You could hear the gasps of shock from the North County denizens who worship at the shrine of the Mission Hills Grizzlies.
St. Augustine ran away from coach Tim Hauser’s team, 48-14, as Elijah Preston rushed for 236 yards and three touchdowns before a crowd of about 6,000 at Mesa College in the San Diego Section Open Division playoff semifinals
Although the Grizzlies and their 11-0 record ranked 10th among state’s top 25 as selected by Cal-Hi Sports and whose weekly successes dominated the local media landscape, the Saints were favored, based on the generally unpopular San Diego Section rating system.
The Saints were toughened by a nonleague schedule that included top 25-ranked Los Angeles Loyola and Vista Murrieta and they faced Catholic rival Cathedral in the Eastern League.
Mission Hills ‘ record was achieved against so-so North County competition and an intersectional schedule that included less-than spectacular L.A. Crenshaw and Long Beach Millikan.
Helix lost an opening game to Scottsdale Chaparral, which went 9-3 in Arizona, and was denied another opportunity when Upland (8-4) pulled out of a second intersectional because of a scheduling conflict.
22ND CHAMPIONSHIP TRIP
The Highlanders, 8-13 in title games since the San Diego Section was formed in 1960, will be favored when they take on the Saints in the championship Saturday night at Southwestern College.
Scots coach Troy Starr is 1-3 in the final game but went all the way in Division II and won a state championship, 35-24, over Loomis Del Oro in 2011.
St. Augustine is 4-7 in championship games and coach Richard Sanchez is 2-1, having won in D-II in 2013 and D-I in 2014.
‘BAY BOUNCE BACK
Willie Matson’s Mission Bay Buccaneers, 8-0 to start the season, had been left for dead following losses of 41-0 to Point Loma in Week 9 and 64-7 to Madison in Week 10.
The Pacific Beach eleven won its first playoff and followed with a taut, 31-28 victory over Valley Center in the semifinals to find themselves in the D-III finals against Bonita Vista.
BARONS RISE IN 49TH SEASON
Bonita Vista, leading, 49-7, had to play only until 6:51 was left in the third quarter when officials halted play and declared a forfeit by the Imperial Tigers.
According to Union-Tribune correspondent Don Norcross, several Imperial players left their bench area and fights began near the Bonita Vista bench. A CIF representative said officials have the discretion at that point to end the game.
Coach Chris Thompson, a longtime assistant at Mira Mesa, is building a program at Bonita Vista, which opened in 1967 and which has experienced more losing seasons than winning.
The Barons’ 10-2 record, after a 5-6 mark in Thompson’s first season in 2014, is their best since the 2005 club was 10-2.
Thompson touted Greg Bell as the best running back in the San Diego Section (better than Helix’ Nate Stinson or St. Augustine’s Elijah Preston?) and Bell backed up his coach.
Imperial wouldn’t argue with Thompson’s assessment.
Bell had 302 yards rushing and scored on runs of 2, 87, 55, and 9 yards.
It was a long ride home for Imperial, which saw snowflakes dropping on I-8 as it headed over the Laguna Mountains.
WEEK 14 REVIEW?
I was in Connecticut for Thanksgiving with my Eastern family: daughter, son-in-law, two grandsons, and mother-in-law, had no wi-fi access and didn’t post a review from the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Christmas will be here with youngest daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons.
Greetings of the season to all.
QUICK KICKS
Mt. Carmel, which ousted top seed Valhalla, 27-14, and Rancho Bernardo, only six miles away, will roll in the dirt in D-II…the Sundevils and Valhalla were joined at birth…each school opened in 1975…La Jolla Country Day and Coronado will have at it in D-V and The Bishop’s meets Mater Dei in D-IV…Calvin Christian of Escondido won the so-called Commissioner’s Cup by putting it to The Rock of Point Loma, 68-8, for the eight-man title…Helix’ 42-14 victory over Cathedral was signaled when quarterback Michael Austin ran a 55-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown on the Highlanders’ first play…St. Augustine sophomore JR Justice collaborated with St. Augustine teammate Jacob Baker on an 89-yard scoring play in the Saints’ Week 14, quarterfinals win over Eastlake…Justice, son of former major league baseball slugger Dave Justice, will succeed Rodney Thompson at quarterback when Thompson graduates after the 2016 season…most dramatic play of Week 14 was a 47-yard, field goal by Kevin Boermeester with 0.18 remaining to give Cathedral a 24-21 win over Carlsbad…
I agree that Division 1 was weak, but Mission Hills got so much attention, and really who did they play. Their schedule wasn’t that great, they only played an okay Compton team. And after playing a Folsom team that could have beat any team in the state in last year state game, was probably the number 1 or 2 team in state. But regardless Oceanside still has made it to CIF. Last time they weren’t in CIF was 03, I think. It’s 2015 and they still continue to grow a champion program. The team from Washington dominated a young, inexperience team that didn’t have their chemistry. I think Oceanside will go all the way back to the States Champions, after beating EC.
The Pirates deserve some props, winning their last 4 games after fading badly in the middle of the year. They figure to beat El Camino in D-I, which would be a fine accomplishment for a team in such transition.
Why don’t you guys have any recognition for Oceanside, they been then semi-finals 23 straight times. Going back to CIF with a different coach, that’s a thing of beauty
I don’t think Oceanside deserves much recognition this season. Division I is weak and the Pirates are still recovering from that 68-7 blowout loss to Folsom in John Carroll’s last game. Actually, I think the new coach did a good job of rallying the troops after the Pirates appeared dead following the 45-0 hurt administered by Mission Hills, not to mention the early-season wipeout by the team from Washington. A season like this was bound to happen after the iconic coach hung up his whistle. Oceanside has hung tough but I think it would be in trouble in the state playoffs should the ‘Side beat El Camino this week.