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Shockers, upsets, and surprises (maybe) shook up the first week of the San Diego Section playoffs, which resume Feb. 25 following 120 games in boys and girls first- round and quarterfinals competition. Twenty-seven games have been won by teams with less attractive (higher) seeds. Favorites won 93 games, a 77.5 winning percentage, according to results from ...

What’s in a league championship? Especially in this era of power ratings and strengths of schedules and what they mean in playoff pairings and postseason division assignments, which will be announced today? A league title represents essentially just bragging rights, but ask the players and coaches who achieved it and what they think when banners are hoisted ...

Two legendary mentors pulled the pin. Point Loma’s Lee Trepanier, whose Pointers teams dominated the state and earned national recognition throughout the decade, retired after 14 seasons, with a 331-56 record and .855 winning percentage. Neville Saner, whose Poway teams won four Division I titles in his seven seasons, retired after posting a 139-42 (.768) record. CLARK WINNER ...

For the first time in 14 years the San Diego Section championship games did not take place in the Sports Arena (13,700 capacity) on Midway Drive or Peterson Gymnasium (3,668 capacity) on the San Diego State campus. The championships were played at Golden Hall, a downtown facility of 3,200 seats that was more known as a ...

San Ysidro is making noise again. Not enough to earn a top 10 ranking, but the Cougars have won five in a row and scored more than 100 points for the fifth time this season, including a post-poll vote,106-30 victory over Castle Park last night. The fall of the Trojans marked the third time in the ...

As Steve Brand of The San Diego Union wrote, Dennis Kane began preparing the day after San Diego High concluded the 1986-87 season.  The coach moved to quickly put the worst year in school history in the Cavers’ rear view mirror. San Diego had bottomed out at 0-20 in Kane’s first season. No Cavers squad, dating to ...

Tony Clark, a 6-foot, 7-inch junior at Valhalla High, set a San Diego Section record with a 30.3 scoring average and had 55 points in one game. Clark’s season seemingly could lead to future honors in college basketball, or even the NBA. Clark did play professionally, but it was in baseball and, after a 15-season career on ...

Twas a time when San Diego Section teams finished their tournament and intersectional obligations as the calender moved to the New Year and league play began, determining the playoffs picture. That’s not the case today as teams continue to play nonleague games against out-of- the-area competition and make quick, weekend trips for so-called “classics.” St. Augustine still ...

Through games of Monday, Jan. 13. Union-Tribune Points Last Week Max Preps Cal-Hi Sports 1. St. Augustine (13) 16-3 130 1 13 14 2. Foothills Christian 12-5 117 2 29 Bubble 3. Cathedral Catholic 13-5 103 3 35 Bubble 4. Torrey Pines 13-4 90 4 83 NR 5. Mater Dei 12-3 76 5 73 NR 6. Poway 15-4 67 6 38 NR 7. Santa Fe Christian 13-5 49 7 72 NR 8. Christian 15-3 31 8 51 NR 9. Francis Parker 12-2 21 NR 50 NR 10. Carlsbad 12-5 8 NR 134 NR Others receiving votes: 11. Mission Hills (14-4, 7 points) 11. San Diego (12-5, 7), 13. San Marcos (11-3, 3), 14. Bonita Vista (13-4, 2), 14. Otay Ranch (15-3. 2), 16. San Ysidro (9-8, 1), 16. Helix (12-5, ...

Playoffs this year moved toward an Indiana model, used by that state’s schools for decades and which was immortalized in the basketball movie/drama “Hoosiers”, starring Gene Hackman and Helix graduate Dennis Hopper in 1986. The Indiana way meant that all teams were eligible, in one division, including many with hopeless records.  The San Diego Section positioned ...

The “3”  game arrived in San Diego Section gymnasiums this season. The three-point basket, which  revolutionized basketball, was first used on an experimental basis at colleges in the East as far back as 1945 and was adopted by the  fledgling American Basketball Association in 1967-68. The NBA got with the program in 1979-80,  followed by international ruling ...

One San Diego County team, Lincoln, made it to a state championship final, but there were two Hornets at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.  Lincoln’s were joined by the Hornets of Calipatria, 140 miles to the East in Imperial County and since 1980 members of the San Diego Section. Scores and some recollections from the longest-ever playoff ...

“We need a rest,” St. Augustine coach Mike Haupt was heard to utter after the Saints had played in three late November and mid-December tournaments and this was before the Torrey Pines Tipoff, one of the great events in the country. The Saints (15-3) reached the New Year with 18 games already under their belts, league ...

As the year ended last week USA Today listed its best 150 teams in the 150-year history of collegiate football. Standing third behind the 1943 and 1945 Army squads, was the University of California “Wonder Team” of 1920. No less than seven players from the national champion, 12-0 San Diego High Hilltoppers of 1916 played for that ...

BOYS PLAYOFFS 3-A Feb. 20, 1987. LEAGUE PLAYOFFS TO QUALIFY AND FOR SEEDINGS GROSSMONT Monte Vista 54, Mount Miguel 47. PALOMAR Torrey Pines 41, San Dieguito 40. FIRST ROUND Madison 82, Hilltop 58 (15-14.) San Dieguito 56, Patrick Henry 50 (11-12). Mira Mesa 67, Valhalla 54 (15-8). Mount Miguel 60, at Torrey Pines 53 (20-7). Three steals by Anthony Rivera that resulted in layup baskets got Mount ...

When it was all over, there was just one honor that eluded Terri Mann. She was runner-up in voting for the Gatorade U.S. high school player of the year. Go figure. Mann hadn’t been second in anything during her four brilliant years and four consecutive state championships at Point Loma. Mann was the Gatorade Circle of Champions player of ...

Basketball is in beast mode as the New Year beckons, with games every night and tournaments galore, including the big one, the Torrey Pines Tipoff this week directed by Falcons coach John Olive. There was an interesting matchup in a preliminary tipoff to Torrey Pines Monday night after John Maffei of The San Diego Union coordinated ...

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s last poll, including San Diego Section playoffs: First-place votes in parenthesis. NR–Not ranked. *Includes forfeit win. RANK TEAM RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS 1. Helix (31) 11-1 310 1 2 Carlsbad 10-2 269 2 3. Oceanside 11-3 212 NR 4. Cathedral 8-3 207 3 5. St. Augustine 8-3 168 4 6. Lincoln 10-3* 144 7 7. El Camino 8-6 119 NR 8. The Bishop’s 12-1 64 9 9. Steele Canyon 9-2 58 5 10. Mission Hills 9-3 54 6 Others receiving votes: La Jolla (9-4, 22 points), Madison (7-5, 22), Scripps Ranch (10-0, 10), Santana (1`1-2, 1), Torrey Pines (6-6, 1). Voting panel of 31 sportswriters, sportscasters, various County football honchos: John ...

San Ysidro freshman Mikey Williams has gone off again. The 6-foot, 3-inch guard set a San Diego Section record last night with 77 points in a 116-42 victory over Kearny at the Imperial High tournament, according to Max Preps. A night earlier Williams scored 51 in a 108-61 win against Brawley.  He had 50 in an 85-77 ...

El Camino and La Jolla were highly unlikely candidates to get this far, but they’re in the big games this week, San Diego’s last standing, and hitting the road in search of state championships. The Wildcats travel 50 miles beyond the San Franciso Golden Gate bridge to Santa Rosa, 517 miles North of their campus, taking ...