Duane Maley felt like the guy who discovered that his wallet had been lifted after being jostled in a crowded theater.

Maley  ended up on the wrong side of the coin minutes after conclusion of a tight, competitive City Prep League season.  Maley’s San Diego Cavemen and Walt Harvey’s La Jolla Vikings, each with a 5-1 record, tied for first.

Lawrence Carr, the President of the City Prep League, conducted a telephonic coin flip which went in favor of the Vikings, propelling Harvey’s club into the Southern California playoffs for the first time since 1938.

Only one CPL representative could be chosen for the playoffs.

You couldn’t blame Maley if he hollered.

That Carr resided in La Jolla and had been the Vikings’ head coach from 1932-35 was a coincidence, but Carr also was one of Maley’s bosses!

Carr was the boys’ vice principal at San Diego High.

Maley’s unpleasant playoff fate was shared by the tall, gentlemanly Carr, who had a long history in athletics (three-sport star at Grossmont) and coaching (La Jolla football and Hoover basketball and track), and empathized with his frustrated colleague.

To add to the discomfort, Carr also carried a legacy that went back almost a half century at San Diego High.  His father taught math there for many years and was the Hilltoppers’ baseball coach in 1911.

VIKINGS MOST DESERVING?

Supporters of each team could mount a strong argument for their favorite.

La Jolla beat the Cavers, 7-6,  in their head-to-head matchup in Week 4.  The Vikings,  perhaps looking forward to their game with San Diego, ran afoul of Hoover, 20-0, the previous week.

San Diego beat Hoover 13-6 in the season finale.  Both teams had wins over third-place Point Loma.

La Jolla won a taut, 21-14 struggle at Point Loma (“That last five minutes, my goodness, I thought the game never would end,” said  Harvey) on the last afternoon of the regular season and took home the bronze “Shoe”, emblematic of the schools’ long rivalry.

San Diego topped the Pointers 15-6 in Week 6 with defense and the kicking game. The Hillers’ Jim Duschel blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety and Terry Dale averaged 40 yards on six punts and coffin-cornered three at the Pointers’ 10, 8, and 5-yard lines.

BLOCK THAT KICK!

The La Jolla-San Diego game, before a fog-bound, afternoon capacity crowd of 5,000 at Scripps Field, turned when the  Vikings’ Stan Wyatt  blocked Terry Dale’s punt and Tom Tomaiko recovered the ball on San Diego’s seven-yard line in the third quarter.

A touchdown pass from Dick Greenfield to Tomaiko in the corner of the endzone and Greenfield’s successful conversion gave the Vikings a 7-6 lead.

The Jewel City club  held on for the last 19 minutes, 40 seconds, Harvey’s 4-4-3 defense keeping the fleet San Diego runners from mischief.

“We played the 4-4 but went to a six-man line on punts,” Harvey said in remembering the pivotal block.

Evening Tribune writer Jerry Brucker termed the La Jolla victory, which ended the Hillers’ 12-game, regular-season winning streak, “astounding.”

KEOUGH IS KEY

La Jolla also manned-up in its first-round playoff with Pomona at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, battling the favored Red Devils before bowing, 27-21.

Harvey’s team couldn’t overcome a blocked punt, which was recovered by the hosts and positioned Pomona at the Vikings’ one-yard line, resulting in a touchdown and 14-7 lead.

Quarterback Marty Keough, a future major league outfielder, also kept the Vikings on their heels, rushing for 92 yards and three touchdowns and completing 10 of 16 passes for 99 yards before a largely Pomona crowd of some 7,000 persons.

As Dick Corrick, the linebacker and blocking quarterback in La Jolla’s single wing observed, “That Keough, he was smooth as glass.”

Pomona went on to win the Southern California championship with a 26-13 victory over Monrovia.

‘NEEDY’ GOES OUT A WINNER

Coronado’s Hal Niedermeyer, who ended a 20-year coaching stint at Coronado after the 1950 season, guided the Southern California All-Stars to a 19-16 victory over the Los Angeles City All-Stars in the 1951, third annual  Breitbard College Prep game before 13,000 persons in Balboa Stadium.

Covina’s Jim Hanifan, a future NFL head coach with the St. Louis Cardinals and an assistant to Don Coryell at San Diego State, the Cardinals, and the San Diego Chargers, intercepted an L.A. pass and raced 30 yards for a touchdown that put the Southern Californians up, 19-10.

The game, played with a rubber football favored by Eastern teams in poor weather and not the traditional pigskin, involved recent high school graduates and had 10 San Diegans on the Southern roster, including San  Diego’s Charlie Powell.

Niedermeyer  joined the Coronado faculty in 1930, and posted a 62-54-10 football record in 14 seasons, beginning in 1937, and was 122-64 in basketball.  He bowed out with a co-Metropolitan League football championship.

A Long Beach Poly alum, Niedermeyer started at Coronado in 1930 and won a Southern Prep League championship his first season.

Niedermeyer’s successor, Lloyd (Jack) Whetstone, guided the Islanders to an 8-2 record this season.

The transbay team, behind halfback Harry Sykes, Swede Grimaud, John Hannon, and others, defeated Vista 32-0 in the first round of the lower division playoffs, and then bowed to eventual champion Brawley, 23-14, in the semifinals.

I WENT TO GROSSMONT, DIDN’T I?

For years actor and director Dennis Hopper said he was from Grossmont when asked where he went to high school.

A star in “Easy Rider”, “Hoosiers”, and other popular movies, including the 1955 classic “Rebel Without a Cause” with James Dean, Hopper was correct about attending classes at Grossmont, but may have had a memory lapse about which was his real alma mater.

Before he went on to a legendary Hollywood career, Hopper was voted most likely to succeed in the Helix graduation class of 1954.

Hopper’s freshman year was at Grossmont, but he was in the first wave of students at the new Helix High, which became the County’s 22^nd  high school when it opened in September, 1951.

Because the Helix campus still was under construction, Hopper and the rest of the new Highlanders attended split sessions at Grossmont.

School was for Grossmont students in the morning and Helix students in the afternoon.

COINCIDENCE, MAYBE

Hopper’s wasn’t the only Grossmont connection to “Rebel Without a Cause.” Beverly Long played the role of Helen, co-star Natalie Wood’s friend.

Beverly was a 1950 graduate of Grossmont and also appeared in television’s “Father Knows Best” before embarking on a long career as a casting director.

Was Beverly Long a possible connection to Hollywood for the aspiring Hopper?

Reader and Helix historian Roger Conlee pointed out that Hopper also acted in school plays at Helix and at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater before heading north.

FOOTBALL, TOO

The  60-odd candidates for coach Ken Maynard’s first Helix team weren’t able to take advantage of the split session and sleep in.  Football practice for Helix was at 9:30 a.m., followed by classes from 1 p.m. to 5:40 p.m.

Grossmont gridders weren’t taking the afternoon off at the beach.  Football practice began at 2 p.m. School classes went from 8 a.m. until noon.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

“West La Mesa High”, which was to open in September of this year, was admitted to the City Prep League when the CIF executive council  met in  Los Angeles in December, 1950.

Voters a month earlier had approved construction of the new “University Avenue High School”, which would be located  beyond the San Diego city limits in western La Mesa at 7323 University Avenue.

Neither of the school names were for long.  The name was changed in January, 1951, when the board of trustees of the Grossmont School district adopted “Helix”.

A board member suggested Helix in honor of the nearby, 1,365-foot Mount Helix, also known for religious services and a visible cross, erected at the peak in 1925.

HARBINGER 

Sophomore halfback C.R. Roberts provided a glimpse of the future, running 46 yards for a touchdown in Oceanside’s Week 2, 19-6 loss at Orange.

Roberts finished the season with five touchdowns and 30 points, a total he would match in single games more than once in his  junior and senior seasons.

HONORS

Tackle Andy Skief or La Jolla and guard Jim Schafer of San Diego were all-Southern California first team. Fullback George Stephenson and end John Van Hooser of Hoover were second team and halfback Frank Johnson of San Diego was third team.

Coronado center Wilson Whitmire and halfback Harry Sykes made the all-Southern California small schools team.

BIG GUYS SEPARATED

Hoover and San Diego did not meet in the final quarter of the 13^th annual City Schools’ carnival, in order to put other schools “on equal footing” with the two longtime giants, as school officials vaguely noted (read “jealousy”).

About 23,000 saw the West of Kearny, Hoover, and Point Loma beat the East’s Helix, La Jolla, and San Diego, 14-7.  Grossmont sat out.

Carnival squads operated under a new CIF rule that allowed a full, two-platoon system.  The system previously was allowed only on a limited basis.

CANDY CANES?

Hoover unveiled a new uniform of striped jerseys and matching socks when coach Bob Kirchhoff’s squad took the field in the carnival.

The Cardinals, who tied La Jolla,7-7, in the exhibition, were almost perfect in their usual season opener with San Bernardino.

Hoover defeated the host Cardinals 38-7 as George Stephenson rushed for 172 yards and three touchdowns.  The only glitch was in Hoover’s kicking game. John Clinger, who was more effective as an all-City tackle, had his last four conversion attempts blocked.

The Cardinals’ promising season was sidetracked when Stephenson’s backfield mate, Tom Chrones, went down with a season-ending injury in the third quarter of a 20-0 victory over La Jolla in Week 3.

Chrones had scored two touchdowns in the first game and three more in the second as Hoover defeated Helix, 32-6.

HOOVER’S WARRIOR

In what The San Diego Union writer Gene Earl said was a “season vibrant with excitement, explosive individual performances, close contests, and the unpredictable,” the play of George Stephenson in his final game for Hoover perhaps stood above all.

Stephenson touched the ball 40 times, either by running, catching or punting, and was unbowed, earning the admiration of the 11,000 fans in Balboa Stadium, despite the 13-6 loss to San Diego.

Stephenson was City League player of the year and enrolled at UCLA.

Unhappy, Stephenson  transferred to the University of California and was an unsuspecting participant in the breakup of the Pacific Coast Conference after Stephenson was interviewed by a Look Magazine writer who wrote of payoffs to players at conference schools.

Hoover coach Bob Kirchhoff remained friends with Stephenson, who was Kirchhoff’s partner on the sideline downs-and-markers, chain gang crew at San Diego Chargers games for more than 20 years.

QUICK KICKS

Harry Sykes of Coronado was the County’s leading scorer with 81 points, 11 more than runner-up Dick Greenfield of La Jolla…Mar Vista coach Gerry Spitler resigned after two seasons to take a position in the Marshall Islands as a recreation director…Helix coach Ken Maynard did not profit from the school split, inheriting only two lettermen and a few junior varsity and sophomore veterans…the lettermen were nuggets, halfback Ernie Merk and end Howard Fackrell…San Diego dominated old tormentor Long Beach Poly, 31-7, despite three first-half touchdowns called back because of penalties…the Cavers’ Week 2 game against L.A. Roosevelt was their first against an inner-city Los Angeles school since it met Manual Arts in 1925…freshman Karl Jordan  quarterbacked Helix in its first-ever game, a 19-13 win over St. Augustine…Kearny’s Kirby Woods ran 73 yards in the carnival, La Jolla’s Frankie Rivas 80 against Chula Vista, and San Diego’s Alex Hudson 83 against Long Beach Poly, but all were short of touchdowns…Rhode Island transfer John Mellekas became a second  team all-City lineman for San Diego, matriculated at Arizona, was drafted in the fourth round by the Chicago Bears, and played eight seasons in the NFL…Week 1 was bad for the Southern Prep League…Ramona, Mountain Empire, Army-Navy, Brown Military Academy, and Fallbrook were a combined 0-4-1…Ramona was beaten by Wildomar Elsinore 40-6, but was the only league team to score…Empire struggled to a scoreless tie with Calipatria…Erwin Hedstrom kicked a 30-yard field goal for the difference in Oceanside’s 9-7 win over San Dieguito, the first three-pointer in the County since four different players launched successful placements in 1942…Hoover’s John Clinger and San Diego’s Learnold Stallings, a pair of 200-pound tackles, each kicked 27-yard PAT’s after penalties set their teams back against La Jolla and Helix, respectively…press accounts of teams’ preseason prospects stressed whether the T formation was the offensive formation of choice  or the single and double wings, which some clubs still preferred…Hoover was offside on a kickoff return against Point Loma, negating a 65-yard return  by George Stephenson in a 14-0 loss…”We were terrible,” said Hoover’s Kirchhoff, whose team fell to 2-1 in league play…”It was like two sluggers pounding each other and we had the most punch,” said Point Loma’s Don Giddings, whose team went to 3-0 and added,  “Give all the credit to Hil Crosthwaite and Bennie Edens, who coach our defense”…San Diego’s 25-0 victory over Grossmont was vintage Cavers running game: Alex Hudson had 103 yards in 6 carries, Eddie Duncan 76 in 11, and Frank Johnson 64 in 6….

 

Army-Navy, Grossmont, Olympian, and Otay Ranch continue to win, each improving to a 6-0 won-loss record.  Calexico, Patrick Henry, Hoover, and West Hills all were beaten after winning their first five games.

Army-Navy scored a 1-0, forfeit win over Calvin Christian.  Grossmont defeated Granite Hills, 48-6.  Olympian beat El Capitan, 41-6, and Otay Ranch topped Bonita Vista, 40-10.

Week 7 will mark  showdowns in the second week of league play.

Otay Ranch visits Olympian in the Metro Mesa League.  Grossmont visitsSteele Canyon in the Grossmont Hills and Army-Navy is host to Maranatha Christian, which returned to 11-man football this season, in the Pacific League.

NO CHANGE IN TOP 10

As in Week 5, Oceanside is No. 1 in the North County Times Top 10 through Week 6, followed in the same order by La Costa Canyon, Helix,  Cathedral  Catholic, Mission Hills, Poway, Olympian, St. Augustine, Otay Ranch, and Grossmont.

COUNTRY DAY ENDS LOSSES

La Jolla Country Day’s 27-6 win over Francis Parker was its first over the Patriots since 1993.  The Torres snapped a 0-9-1 streak  to Parker, which holds a 20-8 edge since the series began in 1971.

SPARTANS’ MISERY

Chula Vista’s 49-21 loss to Eastlake embodied frustration.

The Spartans took the third quarter kickoff trailing, 34-21, and held the ball for 18 consecutive plays before settling for a field goal attempt, which was blocked and returned 88 yards by Kiefer Graham for a Titans touchdown.

TRUE GRID

Helix’ 5-foot, 9-inch, 260-pound defensive tackle Amu Milo was everywhere in the Scots’ win over Valhalla,  even passing on the halftime team meeting to be crowned Homecoming King…Orange Glen celebrated the school’s 50^th anniversary with a 24-20 victory over San Marcos…Rancho Buena Vista is 3-3 after 17 consecutive losses since 2010 and the 36-0 rout of Vista marked the Broncos’ first win over the Panthers since 2006…Oceanside’s cheerleaders were worn out after the 54-3 victory over Carlsbad, having dropped to the track at Simcox Field and doing pushups until matching the number of  points posted by the Pirates….

 

It has been said for years  that San Diego produces many  of the best of the best players, but falls short when matching up with teams from North of the County line. That holds true in 2012.

Not counting Imperial County members, San Diego Section squads were 29-25-2  in pre-league intersectional games this season, but many of those involved lower division or 8-man squads.

Well-regarded local clubs were 0-5 in high profile contests against ranked, Southern Section tough guys from Orange and Riverside Counties.

The breakdown, including up-to-date won-loss records of the Southern Section  teams in parenthesis:

(4-1) Temecula Chaparral 40, Oceanside 30.

(6-0) Mission Viejo 35, Mission Hills 21.

(4-2) San Clemente 21, La Costa Canyon 10.

(5-0) Vista Murrieta 21, Cathedral 10.

(6-0) El Toro 77, Valhalla 46.

There were exceptions:

LaCosta Canyon 42, Baldwin Park  0 (0-6).

Orange Glen 41, Oxnard Hueneme 7 (1-4).

Oceanside 34, Oakdale, Sac-Joaquin Section, 14 (4-1)

Steele Canyon 49, Canyon Country Canyon 49 (3-1-1).

Oceanside is the No. 1 team in the latest North County Times poll.  La Costa Canyon is second, Cathedral third, and Mission Hills fifth.  Valhalla is unranked.

Demographics, population areas, interest, and facilities aren’t that much different.  Most Orange and Riverside County  schools are within at least an hour from most of the San Diego schools.

Despite the losses, those San Diego coaches willing to schedule the tough nonleague games at the expense of wins and win streaks deserve some props.

WHAT GIVES?

 Why the domination?

“It’s the intensity of the programs up here,” says Dave Ogas.   “Nothing is overlooked.”

Ogas played for Don Coryell at San Diego State and was with the Oakland Raiders and Buffalo Bills in the NFL.  Ogas  was head coach for more than 20 years at Rancho Santiago College  in Santa Ana and coached in San Diego at Mount Miguel  and Mission Bay.

Intensity may be the answer if you’re to believe the report out of Orange County recently that the coach and team president  were offering bounties …to their Tustin Pop Warner League team.

Give those San Diego Section coaches credit  who are willing to schedule the tough nonleague games year in and year out.

Hoover, Otay Ranch, Olympian, Calexico, Grossmont, Army-Navy, Patrick Henry, and West Hills represent the  San Diego Section’s Elite 8 this week as teams reached the halfway pole in the season and get ready to open league play.

The eight teams are the only 5-0 squads of the 95 playing football in the San Diego Section.

Grossmont  (11) and Hoover (8), the oldest schools, have more 5-0 starts than the others combined.

5-0 prior to 2012:

Grossmont , 1925, ’33, ’34, 47, ’61, ’66, ’67, ’70, ’95, ’02, ’10.

Hoover, 1934, ’35, ’49, ’54, ’56, ’99, ’07, ’09.

Patrick Henry, 1971, ’74, ’96, ’97, ’99.

Army-Navy, 1987, ’90, ’02.

Otay Ranch, 2004, ’05.

West Hills, 1995.

Olympian, 2009.

Calexico’s 5-0 is its first in the San Diego Section.  The Bulldogs and other Imperial Valley schools  joined the San Diego Section in 2000 and prior records have not been researched.

ONE UNHAPPY POWEGIAN

No one is claiming a record, except on the frustration meter.

Poway’s Ryan Sharpe returned three second-quarter punts for touchdowns against Valley Center…and all three were nullified by penalties.

The Division II Titans still overpowered the Jaguars, 38-6.  It was the second straight smackdown for D-IV Valley Center, which stepped up to face D-I  Mission Hills in Week 4 and lost 38-14.

 

This could become a habit.  Vista won another 2-0 game.

The Panthers defeated Torrey Pines, with a safety the only score in the game last week.

It was the second safety-only game in the 758  Vista has played since the school opened in 1937.  Not a trend, but the Panthers are working on it.

Vista last won 2-0 when it defeated Palm Springs  in 1958.

Vista has won its last two  games and scored or been credited with three points…total!

After a 1-0 forfeit victory with the automatic score over Temecula Rancho Christian, the Panthers returned and rang up a couple more  points to edge the Torrey Pines Falcons, who never, in their 39-season history,  had been in a 2-0 contest.

There have been 11 other 2-0 games in the history of teams in San Diego County or the San Diego Section, covering pfobably more than 35,000 games, dating to the first recorded contest, San Diego High versus “The San Diego Football Club in 1891.

The list:
1915 — Sweetwater 2, Escondido Athletic Association 0.
1919 — San Diego 2, 32^nd Infantry 0.
1926 — San Diego 2, Glendale 0.
1940 — St. Augustine 2, Hoover Sophomores 0.
1958 — Vista 2, Palm Springs 0.
1963 — Point Loma 2, La Jolla 0.
1974 — Poway 2, La Jolla 0.
1978 — La Jolla 2, Lincoln 0.
1990 — Coronado 2, San Diego 0.
1997 — Calipatria 2, Wellton Antelope, Arizona, 0.
1997 — Granite Hills 2, Mt. Carmel 0.
2012 — Vista 2, Torrey Pines 0.

PASSES AND POINTS

Contrary to Vista-Torrey Pines, offense was alive and well when Valhalla took on El Toro.

Conner Manning of  El Toro threw for 613 yards and seven touchdowns as the Chargers, a 5-0, South Coast League power in the Southern Section, defeated the Norsemen  77-46.  The 123 points by both teams are the most ever involving a San Diego  Section 11-man team.

Rancho Bernardo and West Hills held the record with 119 points in a 71-48 R.B. playoff victory in 1999.

The San Diego County record for most points by both teams is 137, set in 1920, when San Diego High unloaded on Army-Navy, 130-7.

St. Joseph defeated Lutheran 94-76 in 2008 to set a record for most points by both teams (170)  in an 8-man game.

OCEANSIDE STAYS NO. 1

Despite an uneven performance in the second half, Oceanside’s 23-13 victory over Poway solidified the Pirates’ lead with 22 points in the North County Times‘  Week 4 football poll.

The Pirates jumped to a 23-0 halftime lead, but the Titans finished with a strong second half.

The same teams occupy the first five positions as last week, although there was movement.  La Costa Canyon remained second, but Helix went from fourth to third and Mission Hills from fifth to fourth.

Cathedral dropped from third to fifth place, although the Dons held a 14-10 lead on the road in the second half against Vista Murrieta, a Southern Section powerhouse which overcame Cathedral 21-10.

Three 4-0 newcomers were Chula Vista (8) and Grossmont and Otay Ranch, tied for ninth.

Oceanside plays host to Mission Hills in the County’s feature game this week at the Pirates’ new on-campus stadium.

 

#	Team	1st	W-L	Points	Prev#
1	Oceanside	22	3-1	261	1
2	La Costa Canyon	2	3-1	226	2
3	Helix	1	3-1	204	4
4	Mission Hills	2	3-1	189	5
5	Cathedral Catholic	0	2-2	149	3
6	Eastlake	0	3-1	127	9
7	Poway	0	2-2	85	6
8	Chula Vista	0	4-0	46	NR
9	Grossmont	0	4-0	34	NR
9	Otay Ranch	0	4-0	34	NR

Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis

1^st = 1^st place votes; Prev# = Last week #

Others receiving votes (points): Valley Center (31), Olympian (26), St. Augustine (23), San Pasqual (14), West Hills (7), Torrey Pines (4), Hoover (2).

There were no sonic booms and reveille still sounded at the usual time on the nearby Camp Pendleton military reservation after Roy Scaffidi announced he was moving senior quarterback Junior Seau to wide receiver.

That Seau also played a fine game at linebacker also did not register with a service rating the top players in the San Diego Section.

Under The San Diego Union headline  “San Diego Preps Have ‘Skill’  Galore”, writer Steve Brand pointed out the quality and depth at such positions as quarterback, wide receiver, and running back.

Seau was not mentioned in any of those position assessments, nor did he receive a call at linebacker, where 15 players were cited.

What happened?

Seau happened.

Oceanside improved its record from 3-7 to 10-3 and reached the 2-A playoff finals under first-year coach Scaffidi.  Seau caught almost 60 passes, scored 11 touchdowns, and was all over the field on defense.

TWO-SPORT PLAYER OF THE YEAR

The rangy, 6-foot, 5-inch, 215-pounder also was the CIF San Diego Section defensive player of the year, was CIF basketball player of the year with 500 points and a 22.7 scoring average, and one of the leading shot putters in the County with a 56-foot throw during the spring track-and-field season.

A star had been born, one that shone brightly for the next three decades:

–All-America at University of Southern California.

–No. 1 draft choice and fifth player in 1990 NFL draft by his hometown San Diego Chargers.

–NFL All-Pro 10 seasons; 13 Pro Bowls, 268 games in 19 seasons.

–Fifty-seven quarterback sacks, 18 pass interceptions, 21 deflected passes, 11 forced fumbles, 18 recovered fumbles.

A certain, future Hall of Famer, Junior would not see the Chargers retire his jersey number 55.   He took his own life at age 43 in 2012.

FALLBROOK GETS IN WAY

A favored matchup would have had Lincoln and Vista squaring off in an 2-A 3-A final.

Fallbrook happened.

Losers to Vista 48-21 in the regular season, the Section’s most Northern entry smashed the Panthers, 28-14, to win the championship, knocking Vista from a No. 15 national ranking in USA Today, and ending the Panthers’ 25-game winning streak.

After starting 2-2-1, coach Tom Pack’s pass-minded Warriors rolled.

The Madison Warhawks, their first-round playoff opponent, were among those who did not know what hit them, which was a predominantly run-and-shoot passing attack.

“Really, we’re going to defend them just like we’ve defended everyone else,” said Madison coach Steve Miner, who was miffed that the Eastern League co-champion Warhawks had to travel to the home of the Palomar League’s third-place team.

“I just think we match up well,” Miner told Steve Brand. “I think we have more speed than Fallbrook.   We have good quickness and we have five shutouts in 10 games.  Why change?

Final score, Fallbrook, 55-6.

A MAGIC RUN

The seventh-seeded Warriors beat Sweetwater for first time in three playoff tries with 24 second-half points in a 31-23 quarterfinals victory.

The Sweetwater victory was followed by a 34-27, semifinals win on a muddy field over Mount Miguel, Warriors quarterback Scott Barrick gutting it out despite battling affects of the flu.

Vista almost was a piece of cake.

Fallbrook led 28-7 when the Panthers’ Tommy Booker broke a 69-yard touchdown run in the final minute.

Barrick smashed Jim Plum’s passing records with 32 touchdowns and 3,496 yards and his wide receiver, Bill Dunckel, was a scoring machine, with 91 catches, 1,328 yards, and 18 receiving touchdowns.

Including points after touchdowns and field goals, Dunckel scored a stunning 166 points.

Barrick scorched Vista with 27 completions in 33 passing attempts for 345 yards and two touchdowns.

Barrick’s total passing yards set a state record that lasted for one season.

NEUMEIER’S NUANCES

Jack Neumeyer once coached John Elway in high school at Granada Hills in Los Angeles, then retired and built a home in Fallbrook.

Fallbrook coach Tom Pack was able to get Neumeyer to join his staff, after completion of the retirement house, in 1981.

Neumeier helped devise a version of a run-and-shoot offense.

Fallbrook called it the “run and gun”, lining up with five receivers on every play, 3 wideouts on one side, another wideout on the opposite side, and one in the backfield.

After a record of 8-15-2 in Pack’s first three seasons, the Warriors beginning in 1981 made the playoffs the next six seasons and were 47-18-3 during that period.

Fallbrook did have a running game.  It was named Ty Barksdale.  In one game Barksdale’s 21 attempts represented all the running plays Fallbrook called.

ANCIENT NORTH COUNTY RIVALS

Vista High opened in 1937.  Fallbrook began classes in 1893 but did not field a football team until 1936.

The neighboring communities are only 14 miles apart.  Their teams have been rolling in the dirt almost every year, with Vista holding a 32-13-2 advantage going into the title  game.

This series record included the years 1942 and ’43 when Fallbrook did not field a team and  1960, when the Warriors opted not to join the new, CIF San Diego Section in football and remained in the Southern Section.

Fallbrook actually played the Panthers before Vista High opened.  That was in 1936.  Vista Junior High topped the Warriors 33-0.

CORONADO’S SEARCH FOR A BETTER LIFE, CONT.

As members of the Metropolitan League (1963-72), Coast League (1973-75), and Metropolitan League (1976-84) the Coronado Islanders could always change unwelcome conversation about football and point to their representative teams in water polo, swimming, tennis, and other sports.

Outscored 242-6 in nine games, the Islanders forfeited their final game of the 1984 season to Chula Vista and announced they’d had enough.  Their league record over the 22 seasons beginning in 1963 was 34-107-4, a percentage of .330, i.e., at least two losses in every three games.

The Islanders demanded to be let out of the AA Metro. The school principal said he would campaign for a new 1-A league or petition the 1-A Mountain-Desert circuit for membership.

CHECK YOUR MILEAGE

It was a matter of survival and the Islanders survived, becoming the largest school in the farflung Mountain-Desert, with trips as short as 31 miles (Santa Fe Christian in Encinitas) and as long as 128 (Holtville) and 145 (Calipatria).

Who’s complaining about long bus rides?

The Islanders  won the league with a 6-4 overall record in ’85 and ran off with a 10-1 record this season, routing Imperial, 30-0, for the 1-A championship and ranking ninth in that division by Cal-Hi Sports.

BACK TO THE FUTURE?

Had Coronado found a home or was it just renting? Talk already had begun about an upgrade back to 2-A.

“It’s not like all of a sudden Coronado football started getting big numbers out for football,” said coach Dave Tupek.  “I still feel we’re a relatively small football team. We are considered a big 1-A school.  I don’t consider us that big.”

A meeting was held at Mountain Empire the day after the season. Speculation centered on the Islanders’ joining Marian (1-8 in the Metropolitan’s 2-A South Bay League) and forming a small-schools 2-A league.  Others mentioned were Ramona, St. Augustine, El Cajon Valley, and Christian.

Such decisions could not be made on the league level, but there were no tears from Imperial and the Islanders’ other rivals in the Mountain-Desert when the Section board of managers  put Coronado back in the Metropolitan’s 2-A alignment.

But for how long? Coronado was becoming a football gypsy.

PLAYER TO RESCUE

Lincoln was on its third coach in three seasons. Ray Hooper was suddenly dismissed prior to the 1985 season.  Orlando (Skip) Coons, an assistant under John Shacklett at Morse, stepped into the void and won the 2-A championship.

Coons had not obtained a fulltime teaching credential, so he had to step aside at Lincoln and become an assistant to…welcome back, Player!

Ensconced in football coaching retirement since 1982, Vic Player returned to the Hornets’ sideline.

Player’s timing was great, as it was in 1960, when he was a two-way player and all-Eastern League at St. Augustine.

Lincoln was closing out a 14-12 victory over the Saints with seconds to play.  Hornets coach Shan Deniston dialed a risky play, a wide pitchout to halfback Adam Cato.  Player, flying from his position as a roving defensive back, scooped up what became a backward pass on one bounce and raced 60 yards for a touchdown and 18-14 victory.

BETTER THAN ALLEN’S TEAM?

Player inherited perhaps the best team in Lincoln’s studded history, better than the 1977 squad that featured future Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Allen and was 12-0-1 with a championship.

Player’s first game back was a 71-0 victory over San Francisco Wilson.  Lincoln averaged almost 44 points a game and scored a record 554 points in a 12-1 season that culminated with a 41-7 rout of Oceanside for its seventh 2-A title and fifth in the last 10 seasons.

An unlikely and stunning, 21-20 upset by Hoover in the middle of the season was the only blotch on the Hornets’ record.

‘SMOKE’ BLOWER?

“Maybe now I can get some respect from the people out there who thought I was blowing smoke (about the ’86 club being better than the ’77 team),” said Player.  “I knew these kids were that good from the first contact drills.”

Lincoln had the fourth, sixth, and seventh highest scorers in the Section.

Fullback Kevin Key (138), wide receiver Patrick Rowe (110), and running back Marcus Hopkins (108) combined to score 59 touchdowns.  Heady quarterback Keith Mitchell went on to play four seasons of major league baseball.

Player coached seven more seasons.  He was 73-22-2 in his first nine and 58-37 in the second stint.  Player’s overall coaching record of 131-59-2 (.688) stands out among the elite.

KOMETS ROIL WESTERN STANDINGS

Kearny forfeited on-field victories over Mission Bay and University City, the result causing a three-way tie for the championship between U. City, La Jolla, and University. The three benefactors advanced to the playoffs.

1953 RUSHING RECORD GOES DOWN

Vista’s Tommy Booker bettered a record that was set before the CIF San Diego Section was formed. Booker’s 2,124 yards rushing in 13 games (and 26 touchdowns and 156 points) bettered the 1,903 amassed by Oceanside’s C.R. Roberts in nine games in 1953. But Roberts’ game average of 211.4 yards topped Booker’s 163.3.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Gasoline at some San Diego pumps fell below 80 cents a gallon for the first time since the Iranian revolution in 1979.  Jet Discount at Ingraham and Grand in Pacific Beach led the way with regular at 64.9 cents.

Chief Bill Kolender promised to address complaints and news accounts that revealed the dismissal of traffic tickets issued to prominent members of the community, city employees, and friends and relatives of high-ranking police officials.

 QUICK KICKS

Chula Vista’s 15-14 victory over Sweetwater was its first over the Red Devils since 1976…Vista’s Tommy Booker returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown and ran 93 yards for a touchdown on  the Panthers’ first play from scrimmage in a 27-21, semifinals playoff win over Granite Hills… Booker and David Strojny combined for 342 rushing yards against Granite… Booker returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdowns to key a 44-21 win over Madison… Coronado played 10 games for the first time since 1983 and played outside San Diego County for the first time since 1974, when it flew to north of the Napa wine country to play Upper Lake, the only team to beat the Islanders…ominous sign for the Vista program:  a new high school, Rancho Buena Vista, which would cut into the Panthers’ prime enrollment area, was scheduled to open in 1987…Francis Parker led visiting Borrego Springs, 28-15, in the fourth quarter, then held on for a 28-27 victory in the 8-Man championship game… Pierre Jones was Sweetwater’s Mr. October, averaging 7.9 yards a carry,  and scored 8 touchdowns and passed for two…Jones was second to Fallbrook’s Bill Dunckel with 158 points for the season….

At least five games have been canceled against San Diego Section teams this season and are being considered forfeited, not because of the usual Dreaded Administrative Glitch reasons of player academic ineligibility or residential  transfer no-no’s.

Temecula Rancho Christian suspended its season and fired the head coach after a 43-6 loss to Whittier La Serna in Rancho’s first-ever game.

Rancho Christian also was scheduled to play Orange Glen, Vista, Mater Dei, and Eastlake, which each would pick up a victory unless a substitute opponent could be found (Orange Glen scheduled a replacement game at Oxnard Hueneme and won 41-13).  Mission Hills’ game with West Adams Prep of Los Angeles also was canceled.

The President of Rancho Christian indicated that the superior quality of the team’s opponents were part of the problem.  “The schedule should never have been played,” Scott Treadway told Terry Monahan of the North County Times.

West County Prep, 6-6 in 2011 and a playoff team in the L.A. City section, lost its first two games this season, 56-0 to San Clemente and 53-0 to San Pedro.  “They’re not canceling the season, just the game,” Mission Hills athletic director Ken Putnam told the Times‘ John Maffei.

According to Putnam, Mission Hills thought the game still was on as late as the Thursday afternoon before last week’s Friday night game.  Sometime after 7 p.m. Thursday, West Adams Prep bailed.

FORFEITS=VICTORIES?

“There’s no other way to look at this,” San Diego Section assistant commissioner John LaBeta said to Monahan, citing the situation with two North County schools.

“Games were scheduled and contracts were signed,” said LaBeta.  “I’m sure Vista and Mission Hills will pursue some kind of financial restitution based on the contract.”

A larger issue also was in play.  “This now becomes a budget problem that superintendents and principals, who scream about revenue flow all the time, will have to address because it’s very difficult to recover from losing twenty per cent of your gate revenue,” said LaBeta.

The 20 per cent figure is based on teams generally playing five home games.

OCEANSIDE ON TOP AFTER WEEK 3

Cathedral Catholic shut down Helix, 16-9, last week and toppled the Highlanders from their perch atop the North County Times‘ prep football poll.

Oceanside routed Mira Mesa, 48-0, and now is No. 1, followed by La Costa Canyon, Cathedral, and Helix.  St. Augustine and Valley Center, each 3-0, are the only remaining undefeated teams in the Top 10.

Oceanside received 16 first-place votes.  LaCosta Canyon, despite a 21-10 loss to San Clemente, was accorded 4 first-place votes.  Cathedral and St. Augustine (2 each), and Valley Center and Torrey Pines also received first-place support.