Taking a look at this week’s five division championship games at Southwestern College and a doffing of the fedora to the Helix Highlanders, who overcame the loss of superstar running back Elelyon Noa:
DIVISION I
No. 9 seed Oceanside (9-3) and No. 2 Lincoln (10-2) were beneficiaries last week, gifted with forfeit victories over San Clemente, which was tossed from the Southern Section playoffs by the notorious dreaded administrative glitch.
The Tritons had employed an ineligible player all season, including in in early-season wins over Oceanside, 35-15, and Lincoln, 29-0.
The Pirates and Hornets each caught fire late in the season.
To get here, Oceanside met the win-or-die challenge of three rounds and lower (better) seeds, knocking off No. 8 Eastlake, No. 1 Steele Canyon, and No. 4 Madison, the latter convincingly, 45-21.
Lincoln, facing an Avocado League representative for the third straight week, has won five in a row, including a late, regular-season victory over Cathedral, 24-19, and a semifinal rout of seasoned and tough Mission Hills, 35-14.
State rankings by computer services:
| Team | Max Preps | Cal Preps.com |
| Lincoln | 32 | 47.7 |
| Oceanside | 55 | 42.7 |
As we see it: Lincoln wins the week’s best matchup, 38-31.
D-II
The Bishop’s offense has been a pinball machine gone “tilt”.
The top-seeded Knights, behind junior quarterback Tyler Buchner’s passing, are averaging 54 points a game.
Joel Allen (98-34-1) could become the 43rd coach in the 128 years of football in San Diego County to win 100 games.
No. 7-ranked El Camino is coming, having won its last four and getting through the rounds, like its rival neighbor Oceanside, by beating 10, 4, and 3 seeds.
| Team | Max Preps | Cal Preps.com |
| The Bishop’s | 75 | 37.3 |
| El Camino | 81 | 36.1 |
As we see it, El Camino, blooded by more challenging competition, wins, 45-35.
D-III
Who’s more important to a Scripps Ranch program that was comatose for many years, head coach Marlon Gardinera, or the running back who happens to be the coach’s son, Nicholas Gardinera?
We’ll pass on that discussion, but there is no denying that the family combination has made football relevant on the campus in the north city community known for its forest of towering eucalypti.
The top seed Falcons already hold a win over No. 3 La Jolla, 17-7, in Week 5 and outscored their opposition, 272-51, in the last six games.
Gardinera was 2-8 in his first season as coach in 2017, improved to 6-4 in 2018, and has run the table so far this year at 12-0, with his son becoming one of the San Diego Section’s top rushers.
WILD ENDING
La Jolla is 6-1 and 8-4 overall since that loss to Scripps Ranch and defeated the tough Brawley Wildcats, 15-14, in an improbable finish.
Quarterback Jackson Stratton, his team trailing, 14-7, with less than a minute remaining, threw seven consecutive passes, beginning on his 45-yard line, the last to Diego Solis, who caught the ball on the 20-yard line and raced to the end zone.
Regulation time expired as Solis scored. Vikings coach Tyler Roach disdained overtime and succeeded with a winning, two-point conversion.
| Team | Max Preps | Cal Preps.com |
| Scripps Ranch | 31.8 | 116 |
| La Jolla | 22.3 | 194 |
As we see it, Scripps Ranch marches on, 34-21.
D-IV
The only division pairing that brings together the No. 1 (Santana) and No. 2 (Serra) seeds.
Santana (11-1) and Serra (10-2) met in the season’s second week, the Sultans winning, 30-14. Serra, which lost its opener, 18-0, to Scripps Ranch, was 0-2 out of the blocks.
The Conquistadores have not lost since and Santana recovered from a surprising, 37-10, loss in Week 8 to Monte Vista, the Grossmont Hills champion that went out in the first round of the playoffs, buried by Poway, 47-0.
| Team | Max Preps | Cal Preps.com |
| Santana | 203 | 21.2 |
| Serra | 216 | 19.8 |
As we see it, Serra reverses the early loss, 31-28.
D-V
The won-loss numbers favor 2 seed Castle Park (11-1) over No. 4 Francis Parker (7-5), but the Lancers beat the top seed, Calexico Vincent Memorial, and a 5 seed, Crawford, in the playoffs.
Castle advanced over No. 7 and No. 6 seeds.
The Trojans have not won 11 games since Gil Warren coached the undefeated, 13-0 team in 1996 and were 0-10 as recently as 2017.
Parker was 1-5 before it launched the six-game winning streak it will take into the game.
| Team | Max Preps | Cal Prep.com |
| Castle Park | 464 | 0.3 |
| Francis Parker | 529 | -2.8 |
As we see it: Tough to go against the Trojans but we’ll take the Lancers, 30-20.
OPEN DIVISION
Elelyon Noa’s replacement, sophomore Christian Washington, ran 36 yards for a touchdown, his 15th of the season, and reached 1,000 yards rushing. Washington is not Noa but he has proved be a reasonable facsimile.
The top-seeded Scots edged No. 3 Carlsbad, 28-21, in the finals before 8,200 persons at Southwestern College last week.
The game was not as close as the score.
Helix (11-1) led, 28-7, early in the fourth quarter, but Carlsbad scored late, recovered an onside kick and trailed by seven points with 18 seconds remaining, when it tried, unsuccessfully, another on-side attempt.
