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Who won, the ratings or the seedings?  Since the seedings are based on the ratings and the ratings are based on the  Ocomputer, the question should be who won, the computer or the human eye? So far, the computer is trailing the organ of sight, at least in this impromptu survey. Writer John Maffei of The San ...

Who are these guys and girls? Ninety-four of the 128 dues-paying members of the CIF San Diego Section fielded football teams in 2017, which leaves more than 30 to pursue other sports.  Many do, in the hoops game. They perform in relative obscurity, their game results often not reported or appearing in the newspaper, but all were ...

The dog days of the season will suddenly become the stretch run Saturday, when pairings, fueled by the ratings system associated with Max Preps, will be announced by the San Diego Section. Foothills Christian appears to have a lock on the regular-season Top 10 ratings, which will be announced next week. The Knights, with St. Augustine transfer ...

Forfeits, ineligibles, nuptials. Three words that sum up a season filled with hot shooting, high scores, and dramatic finishes but ended with flat, early exits for San Diego schools in their next-to-last year in the Southern Section playoffs. –San Diego High, 23-2 on the floor, was 7-18 legislatively after forfeiting 16 victories because of an overage starting ...

Static are the San Diego Section ratings. There was no change this week through the first six places.  La Jolla Country Day moved from eighth to seventh after St. Augustine dropped a 74-56 decision to Chicago Whitney Young. The Saints now are eighth. Mount Miguel crashed the top 10 with a 22-4 record and an average of ...

They gave Tom Ault a tremendous sendoff recently at the Rancho Santa Fe First Presbyterian Church. More than 400 persons, including many San Diego State and sports luminaries from the ‘sixties and ‘seventies, were in attendance. Ault, 72, who passed away recently, helped create a championship legacy at Crawford High. Ault played basketball and baseball during a ...

A palpable buzz was heard throughout San Diego gymnasiums this season, hummed to a pitch by a 5-foot, 8-inch sharpshooter with an unorthodox jump shot. St. Augustine’s Tom Shaules set scoring records and drew huge crowds, but Shaules and his husky teammate, Sammy Owens, were a virtual two-man team and the Saints, while making the scoreboard ...

Fast forward about month, to the round of 4 in the San Diego Section Open Division championships. If the Max Preps’ power ratings hold and the first and second rounds play out as expected, Torrey Pines (20-2) would play Mission Bay (21-4) in one semifinal and Foothills Christian (19-5) would meet San Marcos (18-2) in the ...

Mission Bay has not been a “brand” name in San Diego Section basketball, but the Buccaneers continue to hold sway in the Union-Tribune weekly poll.  They’re now 15-3 after Tuesday night’s 71-63 victory over Patrick Henry. The Bucs have beaten so-called brands No. 3 Foothills Christian and No. 8 St. Augustine and lost to No. 5 ...

Like the automobiles that are continually jarred by San Diego’s city streets, the supposed top teams in the San Diego Section negotiated a December full of potholes. Which is the best, as the season enters  league play and the weekend shootouts or the so-called”classics”? I cast my vote for Torrey Pines, followed by Mission Bay, Foothills Christian, ...

A nagging, Week 2 loss to Lancaster Paraclete that Helix appeared to overcome reared up again after the Highlanders were beaten by Folsom, 49-42, in the state 1-AA championship. Helix, seventh in the state going into the game as selected by Cal-Hi Sports, dropped to a final ranking of 10th.   Helix might have finished eighth or ...

Steele Canyon’s winning the State Division 3-A championships was comparative to an NFL team sneaking into the playoffs as a wild card and taking home the Super Bowl trophy. The Cougars of Coach Scott Longerbone were 4-4 at midseason, got into the San Diego Section playoffs as a No. 7 seed, won 4 games in San ...

Three coaches each moved up three spots in the annual review of those with at least 100 victories in their careers in this area or in the San Diego Section. Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto now has 218 victories and is fifth all-time behind Herb Meyer (339), John Carroll (248), Bennie Edens (239) and John Shacklett (229). Hamamoto ...

Unlikely season, unlikely conclusion. –A rare playoff run by San Diego teams in the Southern California playoffs. –San Diego High marched through four rounds to win its only CIF Southern Section championship, along the way setting a school single-game scoring record…maybe. –Hoover blitzed Class B opponents in an attempted sequel to championships in 1931-32, 1933-34, and 1934-35,  but ...

The San Diego Section has four chances to win at least one of the six state championships this week.  Last year the Section was 2-3, with victories by Cathedral in Division I-AA and Madison in D-3. Most of this week’s games appear tossups, but no team has a challenge like that facing the Helix Highlanders, who ...

Note:  Westlake Village Oaks Christian closed school today because of smoke and ash from the nearby wildfires. Helix is scheduled to play there Friday night, Dec. 7. The field at Southwestern  faces south to North but the football moved east. Helix, Steele Canyon, and Monte Vista, from the two Grossmont leagues in the foothills of San Diego ...

“Elevator! Elevator! We Got The Shaft!”  The cry is almost as old as the game.  Visiting teams shouting that the referees or the timekeeper were unjust, a polite term for being “homered”. The Huntington Beach Oilers felt that way when the Oilers, 4-0 on the season and a reported 20-1 in 1944-45, were on the short ...

The so-named expert is trying his hand again as 10 San Diego Section teams come together for the playoff finals at Southwestern College Friday and Saturday. I tied the Union-Tribune’s resident genius, prep honcho John Maffei, each of us picking seven out of 10 winners last week.  My bad was a stinko choice of Hilltop over ...

Fledgling Lincoln High began to create its great athletic legacy after Luther Hayes, a vital member of San Diego high’s 1955 Southern California championship team, transferred to the young school at 49th Street and Imperial Avenue. Hayes, 78, who passed on Thanksgiving Day, surrounded by his wife, Anita, and family at his home in Palos Verdes ...

Here they are, our predictions for the five San Diego Section semifinals and one final this week. I pretty much went with the seeds, although there are a few strays from chalk.  I’m not Colin Cowherd or the late “Jimmy the Greek,” so take these picks for what they’re worth. OPEN DIVISION 3 SAN MARCOS (9-2) @2 ...