2021 Week 5: Cathedral Takes on Another Big One in North

Cathedral coach Sean Doyle, whose team fosters a we’ll-play-anyone-anytime-anywhere mantra, gets another test this week against perhaps the most honored team in Califoria prep history.

The Dons, recovering fast from their disaster in Week  2 at Corona Centennial, blitzed Helix, 52-0, last week and head North to play Concord de La Salle, which has a 4-0 record against San Diego Section teams and won more than 150 games in a row in the 1990’s-early 2000’s.

De La Salle had home-and-home contests against Rancho Buena Vista in 1995 and ’96 and La Costa Canyon in 2002 and ’03.

The Spartans defeated Craig Bell’s RBV Longhorns, 35-16, there in 1995 and 36-19 in 1996 here.

They defeated Darrin Brown’s La Costa Canyon Mavericks, 28-7 here in ’02 and 56-27 there in ’03.

De La Salle had a 318-game winning streak against Northern California squads broken last week when upset by Mountain View St. Francis, 31-28. It has victories of 52-16 over Stockton St. Mary’s and 68-6 over Elk Grove Monterey Trail.

Cathedral is ranked 10th in Calfornia by Cal-Hi Sports.  De La Salle is 11th.

LOW POINT FOR HIGHLANDERS

The 52-point loss to Cathedral was the most decisive in 68 years and 753 games for Helix, which was beaten by Hoover, 50-0, in 1953, the Highlanders’  third season.  The points equaled a 52-6 loss at Oxnard in the flu-epidemic 1957 season.

THE RANKINGS

John Maffei’s weekly The San Diego Union-Tribune Top 10:
First place votes in parenthesis.  Points on scale of 10 points to 1 point.

RANK TEAM/RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS
1. Cathedral  3-1 (11) 227 2
2. Carlsbad     4-0 (14) 226 1
3. Lincoln 2-1 191 3
4. Mater Dei 2-0 177 4
5. Mission Hills 3-1 155 5
6. Torrey Pines 2-1 121 7
7 ScrippscRanch 4-0 91 8
8. Madison 3-1 53 10
9. Eastlake 3-1 34 NR
10. Helix 2-1 20 6

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES

Santa Fe Christian (4-0, 16 points), Mt. Carmel (4-0, 15), El Camino (1-2, 9), Oceanside (2-1, 6),  Poway (2-2, 2),  DEl Norte (3-1, 1), El Capitan (3-1, 1).

VOTING PANEL

Twenty-four sportswriters and sportscasters throughout San Diego County.

  • John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
  • Steve Brand, Thomas Gutierrez, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, freelance contributors.
  • John CarrollNick Pollino, KUSI Ch. 51.
  • John Kentera, Braden Suprenant, 97.3-FM The Fan).
  • Adam Paul, ECPreps.com.
  • Bodie DeSilva, scorebooklive.com.
  • Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com.
  • Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
  • Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego.
  • Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net.
  • Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez, Mike Dolan, CIF San Diego Section.
  • Ramon Scott, Eastcountysports.com.
  • Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country, 107.9-FM.

How others see San Diego’s Top 10:
*The second entry in each rating is from the previous week.

Team Record Cal-Hi Sports MaxPreps CalPreps
Cathedral 3-1 10-12* 8/8 61.6/44
Carlsbad 4-0 13-11 21/16 47.9/49
Mission Hills 3-1 25-29 35/27 40.7/45.2
Lincoln 2-1 16-15 13/25 48.8/39.6
Mater Dei 2-0 Bubble-Bubble 74/71 26.2/24.6
Helix 2-1 NR-45 76/83 23.6/21.7
Torrey Pines 3-1 44-Bubble 38 35.4/32.6
Scripps Ranch 4-0 Bubble-Bubble 70/108 18.6/15.0
Eastlake 3-1 NR-NR 86/85 22.9/NR
Madison 3-1 NR-NR 100/98 20.0/NR

MaxPreps.com and CalPreps.com computer ratings are usually the same and based on strength of schedule and other factors.

Cal-HiSports.com ratings are created by publisher Mark Tennis, who coordinates with several state-wide sources.