The computer and the writers, broadcasters, and administrative honchos are in agreement. The elite, top 10 teams in the UT-San Diego poll won’t be asked to mingle with the proletariat in the first round of the Division I-V postseason.
The CIF’s computer-based seedings byed each team, from Oceanside to San Marcos. The top 10 clubs have a combined, 89-11 record.
The poll vote after Week 11:
#
Team (1st place votes)
W-L
Points*
Previous
1
Oceanside (18)
10-0
189
1
2
Cathedral (1)
9-1
167
2
3
El Capitan
10-0
152
4
4
Mission Hills
8-2
121
5
5
Helix
8-2
122
3
6
Eastlake
7-3
66
7
7
Rancho Bernardo
8-2
48
10
8
Christian
10-0
47
8
9
Sweetwater
10-0
39
9
10
San Marcos
9-1
31
6
*Awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Others receiving votes: Madison, 18; Ramona, 15; The Bishop’s 10; Hoover, 5; Torrey Pines, 4; Steele Canyon, 3; West Hills, 2; Bonita Vista, 1.
Nineteen sportswriters, sportscasters, and CIF representatives from throughout San Diego County vote in the weekly poll: John Maffei, Kirk Kenney, UT-San Diego; Terry Monahan, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff (UT-San Diego correspondents); Bill Dickens (eastcountysports.com); Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions); John Kentera, Ted Mendenhall, Bob Petinak, (The Mighty 1090); Jerry Schniepp (CIF San Diego Section); Rick Willis, Brandon Stone, (KUSI-TV); Bruce Ward (San Diego City Schools); Rick Smith (partletonsports.com); Steve (Biff) Dolan, Rick (Red) Hill (Mountain Country 107.9 FM); Bodie DeSilva (Sandiegopreps.com); Drew Smith (sdcoastalsports.com).
SEEDINGS AFTERTHOUGHTS
Why not Mar Vista?
The Mariners were 6-4 but were unable to crash the D-III lineup, which included five teams with 5-5 records and another with a 4-6.
Tyler Arciaga’s team won two intersectional games and played undefeated Sweetwater to a 24-13 loss.
The computer wasn’t impressed.
EL CAP 10-0 BUT IN D-II
Ron Burner’s Vaqueros became the unexpected kings of the East County after beating Helix, 24-17, for Grossmont Hills championship.
Why wouldn’t El Capitan go into the Open Division, what with its victory over Helix and that Helix is a No. 3 seed in that alignment?
Because teams were slotted by a formula which weighed their overall success during the previous five years (see Mar Vista, but that doesn’t make sense; the Mariners were 35-22 from 2009-13).
The five-year rule was established in 2013, not to overwhelming approval.
WHY LA COSTA CANYON NO. 1 IN D-I?
It couldn’t be that the computer also was affected by the perceived bias of the North County media? Could it?
La Costa Canyon finished with a 5-5 record and won the top seed, over Madison (7-3), Steele Canyon (7-3), and St. Augustine (5-5).
The Mavericks biggest win I suppose was 21-13 over Rancho Bernardo, the No. 3 seed in D-II.
La Costa Canyon defeated lower-level Orange County squad Trabuco Hills, 34-7, and came up soft against Newport Beach Corona Del Mar, 38-0, and Oceanside, 35-6.
St. Augustine and Madison played much tougher schedules.
Off the five-year comparisons!
CAN YOU TOP THIS?
Don Carlos Stafford was an all-San Diego Section fullback at St. Augustine in 1962, but Stafford took a backseat to his nephew last week.
Torrey Pines wide receiver, Jack Bailey, headed to San Diego State, one-upped his uncle and caught 4 passes for 217 yards in the Falcons’ 13-0 victory over La Costa Canyon. Included was a 70-yard touchdown and gains of 74, 12, and 61 yards.
1996: Essence of the Game
Virtues and moments that identify high school football:
Overflow crowd of more than 4,000 at San Pasqual High, under Friday night lights, for neighborhood bragging rights.
Tom Kirovski carried the ball on 24 of San Pasqual’s 28 second-half possessions and gained 155 of his game total of 173 yards as the Eagles defeated Orange Glen, 28-17, in the “Battle of Bear Valley Parkway.”
o the winner went the polished, wooden “Bear” trophy.
“This is a big game, the game of our lives!” Kirovski exclaimed to Tom Shanahan of the Union-Tribune.
“It’s for the Bear,” Kirovski reverently added after scoring on runs of 4, 13, and 2 yards.
About his workload in the third and fourth quarters, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound junior said, “That’s my job as the fullback, run hard and knock people around.”
Kirovski gained 18 yards in 5 carries in the first half.
Said Orange Glen coach Rob Gilster: “Officials killed us in the first half (when the Patriots led, 17-7) and San Pasqual kicked the stuffing out of us in the second half.”
The schools’ addresses are about three miles apart, on Escondido’s Bear Valley Parkway.
ESSENCE OF THE GAME, II
Raging flames from a Santa Ana-driven fire created havoc around the La Costa Canyon campus, but Victor Yoshida brought some joy to the community and etched his name in Mavericks history.
Yoshida’s 36-yard field goal with 6 seconds left gave the Carlsbad school its first-ever victory, 16-15 over Escondido.
“Winning makes food taste sweeter and smiles bigger,” said coach Tim Smith after the victory, which put the Mavericks at 1-6. “I was so happy to see the looks on the kids’ faces after the game. It was utter elation.”
The victory was especially significant, considering damage from the fires, which caused a short week of practice for the team, and countless hours of anxiety.
“It’s quite a victory to give back to the community,” Smith told Paula Mascari-Bott of the Union-Tribune. “It’s a symbol of rebirth, a regeneration in the community.”
DO I REALLY WANT THIS?
The honor of being a team captain at Orange Glen required a little more than calling the coin toss or being the Big Man on Campus.
Nate Nyberg and 3 other captains led a summer exercise with the team that would make the Navy SEALs proud.
The Patriots hiked six miles up in the High Sierras, strapped to 40-pound backpacks, and camped in the elements for three nights, with snow on the ground.
Part of this bonding experience required the captains to sing the school fight song while standing in a near frozen lake.
“That’s the fastest I’ve ever sang (sic) that song,” Nate recounted to Mascari-Bott.
MEYER TAKES STOCK IN 38TH SEASON
El Camino coach Herb Meyer, at 288 victories, visiting with the Union-Tribune’s Nick Canepa: “I’ve been doing this for so long it’s like butting your head against the wall.
“Do it enough times and it starts to feel good. It’s still fun. When it’s not, I’ll know it. I’ll quit.”
Meyer would win 51 more games, retiring with a state-leading 339.
UNHAPPY HERB
After a 20-7 loss to San Pasqual, Meyer channeled his inner “Fumin’ Human”, as so described by Mick McGrane of the Evening Tribune:
“It would appear that this is the best we are capable of playing, because we don’t want to play any better than that.
“We have players who don’t want to listen to the coaches, who are hung up in the wrong place. Football intelligence? We proved to be a very stupid team.”
Meyer was specifically hacked off about three second-quarter turnovers that San Pasqual turned into 20 points.
FINAL RANKINGS
Heading into the Division I semifinals, Morse was ranked third in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, 20th nationally by Associated Press, and 22nd in USA Today.
After a 21-16 loss to Vista in the D-I finals, Morse dropped to 12th in the state, sixth in D-I, and eighth in Southern California.
Castle Park, the San Diego Section D-II champion, was No. 1 in the state in its division, tenth overall, and sixth in Southern California.
Vista’s win over Morse elevated the Panthers to 19th in California. Mission Bay was eighth in D-II, and The Bishop’s third in D-V.
It was a strong football season in San Diego.
RARIFIED AIR, EVEN FOR BIRDS
Hoover, 0-10 in 1995 and without a winning season since 1986, defeated Marian, 21-6.
Most impressive is that the losing Crusaders stood No. 1 in Division IV in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports’ rankings.
The victory was too much for the Cardinals, who lost their last 4 to finish 5-6, while Marian regrouped to 10-3 and was runner-up to The Bishop’s in the section D-IV finals.
OOPS
Francis Parker was in position to kick a field goal late in the fourth quarter that would have beaten La Jolla Country Day, 3-0.
The Lancers’ offensive coordinator cautiously instructed his quarterback to spike the ball on third down and allow time to set up the placement.
Parker’s quarterback took the snap and spiked the ball.
Problem.
It was fourth down.
La Jolla Country Day took possession. The season opener ended in a 0-0 deadlock.
ARNAIZ ATTACKED
Helix coach Jim Arnaiz was walking to his car in the Helix parking lot about 10 p.m. after Arnaiz had counseled at Helix Adult School.
As he neared his automobile Arnaiz, sensing that someone was behind him, turned around and was confronted by a youth who was holding a baseball bat.
The attacker took two violent swings, but Arnaiz ducked and jumped away. The assailant fled.
Arnaiz told authorities he thought the attack was random and not one of a student or someone seeking revenge for an imagined slight.
BUCCANEERS WIN AFTER 42 YEARS
Mission Bay not only won its first league championship since the school opened in 1954 but went on to claim the D-III championship, 12-10 over St. Augustine.
The Buccaneers gave notice in 1995, when they caught fire toward the end of the season and went to the finals before bowing to Oceanside, 31-20.
“Sometimes I pinch myself,” said coach Jerry Surdy after the Pacific Beach squad had forged a 6-0 record and 12 wins in its last 13 games.
The Bucs went to 7-0 and finished 12-1. They avenged their only loss in the regular season, 34-31, to St. Augustine.
Mission Bay rolled behind all-state running back Darryl Conyer, who was the top scorer in the San Diego Section with 31 touchdowns and 186 points in 13 games. Conyer scored 11 touchdowns in 3 postseason games.
FIELD OF DREAMS?
Nate Wright played in 156 games in the NFL, intercepted 34 passes from his cornerback position, and was all-pro twice, but his son Nate says, “I consider myself a running back.”
Even after playing defense at Point Loma for two years.
When the Pointers’ offense stalled, Pointers coach Bennie Edens called Nate’s number on offense.
Wright gained 260 yards in 24 carries and scored two touchdowns in a 31-22 victory over University.
Young Nate turned poet when he paraphrased a line from the movie “Field of Dreams”, before racing 68 yards with 5:27 remaining for the clinching touchdown.
“I told the line, ‘If you do it, I’ll run,’” said Wright, who got the blocks he needed and sent a Homecoming Game crowd happily on its way.
FIRST TIME ALWAYS BEST
Mt. Carmel drove 80 yards in less than a minute and scored the winning touchdown with 11 seconds left on the clock, giving Gary Jolk his first victory as a head coach, 31-27 over Mira Mesa.
J.R. Tolver had run 17 yards for a touchdown seconds earlier to put the Marauders in front, 27-24.
DOWN MEXICO WAY
Midway Baptist and Horizon opened their seasons with a game in Ensenada, Baja California Norte. Horizon won, 32-6, but coach Dan Stolebarger said the game was only part of the reason for the trip.
Stolebarger hoped his squad would learn from the differences in the countries’ approach to football.
Among others, “I wanted our kids to see how they played (in) sweatpants with knee pads and shared helmets (because there weren’t enough to go around),” said the coach.
BURKE BRINGS IT
Torrey Pines’s Ed Burke completed his 11th season as head coach with a record of 86-37-3 (.694) Four other coaches, in the Falcons’ first 12 seasons, had a combined record of 48-64-4 (.431).
SAN DIEGANS IN NFL
Twenty-nine area high school football graduates made it on to NFL rosters at the start of the season.
Name
Position
Year
Team
College
High School
Eric Allen
CB
9
New Orleans
Arizona State
Point Loma
Marcus Allen
RB
15
Kansas City
USC
Lincoln
Tony Banks
QB
R
St. Louis
Michigan State
Hoover
Tommy Bennett
Safety
R
Arizona
UCLA
Morse
Matt Brock
Defensive Tackle
8
N.Y. Jets
Oregon
University City
Brad Daluiso
Kicker
6
N.Y. Giants
UCLA
Valhalla
Terrell Davis
RB
2
Denver
Georgia
Lincoln
Charles Dimry
Corner Back
9
Tampa Bay
UNLV
Oceanside
David Dunn
Wide Receiver
2
Cincinnati
Fresno State
`Morse
Donnie Edwards
Linebacker
R
Kansas City
UCLA
Chula Vista
Ray Ethridge
Wide Receiver
1
Baltimore
Pasadena City
Crawford
La’Roi Glover
Defensive Tackle
R
Oaklan d
San Diego State
Point Loma
Robert Griffith
Safety
3
Minnesota
San Diego State
Mount Miguel
Sale Isaia
Guard
2
Baltimore
UCLA
Oceanside
Lincoln Kennedy
Tackle
4
Oakland
Washington
Morse
Chris Johnson
Safety
1
Minnesota
San Diego State
Crawford
Ted Johnson
Linebacker
2
New England
Colorado
Carlsbad
Jeff Kysar
Tackle
2
Oakland
Arizona State
Serra
John Lynch
Safety
4
Tampa Bay
Stanford
Torrey Pines
John Michels
Tackle
R
Green Bay
USC
La Jolla
Lenny McGill
Corner Back
3
Atlanta
Arizona State
Orange Glen
Rashaan Salaam
Running Back
2
Chicago
Colorado
La Jolla Country Day
Dan Saleaumua
Defensive Tackle
10
Kansas City
Arizona State
Sweetwater
Darnay Scott
Wide Receiver
3
Cincinnati
San Diego State
Kearny
Sean Salisbury
Quarterback
8
San Diego
USC
Orange Glen
Junior Seau
Linebacker
7
San Diego
USC
Oceanside
J.J. Stokes
Wide Receiver
2
San Francisco
UCLA
Point Loma
Rich Tylski
Tackle
1
Jacksonville
Utah State
Madison
Tommy Vardell
Running Back
5
San Francisco
Stanford
Granite Hills
FUTURE CHARGER?
Wideout Nate Nelson’s step-mother was a longtime employee of the San Diego Chargers, who could have used a performance such as Nate’s in Scripps Ranch’s 28-0 win over Kearny. Nelson caught three touchdown passes and made seven tackles on defense.
YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN
Gil Warren was head coach at Castle Park from 1967-77 and won a section title in 1968, then moved on to be an assistant coach for the next 14 years at Southwestern College.
Warren finally returned to Castle Park and won another championship in 1994, the first for a South Bay school since Sweetwater in 1984, and rolled through 13 opponents without defeat for another championship in Division II this season.
Castle Park topped Carlsbad, 37-10, in the D-II championship. Quarterback Gabe Lujan was San Diego Section offensive player of the year and linebacker Zeke Moreno was co-defensive player of the year with Vista’s Robbie Robinson.
CASTLE FULL OF RICHES
Coach Gil Warren could not be accused of running up the score in Castle Park’s 61-13 win over Montgomery.
Seven different Trojans scored and Warren was able to get 14 different running backs into the game.
RAMONA LAMENT
After a 41-6 loss to Bonita Vista, Ramona coach Rick Foley was upset. “This is the worst experience in my 17 years of coaching,” he said.
The Bulldogs were penalized 8 times for 78 yards and the host Barons celebrated the school’s first victory over a North County team.
Bonita was 0-7 dating to 1968, although Ramona, considered North, actually is East County.
There would other similar setbacks for Foley’s team, which finished with a 1-9 record and a three-year score of 6-24 for Foley, who left after the season.
QUICK KICKS
Torrey Pines’ Hayden Epstein kicked a 56-yard field goal, second longest in Section history, as the Falcons beat Oceanside, 29-23…Epstein also added placements of 48 and 34 yards…La Costa Canyon in Carlsbad, the public school replacement for San Dieguito when the Encinitas school became San Dieguito Academy and dropped football, was beaten in its inaugural game by another relative newcomer…Scripps Ranch, in its second season, defeated the Mavericks, 36-13…Marian rushed for 290 yards and a 42-7, first-half lead and totaled 509 yards on the ground in a 55-7 win over St. Augustine…some 6,000 were on hand at Vista, when Concord De La Salle of the North Coast section, defeated Ranch Buena Vista, 36-19, for its 52nd consecutive victory…Dwight Morris, 20-9-1 as Mount Miguel’s head coach from 1971-73, returned to the sideline 23 years later for another three-year stint (14-19) with the Matadors…New England guard Ted Johnson, on the NFL all-rookie team in 1995, donated $10,000 to his Carlsbad alma mater so the school could upgrade its weight room…El Cajon Valley made its first trip to the postseason since 1974 and was escorted out, 47-7, by El Capitan, which beat the Braves, 45-14, during the regular season…the Braves were 8-0-1 when they met a first-round defeat 23 seasons earlier, 26-8 by Mission Bay…unhappy with what he had been seeing up close, Vista coach Steve Silverman moved to the press box and directed the Panthers’ 17-14 victory from high atop the field…Mount Miguel, wiped out, 68-0, in 1995 by Monte Vista, recovered to beat the Monarchs, 18-13….