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Five-year-old Patrick Henry High, located in the sprawling Del Cerro-San Carlos area, had become a glamour school in the San Diego Section and one of the largest in the state with 3,800 students and growing. The Patriots already had been to a section championship game in football, became powers in baseball and track and field, and ...

Three San Diego Section teams remain in play in the Southern California regional basketball playoffs, with La Jolla Country Day having representatives in Boys’ Division III and Girls’ D-I. San Diego Southwest also reached the finals in Boys’ D-V. The three local squads all face daunting tasks, as they will be on the road Tuesday night in ...

Two boys’ and four girls’ squads passed quarterfinals tests in the CIF state regional playoffs last night. Most significant was the 66-58 Division 1 win by the 5 seed La Jolla Country Day girls on the road at No. 4 Granada Hills. Cathedral, the top seed in Girls D-I, sustained a stunning loss, 49-44, to No. 8 ...

Sixteen of the 30 San Diego Section boys’ and girls’ teams remain in the Southern California regional playoffs, with quarterfinals putting everyone back on the court tonight. Girls squads won nine of 14 opening round contests, the boys seven of 16, with most of the successes coming in Division II through V. Three of the four male ...

Torrey Pines emerged from a season-long, four-team battle to claim the No. 1 position in the final The San Diego Union top 10.  The first four finishers each occupied the top rung during the regular season. Union-Tribune Week 10 final poll, Monday, Feb 25: Rank Team Record Points Last Week 1 Torrey Pines (14) 25-6 140 2 2. Foothills Christian 23-7 125 1 3 Mission Bay 18-12 109 5 4 St. Augustine 22-7 87 4 5 Cathedral 23-9 80 7 6 Vista 21-9 53 8 7 Poway 22-7 43 6 8 Carlsbad 26-6 37 NR 9 Santa Fe Christian 20-8 35 4 10 Francis Parker 20-10 24 NR NR–Not ranked. Others receiving votes: La ...

Seedings for the Southern California Regional playoffs that begin Tuesday reflected the San Diego Section’s  strength in the lower divisions. But the big boys got no respect, as usual. San Diego teams are favored seeds in only two of nine Open, D-I or D-II contests. They are the choice in five of seven games in D-III through ...

Four No. 1 seeds in six divisions, will be on the floor as finals take place beginning tonight in the San Diego Section. That Foothills Christian, Cathedral, Rancho Buena Vista, and San Diego Southwest made their way through the rounds is testimony to the ratings system created by Max Preps, the entity favored by section coaches ...

Thirty-one of the 36 first-round, San Diego Section playoff games in divisions I-V last night were won by team’s with the lower number (better) seeds and the upsets were won by teams on the road. The stunner was 15 seed Bonita Vista (11-17) kayoing 2 seed host Westview (21-8), 66-52. Other home team jolts were experienced by ...

Ten consecutive wins since Jan. 11 propelled Foothills Christian into the No. 1 position in the final regular-season The San Diego Union-Tribune poll and earned coach Brad Leaf’s Knights the Open Division top seed in this week’s beginning of the San Diego Section playoffs. Play in divisions I through V convenes Wednesday evening.  Open Division teams ...

Twenty-one San Diego Section league champions were crowned this week, although such a feat means nothing when it comes to the playoffs, pairings of which were announced today. But league championships represent a lot more than a playoff seeding,or divisional placement. Just ask the Mira Mesa Marauders and San Diego Cavers, who clinched Eastern and City ...

No one could replace Bill Walton, so Ralph Drollinger just succeeded him. The 7-foot Drollinger, an inch taller than the legendary Walton, played at Grossmont, arch rival of Walton’s Helix. Drollinger posted San Diego County’s second highest, one-season scoring total, 878 points, to Walton’s 958. Drollinger won a San Diego Section championship, to Walton’s two. Drollinger attended UCLA and ...

Vincent W. (Vince) Breddell III, a star sprinter at Kearny in 1969 and ’70, passed recently. Coach Jim Cerveny’s teams, which battled Clairemont for Western League domination, were built around the swift Breddell. Breddell was fourth in the state 100-yard dash final at Berkeley in 1970 after winning the San Diego Section championship in :09.7.  He won ...

The San Diego Section regular season will end Feb. 8 and championships in at least three of the 19 basketball-playing leagues  will come down to the final week. Rancho Buena Vista (6-1) and Vista (5-2) will meet at Vista for the Avocado League  title.  RBV edged the rival Panthers, 62-61, in the teams’ first meeting. University City ...

The 880-yard relay, a frenetic and often perilous event, provided a wild conclusion to the CIF Southern Section finals at Compton. San Diego High won the team championship, surviving rush-hour traffic and a near pileup, not unlike a wild main event of a midget auto racing card in Balboa Stadium. The Hillers’ Charlie Davis, spiked by another ...

Have team league championships lost their cachet? Shrinking newspaper space, computer and newsletter rankings, weekly “classics” and  “challenges” all appear have diminished a once-cherished achievement. Not quite. Go to a game and notice the commemorative patches and chevrons adorning the athletes’ letter jackets.  Read a coach’s resume and list of accomplishments.  Hear the reaction of players and students ...

The San Diego Section’s Big Four, listed numerically in the weekly The San Diego Union-Tribune poll below, has beaten some very good intersectional teams but not gained traction with ratings experts. Wins like Foothills Christian’s  83-74 over Sacramento Sheldon, the state’s No. 9 team according to Cal-Hi Sports and St. Augustine’s 64-49 victory over No. 12 Orange ...

Torrey Pines’ John Olive and St. Augustine’s Mike Haupt each is bearing down on career victory No. 500. Olive leads with 488 victories to Haupt’s 487. Whenever they reach 500, Oliver and Haupt will join a club that has a membersship of three in the San Diego area. El Camino’s retired Ray Johnson won 763 games. Helix’ John ...

Hoover trailed Morse, 70-50, with two minutes and 40 seconds remaining in their Eastern League game at Hoover on Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 2, 1971. Hoover won, 71-70. Let’s try that again. Hoover won, 71-70. The Cardinals scored the game’s last 21 points in arguably the most jaw-dropping finish in the history of area high school hoops. “I’m glad I’m not ...

Despite defeat, Cathedral got respect and cred in Cal-Hi Sports’  final rating of the state’s top 2018 teams. Coach Sean Doyle’s team could not take down mighty Folsom, losing, 21-14, in overtime to the Sacramento-area power that had punished San Diego clubs in the past, but Cathedral’s stout performance in the Division 1-AA final at Cerritos ...

Seasons of 9-2 and 8-4, respectively, continued to elevate Ron Hamamoto and Valley Center’s Rob Gilster in the upper strata of all-time, San Diego Section football coaches. Cathedral’s Sean Doyle is on the cusp of 200 victories. Hamamoto, who completed his 32nd season at Cathedral (nee University), Rancho Bernardo, Lincoln, and Monte Vista since 1985, completed ...