2016 Week 15: Cathedral Unanimous in Final Grid Poll
Cathedral, Madison, Mater Dei, and The Bishop’s comprise four of the final Top 10 selections in the weekly Union-Tribune poll and will begin quests for state championships this week.
Cathedral was a unanimous choice as No. 1, earning first-place votes from all 27 panelists.
La Jolla Country Day, which finished out of the Top 10 but received points in the poll, and Horizon also are in the state playoffs.
It’s great that San Diego Section teams can continue on after the local championships, but it’s a stretch that Horizon, which gave up 75, 63, and 66 points on three successive weeks in the regular season, is part of the possible elite.
That Horizon revived itself and won its last four games and won the San Diego Division V with a 7-6 record is testimony to the Panthers’ ability to regroup.
Horizon climbed to the top of its San Diego Section division despite the distraction caused by the school’s losing its lease at the old Hale Junior High site in Clairemont and will be relocating next school year.
First-place votes in parenthesis.
Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
| Rank | Team | W-L | Points | Last Week |
| 1. | Cathedral (27) | 13-0 | 270 | 1 |
| 2. | Madison | 12-1 | 234 | 5 |
| 3. | Helix | 10-3 | 221 | 3 |
| 4. | Mater Dei | 12-1 | 188 | 4 |
| 5. | Rancho Bernardo | 11-1 | 148 | 2 |
| 6. | St. Augustine | 10-3 | 146 | 6 |
| 7. | The Bishop’s | 13-0 | 99 | 10 |
| 8. | Torrey Pines | 8-3 | 36 | 7 |
| 9. | Mission Hills | 7-5 | 35 | NR |
| 10 | Poway | 10-2 | 34 | 8 |
Others receiving votes: Olympian (8-5, 29 points), Grossmont (9-2; 27) La Jolla Country Day (11-3; 14), Christian (12-1; 9), Oceanside (8-3; 7), Valley Center (10-2, 4), Valhalla (8-3, 1).
Twenty-seven sportswriters, sportscasters, and other representatives comprise the voting panel:
John Maffei, Union-Tribune. Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren, Union-Tribune contributors. Paul Rudi, Brandon Stone, Rick Willis (KUSI Chl. 51). Michael Bower, Pomerado News. Lisa Lane, Fox 5 News. Montell Allen, MBA Sports-SDFNL Magazine. Brandon Stone, Rick Willis, KUSI, Channel 51. Adam Clark, Ted Mendenhall, Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090. Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Radio 107.9 FM. Bob Petinak, 1360 Radio. Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, Chris Davis, eastcountysports.com. Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com. Drew Smith, sdcoastalsports.com. Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net. Rick Smith, partletonsports.com. Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions. Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, CIF San Diego Section. John (Coach) Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MATCHUPS
Concord De LaSalle (11-1) and Bellflower St. John Bosco (12-2) have byes gthis sweek and will play for the state Open Division championship in Sacramento next week.
Thefre are twelve other division titles to be determined. Those divisions with AA designations are considered to be strongest.
DIVISION I-AA
Cathedral, sixth in Cal-Hi Sports‘ Top 25 and 13-0, gets a home game in one of the playoffs most enticing matchups, against 13-0 Harbor City Narbonne, ranked fifth by Cal-Hi Sports and the Los Angeles City Section champion.
Winner will meet the survivor of the Northern 1AA contest matching Stockton St. Mary’s (13-1) and Oakley Freedom (11-1). St. Mary’s only loss was 55-16 to St. John Bosco and Oakley dropped a 42-7 decision to De La Salle.
II-AA
Madison, a Cal-Hi bubble team with 11 wins and losses to Vista Murietta and Cathedral, has a home game against 14-0 Calabasas, a Los Angeles Times-ranked squad from the Southern Section.
Madison or Calabasas will get either San Jose Valley Christian (12-1) or Santa Rosa Cardinal Newman (12-1) . Valley Christian’s only loss was 13-10 in overtime to Mountain View St. Francis. Newmie was a 49-32 loser to St. Mary’s.
III-AA
Mater Dei, 12-1 with only a 51-42 loss to L.,A. Hawkins, travels to Antelope Valley Junior College to play Lancaster Paraclete (10-4). Atherton Menlo-Atherton (11-2) or Manteca (12-1) will come out of the North.
III-A
The Bishop’s (13-0) is the road at Cerritos Valley Christian (12-2). Winner plays Sutter (13-0) or Sacramento Christian Brothers (12-2).
V-A
La Jolla Country Day (10-3) is home to El Monte Arroyo (12-1) with the winner moving on to meet Oakland McClymonds (12-1) or East Nicolaus (13-0).
VI-A
Horizon (7-6) travels 286 miles for its game against 13-0 Strathmore. A survivor of a play-in game between Stockton Brookside Christian and Biggs will play Vallejo St. Patrick-St. Vincent for the Northern title.
Strathmore is a community of about 2,800 persons near Tulare, about 19 miles East of Highway 99. Horizon has about 5 1/2-hour ride to its game.