- 2015 Week 2: Helix Defeat Unexpected
Helix still ranks as the No. 12 team in the state by the respected Cal-Hi Sports and dropped from No. 1 to third in the San Diego Section after a surprising (not to unhappy coach Troy Starr), 23-19 loss to Scottsdale Chaparral of Arizona in one of the “Brothers in Arms” games last week at Cathedral.
Depending partly on how ...
- 1980: Rematches and Redemption
With apologies to Yogi Berra, it was déjà vu all over again.
A competitive, topsy-turvy season concluded with an unusual doubleheader, Helix in a rematch with Mount Miguel for the 3-A championship and Lincoln in a rematch with La Jolla for the 2-A title.
In an up year in San Diego Section football, 16 teams won at ...
- 1980: Another Allen Creates His Own Niche
He didn’t have the cachet of his older brother, but Damon Allen also stood alone with his achievements.
Damon followed older brother Marcus, who scored five touchdowns in the 1977 San Diego Section championship game, won the Heisman Trophy at USC in 1981, was a Super Bowl MVP, and is a member of the NFL Hall ...
- 1967: For Powell, Why Lincoln?
Jerry Powell was 9-0 as the sophomore quarterback on San Diego’s junior varsity but transferred from the school of his family’s athletic greatness to the less traditional Lincoln.
It was a brilliant move.
Powell went on to a great career as the field leader for coach Shan Deniston’s Hornets, who were 7-2 and 10-1 in Jerry’s two ...
- 1967: Jerry Upholds Powell Legend
Jerry Powell’s performance was typical of one with literally the last name in San Diego prep athletics.
Powell was the youngest of four brothers whose achievements resonated here and in professional ranks over three decades, beginning after World War II, when Charlie Powell first set foot on the San Diego High campus.
Charlie (football, basketball, track, baseball), ...
- 2015, Week 1: It’s Helix and Mission Hills
Helix received 19 first-place votes and Mission Hills 3 in the first, 2015 Union-Tribune football poll.
The Highlanders open their season at 2 p.m. Saturday at Cathedral against Arizona’s Scottsdale Chaparral in one of the annual “Comrade in Arms” games, while Mission Hills takes on visiting Los Angeles Crenshaw Friday at 7.
Game of the week is Friday ...
- 2015: Lots of Coaching Changes
Seeking head job? Apply here.
At least 18 football vacancies have been filled in the San Diego Section as 96 schools await the first week of action Aug. 28-29.
The 18th newcomer will be Darryel Neal of Salton City West Shores, which is back in the Citrus League, in which it was a member from 1998-2007 before moving to ...
- 1966: Deep Thinker Needed to Explain Shallow Playoff Pool
San Diego Section bosses, unlike their successors 40 years later, were determined to keep the playoffs short and sweet and the season’s length to their liking.
The administrators came up with a format that was surprisingly agreed to by St. Augustine and the 11 city schools and created an odd regular-season conclusion this year.
The final week’s ...
- 2015: Yetta, Ray Brokaw, Early Western League Standouts
Winston Yetta, who led Point Loma to a Southern California basketball championship in 1959-60, and Ray Brokaw, a member of Birt Slater’s first two teams at Kearny, have passed away.
Yetta, a three-sport performer—football, basketball, and baseball—was the catalyst in the Pointers’ surprising, five-game title run in the CIF Southern Section AA division.
Point guard in coach ...
- 2015: Hamamoto Lone Active 200-game Winner
Ten active coaches are among the 41 who have won at least 100 games in the San Diego Section as teams begin practice this week in advance of opening games Aug. 28.
Ron Hamamoto, 201-127-4 in 30 years at University, Rancho Bernardo, Lincoln, and Monte Vista, ranks eighth on the all-time list, 12 victories ahead of Rob Gilster, ...
- 2015: Eddie Logans, 70, One of “The Twins”
Eddie Logans, 70, from a family of athletes and achievers, died after a long illness on July 17.
Eddie and his twin brother, Elmer, preceded by footballer-wrestler-hurdler Tommy, were standouts at San Diego High..
Eddie ran the 440 in :49.6, the third fastest time in San Diego County, and Elmer was the County’s leading low hurdler and ...
- 1928: The Saints and Hilltoppers Have Eligibility Beef
The rivalry between San Diego High and St. Augustine, only a year old in football, had heated up.
At least six graduates of the high school continued to play on the prep level, for St. Augustine.
This was not uncommon throughout the CIF in the 1920s, but it was one explanation for the 30-year struggle the Saints ...
- 1928: Turbulent Season at San Diego High
The Roaring Twenties were coming to a disastrous conclusion.
A new school would rise in East San Diego honoring future president Herbert Hoover, who promised a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage, and San Diego High football was on a bumpy ride that began with John Perry’s departure as coach after the ...
- 1935: Redbirds and Rioting
A 27-0 loss to the Muir Technical Mustangs of Pasadena in the first round of the Southern California playoffs did not dim the luster of one of the greatest seasons in the history of Hoover High football.
John Perry, who guided the Cardinals’ program from its beginning in 1930, directed the Eastside club to its first victory over ...
- 1941: “I Want to Play Someone I Can Beat”
That refrain was heard early and often in the CIF Southern Section. It is heard today, a century later.
Coaches, players, administrators, fans, even the media, want to see their teams positioned to win or at least able to compete evenly.
That’s the way it was when the interscholastic federation was formed in 1913, as about 30 ...
- 2015: Hurdler Bob Fortin, Coach Morris Shepherd
Track standout Bob Fortin, 68, and Vista and Chula Vista head coach Morris Shepherd, 95, passed.
Fortin was one of top hurdlers in the San Diego Section and had a best time of :14.7 in the 120-yard high hurdles as a senior at Crawford in 1964.
“Snortin” Fortin, as he was affectionately known because of the guttural sounds Fortin made exerting ...
- 1937: Vexed Wex(ler) Pulls Plug
Escondido was penalized 15 yards before it participated in the kickoff or took a snap at the beginning of the second half of a Metropolitan League game at Grossmont.
Referee Charlie Smith, also the San Diego State baseball coach, penalized the Cougars for not being on the field and ready for kickoff after the 15-minute halftime.
Escondido ...
- 1965: Bennie Didn’t need Postseason Relief
Teams with losing records didn’t make the playoffs. Neither did some with winning records, or even the undefeated.
Only league champions were invited.
Four large school and two small school squads would make up the 1965 San Diego Section postseason.
Bennie Edens wasn’t playing “one game at a time.” He was looking a few weeks down the road ...
- 2015: Bill Van Leeuwen, Star on Aztecs’ Defense
Bill Van Leeuwen, a standout defensive lineman during some of the most successful years of the coach Don Coryell era at San Diego State, passed away June 10 in Wickenburg, Arizona.
Van Leeuwen, 66, was an undersized, cat-quick tackle in a 4-3 defensive alignment on the 1968 and ’69 Aztec teams that posted a combined record ...
- 2015: San Diegans Close With a Rush
Five bests in the state meet, nine in the season’s final two weeks and some competitive efforts in the finals at Clovis Buchanan High allowed area tracksters to finish on a strong note.
Weak in the flat races as compared to the rest of the state and with only one sprinter in the state’s Top 10, San Diego Section athletes still earned ...
