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Oceanside is back on top in the U-T San Diego football poll, despite losing 30-6 to Mission Hills, the No. 2 team, a few weeks back. I voted for Oceanside.  My thoughts were as conflicted as the total points separating Nos. 1 and 2. Oceanside compiled 276 points and 12 first-place votes following its 43-0 blowout of ...

Football is fun again at Sweetwater and Hoover is traveling in style. Sweetwater whipped Castle Park, 28-7, for its fourth victory in a row and a 5-4 record.  The Red Devils had not won 4 straight since 1996 and have not been 5-4 since 1998. Hoover is a 7-game winner for only the 12th season in the ...

Oceanside became the second San Diego County team (and the first San Diego Section squad) to participate in the state playoffs, which resumed in 2006 after an 80-year hiatus. The Pirates (11-1) of coach John Carroll, who won Carroll’s fourth Section championship and Oceanside’s 10th overall, were chosen to represent the South in the Division II ...

The suddenly topsy turvy UT-San Diego football poll saw another change at the top this week after last week’s No. 1, San Pasqual, took a surprising haymaker from Rancho Buena Vista and fell , 38-36. Mission Hills, upset two weeks ago by San Pasqual, quickly filled the void.  The Grizzlies smashed Fallbrook, 61-21. Meanwhile, Oceanside is lurking. ...

Crawford rose to 8-0 and played a home game under lights. Imperial’s Royce Freeman set a San Diego Section career rushing record as the Tigers went to 8-0. San Pasqual and Ramona dropped from the ranks of the undefeated. NEW CORRAL Crawford coach Mike Wright convinced his administration and the ruling City Conference that the Colts were more suited ...

San Pasqual this week became the third North County team to occupy the number one position in the weekly UT-San Diego football poll. The Eagles surprised Mission Hills, 13-10, in overtime, knocking out the Grizzlies, who had climbed to No. 1 in Week 7 after kayoing Oceanside, which had resided in first since the preseason poll. I ...

Terry Monahan’s story in today’s UT-San Diego about the history of San Pasqual’s football jersey No. 86 jogged my memory. Eighty-six has been worn  by Eagles linebackers almost every year since 1977, but since 1983 in honor of a former player who passed away. Barry McKeever, the son of a USC all-America, wore No. 86 in 1982 ...

Mount Miguel crashed the Top 10 with a 42-21 victory over previous No. 1o El Capitan, but UT-San Diego‘s weekly rankings otherwise remained the same in the lead-up to Week 8. Except. Cathedral, which I ranked second, stayed fifth and, contrary to some other winners, did not receive more  points after a 42-3 blowout of 4-1 Scripps ...

The Hoover Cardinals could use the helping hand of Motel 6 maven Tom Bodett, voice of the signature “we’ll leave the light on for you.” Night football is out at Hoover. More’s the pity. The Cardinals became involved in a legal action with neighboring residents and a Superior Court judge unhappily issued an injunction, forcing Hoover to play ...

Mission Hills, 5-0 and rested from a week off, rose from 19th to 16th in Cal-Hi Sports‘ weekly poll and jumped from ninth to seventh in the South Division I Bowl Rankings. The improvement is partly because of the victory over Oceanside before last week’s bye and some stumbles by other clubs in the state.  The ...

There was no change from 1-10 in the UT-San Diego’s Top 10 as several teams enjoyed a Week 6 bye. San Diego Section teams begin the turn for home and the postseason with league play beginning this week. Sometimes it pays to take that busman’s holiday. No. 2 San Pasqual picked up seven votes despite its bye and ...

Birt Slater Field on the Kearny High campus is going to be dug up and a new field will be in place by 2014. The Komets will play their remaining three, 2013 home games at Madison, versus Clairemont, Point Loma, and La Jolla. In tribute to the legendary coach, who was 89 when he passed away Sept. ...

The weekly UT-San Diego football poll went through a topsy-turvy Week 5, beginning with Oceanside’s loss to Mission Hills,  and flip-flopping all the way down to El Capitan’s high-powered Vaqueros, making their bow in the Top 10. I differed on a few of the vote’s results. My essential disagreement with colleagues was over No. 2.  I had ...

Corporate shakeups have nothing on the expected  San Diego Section football poll next week. Numbers 1, 3, and 7 were beaten and Cathedral rocked Southern Section rankings when it handled visiting No. 4 Vista Murrieta, 35-28. Mission Hills, which sat second in the UT-San Diego poll behind Oceanside since Week 1, hammered the Pirates 30-6 before more ...

Don Hegerle, a leader and playmaker for 1950s San Diego State basketball teams and who later coached at Escondido High, passed away on Sept. 9. Hegerle, 82, was a fast, slashing guard who fearlessly drove to the basket and fired jump shots for one of the best teams in Aztecs history. He was a vital player on ...

Three traditional strongholds among the San Diego Section’s smaller schools are a combined 12-0 and staking their turf in Division III. Christian, Francis Parker, and The Bishop’s each is 4-0.  Christian, of the Central League, will take on the Coastal League’s The Bishop’s in Week  5 in a possible, midseason playoff preview. Christian was ranked second in ...

The Helix Highlanders had four graduates on NFL rosters when teams reached the 53-man limit earlier this month. Scots alums include running back Reggie Bush of Detroit, quarterback Alex Smith of Kansas City, cornerback Jaemar Taylor of Miami, and tight end Levine Toilolo of Atlanta. A total of 16 players from the San Diego Section made NFL ...

North County’s game of the year is  Friday night, when  Oceanside and Mission Hills, ranked 1-2 in the UT-San Diego football voting, will roll in the dirt for more than just neighborhood bragging rights. Mission Hills (4-0), which  became a San Diego Section force under former Vista coach Chris Hauser, seeks its first-ever win over John ...

Gary Mayer, who led a 1958 Ramona High team that raced to an 11-0 record and won the Southern California small schools championship, passed away at age 72  on Sept. 19 in Rialto, where he had resided since 1966. Mayer scored 25 touchdowns and scored 43 points after touchdown in 1958 for a total of 193 ...

Oceanside (24), Mission Hills (6), and San Pasqual (1) all received first-place votes in balloting after for the Week 4 CIF San Diego Section football poll. Ramona, at 9, and Carlsbad, at 10, are new to the top 10. Team/1st Place Votes in ( ) 2013 Record Points* Last Week 1 Oceanside (24) 2-1 301 1 2 Mission Hills (6) 3-0 267 2 3 Madison 3-0 238 3 4 Helix 2-1 224 5 5 San Pasqual 3-0 154 8 6 Cathedral 2-1 141 4 7 St. Augustine 2-1 132 7 8 Eastlake 2-1 89 10 9 Ramona 3-0 76 — 10 Carlsbad 3-0 43 — *Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.     ...