The Trinity League forms a 30-mile stretch of Orange County, with side trips to State 55 and the area around I-605.
Bellflower St. John Bosco, Anaheim Servite, Santa Ana Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran, Rancho Santa Margarita, and San Juan Capistrano JSerra comprise the far-flung circuit, where it is a 43-mile trip from Bosco to JSerra and several others of at least 20 miles.
It has not been a good place to travel for San Diego Section squads or to have those schools come South.
Dating to 1957, schools that now constitute the Trinity League have a 24-10 advantage in head-head meetings.
Beginning with No. 1 Mater Dei, Cal-Hi Sports ranks teams from the Trinity 2, 3, 4, 5, and 12 this week. Max Preps gives those teams ratings of 1,3,5,6,7, and 10.
Lincoln played JSerra last week at Southwestern College (the Hornets’ home field, Vic Player Stadium, is undergoing construction/repairs) and the Hornets, No. 1 here, were in the game but lost, 28-19.
The defeat was the 13th in the last 15 meetings with the Northerners.
The on-and-off series:
| TEAM & SITE | YEAR | SCORE | OPPONENT | SCORE |
| @Escondido | 1957* | 14 | Santa Ana Mater Dei | 20 |
| @Oceanside | 1963 | 7 | Anaheim Servite | 13 |
| Oceanside | 1964 | 14 | @Servite | 34 |
| @Sweetwater | 1965 | 6 | Mater Dei | 47 |
| @San Diego | 1966 | 6 | Servite | 47 |
| San Diego | 1967 | 33 | @Servite | 14 |
| @Oceanside | 1987 | 7 | Mater Dei | 33 |
| Oceanside | 1988 | 36 | @Mater Dei | 33 |
| @Rancho Bernardo | 1991 | 37 | Rancho Santa Margarita | 23 |
| St. Augustine | 1995 | 6 | @Santa Margarita | 28 |
| Grossmont | 1996 | 7 | @Bellflower St. John Bosco | 30 |
| @St. Augustine | 1996 | 7 | Santa Margarita | 27 |
| @Carlsbad | 1996 | 1+ | @Santa Margarita | 0 |
| @Rancho Bernardo | 1998 | 23 | Santa Margarita | 24 |
| @Carlsbad | 1999 | 40 | Santa Margarita | 20 |
| Fallbrook | 2001 | 21 | @Mater Dei | 28 |
| Holtville | 2004 | 35 | @San Juan Capistrano JSerra | 7 |
| Horizon | 2004 | 59 | @JSerra | 0 |
| Army-Navy | 2005 | 25 | @JSerra | 23 |
| @Midway Baptist | 2005 | 6 | JSerra | 28 |
| @St. Augustine | 2005 | 14 | Servite | 37 |
| @St. Augustine | 2006 | 0 | Servite | 23 |
| @La Costa Canyon | 2008 | 14 | Santa Margarita | 18 |
| @Poway | 2008 | 20 | Santa Margarita | 42 |
| Mission Hills | 2010 | 21 | @St. John Bosco | 47 |
| @Oceanside | 2010 | 7 | Servite | 31 |
| @Cathedral | 2015 | 14 | Santa Margarita | 40 |
| @Cathedral | 2017 | 0 | Orange Lutheran | 37 |
| @Cathedral | 2021** | 71 | Orange Lutheran | 62 |
| @Helix | 2021 | 7 | Servite | 42 |
| St. Augustine | 2021 | 10 | @Santa Margarita | 39 |
| @Helix | 2022 | 38 | Servite | 31 |
| @St. Augustine | 2022 | 0 | Servite | 1+ |
| #Lincoln | 2024 | 19 | JSerra | 28 |
*Southern Section Small Schools playoff.
**Southern California Division I playoff.
#At Southwestern College.
MAFFEI FEELS IT
John Maffei’s The San Diego Union Week 4 poll:
Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. *First-place votes. Previous ranking in (italics).
Bold indicates latest ranking. NR–Not ranked. Max Preps‘ and Cal-Hi Sports‘ are state rankings.
| RANK | TEAM/RECORD | POINTS | MAXPREPS.COM | CALPREPS.COM | CAL-HI SPORTS |
| 1. | Lincoln (2-2) 20* | 289 (1) | 16 (18) | 51.4 (50.5) | 16 (15) |
| 2. | Cathedral (3-1) 2* | 260 (2) | 48 (28) | 33.0 (40.4) | 48 (16) |
| 3. | Granite Hills (3-1) 8* | 242 (3) | 49 (47) | 32.9 (32.0) | 18 (19) |
| 4. | San Marcos (4-0) | 174 (4) | 56 (51) | 30.3 (31.0 | 36 (38) |
| 5. | Mission Hills (3-1) | 172 (5) | 69 (70) | 32.9 (26.1) | 40 (41) |
| 6. | La Costa Canyon (4-0) | 164 (6) | 31 (31) | 38.8 (38.2) | 42 (43) |
| 7. | Carlsbad (3-1) | 137 (7) | 42 (30) | 34.3 (38.9) | On Bubble (Bubble) |
| 8 | Mount Miguel (4-0) | 99 (8) | 134 (151) | 14.7 (10.4) | NR (NR) |
| 9. | El Camino (2-1) | 47 (10) | 109 (90) | 19.3 (21.4) | On Bubble (Bubble) |
| 10. | Rancho Bernardo (4-0) | 42 (NR) | 93 | 21.9 |
NR (NR) |
OTHERS RECEIVING VO TES
La Jolla (3-1, 10 points), Mt. Carmel (4-0, 8). Helix (2-2, 4). University City (3-0, 1),
VOTING PANEL
Thirty sportswriters, sportscasters, administrators from San Diego County, plus Max Preps.com.
- John Maffei (San Diego Union-Tribune).
- Don Norcross, Steve Brand, Rick Hoff, Kevin Farmer (Union-Tribune Freelance contributors).
- Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (CIF San Diego Section).
- Brandon Stone, Allison Edmonds, John Carroll, Chase Izidor (KUSI, Channel 51).
- Rick Smith (partletonsports.com).
- Bodie DeSilva (ScorebookLive.com).
- Braden Suprenant (97.3-FM The Fan).
- Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association).
- Tom Helmantoler, (Southern Conference advisor).
- Rex Johnson, Bruce Ward (CIF Advisory Committee).
- Mike Dolan, Joe Evangelist (San Diego Coaching Legends).
- Raymond Brown (SDfootball.net).
- John Kentera, Steve (Biff) Dolan, Dennis Ackerman, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, Tom Ronco, Adam Paul (Freelance contributors).
Just heard about the situation at Lincoln and the condition of their football field. The difference now between the “north and south of the 8” school facilities.
Remembering when there wasn’t much north of the 8 anyway and all of the great rivalries between the schools in the old eastern league during my era in the 60’s.
So many terrific games. So many terrific athletes. Fun times.
Good memories. Thanks for writing, John.
During my high school years (1986-89) Orange Lutheran had not yet joined the Trinity League. It’s located just a bike ride’s distance from my parents’ residence in Villa Park. Had I attended a private school, it likely would’ve been OLu. But I would’ve been hard pressed to leave behind my school chums at El Modena HS.
Hey, Matt thanks for writing. When I was with the Rams we had an assistant equipment manager named Jim Lake. He was an El Modena graduate.