Football is fun again at Sweetwater and Hoover is traveling in style.
Sweetwater whipped Castle Park, 28-7, for its fourth victory in a row and a 5-4 record. The Red Devils had not won 4 straight since 1996 and have not been 5-4 since 1998.
Hoover is a 7-game winner for only the 12th season in the 84 since the Cardinals first teed up the pigskin. They also collected a rare double, defeating old rivals Lincoln and Morse for the first time in the same season.
HIVE, TIGERS SHUFFLE CARDS
Hoover is only 13-29-1 against Lincoln since 1954 and 8-14 versus Morse since 1962.
There were several years in which Hoover played only one of the teams and years in which the squads were in different leagues and did not meet at all.
The somewhat itinerant Hockervillers have been in eight different leagues (some with the same names but different schools) since 1954: City, 1954-58; Eastern, 1959-75; Western, 1976-80; Central, 1981-92; Harbor, 1993-99; Western, 2000-09; Central, 2010-11, and City, 2012-13.
EIGHT SOUNDS GREAT
The Cardinals now are 7-2 with only ancient and now impotent rival San Diego remaining on the regular-season schedule.
A Hoover win next week would give the Redbirds eight victories, a feat accomplished only by the squads of 1954, ’56, ’86, ’98, ’99, and ’06.
Even in the cascading torrent of watered-down playoff invitations, Sweetwater hasn’t competed in the postseason since 2004. Hoover will make its second consecutive appearance under second-year mentor Jerry Ralph.
QUICK KICKS
Serra’s Hunter Correll lofted a pass with 2.7 seconds remaining and Calvin Crockett caught the throw for a 53-yard touchdown as the Conquistadors came from behind to shock Morse, 21-15…Ramona’s is supposed to be leaving the Palomar League after four seasons and the Bulldogs claimed their first league championship with a 24-21 win over Torrey Pines…after a 42-0 victory over Valley Center, San Pasqual still was hurting from the 38-36 upset loss to Rancho Buena Vista in Week 9…”We had a emotional and mental breakdown in that game,” Eagles coach Tony Corley said of his team’s first defeat…Oceanside coach John Carroll, hospitalized during the week because of dizziness, watched from the press box as the Pirates took La Costa Canyon to the woodshed, 43-0….
