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.

You could hear the gasps of shock from the North County denizens who worship at the shrine of the Mission Hills Grizzlies.

St. Augustine ran away from coach Tim Hauser’s team, 48-14,  as Elijah Preston rushed for 236 yards and three touchdowns before a crowd of about 6,000 at Mesa College in the San Diego Section Open Division playoff semifinals

Although the Grizzlies and their 11-0 record ranked 10th among state’s top 25 as selected by Cal-Hi Sports and whose weekly successes dominated the local media landscape, the Saints were favored, based on the generally unpopular San Diego Section rating system.

The Saints were toughened by a nonleague schedule that included top 25-ranked Los Angeles Loyola and Vista Murrieta and they faced Catholic rival Cathedral in the Eastern League.

Mission Hills ‘ record was achieved against so-so North County  competition and an intersectional schedule that included less-than spectacular L.A. Crenshaw and Long Beach Millikan.

Helix lost an opening game to Scottsdale Chaparral, which went 9-3 in Arizona, and was denied another opportunity when Upland (8-4) pulled out of a second intersectional because of a scheduling conflict.

22^ND CHAMPIONSHIP TRIP

The Highlanders, 8-13 in title games since the San Diego Section was formed in 1960, will be favored when they take on the Saints in the championship Saturday night at Southwestern College.

Scots coach Troy Starr is 1-3 in the final game but went all the way in Division II and won a state championship, 35-24, over Loomis Del Oro in 2011.

St. Augustine is 4-7 in championship games and coach Richard Sanchez is 2-1, having won in D-II in 2013 and D-I in 2014.

‘BAY BOUNCE BACK

Willie Matson’s Mission Bay Buccaneers, 8-0 to start the season, had been left for dead following losses of 41-0 to Point Loma in Week 9 and 64-7 to Madison in Week 10.

The Pacific Beach eleven won its first playoff and followed with  a taut, 31-28 victory over Valley Center in the semifinals to  find themselves in the D-III finals against Bonita Vista.

BARONS RISE IN 49^TH SEASON

Bonita Vista, leading, 49-7, had to play only until 6:51 was left in the third quarter when officials halted play and declared a forfeit by the Imperial Tigers.

According to Union-Tribune correspondent Don Norcross, several Imperial players left their bench area and fights began near the Bonita Vista bench. A CIF representative said officials have the discretion at that point to end the game.

Coach Chris Thompson, a longtime assistant at Mira Mesa, is building a program at Bonita Vista, which opened in 1967 and which has experienced more losing seasons than winning.

The Barons’ 10-2 record, after a 5-6 mark in Thompson’s first season in 2014, is their best since the 2005 club was 10-2.

Thompson touted Greg Bell as the best running back in the San Diego Section (better than Helix’ Nate Stinson or St. Augustine’s Elijah Preston?) and Bell backed up his coach.

Imperial wouldn’t argue with Thompson’s assessment.

Bell had 302 yards rushing and scored on runs of 2, 87, 55, and 9 yards.

It was a long ride home for Imperial, which saw snowflakes dropping on I-8 as it headed over the Laguna Mountains.

WEEK 14 REVIEW?

I was in Connecticut for Thanksgiving with my Eastern family: daughter, son-in-law, two grandsons, and mother-in-law,  had no wi-fi access and didn’t post a review from the quarterfinals.  Meanwhile, Christmas will be here with youngest daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons.

Greetings of the season to all.

QUICK KICKS

Mt. Carmel, which ousted top seed Valhalla, 27-14,  and Rancho Bernardo, only six miles away, will roll in the dirt in D-II…the Sundevils and Valhalla were joined at birth…each school opened in 1975…La Jolla Country Day and Coronado will have at it in D-V and The Bishop’s meets Mater Dei in  D-IV…Calvin Christian of Escondido won the so-called Commissioner’s Cup by putting it to The Rock of Point Loma, 68-8, for the eight-man title…Helix’ 42-14 victory over Cathedral was signaled when quarterback Michael Austin ran a 55-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown on the Highlanders’ first play…St. Augustine sophomore JR Justice collaborated with St. Augustine teammate Jacob Baker on an 89-yard scoring play in the Saints’ Week 14, quarterfinals win over Eastlake…Justice, son of former major league baseball slugger Dave Justice, will succeed Rodney Thompson at quarterback when Thompson graduates after the 2016 season…most dramatic play of Week 14 was a 47-yard, field goal by Kevin Boermeester with 0.18 remaining to give Cathedral a 24-21 win over Carlsbad…

Idleness breeds contempt or a drop in the ratings.

Mission Hills has fallen from ninth to 11th in Cal-Hi Sports’ state top 25, partly because the Grizzlies drew a bye in the first round of the San Diego Section playoffs last week.

Also byed last week, Helix remained 12th.  Cathedral  and St. Augustine  are on the bubble after they, too, sat out.

Under Cal Hi’s nomenclature, there are no Open division ratings, but begin with Division I and with 15 teams rated.

Mission Hills is 10th and Helix 12th in D-I.  St. Augustine is fifth and Cathedral 12th in D-II followed by  one-the-bubble Valhalla.

Ten teams are rated in D-III-V, with Bonita Vista (III), Santa Fe Christian (IV), and La Jolla Country Day (V) on the bubble.

The San Diego Section playoffs increase in interest this week after a first round in which there were few surprises and the clearing process of washing out bad teams began.

Forty-six  teams in six divisions are still alive, with 23 games scheduled.

Helix-Madison (Open), San Marcos-Oceanside (I), and Christian-Valhalla (II) match  No. 8 seeds versus No. 1 seeds in each division but probably have the most marquee value.

Does Madison, which could contend for a state championship if it were left in its natural D-IV environment, have a shot against the fast, savvy Highlanders?

Westview (5)-at Mt. Carmel (4) promises an old-fashioned, roll-in-the-dirt, backyard brawl in D-II.  The schools are very close geographically.

Imperial (5)-Santa Fe Christian (4) has a distinct intersectional flavor in D-III.  So does Calexico Vincent Memorial (3)-Crawford (2) in D-5, with the Imperial Valley schools making the long trek over the mountains.

The Rock takes on Calvin Christian for the D-VI championship.

HERE COMES BASKETBALL

Foothills Christian is sixth and St. Augustine 17th in Cal-Hi’s preseason top 35. Torrey Pines  and Cathedral are in the “just missed” category.

Foothills, with 6-foot, 9-inch nationally recognized T.J. Leaf, was 25-7 last season.  So was St. Augustine, which returns its entire starting five.

QUICK KICKS

Fallbrook writer David Willauer reminds that Warriors under Kyle Williams were 2-9 in ’13,  6-4 in ’14, and  now are 7-4 after a  7-3 win over 5-6 Hilltop in first round of D-III…the seventh-seeded Warriors visit second-seeded Mission Bay (8-2) this week…