It’s essentially not who you beat, but who you played and how who you played did.
St. Augustine lost three games but was 20th in the state and No. 1 in Division II in Cal-Hi Sports‘ final 2015 rankings.
Cathedral lost five but its schedule was so difficult that the Dons earned a Cal-Hi ranking of sixth in Division II and 38th overall.
Mission Hills, No. 1 in the final Union-Tribune poll, was 11-1 but didn’t finish among Cal-Hi‘s top 50.
IT’S ABOUT THE SCHEDULE
The Saints and Cathedral faced far more demanding, regular-season nonleague tests than Mission Hills.
St. Augustine was steeled by tough losses to Los Angeles Loyola and Vista Murrieta.
Cathedral took on Rancho Santa Margarita, Westlake Village Oaks Christian, Bakersfield Liberty, and St. Augustine, among others.
The Grizzlies, ranked No. 1 for most of the season in the Union-Tribune‘s weekly poll and king in a weak North County, were no match when St. Augustine ran away to a 48-14 victory in the San Diego Section Open Division semifinals.
The Saints, although losing to Helix, 44-30, in  the Open championship, rose three spots from 23rd on Cal-Hi‘s final list.
Reliable Helix ranked seventh overall, might have become a state D-I champion had it not lost in the final two minutes, 32-28, to eventual winner Mission Viejo in the Southern California playoff.
Mission Viejo defeated San Jose Bellarmine, 24-0, for the D-1 title.
TWO OUT OF 13
The San Diego Section had four state finalists and two champions in the 13 competing divisions.
Mater Dei, 56-21 winner over Reedley Immanuel in V-AA,  joined Rancho Bernardo, 30-14 conqueror of Atherton Sacred Heart D-II.
Coronado dropped a 16-6 decision to East Nicolaus in VI-AA and Bonita Vista was a 33-21 loser to Hanford in IV-AA.
BEST 50
Four County squads made Cal-Hi‘s most recent all-time state top 50.
Coach Dick Haines’ 1985 Vista club, 13-0 behind quarterback Sal Aunese, is 27th.  The 1916 national champion San Diego Hilltoppers are 36th, followed by the national champion San Diego club of 1955 at 43rd. Morse, 14-0 and fourth in USA Today‘s national rankings in 1990, is 47th.
The 12-0 Concord De La Salle team of 2001 was selected first.
TRUE GRID
Other 2015 state division rankings included Rancho Bernardo, seventh in D-II, Bonita Vista 10th in D-III, and Mater Dei fifth in D-IV…Santa Fe Christian and Coronado were “on the bubble” in IV and V, respectively, and Mission Bay gained honorable mention in III…Rancho Bernardo was 13-2 but also did not make the state’s top 50…the Broncos played no intersectional games in the regular season…it’s not that Mission Hills didn’t try…the Grizzlies scheduled two intersectionals but they were against mediocre Los Angeles Crenshaw and Long Beach Millikan…Helix’ Nate Stinson was the Section leading scorer with 35 touchdowns and 210 points…C.J. Verdell of Mater Dei and Greg Bell of Bonita Vista had 204 each and Elijah Preston of St. Augustine 198…go to the “Football” link and scroll down to “Top Performances” and “Annual Individual Scorers” for a more complete list….
