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.
