2016 Week 3: Are Wildcats on Way Back?
El Camino was 58-81 through 2015 after Herb Meyer took his 339 career victories and walked into the coaching sunset in 2001.
Jerry Ralph is the Oceanside school’s fourth coach since Meyer stepped down and may have the Warriors positioned to end a run of mediocrity.
El Camino has had 4 winning seasons following Meyer, whose brilliant career started at Oceanside in 1958.
The Wildcats last week led Rancho Bernardo, the defending state Division III-A champion, 10-0, in the third quarter and 17-14 in the fourth, but a couple disastrous turnovers opened the door.
The Broncos of coach Tristan McCoy, playing at home before 5,000 blue-clad and logo-appareled loyalists, snatched the opportunity and pulled out a 28-17 victory.
HEAD COACH OF 5 TEAMS
Ralph was 16-17 in three seasons at Santana, 78-32-2 in nine at St. Augustine, 2-8 in a startup program at Del Norte, and 27-19 at long-dormant Hoover.
Can he do it at El Camino, where the tide rolled back to neighborhood rival Oceanside after the millennium?
Ralph, who holds the San Diego County record with five different head-coaching appointments, obviously learned as he moved along his coaching track.
Go where you can win.
Ralph’s best move may have been exiting Del Norte after one season (the Nighthawks have an all-time record of 24-44).
Legendary mentor Ed Burke, 243-95 at King City, Taft Union, San Dieguito, and Torrey Pines, may have said it best when he spoke with Ralph of the pain that usually accompanies a first-year school playing a varsity schedule:
“It’s something you will never forget and something you will never do again,” Burke said.
El Camino is a place where Ralph can win.
MILESTONES
Poway’s 43-19 win over Mount Miguel was the 100th of coach Damian Gonzalez’ career. Gonzalez is the 42nd locally to earn that many victories.
Valley Center defeated Brawley for the 198th victory in Rob Gilster’s coaching career.
Gilster was 63-43-3 from 1989-97 at Orange Glen, then opened Valley Center in 1998, and is 135-74-2 with the Jaguars.
Gonzalez, is 82-60-1 since 2004 at Poway, following a stint at Army-Navy, where Gonzalez was 18-22-2 from 1997-00.
Calipatria defeated visiting Maranatha for coach Mike Swearingen’s first win in 12 seasons.
Swearingen was 55-50-1 at Imperial and El Centro Southwest before going on hiatus after the 2005 campaign.
OUT OF TOWNERS, CON’T.
San Diego Section teams were 3-1 last week and are 7-6 overall in principal intersectional games.
Coronado dropped a 26-12 decision to Sun Valley Village Christian. Cathedral topped Modesto Central Catholic, 28-25. Eastlake whipped Lake Forest El Toro, 41-21, and Helix beat Concord Clayton Valley, 13-0.
3 IN TOP 20
My weekly vote in the Union-Tribune Top 10 is different than the overall poll below, but is similar to that of Cal-Hi Sports.
My No. 1 is Cathedral, followed by Helix, and St.Augustine. Cal-Hi Sports chose Cathedral No. 13 in its top 25, with Helix 19th, and St. Augustine 23rd.
Bubble teams include Rancho Bernardo, Oceanside, and Madison.
WEEK 3 TOP 10
First-place votes in parenthesis.
Points awarded on basis of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
| Rank | Team | W-L | Points | Last Week |
| 1. | St. Augustine (14) | 2-0 | 249 | 1 |
| 2. | Helix (6) | 1-1 | 231 | 2 |
| 3. | Cathedral (4) | 2-0 | 218 | 3 |
| 4. | Oceanside (2) | 2-0 | 189 | 4 |
| 5. | Rancho Bernardo (1) | 2-0 | 173 | 5 |
| 6. | Mission Hills | 1-0 | 111 | 6 |
| 7. | Madison | 1-1 | 95 | 7 |
| 8. | Mater Dei | 2-0 | 80 | 9 |
| 9. | Poway | 2-0 | 33 | NR |
| 10. | San Marcos | 2-0 | 20 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Mt. Carmel (2-0, 15); Grossmont (2-0), El Camino (1-1), 11 each; La Costa Canyon (1-1, 10); Carlsbad (1-1), Eastlake (1-1), 4 each; Olympian (2-0), Valhalla (2-0), Santa Fe Christian (1-1), 1 each.
Twenty-seven sportswriters, sportscasters, and other representatives comprise the voting panel:
John Maffei, Union-Tribune. Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren, Union-Tribune contributors. Michael Bower, Pomerado News. Lisa Lane, Fox 5 News. Montell Allen, MBA Sports-SDFNL Magazine. Brandon Stone, Rick Willis, KUSI, Channel 51. Adam Clark, Ted Mendenhall, Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090.Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Radio 107.9 FM. Bob Petinak, 1360 Radio. Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, Chris Davis, eastcountysports.com. Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com. Drew Smith, sdcoastalsports.com. Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net. Rick Smith, partletonsports.com. Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions. Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, CIF San Diego Section. John (Coach) Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator.