Deon Randall, his jersey in tatters and his high school career at an end, walked off the Carson Home Depot Field.

“It’s a great parallel,” Randall said, “a great analogy, a great symbol to how the game went…it was a rough game.”

Randall was a warrior in the State Small Schools Bowl.  He rushed for 276 yards in 36 carries and scored three touchdowns, but Modesto Central Catholic hung on for a 44-40 victory

IT’S ON ME

The Francis Parker quarterback pointed to the middle of his jersey (“It was my call”) when asked about the play that brought an end to Parker’s season.

Randall said it was his decision to check from a run to a pass on fourth down with 1:43 left in the game and Parker on the Crusaders’ two-yard line.

The receiver, Dalante Dunklin, caught the pass, but was smothered at the five-yard line.  Game over.

So was Randall’s brilliant career at the little school on Linda Vista Road.

Writer Steve Brand sought out Parker coach John Morrison.

“I would never second-guess him,” said Morrison of his signal caller, who scored 70 touchdowns in his final two seasons.

“I wanted him to make those decisions,” the coach added.  “If that’s what he decided, it was the right call.  He’s not just a great athlete but he’s very smart—heady.  I’d never question his call, never.”

DISAPPOINTMENT IN 2008

A year before Randall scored 40 touchdowns and rushed and passed for more than 3,000 yards in a 12-1 season.

It wasn’t enough.

Parker was bypassed for the State Bowl Series when Capistrano St. Margaret, undefeated at 13-0 and riding a 42-game winning streak, was selected.

Parker had averaged 52 points a game and was convinced it could beat any Division V team.

A YEAR LATER

To get to a state bowl game this season  the Lancers would have to defeat St. Margaret, either in the eyes of the selectors or in head-to-head competition.

Parker and St. Margaret agreed to play the second week of the season in a quaint stadium with an all-weather field and a view of the Mission San Juan Capistrano.

The game wasn’t that close.  Parker opened a 28-13 lead and won convincingly, 28-20.  Randall raced 86 yards for one touchdown and passed 29 yards to Roland Jackson for another.

“I thought we did a great job on Randall except for two or three plays, but great players make you pay on those plays,” said Tartans coach Harry Welch.

Randall took his  football  East to Yale  and was a star in 2013.

The 5-foot-9, 180-pounder was the Bulldogs’ leading receiver with 85 catches for a 9.3 average and 8 touchdowns, and  scored three rushing touchdowns and averaged 5.3 yards for 33 attempts.

A greater achievement for Randall came during the team’s season-ending awards dinner. He was named captain of the 2014 team, the 137th in Yale’s storied history.

UNDEFEATED MISMATCH

Valley Center was 8-0, ranked sixth in the San Diego Section, and awaiting a visit from Oceanside, No. 1 in Southern California among D-I squads and fourth in the state.

The Jaguars didn’t score until 23.4 seconds remained in the game and could amass only 40 total yards as the Pirates won, 45-7.

Heeding coach John Carroll’s command to “read the keys and get off to a fast start,” Noah Tarrant returned an intercepted  pass for a touchdown on Valley Center’s third play and raced  12 yards with a botched punt for another touchdown in the first quarter.

The Pirates led, 24-0, after 12 minutes.

ANOTHER TITLE ROMP

Oceanside never looked back.

The Pirates rolled past Ramona, 52-6, the following week, a season after the Bulldogs “upset” the Pirates in a 33-33 tie.

Helix was a 26-10 victim in the San Diego Section D-II championship and Oceanside overcame a 13-3, second-quarter deficit at Carson to defeat San Jose Bellarmine Prep, 24-19, in the State D-I title game, ending the season with 17 consecutive victories, unbeaten in 39 games, and ranked third in the state with a 14-0 record by Cal-Hi Sports.

“Other Oceanside teams may equal this (two championships in three years), but no one will ever beat it,” said Carroll.

FACIAL WEAR

Reggie Bush had his San Diego hometown area code 619 penciled onto the eye black he affected at USC.

Escondido’s Ricky Seale also wore taped eye black, honoring “Aunt Jackie”, according to Don Norcross of The San Diego Union. “Aunt” was on one eyeblack, “Jackie” on the other.

Aunt Jackie was Ricky’s father’s sister, who died in 2008.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

“After a Pop Warner game she told me, ‘I can’t wait to see you play in the big time,’” Ricky remembered.  “Yet she was the type of person, she knew when I wasn’t trying the hardest and she told me.”

That wasn’t very often. The son of Sammy Seale, a 10-year NFL player (4 with the Chargers), who became an NFL college scout, Ricky went on to set the San Diego Section career rushing record, although finishing his prep career on crutches.

Seale injured his left knee in the second quarter after gaining 55 yards in 13 carries in a 35-14, semifinal playoff loss to Eastlake.

Seale had 6,690 career rushing yards and was the only San Diego Section athlete to surpass 6,000 yards. He moved on to play at Stanford University.

DUELING RUNNING BACKS

On the night Ricky Seale rushed for 404 yards against San Pasqual, Kenneth James, Jr., of Mt. Carmel rushed for 424 against Westview, breaking the record of 410 by Escondido’s Darrick Jackson in 2003.

BAXTER BLOW OUT

Dillon Baxter made a promise as a ninth grader when he joined the Mission Bay varsity.

“I told him I’d get him a ring,” Baxter said before he gave coach Willie Matson a hug.

Baxter fulfilled his promise by almost single handedly knocking out Valley Center in the Buccaneers’ D-IV championship, 48-17 victory.

The 6-foot, 205-pounder rushed for 384 yards in 26 carries and scored seven touchdowns.  Along the way Baxter erased Tyler Gaffney’s year-old season rushing record and tied the Section record with 7 touchdowns.

Baxter’s touchdowns were on runs of 6, 21, 9, 92, 87, 1, and 46 yards.

Baxter finished with 2,974 rushing yards in 13 games.  Gaffney had 2,866 in 14.  Baxter came close with 53 season touchdowns but Gaffney held on to the record, having scored 56 in 2008.

The Mission Bay quarterback set a state record with 77 rushing and passing touchdowns, burying the record of 64 by Ventura St. Bonaventure’s Tyler Ebell in 2000. Baxter’s 919 career points and 468 rushing and passing points this season also set state records.

A brilliant career start was short circuited in Baxter’s second year at USC and was followed by a brief stint at San Diego State. He finished his collegiate career in 2013 at NAIA Baker University in Kansas.

BEWARE OF THE SHADOW

Ray Herring’s response to a question from writer Steve Brand on why Herring continued to run so hard after he broke into the clear on a 91-yard interception return:

“I saw a shadow and thought someone was after me, but it was my own shadow.”

Herring also teamed with quarterback Dillon Baxter as Mission Bay ran past Point Loma, 49-27.

Baxter accounted for his almost usual 300 yards in total offense, but Herring shared the spotlight with four catches of Baxter passes for 132 yards, including touchdowns of 59 and 51 yards, and intercepted two passes.

RING THE BELL

Writer Don Norcross’ game account captured the moment and the tapestry of the annual Imperial County “Bell Game” between El Centro Central and Brawley.

The 9-1 Central Spartans won, 23-18, and now trail Brawley (7-3), 41-24-1 since the Bell was first rung in 1944.

However, the rivalry goes back to 1921, and until 2004, the Spartans and Wildcats teed it up for desert bragging rights twice a year.

Norcross pointed out that fans began lining up outside Cal Jones Field in El Centro at 2:30 p.m.

By 5:30 a crowd of 6,000 had filled  the stands and the fire marshal warned that the game wouldn’t start until the aisles were cleared.

Booster Club sales at El Centro normally grossed about $2,500, but upwards of $10,000 worth of merchandise is realized on this night.

MARKETING PAYS OFF

A total of 450 “Bell Game” T-shirts, at $12 apiece, was sold to students and the boosters used the $4,600 profit to buy “Bell Game” black jerseys for the Spartans.

El Centro players didn’t see the jerseys until they returned to their locker room after warmups.

WHISTLE BLOWERS FROM LONG DISTANCE

Members of the San Diego County Officials’ Association worked the Bell game, instead of representatives from the Imperial County association.

San Diego official Jacob Whittler explained that a perceived bad call could result in recriminations for a local official making the call.

Aggrieved fans could boycott the official’s business and “they’d know where his house is,” said the San Diego arbiter.

WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME

A  minute remained in the first half of the Castle Park-Chula Vista season opener when the stadium public address reminded students that progress reports would be coming the following Tuesday.

The announcer was drowned out by a chorus of boos.

“Who invited this guy to the party?” wondered writer Kirk Kenney.

It was a party for Chula Vista, which routed its neighborhood rival, 41-10.

POISON THREAT

Arsenic is believed to have been around since the Bronze Age, but it was 2,500 years later when discovered at Carlsbad High.

The school was being renovated in 2008 and excess levels of the poison element were discovered in a routine soil check.

Swede Krcmar Field, named after the original Lancers coach, was condemned.

The team was forced to play all games in ’08 and ’09 away from its campus, with home designations at La Costa Canyon in ’08 and El Camino and Oceanside this year.

Carlsbad was 7-6 in 2008 and 3-8 this season.

The Lancers’ theme song might have been the 1961 Ray Charles  favorite, “Hit the Road, Jack!”.

TOP THIS

When St. Augustine coach Richard Sanchez heard that Carlsbad had played away from home for 22 consecutive weeks, Sanchez remarked, “Twenty-two games? We haven’t had a home game since 1922.”

The Saints’ 7 ½-acre site in North Park has no football field.  Their “home” games usually are at Mesa College, Southwestern College, or Balboa Stadium.

4.1 MILES & 47 YEARS

That was the distance and that was how long neighboring schools Morse and Mount Miguel had waited to play a regular-season game.

It was an eight-minute drive from Morse’s Skyline Drive campus to Jamacha Road to Blossom Road, site of the Mount Miguel facility in Spring Valley.

But the teams met only once, in the 1987 playoffs, after Morse opened in 1962.

The Tigers played 500 regular-season games before they visited Mount Miguel in the opening game of the this season.

No specific reason could be offered as to why the teams had not met.

The stars apparently never were aligned.

Mount Miguel is a County school and Morse is in the city.  The schools had other rivalries. Schedules conflicted.

A game was to be played at Mount Miguel in 2003 but canceled and forfeited by Morse when a school official was warned that undesirables would be present with weapons.

Mount Miguel dedicated its new turf field with a 35-14 victory over the Tigers.

AND ANOTHER ONE

Mount Miguel didn’t stop there.  The Matadors defeated Helix for the first time since 1987, giving the rivalry spoils, a Scottish Claymore sword, a new address after the 44-21 win.

RARE IS THE DAY…

…that teams play to an 11-7 final score.  When Fallbrook won at El Camino by those numbers it was only the third time in San Diego County history that a contest ended with that point total. Madison defeated the host Hoover Cardinals in 1995 and Point Loma won at Fallbrook in 2007.

DON’T CROSTH ME

Quote Cathedral’s 6-foot-5, 307-pound Alex Crosthwaite, headed for California-Berkeley:  “I just want to kick someone’s (behind).  If I don’t pancake the guy I’m blocking, it’s not a complete block for me.”

WHO WRITES HIS STUFF?

Writer Don Norcross enjoyed the announcements by Scripps Ranch’s public address announcer Will Bailey, an English teacher at the school:

“Keep the car in neutral, grandma.  There’s flags on the field.”

“Break out your caliper, your abacus, your slide rule, and your yardstick.  Time for a measurement.”

PIRATES CATCH JACKRABBITS

Oceanside  scored a rare San Diego Section victory when the Pirates knocked off Long Beach Poly, 14-7.  The Jackrabbits fell to 1-3, having also lost to No. 2 Ventura St. Bonaventure and No. 4 Anaheim Servite.

La Costa Canyon, No. 2 in San Diego, defeated Rancho Santa Margarita, 28-14, and Vista, No. 4, was hammered by Mission Viejo, 41-17, in other  matchups with Southern Section powers.

BOUNCE BACKS

Mar Vista had not beaten Castle Park since 1988 and, after dropping the Trojans from its schedule from 1994-2000, the Mariners began a decade in which the average score was 43-7 in Castle Park’s favor.

Enter Danny Salazar.  The Mariners’ senior kicker booted field goals of 46, 42, and 35 yards as Mar Vista lashed back at its South Bay neighbor, winning, 23-0.

Another long wait was over at Valhalla, which claimed the Grossmont South championship. The 14-7 victory over Steele Canyon was the Norsemen’s first league title in the school’s 35 years.

Valhalla held on for the win after a game official ruled “no catch”, nullifying a 35-yard passing gain which would have put the Cougars on the Norsemen’s 7-yard line with 1:20 remaining.

Valhalla safety Hansell Wilson told Bill Dickens of The San Diego Union that “we both had our hands on the ball, but I was able to strip it loose…the ref made the right call.”

TRUE GRID

Eastlake  spent part of the day shooting a team picture at Qualcomm Stadium the day of the playoff finals…the Titans defeated Vista, 21-14 for the D-I crown…Clairemont forfeited its opener to La Jolla when 12 players were busted for breaking school rules and the Chieftains didn’t have enough players…Grossmont beat Otay Ranch, 16-14,  on Chance House’s 19-yard field goal with 5.2 seconds remaining, one year after the Foothillers missed a 40-yard field goal on the last play that would have won at Otay Ranch…the West Hills pep band’s timing was curious…it played Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust!”, after the Wolf Pack had just fumbled and lost a second-quarter kickoff and with Valhalla leading, 20-0 on its way to 48-7…West Hills unveiled its new, two-tone, all-weather field but again the timing was not good…Steele Canyon beat the Wolf Pack 48-23, in the inaugural game…Point Loma blocked two field goals and sacked El Capitan quarterbacks nine times in a 9-7 victory.. despite a 10-0 record, Eastlake did not receive a first-round playoff bye in D-IV….Mission Bay (10-0) and Valley Center (9-1), more established programs which played tougher schedules, warranted byes in the opinion of the selection committee….

No state champions, but there were four San Diego Section teams in Cal-Hi Sports‘ final, overall top 25.

San Diego tied for second with the Sac-Joaquin Section in number of top 25 squads from the 10 state sections.

Mission Hills (11-2) was 11th,  Oceanside (10-3) 13th.  St. Augustine and Cathedral, each 11-2, were 24th and 25th, respectively.

The vast Southern Section placed six of the first seven teams and 11 of the top 25.  St. John Bosco was 16-0 and number one after a 20-14 victory over No. 2 Concord De La Salle in the  Open Division championship.

De La Salle was the only North Coast Section squad in the top 25.

No. 6 Folsom was the highest of the four from the Sac-Joaquin Section.

Other sections with ranked representatives included the Central Coast (2) and the Central (1) and Los Angeles City (1).  The Northern, San Francisco, and Oakland Sections were blanked.

San Diego teams  in Cal-Hi Sports‘  top four divisions were 11-6 in intersectional games but  1-2 in arguably the season’s three biggest.

Oceanside was beaten 50-39 by Gardena Serra (13-1), which finished No. 4 overall.  Mission Hills lost a state playoff, 35-28, to No. 10 Bakersfield (13-2). Cathedral defeated No. 26 Vista Murrieta (12-2), 35-28.

Cal-Hi Sports‘ state rankings by its traditional format of five divisions:

DIVISION I

1–Bellflower St. John Bosco.  10–Oceanside.  11–Eastlake.

II

1–West Hills Chaminade.  3–Mission Hills.  8–San Pasqual.

III

1–Newport Beach Corona del Mar.  2–St. Augustine.  3–Cathedral.  11–Mission Bay.  13–Madison.

IV

1–Modesto Central Catholic.  3–Christian.

V

1–Le Grand.  9–Holtville.

SOUTH D-I

1–Bellflower St. John Bosco.  7–Mission Hills.  9–Oceanside.  10–Eastlake. 13-Cathedral.   14–San Pasqual (10-2).

SOUTH D-II

1–West Hills Chaminade.  4–St. Augustine.  12. Mission Bay (12-2).  14–Madison (9-2). 19–Christian (12-1).

SOUTH D-III

1–Newport Beach Coronado del Mar. 14–Sweetwater.

SOUTH D-IV

1–Bakersfield Christian.  (no San Diego Section teams)

FREEMAN, PATRIOT COACH HONORED

Imperial’s Royce Freeman was state medium schools player of the year and Christian coach Mike Ward was state small schools coach of the year.

Freeman, who set a San Diego Section career rushing record with 7,601 yards in four seasons and who rushed for 2,819 yards in 2013, is the fourth San Diego Section medium schools player of the year in the last six.

Others include Madison’s Pierre Cormier, 2012; Mission Bay’s Dillon Baxter, 2009, and Cathedral’s Tyler Gaffney, 2008.  Gaffney and Baxter were overall state players of the year.

Ward, who guided Christian to a  12-1 record and the San Diego Section D-III championship, also was coach of the year in 2011.  A previous winner was Ramona’s Glenn Forsythe, who led the Bulldogs to an 11-0 record and the Southern Section smallest schools championship in 1958.

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

UNBEARABLE VICTORY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RED DEVILS NO PUSHOVERS

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

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

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

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

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

NO ROOM FOR HERB?

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

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

RESEMBLING EARLY MAN

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

How did the name Cavemen evolve?

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

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

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

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

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

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

PREGAME HYPE?

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

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

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

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

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

THE LONGEST TRIP

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

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

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

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

WHY?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TWO GAMES IN TWO DAYS

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

Scheduling was madcap.

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

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

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

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

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

HOW MANY GAMES?

HOW MANY GAMES?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

COEDS SHUN HILLTOPPERS

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

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

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

Coney Galindo raced 35 yards for another score in a 12-0 victory that elevated the Hilltoppers into the Southern California finals against Gardena.

The winners rushed for 112 yards, Galindo leading with 50 yards rushing, and completing a 17-yard pass.

ROCKY TOP

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

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

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

SCHOOL DAYS, SCHOOL DAYS!

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

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

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

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

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

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

THERE WERE PERKS

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

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

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

CART BEFORE HORSE

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

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

LOVE THAT GRASS

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

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

HERE COME THE DRILLERS

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

The Drillers agreed.

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

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

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

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

READ IT AND WEEP

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

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

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

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

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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

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

TRUE GRID

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

Royce Freeman of Imperial scored 43 touchdowns and 258 points in 12 games to lead the San Diego Section for the third year in a row and finished sixth in the state, according to unofficial statistics provided by Max Preps.

Freeman amassed 39 touchdowns and 3 two-point conversions for  240 points in 2011 and 36 touchdowns and 216 points in 2012.

Edgar Segura of Mendota in the Central Section was the 2013 state leader with 57 touchdowns and a total of 358 points.

Andrew Brown of Ripon Christian of the Sac-Joaquin Section, had 335 points, followed by Rashaad Penny of Norwalk, Southern Section, 320. Tre Watson of Corona Centennial, Southern Section, was fifth with 306.

Freeman also ended his career with the sixth highest single-season performance in the San Diego Section.

Evan Fisher of Julian scored 342 points in eight-man football in 2001, followed by Tyler Gaffney of Cathedral, 336 (’08); Dillon Baxter, Mission Bay, 324 (’09); Zay Shepard, Brawley, 276 (’04), Dionne Grigsby, San Pasqual Academy 8, 262 (’04), and Freeman.

San Diego Section 2013 leaders:

Player	Team	Games	TD	PAT	2Pt	FG	Pts
Royce Freeman	Imperial	12	43	0	0	0	258
Clayton Bowler	Holtville V	13	27	0	0	0	162
J.T. Barnes	Grossmont	12	13	64	0	2	150
Brandon Alexander	San Pasqual Academy 8	7	23	0	0	0	148
Thai Cottrell	Oceanside	13	22	7	1	0	141
Justin Santa Maria	Calvary Christian S.D. V	9	19	0	12	0	138
Riley Racciato	Classical V	10	23	0	0	0	138
Jose Ramirez	Calvary Christian Vista 8	7	20	0	4	0	128
Damonte Holiday	Hoover	11	21	0	0	0	126
Isiah Olave	Eastlake	12	21	0	0	0	126
Jimmie Hill	Mar Vista	10	21	0	0	0	126
Tim Clow	St. Joseph 8	8	19	0	5	0	124
Elijah Preston	St. Augustine	11	20	0	0	0	120
Isaiah Capoocia	El Capitan	12	19	0	0	0	114
James Harwell	San Marcos	14	7	53	0	6	113
Ray Lyons	Crawford	10	18	0	1	0	110
Bulla Graft	The Bishop’s	10	17	0	3	0	108
Chris Moliga	Cathedral	11	18	0	0	0	108
Tony Miro	Santa Fe Christian	10	18	0	0	0	108
Dan McManus	West Hills	12	6	29	0	14	107
Nareg Skakarian	St. Joseph 8	8	12	34	0	0	106
Damian Ramirez	Blythe Palo Verde	12	17	0	1	0	104
Jesse Brookins	Francis Parker	11	17	0	1	0	104
Ben Lomibao	Mount Miguel	10	17	0	0	0	102
Isiah Henne	San Marcos	14	17	0	0	0	102
Manny Rodriguez	Olympian	11	17	0	0	0	102
Carlos Campos	San Ysidro	10	15	8	0	0	98

La Jolla Country Day’s Jeff Hutzler, who stepped down recently, became the 37^th coach in the San Diego Section to have a career total of at least 100 victories.  Jack Mashin of Grossmont recorded 125 victories in the Southern Section.

Eleven active coaches have 100 or more (see complete list here):

John Carroll (234-74-6, .755), Ron Hamamoto (195-122-4, .614), Rob Gilster (183-112-5, .618), Willie Matson (166-117-6, .585), Sean Doyle (144-77, .652), John Morrison (140-60-3, .697); Gary Blevins (129-90-4, .587), Chris Hauser (115-54-2, .678), Matt Oliver (115-56-3, .670), Jerry Ralph (111-65-2, .629), and Mike Hastings (111-74-4, .598).

Hutzler, whose Torres finished 5-6 this season, posted a  101-37 record and .732 winning percentage from 2002-13,  joined a select group that is led by Herb Meyer, who was 339-148-15 for a .690 percentage from 1959-2003 at Oceanside and El Camino.

Other 100-game winners include Bennie Edens (238), John Shacklett (229), Gil Warren (216), Ed Burke (215), Jim Arnaiz (213), Dick Haines (194), Carl Parrick (189), Mike Dolan (165), Bob Woodhouse (146), Chick Embrey (144);

Gene Edwards (136), Birt Slater (133), Bob McAlister (132),  Steve Sutton (131), Craig Bell (130), Walter (Bud)  Mayfield, (129), Ladimir (Jack) Mashin (125), Mike David (122), Gene Alim (120), John McFadden (120),  John Bishop (117), Chris Hauser (115), Brad Griffith (112), Vic Player (111), George Ohnessorgen (103), and Dave Lay (102).

Carroll (.755) is first among all San Diego Section coaches, active or retired, in winning percentage and with at least 100 victories. Birt Slater (.747) is second to Carroll in percentage. Ohnessorgen (.745), Lay (.741), McFadden (.735), Hutzler (.732), Arnaiz (.726), Burke (.720), Warren (.707), Alim (.701), and Bishop (.701) round out the Top 11.

Ties are factored in as half games won and half games lost.

The  highest winning percentage, minimum 40 games, in the history of high school football in San Diego is .856, earned in the Southern Section by Chula Vista’s Chet DeVore from 1951-55.  San Diego’s Duane Maley is second with a Southern Section record of 97-19-3, .828.

Bill Bailey, who coached at Point Loma in 1942 and at San Diego from 1943-47, posted a career record of 40-8-1, .810.

The comprehensive list of Win, Lose, Tie records of all 100-game winners.

That Tyler Gaffney led Cathedral to a State championship and scored a record 56 touchdowns in 14 games only reinforced the notion that this was a year of the running back.

Thirty-one San Diego Section players rushed for at least 1,000 yards and none were more productive than Gaffney, Escondido’s Ricky Seale, and Madison’s Robbie Rouse.

NORTH-SOUTH RUNNER

The 6-foot, 1-inch, 215-pound Gaffney was a power runner and long distance threat.  Third and short, fourth and goal, or from far outside the redzone, Gaffney was the package.

In 2013, when a group of San Diego writers selected the all-time, all-San Diego County squad, Gaffney was one of three, first-team running backs, joining Oceanside’s C.R. Roberts (1953) and Lincoln’s Darrin Wagner (1987).

Gaffney also was named state player of the year for 2008, selected by the respected Cal-Hi Sports.

“Tyler Gaffney is Justin Green and Demetrious Sumlin (earlier star backs for the Dons) rolled into one,” said Cathedral coach Sean Doyle.  “He’s physically the best back I’ve ever had.”

Gaffney rushed for 324 yards in 33 carries and scored 6 touchdowns in a 58-32, regular-season victory over 5-0 Lincoln.

That monster performance, however, was not close to being the story of Gaffney’s season.

OUTSCORES SCRIPPS RANCH, HIS OWNSELF

Gaffney scored 7 touchdowns and 42 points on runs of 5, 12, 1, 1, 51, 3, and 41 yards in a 70-37 victory over Scripps Ranch.

In the words of The San Diego Union reporter Jim Lindgren, Gaffney “put a crushing, downfield block”  on a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown by teammate Josh Jacko and ran down the Falcons’ Tate Forcier on the Dons’ six-yard line after Forcier had raced 62 yards.”

Nor did that performance define Gaffney’s season

ULTIMATE CHAMPIONSHIP

After a 49-13 win over Valhalla in the San Diego Section Division III finals, the Dons were chosen to play in the State D-III championship against Stockton St. Mary’s.

Gaffney gained 329 yards in 33 carries and scored five touchdowns.

And did more than run.

With the Dons trailing, 27-23, in the fourth quarter, quarterback Parker Hipp pitched to Gaffney, who then completed a 30-yard pass to Hipp.

Gaffney punched in from a yard for a touchdown on the next play, putting Cathedral in the lead, 30-27.

Gaffney’s 51-yard run, following a 96-yard St. Mary’s touchdown kickoff return that put the Rams in front, 34-30, secured the Cathedral victory.

“This means everything,” said Cathedral’s Don.  “Any good team can go to (a section championship), but it takes a real team to win State.  That’s what we went out to prove.”

It took all of Gaffney’s exploits and outstanding field generalship by Hipp (9 pass completions in 11 attempts for 191 yards) to bring down the Sac-Joaquin Section champion.

St. Mary’s quarterback Cody Vaz kept his team coming, completing 31 of 46 passes for 336 yards and four touchdowns.

PUTTING IT IN PERSPECTIVE                

Gaffney had not decided where he would attend college, saying that his choices had come down to Stanford and USC.

“But I don’t want to be known as Stanford-bound or USC-bound,” he said.  “I would rather it be about our team going to the playoffs, not what I did.”

An undefeated season and state championship accomplished, Gaffney chose Stanford and completed an outstanding career (with time out for  one year in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ farm system) in 2013.

The NFL was the next.

RUSHING TO RECORD

Morse’s Gary Taylor had set the San Diego single season rushing record of 2,625 yards in 1990.  Gaffney’s closing push gave him 2,866.

Gaffney not only bettered Taylor’s mark but he passed Seale and Rouse, whose seasons had ended in the San Diego Section finals the week before.

Seale, a junior and the son of 10-year NFL veteran defensive back Sammy Seale, also topped Taylor with 2,679 yards.  Rouse was the third to break the record, finishing with 2,632.

Seale would have another season to take a shot at Gaffney’s record before following the Cathedral ace to Stanford.

The 5-foot, 6-inch, 170-pound Rouse, who was reminiscent of the diminutive Cleveland Jones of the 1955-56 San Diego High teams, went on to a brilliant career at Fresno State.

OCEANSIDE ON ROLL

The Pirates of coach John Carroll had a 21-game winning streak stopped in a surprising, 33-33 tie with Ramona, but Oceanside continued on to end the season with a D-II championship and a streak of 24 games without loss.

The San Diego Section record for most consecutive wins was 36 by Sweetwater from 1983-85. The Bishop’s won 31 between ’96 and ’98, and Marian Catholic put together a 27-game streak from ‘02-‘04.

VISIT BEAUTIFUL UTAH

La Costa Canyon coach Darrin Brown had to get out his road atlas.

The Mavericks’ coach, stuck for an opponent to complete a 10-game schedule, took his team to St. George, Utah, to play Dixie High.

Helix had played Utah teams in 2006 and 2007, but the Mavericks’ 450-mile sojourn marked the first time a San Diego County team had ventured into the Beehive state.

“We couldn’t find a game here,” said Brown.  “Teams that are better have a hard time finding preleague games.”

The eight-hour bus ride and overnight hotel stay didn’t adversely affect the Carlsbad squad, which scored a 42-27 victory over the Flyers, a Utah AAA school of about 1,000 students that opened in 1911.

40 MILES NOT ONLY DIFFERENCE

La Costa Canyon went on to win 10 consecutive games over San Diego County opponents including Escondido, 45-23, for the San Diego Section Division I title.

But the Mavericks, like many others from San Diego County through the years, could not match up with teams from Orange County, particularly Southern Orange County, which is perhaps 40 miles from the La Costa Canyon campus and with probably the same resources and similar student body.

Mission Viejo defeated LCC 38-14, and Rancho Santa Margarita edged the Mavericks, 18-14.

ENOUGH ALREADY

Three weeks after a game in which his team was penalized 15 times (with two personal fouls) and fumbled six (including four center-to-quarterback snaps), John Carroll of Oceanside still was answering questions about what happened in the Pirates’ struggling, 26-23 win over opening-game foe Eastlake.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” said Carroll. Especially after Oceanside, the defending state II champion went to 3-0 with a 42-24 victory over second-ranked Mira Mesa.

The Pirates made it 15 consecutive years in the Section semifinals under Carroll, then won their ninth championship in 11 tries, defeating Helix 23-19.

MAGNANIMOUS OR…?

Was Madison coach Rick Jackson being sportsmanlike or was he looking for a psychological advantage?

The 10-0 Warhawks were seeded No. 2 in the D-IV playoffs, behind Valley Center, which was 8-2.

“Getting seeded number one should be a reward for not losing, but look at who (Valley Center) lost to, Oceanside and Ramona,” said Jackson.

“When you have won two of the last three championships, you are the team to beat, and overall our league isn’t as strong as theirs, so I understand.”

The seeding panel of former coaches was on the mark. Coach Rob Gilster’s Jaguars defeated Madison, 31-20, for their third championship in four seasons and in a rivalry that would heat up in subsequent seasons.

Other top seeds also came through.  La Costa Canyon (I), Oceanside (II), Cathedral (III), and Francis Parker (V) all won titles.

HE SAID IT

Madison’s Rouse, on playing defense:  “I just want to get a sack and force a fumble and go to the house.”

MAYBE NEXT YEAR

The Norsemen had been going to their Valhalla for 33 years.  Valhalla was 3-28-2 against Helix, but it opened the season 5-0 and averaging 34.4 points.

Valhalla began the Grossmont South league season at Helix with high hopes, but the Highlanders brought their neighborhood rival back to reality with a 28-14 victory.

HERE COMES…CUBA!

Renowned vocalist Cuba Gooding, Sr., was contracted to sing the national anthem before El Camino’s game with Oceanside and to perform in two shows at El Camino, which was raising money to build a new gymnasium floor.

CALVIN ON MISSION

Calvin Christian quarterback David Stout hoped to play under the lights, so Stout and five teammates went before the Escondido City Council.

The quarterback shed some light on the second-year program and sought approval for illumination on the Crusaders’ football field, amid neighborhood concerns about additional nighttime activity and noise.

Permission was granted, allowing Calvin Christian to install in time for the 2009 season.

Stout and all of his teammates also pitched in to help erect new bleachers at the football field, adding seats for about 200 additional spectators.

FIELD OF BAD DREAMS

Chula Vista and Sweetwater had to play most of their schedules on the road because of unsafe conditions at the schools’ home sidelines, made of 60-year-old concrete bleachers.

Rebar was exposed in cracks of the concrete at both venues.   Repair was expected to take four weeks or longer.

A larger problem existed at Carlsbad.  Soil tests revealed elevated levels of arsenic six inches below the surface of the Lancers’ field.

Carlsbad played home games at La Costa Canyon.

FIELD OF BAD DREAMS, CON’T

Oceanside and Scripps Ranch sat out a power outage that lasted almost two hours before the Pirates (with a bow to Monday night football analyst Don Meredith and his rendition of  “Turn out the lights, the party’s over!”) dismissed the Falcons, 49-14.

Oceanside led, 14-0, after 4 minutes, 21 seconds of play, when the lights at Simcox Field blinked and faded at 7:25 p.m. in the D-II playoff.

After one hour and 52 minutes, during which the teams returned to their locker rooms, temporary lights were in play.

The outage was blamed on released balloons becoming entangled in power lines, according to Boyce Garrison of The San Diego Union.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE…

Steele Canyon coach Ron Boehmke’s son, Brad, played quarterback for the Cougars. Brad’s grandfather, Russ Boehmke, was an all-City League quarterback at Lincoln in 1957.

Mission Hills coach Chris Hauser’s son, Aaron, was a quarterback for the Grizzlies.

LIKE FATHER LIKE, CONT.

Steele Canyon defensive lineman Cameron Moss’ father, Martin, played at Lincoln, UCLA, and for the Detroit Lions.

Derek White, a wide receiver at Valhalla, was the son of Leon White, who played at Helix, BYU, and for the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams.

Yet another Father-Son combination was Tanner and Travis Hitt.  Valhalla’s Tanner played linebacker, the position at which Travis was San Diego Section co-player of the year for Grossmont in 1971.

IN NICK OF TIME

Poway’s Nick Ricciardulli had watched the Titans with his older brother  almost from the time of Nick’s Pop Warner days.

“I always knew that there’s a guy at Poway, a guy who’s going to get the ball,” Ricciardulli told Glae Thien of The San Diego Union. “I just wanted to work hard so I could be that guy one day.”

Ricciardulli became that guy as a junior in 2007 and set a school rushing record this season.

Nick finished with 1,912 yards in 283 carries (6.8 average) and scored 22 touchdowns.

TRUE GRID

Cathedral’s Roman Ferreira set a state record with 115 consecutive point-after-touchdown kicks in 2007 and 2008…Gavino Pinal intercepted three passes against Otay Ranch, tying an El Capitan record achieved in 1963 by Dave Nuttall…Ruben Diaz kicked a 35-yard field goal in  the final second to give Mission Bay a 38-38 tie with Point Loma…Madison alum and former St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz addressed the Warhawks before they went out and defeated Clairemont, 21-7…Brawley lost to El Capitan, 41-22, in the D-III playoffs and finished with a 5-6 record, its first under .500 since 1994…said Brawley coach John Bishop:  “Football is like Murphy’s Law…if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong, especially when you don’t have your best athletes available”…St. Joseph and Lutheran set a state, 8-man record in St. Joseph’s 94-76 victory…the combined 170 points broke a 1989 record of 158 points when Smith Valley, Nevada, defeated Big Pine, 82-76…Helix ended the season with 14 straight Grossmont South victories…two of Tyler Gaffney’s blockers were 6-foot, 5-inch, 290-pound Alex Crosthwaite and 6-6, 320-pound Everett Benyard…San Pasqual (2-8) missed the playoffs for the first time since 1990…Helix’ Scott Webb (1982) and Ramona’s Tim Valencia (2001) hold the San Diego Section record with 5 field goals in one game…they were almost joined by Valhalla’s Pete Thomas, who missed a fifth when his 42-yard attempt was wide left against Steele Canyon…Patrick Henry, 24-57 with no winning seasons and four different coaches from 2000-07, rallied to 7-5, then coach Mike Williams stepped down….