2017: Week 11: Hats Off!
A doffing of the fedora to the 16, playoff-bound teams that won league championships:
| LEAGUE | TEAM | RECORD | PREVIOUS |
| Avocado | Mission Hills | 10-0 | 2013 |
| Central | San Diego | 10-0 | 1960* |
| City | University City | 9-1 | 2012 |
| Coastal | The Bishop’s | 9-0 | 2016 |
| Eastern | Lincoln | 8-2 | 1991+ |
| Grossmont Hills | Helix | 9-1 | 2016 |
| Grossmont Valley | Granite Hills | 8-2 | 2016 |
| Imperial Valley | El Centro Southwest | 10-0 | 2010 |
| Manzanita | Calexico Vincent Memorial | 8-2 | 2002# |
| Metro Mesa | Otay Ranch | 7-3 | NA^ |
| Metro Pacific | Montgomery | 7-3 | NA^^ |
| Metro South Bay | Hilltop | 6-4 | 2013 |
| Pacific | Maranatha | 6-3 | 2014** |
| Palomar | Ramona | 10-0 | 2013 |
| Valley | Valley Center | 9-1 | 2016 |
| Western | St. Augustine | 7-3 | 2015++ |
*Tied for Eastern League championship, 1974.
+Tied for Eastern League championship, 1994.
#Won championship as member of Desert League; tied for Manzanita championship, 2016.
^First championship since school opened in 2004.
^^Tied for Mesa League championship, 1986.
**Tied for championship as member of Ocean League, 2014.
++Won championship as member of Eastern League.
Not included: Eight-man and Independent squads.
POSTSEASON PEEVISHNESS
Playoff selections have stirred emotions for as long as most people can remember.
In a simpler time, league champions and, sometimes, second-place teams were included.
Then the playoffs began to expand and expand and expand…and expand.
Coaches were drafted to make selections. Complaints of bias and oversight were as common as if the media or school bosses were making the choices.
Then a few years ago came the ratings system, which took into account team performances over a multi-year period.
The ratings are out, replaced this season by a combination of formulas developed by Max Preps and Cal Preps.com, two nationally recognized sites recommended by coaches.
Sixty-four of the San Diego Section’s 80-odd teams playing 11-man football have postseason dates on their calendars.
It was inevitable that stinko teams would be included, winless Bonita Vista (0-10), among several others.
“There is no perfect formula to determine the seeds, but I think this is very close to right,” said CIF honcho Jerry Schniepp to writer John Maffei.
Tell that to Brawley (6-4) and Morse (5-5), two schools that were left out, despite long playoff traditions and success, apparently because they had insufficient strengths of schedules.
MEYER PULLED NO PUNCHES
I like what legendary Herb Meyer said about the playoffs to writer Steve Brand in 1998, after Meyer declined a playoff invitation for his sub-.500 El Camino team:
“If you’re upright and can take a breath you’re in the playoffs these days. It’s a joke. The playoffs should be a reward for having a good season and I certainly don’t consider 3-6-1 a good season.”
IRONIC
It was such when Valley Center defeated Monte Vista, 51-10, in the regular-season ending game.
The victory was the 214th in Jaguar coach Rob Gilster’s career. He’s now tied with, you guessed it, Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto for seventh place on the all-time list.
TURNAROUNDS
| TEAM | 2016 | 2017 | COACH |
| San Diego | 2-8 | 10-0 | Charles James |
| El Centro Central | 3-8 | 9-1 | David Pena |
| Kearny | 3-8 | 8-2 | Will Gray |
| Montgomery | 3-7 | 7-3 | Sanjevi Subbiah |
| Otay Ranch | 4-8 | 7-3 | Lance Christensen |
| Ramona | 5-6 | 10-0 | Damon Baldwin |
| Crawford | 3-7 | 6-4 | Mike Wright |
QUICK KICKS
The Bishop’s Mozes Mooney has 65 career touchdown receptions, one less than the state record, set in 2000 by Earvin Johnson of L.A. Cathedral and tied last week by Murrieta Valley’s Marquise Spiker…Mooney and Spiker both will have opportunities for more in the playoffs…Mission Hills moved from 16th to 11th in Cal-Hi Sports’ weekly top 50…Helix climbed to 24th from 29th and Ramona from 50th to 48th…San Marcos is on the bubble,., Mission Hills, on top since Week 3, finished the regular season No. 1 locally, with voting suspended from now until the end of the postseason….
The Union-Tribune Week 11 poll:
| Rank | Team | 2017 | Points | Last Week |
| 1. | Mission Hills (24) | 10-0 | 276 | 1 |
| 2. | Helix (4) | 9-1 | 256 | 2 |
| 3. | Ramona | 10-0 | 216 | 3 |
| 4. | La Costa Canyon | 7-3* | 163 | 7 |
| 5. | San Marcos | 8-2 | 144 | 4 |
| 6. | The Bishop’s | 9-0 | 140 | 6 |
| 7. | St. Augustine | 7-3 | 99 | 9 |
| 8. | Madison | 8-2 | 88 | 8 |
| 9. | Torrey Pines | 6-4 | 82 | 5 |
| 10. | Lincoln | 8-2 | 20 | NR |
Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
*Forfeit loss.
NR: Not Ranked.
Others receiving votes: Valley Center (9-1, 18 points), Eastlake (8-2, 12) El Centro Southwest (10-0, 10), San Diego (10-0, 4), Otay Ranch (7-3, 2), Grossmont (7-3, 1).
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.