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Sixteen teams, divided by two upper and lower brackets made for the largest postseason in San Diego Section history. What had gotten into the CIF bosses? They had repeatedly recited the dubious mantra that the playoffs made the season too long and were a “major” reason for bolting the Southern Section. To win a Southern Section championship, teams ...

Valley Center’s Rob Gilster can tie Dick Haines this week for ninth place among the winningest coaches in  San Diego Section history. The 32-21, Valley League  victory over Fallbrook last week was Gilster’s 193rd.  The veteran mentor moved from 11th to 10th place earlier this season when he passed Carl Parrick with victory No. 191. Gilster is second to the 203 victories of ...

Richard Morgan Hill, 62, passed away recently at Grossmont Hospital. Few people would recognize the name.  He preferred being called Rick but was even better known to a couple generations of fans and media around here as “Red” Hill. Helix High  coach Mike Muirhead introduced me to this Tom Sawyer-looking teenager  in 1970, when I still was covering high school track ...

Wither, Oceanside? The 45-0 loss to Mission Hills last week shook the foundation of the dynastic program at the school overlooking the intersection of old U.S. 101 and Interstate 5. It’s one thing to get blown out, but even in losses the Pirates have usually managed to score. Their dominance in  the  North County, though being challenged the last few years ...

Nonleague and intersectional games just about out of the way, 16 of the San Diego Section’s 19 leagues swing into action this week. The Eastern, Metro Pacific and Metro South Bay tee up next week. El Camino, 5-0, for the first time since 2000 in the days when Herb Meyer had the Wildcats on an 18-game winning streak, ...

Two readers of our website looked at our table showing  13 San Diego Section high school graduates in the NFL and found a couple glaring errors. The NFL list of 1,696 players also included safety Tony Jefferson of Eastlake and kicker Jason Myers of Mater Dei, which we missed. We also were alerted  to Larry Warford, but Warford graduated from ...

Glacier-like movement in the Union-Tribune Top 10 continued this week with small action taking place in the bottom rungs. Many teams are observing byes as league play edges onto the stage.  Almost all  will be so engaged in a couple weeks. St. Augustine’s home game against Vista Murrieta represents one of the few intersectionals remaining.  The Saints dropped a 15-13 decision ...

Helix is one of 12 schools in the country with at least 4 alumni players who made 2015 opening-day rosters in the NFL. Thirteen San Diego Section graduates were active, down from the 16 of 2013, the last year we published this information from the NFL Communications Department. Reggie Bush, Levine Loiolo, Alex Smith, and Jamar Taylor also ...

The Watergate break-in and burglary in Washington, D.C., still was about nine months from taking place, but spying and potential dirty tricks already were part of a fierce Eastern League rivalry. St. Augustine’s defending San  Diego Section champion was scheduled to play Patrick Henry, the city’s “elite”, newest public school, one that quickly had become thought ...

You haven’t found them in any top 10 poll lately, but in a constantly shifting world one thing is certain:  Chula Vista and Sweetwater will play, every  year. The South Bay schools, connected by  Highland Avenue in National City and 4th Avenue in the community to the South, have battled each other every season since 1947.  Theirs is the longest continuous rivalry in the County. The ...

Helix has vanished! From Cal-Hi Sports. The Highlanders  are nowhere to be found in this week’s top 20 ratings. Coach Troy Starr’s Scots are 1-1 and coming off a 56-7 blowout of Eastlake.  They aren’t even given “On the Bubble” status, that “something’s missing here” honor being accorded locally only to Cathedral and St. Augustine. “A typo,” said Cal-Hi’s Mark Tennis, who ...

Dick Haines embarked on a 25-year career as head coach at Vista and North County football would not be the same, but Haines, taking over an 0-9 team,  had a rush of buyer’s remorse. The regular-season final game in 1969, a 21-0 loss to Oceanside, had been played in the rain, according to Tom Shanahan of ...

How far has coach Richard Sanchez’s program come at St. Augustine? The Saints get another shot against a major opponent this week, tradition strong Los Angeles Loyola, ranked 24th in the L.A. Times and winner of its first two games, 34-0, and 45-7. St. Augustine is 2-0 and second in  the Union-Tribune poll after an impressive, 48-21 ...

Late November in San Diego County produced rain, muddy fields, and fog. Such expressions by Mother Nature carried the promise of critical fumbles and controversial calls, but not a field goal that no spectator saw, accompanied by not one but two shots from the timer’s pistol. A 29-yard placement by University’s Steve Johnson gave the Dons a ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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), ...

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 ...