2022 Week 9: Cathedral and St. Augustine Renew “Holy” Rivalry

The so-called  “Holy Bowl” tees up for the 61st time this week when St. Augustine visits Cathedral. They have met every year since 1966 except 2007, including playoff games.

Cathedral leads, 38-22, in a series that began six years after Cathedral, then known as University of San Diego High, played its first season of varsity football.

University’s first game was in 1960, but Uni was small time, for lack of a better term, usually competing against equally small North County schools. The Saints were established and playing  major schedules. That was the reason given by the Saints’ for their slow acceptance of a potentially outstanding annual rivalry.

The success of the Dons under coach Robert (Bull) Trometter resulted in mounting pressure for St. Augustine to eventually squeeze the younger school, located across Linda Vista Road from the University of San Diego, into its schedule.

The teams met for the first time in 1966.

Uni 30, St. Augustine 7.

A rivalry had begun.

The series was interrupted only by the raging 2007 Witch fire that forced cancelation of all County games for one week (see 2007: Oceanside’s First and 10th Titles, subhead “October, The Cruelest Month”).

The San Diego Union-Tribune Week 9 Top 10:

First-place votes in parenthesis.  NR—Not ranked.
Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
*First-place votes.
Last entries in columns indicate previous rank. **Ranking unchanged.
Cal-Hi Sports’ and Max Preps’ represent state rankings.
RANK TEAM/RECORD POINTS MAX PREPS.COM CAL-PREPS.COM CAL-HI SPORTS
1 Madison (8-0) 19*/285/1 25/20 47.6/48.2 19/20
2 Lincoln (8-1) 6*/267/2 24/24 47.6/49.3 18/19
3 Carlsbad (7-1) 5*/248/3 21/25 49.3/46.8 20/21
4 Poway (8-0) 200/4 48/43 39/39.2 **On the bubble
5 Helix (6-2) 184/5 50/44 38.5/39
 **On the bubble
6 Cathedral (3-5) 155/6 43/40 41.2/39.2 37/37
7 Granite Hills (6-2) 111/7 70/65 33.2/32.1 NR/NR
8 Mater Dei (4-4) 85-8 75/76 32.1/31.9 **On the bubble
9 El Camino (6-2) 76-9 55/70 36.4/31.4 NR/NR
10 La Costa (5-3) 21/NR 84 30.4 NR/NR

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
 Mission Hills (5-3, 8 points), Mira Mesa (5-3, 7),  University City (6-2, 3)..

VOTING PANEL

  • John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
  • Steve Brand, Thomas Gutierrez, Rick Hoff, Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Eric Williams, Freelance contributors.
  • Brandon Stone, Allison Edmonds, John Carroll, KUSI-Channel 51 TV.
  • Rick Smith, partletonsports.com.
  • Ramon Scott, Adam Paul, eastcountysports.com.
  • John Kentera, Braden Suprenant (97.3 FM The Fan).
  • Bodie DeSilva, scoreboardlive.com.
  • Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM.
  • Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
  • Troy Hirsch, Nic Pollino (Fox 5 San Diego).
  • Todd Cassen, Joe Heinz, Ron Marquez, CIF San Diego Section.
  • Mike Dolan, Rex Johnson, CIF Advisory Committee.
  • Joe Evangelist, San Diego Coaching Legends.
  • Will Torrez, Valley Sports Network.
  • Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net.
  • Tom Helmantoler, Southern Conference Advisor.
  • MaxPreps.

TRUE GRID  

Granite Hills, seventh in San Diego, is unranked by Cal-Hi Sports. Or is it? The  publication also has categories for  so-called medium-sized schools and small schools…the Eagles are 17th among medium schools and Mira Mesa is on the bubble…Escondido Charter is a small schools bubble team…things have picked up at Chula Vista…prevail this week and the Spartans will have a five-game winning streak for the first time since 2008…El Camino’s 6-2 record after eight games is the best since Herb Meyer’s last good team in 2001 opened 7-2…Mike Hobbs’ Wildcats started 3-6 in 2019, and went on a six-game winning streak before bowing to Santa Rosa Cardinal Newman, 31-13, in the state III-AA championship…Kyle Wiliams’ Poway 11 hasn’t been 8-0 since Damian Gonzalez’ last club opened 9-0 in 2016….