2013: San Diego Teams Land 4 in First 25

No state champions, but there were four San Diego Section teams in Cal-Hi Sports‘ final, overall top 25.

San Diego tied for second with the Sac-Joaquin Section in number of top 25 squads from the 10 state sections.

Mission Hills (11-2) was 11th,  Oceanside (10-3) 13th.  St. Augustine and Cathedral, each 11-2, were 24th and 25th, respectively.

The vast Southern Section placed six of the first seven teams and 11 of the top 25.  St. John Bosco was 16-0 and number one after a 20-14 victory over No. 2 Concord De La Salle in the  Open Division championship.

De La Salle was the only North Coast Section squad in the top 25.

No. 6 Folsom was the highest of the four from the Sac-Joaquin Section.

Other sections with ranked representatives included the Central Coast (2) and the Central (1) and Los Angeles City (1).  The Northern, San Francisco, and Oakland Sections were blanked.

San Diego teams  in Cal-Hi Sports‘  top four divisions were 11-6 in intersectional games but  1-2 in arguably the season’s three biggest.

Oceanside was beaten 50-39 by Gardena Serra (13-1), which finished No. 4 overall.  Mission Hills lost a state playoff, 35-28, to No. 10 Bakersfield (13-2). Cathedral defeated No. 26 Vista Murrieta (12-2), 35-28.

Cal-Hi Sports‘ state rankings by its traditional format of five divisions:

DIVISION I

1–Bellflower St. John Bosco.  10–Oceanside.  11–Eastlake.

II

1–West Hills Chaminade.  3–Mission Hills.  8–San Pasqual.

III

1–Newport Beach Corona del Mar.  2–St. Augustine.  3–Cathedral.  11–Mission Bay.  13–Madison.

IV

1–Modesto Central Catholic.  3–Christian.

V

1–Le Grand.  9–Holtville.

SOUTH D-I

1–Bellflower St. John Bosco.  7–Mission Hills.  9–Oceanside.  10–Eastlake. 13-Cathedral.   14–San Pasqual (10-2).

SOUTH D-II

1–West Hills Chaminade.  4–St. Augustine.  12. Mission Bay (12-2).  14–Madison (9-2). 19–Christian (12-1).

SOUTH D-III

1–Newport Beach Coronado del Mar. 14–Sweetwater.

SOUTH D-IV

1–Bakersfield Christian.  (no San Diego Section teams)

FREEMAN, PATRIOT COACH HONORED

Imperial’s Royce Freeman was state medium schools player of the year and Christian coach Mike Ward was state small schools coach of the year.

Freeman, who set a San Diego Section career rushing record with 7,601 yards in four seasons and who rushed for 2,819 yards in 2013, is the fourth San Diego Section medium schools player of the year in the last six.

Others include Madison’s Pierre Cormier, 2012; Mission Bay’s Dillon Baxter, 2009, and Cathedral’s Tyler Gaffney, 2008.  Gaffney and Baxter were overall state players of the year.

Ward, who guided Christian to a  12-1 record and the San Diego Section D-III championship, also was coach of the year in 2011.  A previous winner was Ramona’s Glenn Forsythe, who led the Bulldogs to an 11-0 record and the Southern Section smallest schools championship in 1958.