All Posts – with Preview

The January grind continues with virtually no change in the Top 10 last week as teams try to position themselves for the February stretch run. The only movement was all the way down in ninth and 10th place. St. Augustine moved up to No. 9, and San Diego High made its first appearance at No. 10.  ...

Olympian upset (?) Montgomery, 53-47, in a Metro Mesa League game but the voters weren’t too impressed. The Aztecs remained No. 1 in the poll and the Eagles advanced only from eighth to fifth despite an overall record of 16-2.  Montgomery is 18-2. Olympian’s losses were 60-56 to Francis Parker and 63-60 to now-No. 2 San ...

John Maffei’s weekly The San Diego Union poll. First-place votes in parenthesis. Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Bold entries in columns are up-to-date rankings, followed by previous. Cal-Hi Sports’ and Max-Preps’ represent state rankings. NR—Not ranked. Records as of Feb. 12. TEAM RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS MAXPREPS CAL-HI SPORTS 1 Montgomery 17-1 (18) 180 1 8-9 11/10 2 Carlsbad 13-2 162 2 15-24 15-14 3 San Marcos 15-3 142 3 28-27 On Bubble/NR 4 Mission Bay 13-4 125 4 40-34 NR-NR 5 Cathedral 12-6 97 6 91-110 NR-NR 6 Torrey Pines 13-5 90 7 67-68 NR-NR 7 Santa Fe Christian 15-4 71 5 75-64 NR-NR 8 Olympian 13-2 56 8 58-54 NR-NR 9 La Jolla Country Day 10-9 35 8 139-154 NR-NR 10 Mission Hills 11-6 8 NR 182 NR-NR Others receiving votes Francis Parker (11-7, 7 points), ...

Max Turner of Granite Hills wrapped the San Diego Section scoring championship after he rushed for three touchdowns in the Eagles’ 34-28, Southern California regional playoff loss against Huntington Beach Edison. Turner’s 216 points outpaced the 188 of Calipatria’s Dominic Hawk and the 5-foot-8, 185-pounder was a model of consistency for coach Kellan Cobbs’ team, scoring ...

San Diego Section basketball teams, after hundreds of games and enough travel to catch the attention of Triple-A, are settling into the January-February grind of league play and selected intersectionals before the Southern California playoffs. Montgomery is No. 1 in John Maffei’s latest The San Diego Union-Tribune poll and No. 8 in California, according to Max ...

El Camino High, three years removed from opening its doors and splitting from Oceanside High (taking many outstanding athletes and football coach Herb Meyer), became the first San Diego County team since San Diego High in 1938 to win a state team championship. The Wildcats scored 16 points, edging Gardena and Pasadena, which had 15 each. Darrell ...

Dick Serrano coached his second San Diego Section championship team and continued to leave a legacy at the school, from which he graduated in 1961 and which he guided the baseball program for 30 years until his retirement after the 2000 season. Unlike the 1972 team that finished the regular season with a 12-10 record and ...

John Maffei’s final The San Diego Union poll (first published after the San Diego Section playoffs) plus MaxPreps, Calpreps, and Cal-Hi Sports rankings that include end-of-season CIF state playoffs): 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‘, Calpreps’, and Cal-Hi Sports‘ are state rankings. RANK TEAM/RECORD POINTS MAXPREPS CALPREPS.COM CAL-HI SPORTS 1. Lincoln (10-2) 30* 300 (1) 10 (12) 67.5 ...

San Diego Section teams were 1-2 in state championship games last week, with Lincoln’s hard fought, 28-26 win over Pittsburg at Mission Viejo Saddleback College in Division 1-AA a tribute to coach David Dunn and his staff. Dunn coached the Hornets to a second D1-AA title in three seasons and their 35th victory in the last ...

Three veteran coaches will lead the San Diego Section contingent in state championship games this week at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and Fullerton High. Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto, who also coached at University, Rancho Bernardo, and Lincoln, has an all-time record of 246-193-2 (.560) and trails only Herb Meyer (339) and John Carroll (248) in ...

The six San Diego Section teams playing in the Southern California regional playoffs this week, their opponents, and the Calpreps.com rating for each team.  Winners will play champions of the Northern California regional. DIVISION TEAM WON-LOST CALPREPS OPPONENT WON-LOST CALPREPS I-AA Lincoln 10-2 63.4 Newbury Park 14-0 66.8 I-A Granite Hills 11-2 46.6 @Huntington Beach Edison 10-4 56.1 III-A Poway 6-7 30.2 Arcadia Rio Hondo 12-1 31.6 IV-A St. Augustine 4-10 11.0 @Downey St. Pius X-St. Matthias 5-9 14.7 V-AA El Capitan 10-3 4.3 Victorville Silverado 9-5 7.5 VI-A Monte Vista 9-5  -15.2 Pasadena 8-6 -9.6

Competitive Equity is defined by the CIF as “finding ways for teams to compete that are similar with each other in a competitive nature.” Back in the day school enrollment and geography determined the levels on which teams competed. You wouldn’t see a school with almost 2,500 students playing one with 120 in the playoffs. You will ...

John Maffei’s final The San Diego Union poll: Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. *First-place votes. Previous ranking in (italics). Previous rankings were before San Diego Section playoffs. 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 (10-2) 30* 300 (1) 12 (13) 63.3 (59.9) 12 (14)  2. Cathedral (9-3) 264 (3) 25 (22) 52.8 (47.7) 21 (19) 3. Mission Hills (9-3) 214 (5) 37 (48) 44.4 (46.9) 32 ...

Coach Kellan Cobbs’ Granite Hills Eagles (11-2) take on another tough Orange County opponent when they visit Huntington Beach Edison (10-4) Saturday at Huntington Beach High. Granite Hills was a 49-21 loser to eventual state champion Mission Viejo in a 2023 regional playoff and Edison dropped a 49-24 decision to Mission Viejo this season. Another of Edison’s ...

Beginning with hot summer practices in late July through close to 1,000 games and 14 weeks of action, six teams still are standing. Champions Lincoln (Open), Granite Hills (Division I), Poway (D-II), St. Augustine (D-III), El Capitan (D-IV), and Monte Vista (D-V) embark on another season in the CIF State Southern Regional this week. San Diego Section ...

We’ll return next week. Rick Smith, Henrik Jonson.

November 23 championship game results at Palomar College:  Division I— Classical Academy (25-4) won its second consecutive title, led start to finish and dominated Torrey Pines, 42-19, as they’ve done all season, outscoring opponents, 1,014 to 400. Sophomore quarterback Ella Moore threw for 114 touchdowns, with a 73 per cent completion rate and 123 passer rating, and ...

The Webmaster  

November 23 championship game pairings at Palomar College:  Division I— State No. 6 Classical, the 2023 D-II champion, meets No. 37 Torrey Pines, which upset the undefeated No. 25 Otay Ranch. The Caimans topped the Falcons, 20-14, and 36-26 earlier this season. Division II— No. 9 seed Carlsbad pushed past two higher seeds, including 5 Imperial, which ...

Mission Hills played keep away, controlling the ball for 34 plays to 8 in the second half,  and the strategy almost worked, until Lincoln scored an overtime touchdown to win the Open Division semifinal playoff, 13-7. It won’t be the Hornets’ touchdown that will be remembered. Mission Hills’ Giovanni Harte, who battled the Lincoln defense, grinding out ...