2017 Week 1:  Helix Up, Cathedral Down, Mission Hills Cruises

Too early for trends, but Cathedral’s defending state 1-AA champion has some catching up to do and Helix is positioning itself to make a run such as the Dons’ in 2016.

The Highlanders, preseason ranked 12^th in Cal-Hi Sports’ overview, eased to a 35-0 victory over Utah’s No. 15 West Herriman, and moved up to 10^th in this week’s poll.

The competition revs a notch for the Scots this week, when they meet Lancaster Paraclete in an Honor Bowl game at Cathedral.

The Spirits, from Southern California’s Antelope Valley, 70 miles North of Los Angeles and 87 miles Southeast of Bakersfield, were an unknown quantity when they first faced a San Diego team in 2016.

Paraclete, 12-4, ushered undefeated and 13-0 Mater Dei out of the Southern California playoffs, 34-18, won the state D-III championship, and opened last week with a 48-24 win over Phelan Serrano.

Cathedral, Cal-Hi’s preseason No. 14, dropped to 22 this week after visiting Loomis Del Oro, near where the Dons topped Stockton St. Mary’s, 38-35, in Sacramento in the state final in 2016.

The Dons were tied, 12-12, in the third quarter but Del Oro, 13-3 a year ago, preseason ranked fifth in the Sacramento area, pulled away to a 22-12 victory.

Cathedral gets back into the fray this week in another Honor Bowl game at home against Trinity League toughie Orange Lutheran, which defeated La Mirada, 11-3 a year ago, 35-13 last week.

Mission Hills opened with a 41-14 yawner at Paramount and gets Utah’s St. George Desert Hills this week.

TRUE GRID

Grossmont was surprised, 22-13, by The Bishop’s and there was an online report that Foothillers coaches and players suffered from intestinal flareups after the team meal…coach Tom Karlo is 5-1 in openers at Grossmont and was 7-0 from 2005-11 at Mount Miguel…Crawford improved to 26-15 in its occasional rivalry that dates to 1958 with neighboring Hoover…the schools are only a mile and a half apart in East San Diego, but the Colts’ 31-0 victory was in their first meeting with Hoover since 2010 and the first over the Cardinals since 2003…Carlsbad’s 49-0 beatdown of Del Norte was the Lancers’ most one-sided win in an opening game since 54-0 over Hoover in 1980…football is not catching on at Del Norte…the Nighthawks are 27-50 all-time since 2010…Bonita Vista’s 39-7 loss to Poway marked the Barons’ poorest first-game effort in school history dating to 1967…Christian’s 60-38 win at Hurricane, Utah, was the Patriots’ seventh opener in a row without a loss and made coach Matt Oliver 12-1-1 in first games…Manuel Diaz, Sr., was 1-5 in openers at Clairemont from 1997-02…son Manuel, Jr., won the first game of his head coaching career, leading Clairemont to a 34-0 win over Orange Glen…what a difference year makes:  San Ysidro whacked Coronado, 41-14, after losing to the Islanders, 39-12 in 2016…Imperial beat Yuma Cibola of Arizona, 55-14, after losing to the same team,  33-27 last season…St. Augustine, despite a 51-12 victory over North Las Vegas Canyon Springs, dropped from 22 to 23 in Cal-Hi rankings.

The Union-Tribune Week 1 poll :

 Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

NR: Not Ranked.

Others receiving votes:  The Bishop’s (1-0, 36 points), Eastlake (1-0, 15) Ramona (1-0, 11), Carlsbad (1-0, 10), Valley Center (1-0, 6), Poway (1-0, 3), San Pasqual (1-0, 2), La Costa Canyon, 1-0), Valhalla, 1-0) 1 point each.

Voters (28 sportswriters, sportscasters, officials): John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone, Rick Willis, KUSI Chl. 51; Adam Paul , East County Preps.com; Ramon Scott, East County Sports.com; Bodie DeSilva, San Diego Preps.com; Ted Mendenhall, Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090; Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions; Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Jerry Schniepp, John LaBeta, Carlton Hoggard, CIF San Diego; Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net; Montell Allen, MBASports-SDFNL Magazine; Bob Petinak,  1360AM; John Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9FM; Jim Arnaiz, Mike Dolan, John Carroll, CIF Football Tournament Directors.