2024 Football Week 9: It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Penalty Flags!
They were flying last week.
John Maffei, The San Diego Union high school expert, noted the many infractions and uneven play in the Western League showdown between Lincoln and Cathedral.
“It was choppy,” observed Maffei.
Perhaps that was because there was an officiating crew of seven instead of the standard six. Play was interrupted 19 times because of a penalty.
With the 27-7 victory (coach David Dunn’s 100th) Lincoln remained No. 1 in the weekly Top 10 voting and likely clinched top seed in the Open Division playoffs. San Diego Section bosses will use the Calpreps.com ratings formula to seed the 64 postseason teams in five divisions. Two weeks remain in the regular season.
San Pasqual’s Tony Corley also won his 100th, 41-6 over Rancho Buena Vista. Closing in are Granite Hills’ Kellan Cobbs (99) and La Costa Canyon’s Sean Sovacool (97).
HELIX CONTINUES TO DOMINATE
At 2-5 against a blood rival, Helix might have finally appeared ready to be taken when the Highlanders lined up against 4-3 Grossmont, which hadn’t won in this vintage East County rivalry since George H.W. Bush was in office in 1991.
Not yet, Foothillers. The Scots beat them for the 29th consecutive time, 56-26. The once “Little Brother” Helix now leads the series, 48-18.
Helix opened in September, 1951, with morning-afternoon, double-session classes at Grossmont while the Highlanders’ campus on University Avenue in La Mesa was under construction.
MAFFEI FEELS IT
John Maffei’s The San Diego Union Week 9 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. NR–Not ranked. MaxPreps‘ and Cal-Hi Sports‘ are state rankings.
| RANK | TEAM/RECORD | POINTS | MAXPREPS | CALPREPS.COM | CAL-HI SPORTS |
| 1. | Lincoln (6-2) 30* | 300 (1) | 13 (13) | 59.1 (57.8) | 13 (14) |
| 2. | La Costa Canyon (8-0) | 253 (4) | 25 (32) | 47.7 (43.8) |
22 (33) |
| 3. | Cathedral (6-2) | 252 (2) | 32 (24) | 45.3 (46.5) | 31 (21) |
| 4. | Granite Hills (6-2) | 200 (6) | 65 (64) | 33.9 (37.6) | 35 (31) |
| 5. | Mission Hills (6-2) | 189 (3) | 55 (49) | 37.1 (36.9) | 39 (32) |
| 6. | San Marcos (7-1) | 147 (5) | 69 (58) | 33.3 (31.3) | 47 (46) |
| 7. | Carlsbad (6-2) | 96(7) | 71 (79) | 33.1 (30.7) | On Bubble (Bubble) |
| 8. | Rancho Bernardo (7-1) | 67 (8) | 112 (113) | 25.2 (23.3) | NR (NR) |
| 9. | Mount Miguel (6-2) | 52 (9) | 113 (115) |
25 (23.2) | On Bubble (Bubble) |
| 10. | Scripps Ranch (8-0) |
36 (NR) | 147 | 22.8 | NR |
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Torrey Pines (3-4, 16 points), El Camino (4-3, 6), Imperial (8-0, 2), Valley Center (6-2, 1).
VOTING PANEL
Twenty-nine 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).
- 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).
- Bodie DeSilva, John Kentera, Steve (Biff) Dolan, Dennis Ackerman, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, Tom Ronco, Adam Paul (Freelance contributors).