Helix and Cathedral, the San Diego Section’s two big ones, have had to regroup.
The Highlanders lost running back Elelyon Noa, probably for the season with a foot injury, and Cathedral quarterback D.J. Ralph sustained what was reported as a broken collarbone on his non-passing side.
Ralph was replaced by Charlie Mirer, son of former Notre Dame and NFL quarterback Rick Mirer, and Delshawn Taylor picked up for Noa .
No. 2. Helix moved on seamlessly, administering its annual punishment of old rival Grossmont, 54-14, as Taylor rushed for 170 yards in 12 carries and scored twice.
The victory was the Scots’ 24th in a row over the Foothillers and now lead the series, which began in 1951, by a 45-18-2 margin.
Helix has scored at least 50 points five times in the teams’ last seven meetings.
SECOND GENERATION
Trailing, 14-6, at halftime, Cathedral’s Zavien Watson took charge of the 53rd “Holy Bowl”, and the Dons, now leading the series, 32-21, defeated St. Augustine, 35-14.
Watson rushed for 280 yards in 18 carries and scored four touchdowns in the second half on runs of 48, 1, 6, and 30 yards.
Longtime prep followers remember another Watson.
Zavien’s farther, E.J. Watson, led La Jolla to a 13-1 record and runner-up finish in the 1991 San Diego Section 2-A finals. The Vikings lost to El Camino, 29-7.
E.J. was the San Diego Section’s leading scorer in 1991 with 30 touchdowns and 182 points. He had 120 points on 20 touchdown as a junior. Zavien has 120 points through the season’s first nine games.
The regular season will be complete in next week. Playoff seedings will be determined Nov. 2.
Helix and Cathedral will have to continue adjusting to their losses. Perhaps there will be a rematch of Helix’ earlier, 45-27 victory over the Dons in the playoff Open Division championship.
QUICK KICKS
San Pasqual won a barnburner from Valley Center, 35-32, and can claim its first outright Valley League title since 2000 next week against Escondido…the Golden Eagles shared the title in 2013 and ’15 and Valley Center has won the last three…the list of undefeated teams is down to four: Steele Canyon, Castle Park, and Scripps Ranch, each 8-0, and The Bishop’s, 7-0…Foothills Christian (8-0) and San Diego Jewish (6-0) are perfect in eight-man football…St. Augustine and Cathedral have met every season since 1966 except for 2007, when the San Diego Section canceled all games for one week because of smoke from the Witch fire, which rampaged through much of Rancho Bernardo….
The San Diego Union-Tribune Week 9 poll:
Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
First-place votes in parenthesis. NR–Not ranked. *Includes forfeit loss.
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
| 1. | Helix (31) | 7-1 | 310 | 1 |
| 2. | Cathedral | 8-1 | 292 | 2 |
| 3. | St. Augustine | 6-2 | 237 | 3 |
| 4. | Carlsbad | 7-1 | 213 | 4 |
| 5. | Steele Canyon | 8-0 | 198 | 5 |
| 6. | Mission Hills | 6-2 | 163 | 6 |
| 7. | Madison | 5-3 | 84 | 10 |
| 8. | Oceanside | 5-3 | 76 | 9 |
| 9. | Vista | 6-2* | 54 | NR |
| 10. | Grossmont | 6-2 | 30 | 7 |
Others receiving votes: The Bishop’s (8-0, 25 points), La Costa Canyon (4-4, 25), Lincoln, (5-3, 6), Rancho Bernardo (6-2, 5), Scripps Ranch (8-0, 3), San Pasqual (7-1, 2), Montgomery (6-1, 1)
Voting panel of 31 sportswriters, sportscasters, various County football honchos:
- John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune
- Jim Lindgren, Rick Hoff, Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Thomas Gutierrez, freelance contributors.
- Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone,Ted Mendenhall, KUSI Chl. 51
- Adam Paul, ECpreps.com
- Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com
- Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com
- Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090
- Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions
- Troy Hirsch, Kaylyn McMakin, Tabitha Lipkin, Fox 5, San Diego
- Rick Smith, PartletonSports.com
- Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, Ron Marquez, CIF San Diego Section
- Joe Heinz, Coordinator, Athletics, Sweetwater School District
- Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net
- Bob Petinak, free lance.
- John Kentera, Brandon Suprenant, 97.3 FM The Fan
- Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM
- Mike Dolan, John Carroll, San Diego Section Tournament Directors.
- Christian Pederson, SoCal Prep Insider.
- Joe Heinz, Athletics Director, Sweetwater School District.
- Eric Williams, WBK Sports/San Diego Friday Night Lights Magazine.
AS OTHERS IN CALIFORNIA SEE SAN DIEGO’S TOP 10
| Team | Record | Cal.Preps.Com | Max Preps | Cal-Hi Sports |
| Helix | 7-1 | 61.5/60.1 | 11/10 | 9/9 |
| Cathedral | 8-1 | 65.9/64.6 | 5/7 | 12/13 |
| St. Augustine | 6-2 | 51.4/51.6 | 21/18 | 28/20 |
| Carlsbad | 7-1 | 46.1/45.6 | 28/31 | 39/40 |
| Steele Canyon | 8-0 | 38.1/38.1 | 58/50 | 47/50 |
| Mission Hills | 6-2 | 42.9/40.7 | 38/43 | 49/Bubble |
| Grossmont | 6-2 | 32.3/30.3 | 96/98 | NR |
| La Costa Canyon | 4-4 | 35.6/36.2 | 73/62 | NR |
| Oceanside | 5-3 | 31.4/31.7 | 99/84 | NR |
| Madison | 5-3 | 37.8/36.7 | 62/60 | Bubble/Bubble |
The second set of numbers or scores in the three columns to the right represent last week’s rankings. Cal Preps.com and Max Preps ratings are based on computer algorithms. Cal-Hi Sports ratings are product of publisher Mark Tennis’ eye test and information from Tennis’ correspondents throughout the state..
