Helix defeated St. Augustine, 44-30, in a terrific Open Division championship game before a standing-room crowd of at least 10,000 persons at Southwestern College and six San Diego teams qualified for Southern California championship play.
It’s a brave new world in the state CIF.
Teams will compete in 13 divisions Dec. 11-12 and 50 teams will be playing this week. Winners this week move on to the state finals Dec. 18-19.
Officially titled “Regional Football Championship Bowl Games”, all teams this week were “slotted (placed in divisions) based on competitive equity and respective criteria.”
It’s all about the computerized ratings system that has been in place the last couple years. Enrollment numbers, seemingly used forever, are no longer a factor in determining divisional alignment. It’s about who you played and how you did.
Helix (11-1) advances to a game in Division I-AA on Friday at Mission Viejo (14-0). That game is one of the two top attractions this week. Folsom (14-0) takes on San Jose Bellarmine (12-1) Friday in the Northern California I-AA game.
Concord De La Salle (12-1), meets Corona Centennial (14-0) for the Open Division title on Saturday, Dec. 19.
Other pairings featuring San Diego Section squads:
III-AA Oceanside (9-4) at La Mirada (11-3).
III-A Rancho Bernardo (11-2) at Hesperia Oak Hills (9-5).
IV-AA Anaheim Canyon (9-5) at Bonita Vista (11-2).
V-AA Riverside Notre Dame (14-0) at Mater Dei (12-1).
VI-AA Los Angeles Belmont (14-0) at Coronado (9-4).
QUICK KICKS
Despite clearing the Southwestern College stadium after each game, the CIF smoothly ushered in the overflow crowd for the Saints-Helix finale, a game that lived up to its billing…the Highlanders broke from a 21-21 tie with a 16-point third quarter, running behind the slashing thrusts of Nate Stinson (243 yards, 4 touchdowns)…Bonita Vista’s championship was its first in the school’s 49 seasons…average margin of victory in the three Saturday finals at Southwestern was 23 points… Rancho Bernardo won its first championship since 1995 and is 21-5 in the last two seasons after a 2-19 slog in 2012-13…Mater Dei forfeited its opening game and then ran off 12 consecutive wins for its first title since 2003….
You obviously were not one of over 1000 Saints fans standing in one of the longest snaking lines to get in and who missed the entire first quarter. The inefficiency of the stadium crew and the lack of qualified personnel to supervise and direct the mass of people was disgraceful. It was a huge chaotic mess.
In addition, there was only one person taking payment for parking at the east side off Otay Lakes causing an awful jam on the street.
It is clear that very little planning and thought went into how to efficiently and effectively handle moving the paying fans in and out of the facility.
I wish I could say that i was an eye witness but my information came from a media colleague, who must have been observing a different access point. This seems to happen every year. I don’t want to say the CIF lacked planning. There is a cost factor as far as staffing is concerned. It must be prohibitive. I don’t get it either. There was an impossibly long line two years ago at Qualcomm Stadium when St. Augustine played Mission Bay and only one gate was open.There even was a mob at the gate where I entered to see the San Diego State-USD football game earlier this year. This probably was ‘way before your time, but I remember standing atop Balboa Stadium in 1963 and observing a line that stretched all the way down the alley next to the San Diego High campus to Russ Boulevard and City College when Kearny played Escondido. Southwestern College is a terrific venue for the CIF games, but you cannot get there early to avoid a long line. The CIF clears the stadium after each game and then it’s a potential jail break when the gates open for the next game, in this case Saints-Helix. I feel your frustration.
A St. Augustine alum friend of mine purchased a couple tickets on-line (couldn’t buy them at school) and also had a handicap placard, but he says it still was a mess getting to a parking place. Parking was an aggravating $7, but he and his friend were able to take an elevator and found their seats easily enough. My friend thinks that at least 1,000 or 1,500 people didn’t even get into the game. The only guarantee I would make is that this will happen again in 2016.