had only been Grossmont in the East County.  Helix became the second school in 1951.

The inaugural Grossmont circuit, spinning off the two-division Metropolitan League of 1960, embraced seven:  Grossmont, Helix, El Cajon Valley, Mount Miguel, El Capitan, Granite Hills, and Monte Vista, which opened this year in Spring Valley.

MORE GROWTH

The Palomar League stretched from Poway in the South to Fallbrook in the North, Ramona in the East, and to Carlsbad’s Army-Navy in the West.

Poway and San Marcos aligned with Monte Vista as new section schools, as did Chula Vista’s Marian, which joined a truncated Southern Prep League that included only San Diego Military Academy and San Miguel School.

Fallbrook became a section football member after winning the Riverside County De Anza League in 1960.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

“You can’t tell the Grossmonts without a program,” wrote the Evening Tribune’s Roger Conlee.

Conlee noted that there was a Grossmont High, Grossmont College, the community of Grossmont, Grossmont Boulevard, Grossmont Hospital, and the Grossmont School District.

In making its bow this year, the  Grossmont League brought the total to seven. The Grossmont Center shopping mall, yet to come, would make it eight.

Lewis Smith, one of the founding fathers of the San Diego Section, was enamored of the name.  He had been principal at Grossmont High and was the school district superintendent.

“But my argument was that a league shouldn’t have the same name as one of its member schools,” said Conlee.   “I suggested Foothills League and a few others.”

COLTS WIN AT 8-0-2

Crawford was tied twice but repeated a 6-0, one-quarter carnival victory and a 13-0 nonleague win over Kearny with another 13-0 verdict over the Komets before a damp crowd of 8,500 in the AA playoffs final at Balboa Stadium.

Tom Whelan gave the Colts his usual steady quarterbacking.  Jim Rupe scored two touchdowns and led the defense-oriented 55th Street squad with 50 yards in 13 carries.  John Allison had 47 in 10 and Bill Rainey, the County’s leading scorer with 115 points, had 48 yards in 16 carries.

John Greene had 76 yards in 12  rushing attempts for Kearny.

“No matter how many times we’d play ‘em, they’d be two touchdowns better than us,” said Kearny coach Birt Slater.

The expected game of the year was the week before when Crawford met 8-0 Helix on a rain(e)y night.

The 170-pound halfback scored five touchdowns on the wet, well-worn Aztec Bowl turf as Crawford rushed for 365 yards to Helix’ 71 and pushed the Highlanders off the field in a 31-13 demonstration of power.

Colts coach Walt Harvey now had developed winning squads at La Jolla and startup programs Lincoln and Crawford.

COLTS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD, BUT…

Crawford was only one of four preseason favorites in the Eastern  League.  Point Loma,  playoffs runner-up to Escondido in 1960, was expected to win the Western, and Metropolitan favorite Escondido figured to bid strongly for a second straight AA title.

The Colts dispatched Lincoln, 28-7, in an early Eastern League showdown and battled to a 6-6 deadlock with St. Augustine. San Diego stunningly did not win a game, finishing 0-6-2, the Cavemen’s first winless campaign since 1908, but one of their ties was a dreadful, 0-0 outing for Crawford.

The Saints (6-1-1), bulwarked by all-Section center Ron Cota, second-team, all-section end John Nettles, and a host of other standouts, could have taken advantage, but on the night that San Diego tied Crawford, St. Augustine was upset by Lincoln, 13-6, as Willie Shaw ran for 128 yards and Vernus Ragsdale for 96.

Escondido struck early with a 32-12 victory over Point Loma in a rematch of the 1960 championship game.  But halfback Bob (The Blur) Blunt was injured a  few games into the season and the Cougars flattened out to 5-4, leaving Sweetwater alone at the top.

Helix won the Grossmont League showdown over Grossmont, 28-27, and was the favored team when the playoffs began.

VIKINGS ALMOST REIGN

La Jolla scored its first victory over San Diego since 1951 and went on to post a 7-1 record, its best since 1948, but a 14-6 loss to Kearny knocked the Vikings out of the Western League championship.

La Jolla may have lost the Western title but its game of the year was when the Vikings defeated  San Diego.

Trailing, 19-7, at the end of the third quarter, La Jolla rallied to a 27-19 victory.

Quarterback Dan Berry, who rushed for 153 yards in 20 carries, scored two touchdowns and passed for two, one a 35-yard strike to Butch Taylor in the fourth quarter.

Berry went on to the University of California at Berkeley and was a fifth-round draft choice of the Philadelphia Eagles.

LANCERS WIN SMALL

Carlsbad won the A title with a 10-6 victory at Coronado’s soggy Cutler Field, stopping the Islanders on Carlsbad’s seven- and four-yard lines.

ANOTHER DAYTIME CARNIVAL

Rowdydism had forced the 23^rd annual City Schools carnival to leave the cover of darkness and was played in the afternoon for the third consecutive year.

About 17,000 Balboa Stadium patrons saw the East contingent of Crawford, Lincoln, Hoover, and St. Augustine defeat  West schools Point Loma, Clairemont, La Jolla, and Mission Bay, 12-6.

Bill Rainey ran 33 yards for an East touchdown. Lincoln’s Vernus Ragsdale hiked 51, 36, and 10 yards for touchdowns, but penalties negated the longer runs. Tom Bowden and Bob Hartin combined on a 53-yard screen pass for a score as Clairemont outpointed Hoover, 6-0.

TRUE GRID

Earl Brucker, Jr., is a footnote in the history of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres…Brucker pinch hit for Herb Gorman in  April, 1953,  at Lane Field after Gorman collapsed in left field and died in the Padres’ clubhouse during the first game of a doubleheader against Hollywood…Hoover’s 19-13 win over San Diego turned on Phil Cappelletti’s 60-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter…Hoover was 2-6  but defeated San Diego for the first time since 1956 and Lincoln for the first time since 1958… Point Loma did not have coach Bennie Edens all the week of its Western League-championship game with Kearny…Edens was in bed with a severe cold but was on hand as the Pointers fell to Kearny, 20-7…Lincoln saved a 27-26 victory over Chula Vista by stopping the Spartans twice on a run-attempted conversions in the fourth quarter…the Hornets were penalized, giving the Spartans a second chance…Harvey retired after Crawford won the AA title and was the County Coach of the Year, honored at the annual St. Augustine Appreciation Night….

There wasn’t just a millennium going on.

Wholesale league changes and the San Diego Section’s second annexation of schools in the Imperial Valley were creating a new landscape.

What started in 1980 with the addition of Calipatria, Holtville, and Imperial, was completed after Blythe Palo Verde Valley,  El Centro Central, Brawley, Calexico, El Centro Southwest, and Calexico Vincent Memorial left the Southern Section.

Winterhaven San Pasqual also joined in 1980 and Salton City West Shores became a member in 1998, but neither of those schools was in for the long run.

DID VALLEY GET SHAFT?

Not everyone was happy.

Brian Hay wondered about his new associates. The El Centro Southwest coach was miffed when his 7-3 team was left out of the playoffs and three with losing records were bracketed into D-III.

“All of the San Diego-area team reps teamed up to keep us out,” Hay told Steve Brand of The San Diego Union.  “There’s something wrong when you’re 7-3 and don’t get into the playoffs.

“Only one of the Imperial Valley teams (Brawley) made it,” Hay added.  “I’d like to see the top two teams from each league be included.”

Hay was determined:  “We’re looking for a game against a San Diego-area team next year, so this won’t happen again.”

Hay didn’t get that game for El Centro Southwest.

He  went one better.

The Southwest mentor headed west to San Diego to become head coach at Hilltop and became a fixture in the South Bay,  moving on to Mar Vista and then Sweetwater.

OTHERS UPSET, TOO

University was in the playoffs with a 3-7 record, but Rancho Bernardo (4-6-1) and San Diego (6-3-1) received the veritable rubber key.

“They say they want the best teams playing each other, so we play marquee teams and get punished because of our record,” said Rancho Bernardo’s Ron Hamamoto.  “We’re one of 12 best teams in the County.”

The Broncos defeated Vista, 6-3, and Rancho Buena Vista, 28-27.  Those teams received first-round byes in D-I.

67 YEARS FOR METRO

The Metropolitan Conference, which started as the eight-team Metropolitan League in the 1933-34 school year, servicing the city’s small schools and select suburban schools, became two-headed, splitting into Mesa and South Bay circuits.

Sweetwater, San Diego Southwest, Montgomery, Chula Vista, and Bonita Vista came together as the Mesa League, all with larger enrollments than their South Bay brethren.

Marian (enrollment about 450), was by far the smaller entry among Mar Vista, Castle Park, Hilltop, and Eastlake, which made up the South Bay.

The Metro split once before, in 1960, when it divided into Northern and Southern divisions as the San Diego Section began play.

THE ORIGINAL METRO

Coronado and Sweetwater were charter  members, with Point Loma, La Jolla, Army-Navy, Escondido, Oceanside, and Grossmont.

SEISMIC SHAKEUP

The Central League, born in 1980, went to the Great League in the Sky (only to be resurrected in 2005) and its temporary passing was felt throughout the city.

The Western League greeted Crawford, San Diego, and Madison from the Central, and Hoover, which bid bon voyage to the Harbor. Western holdovers were La Jolla, Lincoln, and Kearny.

The Eastern League, which debuted with the Western when the City Prep League divided in 1959, also was involved.

University and St. Augustine moved from the Western to the Eastern.

The parochial schools joined Morse, Mira Mesa, Patrick Henry, Scripps Ranch and Point Loma.

TAKE THIS SPLIT AND SHOVE IT

Despite attempting to level the field based on enrollment, Mesa and South Bay teams still were scheduled to play interleague games.

There were unintended consequences.

Large school San Diego Southwest (Mesa) was run off the field, 66-0, by small-school-but-traditionally-formidable Castle Park (South Bay).

“We shouldn’t have had to play this game,” Southwest coach Joe Gonzalez fumed to writer Tom Shanahan.  “We’re struggling.  We’re overmatched.  We should be in a different league.”

Gonzalez added, “Give us a couple years to turn this around, but don’t force us to play strong competition we’re not ready to play.”

In a 0-10 season the loss to Castle Park was not the most humiliating.  Mesa League rival Sweetwater defeated the Raiders, 72-0.

AVOCADO-PALOMAR-VALLEY SHUTTLE

The North County Conference also was shuffling. Torrey Pines moved from the Avocado League to the Palomar and Oceanside went from the Avocado to the Valley.

This made for three, more symmetrical alignments–five-team Avocado and six-team Palomar and Valley.

BAPTISM BY FIRE

Chris Hauser’s first game as head coach at Vista was against the most storied program in California.

It was a formidable assignment, but the fiery Hauser had been preparing for the moment.

Hauser was a wide receiver and defensive back in the early 1980s for legendary Vista coach Dick Haines.

After college Hauser returned to the school as a classroom teacher, was married to a Vista graduate, coached the Panthers junior varsity from 1990-93, and was varsity defensive coordinator from 1994-99.

The Panthers dropped a 20-14 decision to Long Beach Poly, ranked second in California by Cal-Hi Sports and third in the country by USA Today.

Hershel Dennis’ 65-yard touchdown run with 5:07 remaining clinched the victory for the visitors.

“We talked about spilling our guts and our guys spilled their guts tonight,” Hauser said to writer Mick McGrane.  “It’s neat to see them leave with a different taste in their mouth.

“They came in here pretty arrogant, thinking they were going to mow us down.  It’s great it was a close game, but I want to win.”

BUCS’ BLOCK

Mission Bay’s 13-0 season included a stiff regular-season test when the Buccaneers went to 9-0 with a 10-7 victory over Lincoln (8-1).

David Abbott, a 6-foot, 245-pound lineman, blocked a 27-yard field goal attempt by Lincoln’s Noe Gonzalez  with 5.2 seconds left.

BUSING

Although Shannon Nowden owned a car, most of Mission Bay’s football players were products of optional school choices and were bused in.

Coach Dennis Pugh said that probably 75 per cent of his team came from areas outside the Bucs’ natural enrollment boundaries.

Nowden was from the Lincoln district.  Others included JaJa Riley and Scott White (Morse), Marcus Smith and David Abbott (Hoover),  and Jared Bray and Adam Riccardulli (Clairemont).

“When we start in the fall it’s like  we have a bunch of kids moving in from out of state,” Pugh told Tom Shanahan of The San Diego Union. “These kids go through a lot to make it work.  They spend more than two hours a day on the bus.”

CHAMPIONSHIP PLUCK

Those transfers played a part in the biggest play of Mission Bay’s season.  Trailing Lincoln, 13-7, Marcus Smith pick-pocketed Lincoln quarterback Jason Swanson and raced 96 yards for a touchdown in the Buccaneers’ 27-13 win in the D-III final.

“First I went for the strip and then I went for the end zone,” said Smith, who heard “dangerous” footsteps chasing him.  Then Smith took advantage of something not usually available in high school games, according to Steve Brand.

“I looked up at the Jumbotron (in Qualcomm Stadium) and when I saw Shannon (Nowden) take out two blockers I knew I had a touchdown,” said Smith.

PRECURSOR

North County big shot Rancho Buena Vista did not play a team from any of the Grossmont leagues until it tested the waters in 1998, when the Longhorns dismissed Granite Hills, 20-0, and West Hills, 61-28.

Craig Bell’s No. 4-ranked Vistans ratcheted it up this season, visiting No. 6 Helix.

Sophomore Reggie Bush had 157 yards in 14 carries and ran 77 yards for a touchdown that gave Helix a 34-22 lead in the fourth quarter.

The Highlanders held on for a 34-29 victory, but their fifth straight victory without loss was just the beginning.

With Bush and junior quarterback Alex Smith setting the pace, Helix rolled to a 13-0 record and beat two more North County clubs in the playoffs, Oceanside, 28-10, in the semifinals and San Pasqual in the II championship, 24-14.

Bush rushed for 1,034 yards and scored 11 touchdowns and Smith passed for 1,592 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Bush’s emerging greatness was evident in another game when he ran 80 yards for the clinching touchdown with five minutes remaining  in a 22-19 triumph over Monte Vista, which had taken a 16-0 halftime lead.

The pair of future No. 1 NFL draft choices made for an outstanding coaching bow for Gordon Wood, who inherited a full cupboard when Wood took over for the retiring Jim Arnaiz.

IGNORED IN PRESEASON

For awhile at least Helix was a secret, not even in Cal-Hi Sports’ preseason state Top 20.  That was not the case with Fallbrook.

After first-year coach Randy Blankenship revived the Warriors with a 7-4-1 season in 1999, Fallbrook was ranked 11^th and ready to make its first serious run since Tom Pack’s 1986 team was 11-2-1 and upset Vista, 28-14, in the 3-A championship.

From 1987-98 the Warriors were 45-78-2, including an 11-49 drought since 1993.

Fallbrook overcame early defeats of 28-21 at Santa Ana Mater Dei and 42-23 at Anaheim Esperanza and then ran the table to an 11-2 record that included a 50-12 victory over Carlsbad for the D-I title.

Blankenship left after the season and was replaced by Dennis Houlihan.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

William Buchanon caught 84 passes in 13 games, for a 19.3-yard average and 16 touchdowns for  Oceanside this season and marked the third generation of Buchanons at the school.

Willie stood out in football and track in 1967-68 and William’s grandmother was the first Africa-American to graduate from the school in 1947.

The family lineage did not stop there.  William’s grand-uncle, C.R. Roberts, was the legendary star halfback on the Pirates’ 1951-53 squads. Roberts scored 61 touchdowns in his final two seasons.

RANCH COACH CALLS IT A CAREER

Craig Bell, who posted a record of 106-62-1 at Rancho Buena Vista and won two section championships in 14 years, retired at the end of the season.

Bell, 57, began the RBV program when the school opened in 1987.  He also was head coach at Burbank Burroughs and was 34-42-2 in eight seasons at San Dieguito.

Bell told Mick McGrane of The San Diego Union that his decision was made during a summer vacation trip to Wyoming with his wife.

“I was able to relax, my blood pressure was down, my hair wasn’t falling out, and I was able to eat something other than burritos and French fries, which is about all you ever eat during football season,” said Bell.

Bell won titles in 1988 and 1989 in a  sometimes contentious tenure that was  marked by legal proceedings and a law suit against the Vista School Board.

11TH HOUR REPRIEVE

Horizon dodged the Dreaded Administrative Glitch.

Eight hours before kickoff  Horizon’s 11-game forfeiture mandated by San Diego Section commissioner Jan Jessop was overturned by an appeals committee.

Horizon responded by defeating The Bishop’s, 33-20, for the Division IV championship.

The Panthers were penalized for using an ineligible player.  There also was a question of another player’s eligibility.

The committee consisted of John  Collins, Poway district associate commissioner; Mark Oschner, Rancho Bernardo athletic director, and Kamran Azimzadeh, Lakeside district deputy superintendent.

“It was a good decision,” said Bob Ottilie, one of two lawyers working on Horizon’s behalf.  “It was a good decision, a well-reasoned decision.  These kids will not suffer because of the administration.”

The Horizon player was declared ineligible for violating the so-called “eight-semester rule.” Students enrolled in school for eight semesters must receive a waiver from the San Diego Section to be eligible for sports in their fifth year.

Horizon did not seek a waiver, said Jessop.

EXPANSION BY MILES

Granite Hills in El Cajon was the easternmost school when the section began in 1960, as Mountain Empire in Campo remained in the Southern Section for a few years.

After the first immigration of Imperial Valley schools, the  longest distances from San Diego were to Holtville (124 miles) and Imperial (133 miles).

Blythe Palo Verde Valley, which had to make long trips in the Southern Section, was essentially in the same travel situation when it became a San Diego Section member this year.

The 104 miles from Imperial Valley League rival El Centro Central had not changed, but a Palo Verde Valley  game in San Diego would be 215 miles distant, at least three and a half hours.

SIGN LANGUAGE

El Camino’s 17^th consecutive victory was fueled in part by a sign that greeted the Wildcats’ bus when it entered the Vista campus. The sign read, “The Streak Ends Here”.

“We saw that when we drove in,” said El Camino quarterback Demetrious Spates.  “That gave us a tremendous amount of motivation.  You may not like us, but don’t disrespect us.”

It was Vista that got the message.

El Camino rolled, 56-20, as Spates passed for two touchdowns to Antwaine Spann and rushed nine times for 168 yards and three scores.

A 42-25 win over Oceanside the next week was El Camino’s 18^th in a row over two seasons and moved the Wildcats past Lincoln (1978-80) for the third longest winning streak in County history.

CARLSBAD CRUSH

El Camino’s streak came to a quick and decisive end. Carlsbad’s Eddie Sullivan scored on a 99-yard pass play and 97-yard kickoff return, propelling the Lancers to a 35-17 victory and a pungent observation by Wildcats coach Herb Meyer.

“We didn’t practice well all week and I coached us right into the toilet,” Meyer told Tom Shanahan of the Union.

“We’re 0-1 in the Avocado League,” said Meyer.  “That’s all that counts.  The streak and all that other stuff are for sportswriters to write about.”

El Camino finished with a 10-3 record, nosed out by Fallbrook, 27-24,  in the playoff semifinals.

ISLANDERS MAKE WAVES

Coronado won 10 games in a row for the most successful season in the school’s 86-season history.

The Islanders won their first seven in an 8-1 campaign in 1929 and won eight in a row in 1940, after opening the season with a 0-0 tie against an alumni squad.

Islanders coach Bud Mayfield also was part of the chorus complaining about playoff seedings.

Coronado’s reward was a seventh seed in D-III, which Mayfield described as “a kick in the teeth”.

After a bye, the Islanders were eliminated, 34-21, by Lincoln in the quarterfinals.

STRANGE TWIN BILL

It looked like a misprint: Desert Hot Springs versus Monarch High of Lewisville, Colorado…at El Camino?

The off-beat scheduling called for the two schools to be on the undercard of an opening week doubleheader featuring host  El Camino and Whitehall, Pennsylvania.

Whitehall school board bosses moved in after the game was set and declared that the Zephyrs couldn’t play a game out of state for the second consecutive season.

El Camino reconnoitered and signed to play at Rancho Bernardo.  The Palm Springs-area school and Monarch went through with their contest and played at El Camino.

AT LONG LAST

Ramona’s Jason Bash batted down a last-second Poway pass in the end zone to preserve a 20-17 victory. Poway had been 11-0 against the Bulldogs from when it opened in 1961.

FOR WHOM BELL TOLLS

The bronze bell trophy was in the offing when San Diego Southwest had a first down on Mar Vista’s two-yard line with 50 seconds remaining. The Mariners stiffened and held on to win, 20-13, and reclaim the bell.

The bauble  had sat on the desk of Southwest  coach Joe Gonzales since the rivalry was suspended after a 32-6 Southwest win in 1993. Mar Vista moved to the Harbor League in 1994.

The teams had played for the bell since  Southwest was introduced in 1976.

FAMILY FEUD

Crawford more or less ended a 14-game losing streak when it tied Kearny, 14-14, in a matchup of father (Kearny coach Orlando [Skip] Coons)  versus son (Crawford coach Laurent (Lou) Coons.

“We just ran out of time.  Give us another minute and we win,” said Lou.

TRUE GRID

West Hills quarterback Troy Burner was on fire, bettering the section record by completing 88.8 per cent of his passes (32 of 36) for 346 yards and five touchdowns, including the 35-34 winner with 23 seconds left against Granite Hills…Helix gained 578 yards and averaged 9.6 yards a play in a 57-18 win over West Hills…it was the Highlanders’ most points since a 57-7 win over  Mount  Miguel in 1993…the Helix record came in a 68-0 victory over Santana in 1966…Valhalla’s 24-14 victory over Granite Hills was the Norsemen’s first on opening night since 1990 and marked the first time since 1992 they had scored more than seven points in an opener…”Field Turf”, a modern, more convenient and safer version of  the original Astroturf, was installed at La Jolla and Grossmont College…La Jolla was the first high school in Southern California south of Ventura to use the rubbery stuff…awful loss for San  Pasqual:  Rancho Buena Vista’s Justin Nelson sneaked 1 yard for a touchdown with 16 seconds left in the game, then scrambled two yards for a two-point conversion and 22-21 defeat for Eagles…Carlsbad coach Bob McAllister opted to play a rare day game at Hoover and told his squad that the sunshine contest would be a prelude to Saturday afternoon games when they would be in college…the Lancers won, 21-0…Sean Sovacool, Fallbrook’s standout linebacker, went on to become head coach at La Costa Canyon….

It only took 46 years.

The population growth of San Diego’s North County coincided with the rise of the once small and remote Avocado League, founded in 1953.

After recent years of  ascendancy, a punctuation mark was added this season.

As Tom Shanahan of The San Diego Union pointed out:

–Five Avocado schools ranked in the top six of the County Top 10.

–Avocado champion El Camino won the section Division I title, defeating Carlsbad in an all-Avocado final.

–Oceanside won the D-II championship.

–Five of the league’s six schools were unbeaten against nonleague opponents and posted a 32-2 record against outsiders.

—Cal-Hi Sports declared the Avocado League the most competitive in the state.

–El Camino was ranked third in the state behind Concord De La Salle and Newhall William S. Hart by Cal-Hi Sports.  Oceanside was twelfth.

–Torrey Pines, with a 91-29-2 (.754) record, and El Camino, 92-36-1 (.717), had the best San Diego Section records for the decade of the 1990s.

“GOOD AS ANYWHERE”

“I came here from a strong league,” said Randy Blankenship, who coached state power Clovis West before moving to Fallbrook this year. “What made the Avocado different is we faced a college running back every week.”

”…In general North County football is as good as anywhere in the nation,” said Carlsbad coach Bob McAllister.

“I’m not saying we’d beat (Concord) De La Salle (winner of almost 100 games in a row), but…our top teams could play with anybody,” said El Camino’s Herb Meyer.

MEYER’S WAY

Writer Mick McGrane called him the “Fumin’ Human.

Herb Meyer’s backside could  turn the color of a summer sunset.

But Meyer’s style and toughness had carried him through 40 seasons, the first 17 at Oceanside and the last 23 at El Camino.

Now the coach was poised to become the first ever in California and the 27^th in the United States to win 300 games.

This landmark victory could have been accomplished a year before, were it not for Meyer’s refusing to nominate his 3-6-1 team in 1998 for a playoff berth.

History shows that many sub.-500 teams accept playoff invitations and most campaign for them.  An 0-10 team has made the postseason.

“I refuse to be a hypocrite,” said Meyer on the eve of his 300^th win.  “I’m the guy, when we expanded the playoffs (to 12 teams in 1987), said we should only have eight teams. “I think the playoffs should be a reward for a good year.”

Meyer gave up more than the chance to go to the playoffs. The Wildcats’ 17-season streak of winning their playoff opener also ended.  “That was a point of pride,” said the coach.

College Prep of West Vancouver, British Columbia, was no match for El Camino, which exploded for 42 points in the first quarter and won, 66-13.

HERB’S HALLMARKS

VICTORY	OPPONENT	DATE
1	Oceanside 34, Blythe Palo Verde Valley 0	Oct. 9, 1959
50	=Oceanside 21, Orange Glen 14	Oct. 28, 1966
100	*Oceanside 7, Clairemont 6, @Mesa College	Nov. 24,1974
150	=El Camino 33, @Ramona 6	Oct. 8, 1982
200	El Camino 22, Fallbrook 20	Sept. 23, 1988
250	=El Camino 28, San Pasqual 7	Nov. 6, 1992
300	El Camino 66, W. Vancouver Prep, Canada 13	Sept. 8, 1999

=League game.  *Playoff.

JUST A START

El Camino followed up the next week with a 62-6 rout of Morse and never looked back. The Wildcats’ 13-0 record matched that of Meyer’s 1984 champions and was the last of his 10 San Diego Section championships.

The playoffs proved the easier for El Camino. To get there the Warriors had to defeat league rivals Carlsbad, Torrey Pines, and Oceanside in the final three regular-season games.

Carlsbad fell, 19-7, Torrey Pines, 18-9, and Oceanside, 58-35. El Camino earned a first-round playoff bye,  then ran past Rancho Bernardo, 48-34, Poway, 43-6, and Carlsbad, 24-6, for the championship.

BIG, AS IN BIG

“One of the biggest high school football games in the county over the last twenty-five years,” enthused Tom Shanahan in his writeup  before the meeting of neighborhood rivals El Camino (9-0) and Oceanside (8-1).

STORK CAN’T WAIT

Felicia Shaw fidgeted as she sat in her living room, watching the San Diego Chargers’ 1981 AFC playoff at Miami. Pete Shaw, her hard-knocking free safety husband, was neck deep with the Chargers in their epic divisional round game in the Miami Orange Bowl.

But the major player in what became  family legend was Kenneth Ryan Shaw, who was not yet born but warning his mother that he was on the way.

Felicia was not due.

Kenneth Ryan wasn’t expected for another six weeks. “Who knows why kids come early, but I got so excited in the game that Ryan started kicking,” Felicia laughed as she spoke to Tom Shanahan.

Maybe Ryan sensed what was going on in that topsy-turvy thriller almost 3,000 miles away. The Chargers finally pulled out a 41-38 victory in overtime.

Pete Shaw, spent physically and worn out  from the excitement and tension,  wearily flew home with the team. But the Chargers’ veteran didn’t get much sleep.  Felicia was in labor.  Ryan was born premature the next day and weighed in at 4 pounds, 10 ounces.

“The game was so dramatic,” said Felicia, going back to that evening. “I think it shook Ryan loose.” The premature baby grew to be a 6-foot, 190-pound offensive and defensive star for the La Costa Canyon Mavericks.

“Ryan is bigger than I was when I came into the league,” said Pete Shaw.

THE NEXT GENERATION

Four other sons of Chargers who played in that Miami barnburner were active on San Diego prep fields.

–Cornerback Willie Buchanon’s son, William, was a junior wide receiver at Oceanside.

–Center Don Macek’s son, Scott, was a senior linebacker at University.

–Duke Preston, senior center for Mt. Carmel, is son of Chargers linebacker Ray Preston.

–Kellen Winslow, Jr., was a junior tight end at Scripps Ranch.  The senior Winslow set an NFL playoff record with 13 catches against the Dolphins.

THE MATSON LINE

Hoover’s 7-0 start had been matched only by the 1954 team and the Cardinals, under fourth-year coach Willie Matson, set a school record for most victories in their 10-2 season.

Winning is the great elixir. Matson’s athletes enjoyed Thursday night team dinners and wore ties to school on Friday.  They finished every practice with a shout of “Family!”

Before the 1998 squad went 8-4, Hoover had not had a winning season since 1987, only two winning seasons since 1969, and in 16 of those seasons had two or fewer victories.

Matson was accustomed to athletic success.  He was a perennial champion in the annual, summer Over-the-Line beach softball tournament at Fiesta Island.

ANOTHER REBOUND

Fallbrook, like Hoover, was coming back under first-year coach Randy Blankenship, who left a Central Section power and 90-14 record at Clovis West.

Blankenship’s 1993 team was ranked eighth in the country and the team he left behind was in the U.S. top 25.

With those kind of credentials, Blankenship was able to get people’s attention in the far North County community.

Fallbrook, 11-49 from  1993-98, raced  to five straight victories. All of sudden red Fallbrook jerseys and shirts were seen up and down Main Street and the Warriors’ 3,500-seat stadium was overflowing at Friday night home games.

Traffic became so bad that the Highway Patrol began ticketing cars on nearby Stagecoach Lane.  The school responded by operating shuttle buses from Christ the King Church and the Palomar Land Conservatory.

Advancing with Blankenship’s version of the Wing T, Fallbrook improved to 7-4-1. A taskmaster, Blankenship described his coaching style:  “I push and push and push to the point of mutiny.”

ROLL ON

Torrey Pines coach Ed Burke said it best about Carlsbad’s 250-pound quarterback-running back Pana Faumuina: “It’s like being on the freeway with an 18-wheeler coming at you.”

Faumuina arrived in San Diego from American Samoa at age 8.

He had no knowledge of football but saw kids playing in a park. “I asked what they were playing,” said the strapping 17-year-old, “and they said football.  And I thought, ‘You know, I may be good at this.’”

As  Shanahan noted, “Call it Pana-Vision.”

CASE OF BROKEN LIGHT BULBS

Torrey Pines coach Ed Burke spotted what he thought were hundreds of pieces of styrofoam  littering the Falcons’ football field as he drove in to school on an early November morning.

It wasn’t styrofoam.

Between the end of practice at 7 p.m. the evening before and Burke’s arrival the next day vandals commandeered boxes of florescent light bulbs, crushed them, and scattered the shards on the gridiron.

Burke discovered several cardboard boxes on the field, many of which still held unbroken bulbs. Fragments of others also were found  on the gravel track surrounding the gridiron, and on adjacent bleachers.

Coaches tried raking or vacuming the shards.  Nothing worked.

A safety threat to players on both teams necessitated moving Torrey’s home playoff game with Fallbrook to  La Costa Canyon, up the road in Carlsbad.

Years later the coach and some members of his staff remembered the incident.

“We seem to recall that the unknown vandals found the bulbs in our (school) dumpsters,” said Burke.

The scofflaws apparently got away clean after they’re late-night caper.

Burke and his coaches still had a important undertaking at hand.  “Nobody likes giving up a home game,” said the coach, but Torrey persevered and eliminated Fallbrook, 31-25.

ALOHA!

Horizon and Bonita Vista received grandfather exemptions from a new San Diego Section ruling that prohibits games more than one week before the scheduled season opening weekend for San Diego teams.

Area schools for years had played intersectional contests and games against Canadian and Hawaiian squads in August and early September. Bonita defeated Wailuka Baldwin of Maui, 41-24. Horizon stopped Maui Kahului Kaahumanu, 53-12.

I’LL PASS, YOU CATCH

Santana quarterback D.J. Busch and wide receiver John Fields set San Diego Section records that propelled the Sultans to a school record  10-0 regular season, just three seasons after a 0-10 finish.

Busch passed for 44 touchdowns, shattering the mark of 36 by Castle Park’s Gabe Lujan in 1996. Fields caught 21 touchdown passes to pass Fallbrook’s Bill Dunckel, who caught 18 in 1986.

Santana was 11-0 before losing to Oceanside, 49-40, in the D-II semifinals.

ARNAIZ PULLS PIN

Helix’ Jim Arnaiz ended an outstanding, three-decade career as the Highlanders’ coach, retiring with an 8-3 final season and maybe too soon.

Gordon Wood, the classy Arnaiz’ successor, was greeted with a program that offered a full pantry, headlined by up-and-coming sophomore Reggie Bush, to be joined  by Alex Smith.

Few could have known that Bush would provide more fireworks than Jason Van, who led the San Diego Section and averaged 208 yards rushing a game.

Van did his best to send Arnaiz (213-77-11) out with a victory, gaining 133 of his game 197 after the half as Helix battled back from a 28-7, third-quarter deficit to take a 31-28 lead, only to have Poway pull out a 35-31 playoff win.

OH, CANADA!

Coronado was such a good host that it played Churchill High of Calgary, Alberta, under Canadian football rules.

The Islanders gave up a point when they failed to return a punt out of their endzone, a play that is called a rouge (roos-zh) in Canada. (Most American women know rouge as a reddish cream used for facial makeup).

Coronado defeated Churchill, 28-7, for a 2-1 record and best start since 1994.

HERE  COMES UNI

University was confronting a daunting challenge, not just by moving from its Linda Vista location to a new and beautiful campus site in Carmel Valley.

The Dons lost their first five games and were outscored 124-50, but a 38-20 victory over Lincoln was their third in a row in the Western League and made them 4-5 overall.

Although Justin Green led the way with 156 yards in 33 carries, Carlos Quentin rushed 4 times for 24 yards, caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Mike Kirsch, rushed for two others, and made two fourth-quarter tackles for loss.

Uni inconceivably won 8 in a row, climaxed by a 21-14 victory over Castle Park in the D-III championship.

Quentin, a future major league baseball slugger, stripped the ball from a Castle Park runner and returned the theft 75 yards for a touchdown and set up another TD with a 57-yard run.

CAN I HAVE THIS DANCE, AGAIN

Valley Center coach Rob Gilster and his Escondido counterpart Nick Ruscetta each needed a nonleague game to fill a 10-game schedule. Escondido and Valley Center are in the same league, the Valley.

How often have league teams played nonleague games against each other? It happened this season.  Valley Center won the unusual “home-and-home” double dip, winning the nonleague game at Escondido, 30-21, and repeating in league at home seven weeks later, 32-10.

There have been others of the above instance, one really unusual being in 1946, when Hoover defeated visiting Pasadena, 14-0, in a nonleague game, then turned around the next week, went to Pasadena, and won a Coast League opener, 14-13.

SCOREBOARD

On the same night: Fallbrook set a school scoring record in a 63-11 win over Hilltop;  Poway bombed Orange Glen, 60-7, for another record, and Torrey Pines came within a point of its school record in a 56-14 win over Sweetwater.

Four-hundred miles north, Concord De La Salle defeated Santa Ana Mater Dei, 41-0, for its 91^st consecutive win and 158^th in the last 159 games.

The teams drew a crowd of 15,819 to a neutral site at University of Pacific in Stockton.

DEFENSE, ANYONE?

There wasn’t any when Rancho Bernardo and West Hills chased each other in the  first round of the playoffs.

Coach Ron Hamamoto’s Broncos scored a 71-48 victory over the host Wolf Pack, which trailed 36-14 at the half, then matched Rancho Bernardo almost point for point in the third and fourth quarters.

Despite the outburst, Rancho Bernardo did not set a single-game scoring playoff record by a San Diego County school, although the 71 points were the most in an 11-man game since San Diego defeated Hoover, 72-0, and Escondido outscored Army-Navy by the same score in 1944.

The playoff highest score honor was reserved for San  Diego, which defeated Montebello, 81-0, in 1920. But Rancho Bernardo did set a postseaso record with a stunning 693 yards rushing and 784 yards total offense.

David Rhodes rushed for 324 yards in 15 carries and scored 4 touchdowns for the Broncos.  Sam Campanella had 223 yards in 24 carries and four touchdowns, and Austin Willenbring added 116 in 10 carries and caught a touchdown pass.

Hard to believe but Rancho Bernardo broke records that were only 10 weeks old.  Poway had rushed for 641 yards  and had 694 total in a 60-7 blowout of Orange Glen in Week 1.

RIPE AVOCADOS

Twelve of the 37 D-I scholarships awards to San Diego Section players went to Avocado League athletes.

Brandon Chillar was not a headliner, but the Carlsbad linebacker played four years at UCLA, then was drafted by the St. Louis Rams of the NFL.

Chillar played seven seasons, including the last three with Green Bay.  He was a member of the 2010 Packers team that won Super Bowl XLV, 31-25 over Pittsburgh.

KNIGHTS FALLS SHORT

Marian’s David Aguiniga’s 37-yard field goal on the last play of the game gave the Crusaders a 17-16 victory and ended The Bishop’s magic season.

The Knights finished with a 12-1 record and No. 2 ranking by Cal-Hi Sports among the state’s “smallest schools.”  The Bishop’s Tim Culver led the San Diego Section with 39 touchdowns and 234 points.

Aguiniga’s kick avoided the onrushing Culver and Shane Keeher and atoned for earlier misses from 32 and 33 yards.

QUICK KICKS–Other top programs in the decade of 1990-99 were Helix (88-25-5), Castle Park (88-32-2), and Morse (88-35-3)…Interstate 15 near Fallbrook is known as the Avocado Freeway…avocado trees cover about 36,000 acres in the area between Escondido and Fallbrook…Mira Mesa center Chris Blevins on 240-pound running back Amon Johnson:  “He almost blocks for himself…you can’t arm tackle him”…Amon and 6-foot, 7-inch, 245-pound  twin brother Teyo transferred to Mira Mesa from Everett, Washington…Mira Mesa won its first Eastern League championship since 1986…Morse (2-8) missed the playoffs for the first time since 1984…”He’s the best pure quarterback I’ve ever coached and I’ve seen some pretty good ones,” said Bonita Vista coach Carl Parrick of the Barons’ 6 foot, 3-inch, 220-pound Tyler Arciaga…Long Beach Poly’s 19-14 victory over Vista marked Poly’s first game against a San  Diego Section team since it defeated visiting San Diego, 26-18, in 1960…Ron Hamamoto of Rancho Bernardo became the 21^st County coach to win 100 games when the Broncos beat Temecula Valley, 26-14…Mission Bay coach Denny Pugh was 9-3 in 1989, took a 10-year-leave from the position and returned this season to post a 9-3 record…RB-LB David Mikaio became Mira Mesa’s first four-year letterman.