University City is not trying to climb Mt. San Jacinto this week; the Centurions are attempting a different climb, over San Jacinto High, but the calpreps.com computer suggests that neither the hypothetical or real option favors coach Paul Lawrence’s team.
Calpreps gives the Tigers a 65 per cent chance of winning the Division III-AA playoff on its home field in the community 87 miles northeast of the U.C. campus.
Mt. San Jacinto, elevation 10,384 feet and connected to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, stares down on the city of 45,000 persons, six miles as the crow flies and 47 miles by auto from the Tigers’ campus.
San Jacinto High is many millenniums younger but still one of the oldest schools in Riverside County. It opened in 1910. University City followed 73 years later.
The Tigers (12-2) rolled undefeated through the Mountain Pass League this season against Perris, Hemet Tahquitz, Perris Citrus Hill, Winchester Liberty, and Hemet West Valley.
Their only losses were 46-36 to Temecula Chaparral in Week 3 and 28-27 to Beaumont in Week 5. The Tigers defeated Orange El Modena, 42-15, for the Southern Section D-VI championship. El Modena’s 26.6 calpreps.com rating almost matched University City’s 27.6, which is at a distance from the the Tigers’ 34.8.
The Centurions (11-2) defeated Point Loma, 33-28, for the San Diego Section D-III championship as Samuel Cooper, all 6-feet, 3 inches, and 230 pounds at quarterback, ran 3 and 35 yards for touchdowns and hooked up with Dreyden Carter on a 65-yard touchdown pass play in the second half.
The victory was U. City’s ninth in a row, tying the school record by the 9-2 team of 1992.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PLAYOFF BRACKETS
| DIVISION | TEAM | OPPONENT | CALPREPS.COM | MAX PREPS | CAL-HI SPORTS |
| I-AA | Lincoln (11-1) | @Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (10-4) | 60/62.4 | 7/9 | 12/10 |
| II-AA | Mater Dei (9-4) | @Downey (12-2) | 43.6/44 | 34/33 | 33/43 |
| II-A | Granite Hills (11-2) | Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda (9-5) | 39.4/37.6 | 45/57 | 48/On the bubble |
| III-AA | University City (11-2) | @San Jacinto (12-2) | 27.6/34.8 | 106/68 | NR/NR |
| V-AA | Blythe Palo Verde Valley (13-1) | Pasadena Muir (8-6) | 12.6/9.3 | 218/244 | NR/NR |
| VI-AA | Classical (10-3) | Lancaster (9-5) @Del Norte | 0/–3.4 | 348/394 | NR/NR |
TRUE GRID
San Jacinto holds a 16-6 lead in an off-and-on series with San Diego-area teams, since the first game, a 32-7 loss to Harry Wexler’s Escondido Cougars in 1929…except for visiting Eastlake’s 31-14 victory in 2019 there had been no Tiger sightings here since 1984…an oddity of San Diego’s separation from the Southern Section was that Fallbrook, which joined the Tigers in the DeAnza League in 1959, remained in the Riverside County loop in 1960 although a part of the new San Diego Section….
