2023 Week 6: Carlsbad-Mission Hills Headlines Avocado League Opener

The week’s schedule is loaded with potential benchmark league openers as 11 of the 18 San Diego Section loops begin play. Key games:

AVOCADO

Carlsbad (5-0), @Mission Hills (4-1).

Mission Hills leads, 4-3, since 2011 in games matching two of the section’s most successful coaches, the Grizzlies’ Chris Hauser and Carlsbad’s Thadd MacNeal…Hauser is in his 23rd season, 193-83-2 (.696) overall and 155-67-2 since starting the Grizzlies’ program in 2004 after four seasons at alma-mater Vista…MacNeal is in his 17th season, 132-66 (.667) overall and 91-47 since moving to Carlsbad in 2011…was head coach at Lakewood of Southern Section’s Long Beach-area Moore League from ’06-‘10 with 41-19 record…Lancers have won last three meetings…they’re led by quarterback Julian Sayin and rank second to Lincoln in Union-Tribune poll, averaging 47 points a game.…

CENTRAL

Kearny (4-1), @Hoover (3-2).

Winner likely would have only Clairemont (3-3) in way of league championship since San Diego (0-5) and Canyon Hills (0-6) figuratively are out to lunch…Hoover has not had winning season since Jerry Ralph coached 10-3 club to D-III championship game in 2014…Will Gray is 10-19 since ‘20 with Cardinals but has local knowledge, having coached Kearny to 34-25 record from ’15-19…Jeremy Stump is 12-16 as Gray’s successor….

COASTAL

La Jolla Country Day (5-1), @The Bishop’s (2-3).

Tyler Hales is 66-43 since replacing Jeff Hutzler in 2014 but Torreys are 0-8 against The Bishop’s, including 37-21 loss to Knights when Torreys were DV-A state finalist in ’16…’Day’s only loss is 48-26 in opener to Chula Vista…it shut down undefeated Army-Navy, 35-6, last week…The Bishop’s, 21-10 under Shane Walton, in his fourth season, seem to be finding stride, winner of last two, 24-13 over Mount Miguel, 35-0 over Classical….

EASTERN

Christian (4-2), @Point Loma (3-3).

The Pointers had been around for 90 years (1926) before they became acquainted with Christian, which opened in 1971…the teams have split four games since the first in 2016 and are aligned as Eastern League brethren after the Pointers  jumped from the City loop…Point Loma coach Joel Allen retired in 2019 after posting a 100-35-1 (.739) record in 11 seasons at La Jolla Country Day…Allen quickly unretired when Mike Hastings retired at Point Loma and the Pointers are 17-12 with Allen since ’20…Christian is 10-7 under Patrick Bugg since ’22….

John Maffei’s Week 7 Union-Tribune Poll:
Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
*First-place votes.
NR–Not ranked.
Last entries in columns are previous rankings.
Max Preps‘ and Cal-Hi  OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Del Norte (4-1, 24 points),  St. Augustine (3-3, 12), Brawley (5-0, 11), La Jolla Country Day (5-1, 4), West Hills (4-1, 4), Torrey Pines (3-2, 3), Christian (4-2, 2), Mount Miguel (5-1, 1), Imperial (5-1, 1), Mission Bay (5-1, 1).

29 sportswriters, sportscasters, administrators from San Diego County, plus Max Preps.com.

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

TRUE GRID

Brawley, which couldn’t travel over the mountains during the big storm in the season’s first week, has rescheduled its game at Scripps Ranch this week…El Camino evened its classic North County rivalry with neighboring Oceanside at 25 wins each with a bragging rights, 49-8 win over the Pirates…schools are located four miles apart…with Army-Navy losing to La Jolla Country Day, five teams remain undefeated:  Brawley and the Section’s  D-I big 4, Lincoln, Carlsbad, Granite Hills, and Helix….