Foothills Christian, No. 1 in the first Union-Tribune basketball poll, was 4-0 before being savaged by a piranha-like attack from the Chino Hills Huskies in finals of the Battle Zone Tournament at Corona Centennial Saturday night.

Final score, 106-86.

Foothills’ T.J. Leaf scored 44 points and was 21 for 27 from the field, but the Knights were swamped at the outset by  a withering, all-court press and trailed, 22-5, in  the first four minutes.

It was 40-13, at the end of the first quarter.

The El Cajon squad actually outscored the Chino Hills, 73-66, over the last three quarters, but it never really was in it, getting no closer than 18 points at 67-49.

The Huskies, aggressively rebounding at both ends of the court,  answered any attempted Foothills incursion with breakaways or some sharp three-point sniping.

Foothills Christian won its first four Battle Zone games, defeating Temecula Great Oak, 84-42, Etiwanda, 73-43, Corona Centennial, 69-61, and Temecula Rancho Christian, 96-58.

The Knights will get another chance at Chino Hills,  Max Preps‘ state No. 3-ranked team when they meet Jan. 9 in  the Sierra Canyon Super Showcase in Chatsworth.

Second-ranked Cathedral opens the season Thursday against San Francisco St. Ignatius in the Father Barry Tournament hosted by Carmichael Jesuit.

No. 3 St. Augustine is 4-0 after winning the Pasadena Rose City Classic at Maranatha Christian with a 52-50 victory over Montebello Cantwell Sacred Heart.

The Saints’ other tournament victories were 52-50 over Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 58-47 over Pomona Diamond Ranch, and 62-42 over Valencia West Ranch.

Helix defeated St. Augustine, 44-30,  in a terrific Open Division championship game before a standing-room  crowd of at least 10,000 persons at Southwestern College and six San Diego teams qualified for Southern California championship play.

It’s a brave new world in the state CIF.

Teams will compete in 13 divisions Dec. 11-12  and 50 teams will be playing this week. Winners this week move on to the state finals Dec. 18-19.

Officially titled “Regional Football Championship Bowl Games”, all teams this week were “slotted (placed in divisions) based on competitive equity and respective criteria.”

It’s all about the computerized ratings system that has been in place the last couple years. Enrollment numbers, seemingly used forever, are no longer a factor in determining divisional alignment.  It’s about who you played and how you did.

Helix (11-1) advances to a game in Division I-AA on Friday at Mission Viejo (14-0).  That game is one of the two top attractions this week.  Folsom (14-0) takes on San Jose Bellarmine (12-1) Friday in  the Northern California I-AA game.

Concord De La Salle (12-1), meets Corona Centennial (14-0) for the Open Division title on Saturday, Dec. 19.

Other pairings featuring San Diego Section squads:

III-AA                                                                                                                                               Oceanside (9-4) at La Mirada (11-3).

III-A                                                                                                                                                          Rancho Bernardo (11-2) at Hesperia Oak Hills (9-5).

IV-AA                                                                                                                                                 Anaheim Canyon (9-5) at Bonita Vista (11-2).

V-AA                                                                                                                                                   Riverside Notre Dame (14-0) at Mater Dei (12-1).

VI-AA                                                                                                                                               Los Angeles Belmont (14-0) at Coronado (9-4).

QUICK KICKS

Despite clearing the Southwestern College stadium after each game, the CIF smoothly ushered in the overflow crowd for the Saints-Helix finale, a game that lived up to its billing…the Highlanders broke from a 21-21 tie with a 16-point third quarter, running behind the slashing thrusts of Nate Stinson (243 yards, 4 touchdowns)…Bonita Vista’s championship was its first in the school’s 49 seasons…average margin of victory in the three Saturday finals at Southwestern was 23 points… Rancho Bernardo won its first championship since 1995 and is 21-5 in the last two seasons after a 2-19 slog in 2012-13…Mater Dei forfeited its opening game and then ran off 12 consecutive wins for its first title since 2003….

Joe Schloss, who  operated a North Park sporting goods business for 69 years and coached the same Little League team for 59 seasons, passed away  at age 88.

Schloss, a 1944 graduate of San Diego High, coached a legion of youngsters for the North Park Little League and both of his sons spent many years in sports.

“Joe instilled in us many of the values we carry today,” said Bob Cluck, a professional baseball lifer and 10-season major league coach who played on Schloss’ first North Park LL team in 1957 (Schloss also had coached a Jewish Community Center team for three seasons).

“He taught us ‘way more than baseball,” said Cluck.  “He taught us how to act and how to compete.”

Rick Schloss was a public relations representative for the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos and has been a prominent sports public relations practitioner in San  Diego for the last 30 years.

Gregg Schloss was a member of the Chargers’ athletic training department and worked side-by-side with his father at  A & B Sporting Goods, located near the corner of 30th Street and University Avenue.

MARONE, WILLIAMSON, MARTINEZ

All graduated from high school in 1963.

LOU MARONE

Lincoln’s  flame-throwing lefthanded pitcher, Marone was all-Eastern League and one of the aces in a circuit that was turning out professional players every season.

Lou went on to San Diego City College and then helped coach Ed San Clemente start the Mesa College program.  He was signed out of Mesa by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1965.

Marone had a 2.55 earned run average and 2-1 record  out of the bullpen in 34 innings for the Pirates in 1969 and was with the team in 1970.

JOHN WILLIAMSON

A 6-foot, 7-inch center who scored 351 points points for the  23-6 Mission Bay Buccaneers  in 1962-63.

Williamson was a strong offensive presence as he  and his teammates reached the semifinals of the San  Diego Section basketball playoffs before bowing to eventual champion Crawford, 48-44.

KENNY MARTINEZ

Starred in football and baseball at Point Loma and played for coach Ed San Clemente at San Diego City College.

St. Augustine’s rout of Mission Hills in the San Diego Section semifinals created a seismic response in the state top 25 rankings as selected by Cal-Hi Sports.

The Saints jumped from On-The-Bubble status to 21st in this week’s poll and Helix, their Open Division championship-game opponent Saturday at 7 p.m.  at Southwestern College, vaulted from No. 11 to No. 8.

Wrote Cal-Hi Sports honcho Mark Tennis:

“We knew the Saints were good all along since their two toughest games despite being losses were 23-20 to the (Los Angeles) Loyola team they fall in behind in this week’s rankings and 36-34 to No. 17 Vista Murrieta.

“Now, not only do head coach Richard Sanchez and his boys get their due from us by being the highest brand new team to hit the rankings, but they get a bowl game berth if they can defeat Helix.

“The emails and Hudl links have been coming in all season about the St. Augustine players, so it’s no surprise they defeated previous No. 10 Mission Hills in their 48-14 victory…although the margin was a bit of a shock.”

Tennis’s remarks about Helix:

“The  San Diego Section Open Division top seed jumps past several teams and gets back to about where it was in the preseason rankings after a 42-14 semifinal victory over Cathedral Catholic of San Diego.

“Despite a season-opening loss to Arizona No. 7 and Division I (playoff) quarterfinalist Chaparral (Scottsdale), the Highlanders were considered the team to beat in San Diego despite being behind Mission Hills in these and the San Diego Union- Tribune rankings.”

Teams ahead of Helix are 1, Concord De La Salle; 2, Corona Centennial; 3, Bellflower St. John Bosco (those two play for the Southern Section title this week in a contest with “Game of the Years” expectations, according to veteran publisher Tennis).

Others in front of the Highlanders are 4, Folsom, 5, Mission Viejo, 6, Elk Grove, and 7, Santa Ana Mater Dei.

QUICK KICKS

Eastside Catholic, the suburban Seattle school that defeated Oceanside, 49-13, early in the season, crashed the USA Today top 25 this week and his ranked 24th in the country…Cathedral, a young team that played against a powerful schedule, finished with a 7-5 record and Cal-Hi on-the-bubble status…Mission Hills closed at 11-1 and on the bubble.

Thanks to the numerous opportunities for playoff participation, Coronado, a third-place finisher in the Central League,  is celebrating its third San Diego Section championship today.

The Islanders topped Crawford of the Manzanita League, 21-7, at Southwestern College last night for the Division V title, their first since coach Dave Tupec’s team won back-to-back championships as members of the Mountain-Desert League in 1985 and ’86.

Coronado has made two other title-game appearances, in 1961 when the Roger Rigdon-coached squad dropped a 10-6 decision to Carlsbad in the small schools finale, and in 1918, when Clyde Cook’s eleven was beaten by Fullerton, 18-0, for the Southern California title.

The 1918 season concluded with the Islanders-Indians contest in March, 1919.  Football had been suspended the previous fall when millions died in the worldwide Asian flu pandemic.

Coach Tony Isabella, who took over in 2011 after Bud Mayfield retired following a 9-3 season, guided the trans-bay club to an 8-5 record this year.

Isabella was 9-4 in his first season but the Islanders fell into a three-season, 8-24 slump.

YOU WIN SOME, LOSE SOME

Football has been an up-and-down experience at the 102-year-old school.

Research before 1923 isn’t complete, but the Islanders have won 12 league championships and tied for three others in the last 92 seasons and been members of 15 leagues, some more than once.

The alignment was known as the County league until 1927, followed by a stint in the new Southern Prep from 1928-33.  The Islanders then became  charter members of the Metropolitan League in 1933 and would have had their longest run at the same address until the World War II-influenced Victory League was formed in 1943.

The trans-bay team returned to the Metro in 1946 but switched to the new Avocado League in 1954, only to make another Metro League run from 1963-72.  The short-lived Coast League was Coronado’s home from 1973-75, followed by five more seasons in the Metro.

The South Bay League, part of a inagural Metropolitan “conference”, was home from 1981-84.

Seeking a place where  dwindling enrollment numbers ensured they could compete, Coronado was travel weary but successful in 1985-86 in the Mountain-Desert circuit.

Next up was another alignment with the South Bay League in 1987 and then two seasons as an independent.

The last  25 years have been marked by stability.  The Islanders were part of the Harbor League  from 1990-2004 and since then members of the Central loop.