Although about two-touchdown underdogs, coach Bill Bailey’s San Diego Hilltoppers took a 12-0 lead into the fourth quarter of the Southern California championship game.

It would not be enough.  The Hillers sustained a third consecutive loss in the finals, following defeats of the 1925 and 1933 clubs.

Favored Santa Monica rallied for a 13-12 victory before 26,601 persons in the Los Angeles Coliseum in what press box observers agreed was a brilliantly played contest between outstanding teams.

Bailey’s final game as the Hilltoppers’ coach turned on two blocked point-after attempts that opened a door through which Samohi wedged for the winning touchdown with 1:20 remaining.

HORN APLENTY

Until then the Hillers’ gritty defense had checked the Vikings and Dick Horn, the nation’s No. 1 high school quarterback.

Horn had completed 101 of 162 passes for 2,009 yards and 24 touchdowns as Santa Monica scored 413 points, at least 4 touchdowns every game, and  won its first 11.

The Stanford-bound signal caller was just  5 for 18 for 108 yards and one touchdown with  three interceptions against the Hillers’ adjusted 5-3-3 defense.

San Diego dug in and held the lead for 46 ½ minutes despite a huge, final yardage advantage for the winners, who had 17 first downs to 4 and outgained their opponents, 328-165.

Ted Ritchey ran 44 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter and Ernie Smith returned one of Horn’s passes 26 yards for a score as San Diego built a 12-0 halftime advantage.

Historian Tebb Kusserow, a former Santa Monica High player and head coach, pointed out that San Diego coach Bill Bailey switched his usual 5-3-3 defense and utilized a 4-4-3, dropping end Ernie Smith into the secondary as a fourth defensive back.

“The Vikings’ bread-and-butter play was the quick slant (96 Q) to Ike Jones,” said Kusserow.   “Ernie Smith was positioned to take it away and shadowed Jones all day, effectively putting (Jones) in double coverage.”

The ploy was successful in controlling Horn’s passing,  but the Hillers’ four-man front opened a door, said Kusserow:

“Samohi was able, almost too late, to prosecute the run and (hit their) backside receivers.”

Horn finally marshaled an 88-yard, third-quarter  drive and got Santa Monica on the board with a 30-yard pass to Lynn Wallace on the first play of the fourth quarter.

A Ritchey fumble recovered by Chuck Steiner put Santa Monica in business again and the Vikings nudged 38 yards in nine plays to Bobo Lewis’ winning, one-yard push.

San Diego still had time.

Joe  Brown returned the kickoff 55 yards to the Vikings’ 37.  Ritchey advanced the ball to the 17, but the Hillers were penalized to the 32-yard line.

Ernie Smith then appeared open in the end zone but two Santa Monica defenders broke up Neale Henderson’s pass.

The gun sounded before San Diego could run another play.

The beaten Hillers soon began the three-hour bus ride back down U.S. 101, terribly disappointed and saying good bye to the coach who posted a 34-7 record in five seasons and had revitalized one of Southern California’s storied programs.

Bailey became head coach at San Diego Junior College and was replaced by assistant Duane Maley, a 1940 San Diego graduate who played at USC and would  continue what became the greatest era in school history.

CALLING ALL CARS!

From the Nov. 12, 1947 The San Diego Union:

“They tossed away all the storybook finishes and produced a new one of their own yesterday as Grossmont High School put over a post-game touchdown to defeat Sweetwater High, 18-13, in a wild Metropolitan League football fracas before nearly 5,000 Armistice Day customers….

“The finish of the game came amid confusion, some fist-swinging on the part of spectators, a mad stampede on the playing field that necessitated the calling of police, and the handing down of a delicate decision by the officials….”

In order:

–Sweetwater trailed, 12-6. Grossmont was driving to another, clinching touchdown with less than three minutes to play.

–Sweetwater’s Kenny Burns intercepted a pass by Art Preston and raced 90 yards to a tying touchdown.

–A “pass conversion”, Jim Miller to “Squeaky” Staffen, gave Sweetwater a 13-12 lead.

–Grossmont appeared dead after the Red Devils intercepted another pass following the kickoff.

–Sweetwater could not run out the clock and gave up the ball on downs at its 46-yard line.

–The Red Devils’ surrender of possession would spark a protest in which Sweetwater coach Lloyd Bishop stormed that his team was given three downs and not four by the officials.

–Head linesman Raleigh Holt was adamant that the decision to turn the ball over to Grossmont was correct, pointing out that confusion was possible after Sweetwater had been penalized for delay of game “several times” during the drive.”

–Time running out, Grossmont was on Sweetwater’s 40-yard line.  Art Preston threw a long, incomplete, fourth-down pass to Ellis Craddock.

–Ball game?

–Field judge Mike Morrow ruled pass interference on Sweetwater at the Red Devils’ 11-yard line.

–Spectators, not seeing Morrow drop his flag, believed the game was over and swarmed the gridiron.

–The honest Sweetwater game timer ruled that Preston‘s pass was in the air when the timekeeper’s pistol fired to signal end of game.

–The game could not conclude on a defensive foul. Grossmont was given an additional play.

–National City Police with patrol vehicles were forced to clear the field of spectators.

–A semblance of order was restored.

–Sweetwater partisans were shocked and then enraged when Preston began a running play to his right, then stopped and passed across the field to Craddock, alone in the end zone.

–Craddock caught Preston’s pass for the winning touchdown and the Foothillers exited, quickly, to their buses.

–Police remained on site until the field and stands were clear.

–Newspaper telephone operators were flooded with calls from the South Bay.

–The Metropolitan League’s “board of directors” and representatives of all member teams met on Saturday, four days later,  at the San Diego YMCA.

–The bosses were there to  address a formal letter of protest  from Sweetwater principal F.M. Chase to league president Dave Austin, principal at La Jolla.

(The meeting took place the day after Point Loma blanked a flat and dispirited Red Devils team, 19-0, for Sweetwater’s second loss in less than a week).

–Metro bosses upheld the Grossmont victory by a vote of 3-2.

SWEETWATER BEEF DENIED

Prez. Austin declared that “there was insufficient evidence to sustain the protest.”

–The vote was after officials failed to approve a motion that game officials had erred and had allowed Sweetwater only three downs in the disputed series that preceded Grossmont’s winning touchdown.

–The motion failed by a vote of three “no” and two “yes”.  Four voters abstained.

–Taken into consideration was the submitted evidence of a radio broadcast of the game and written statements by game officials (including linesman Holt), coaches and sports writers assigned to the contest.

–Possibly sensing additional protests or forthcoming legal action, the board announced “termination of its responsibility in the matter.”

LONG REGULAR SEASON

The Grossmont victory over Sweetwater, in the 30^th renewal of a rivalry that began in 1920, came in a season in which the Foothillers would not compete for a Southern California minor division championship despite an overall,  9-1-1 record.

The playoffs began Nov. 29, before the Metropolitan League had completed its eight-game schedule, effectively eliminating the suburban circuit from the postseason.

San Diego High played only seven regular-season games,  but most Metro clubs played at least 9 and some 10 or 11.  Coronado finished with an overall record of 6-4-1.

Grossmont dropped a 31-13 decision to Hoover in what amounted to a postseason game among the County’s second and third best teams.

FRUIT OR VEGETABLE?

That’s a question often posed about the avocado, sometimes while enjoying a guacamole dip.

It’s a fruit and probably the  most identified symbol of Fallbrook, the North San Diego County enclave that is an unofficial home to the native tree of Mexico.

U.S. 395 winds through the Avocado groves near the community, which was enjoying a postwar boom in football.

Coach Fred Stone’s Fallbrook High squad, 7-1 in 1946, raced to eight consecutive victories and the Southern Prep League championship this season.

The Warriors lost the first  “Avocado Bowl” contest, sponsored by the local Quarterback Club,  14-7, to Torrance on Thanksgiving Day.

Two days later the tired and undermanned Warriors fell to Laguna Beach, 20-6, in the Southern Section minor division playoffs, but their 15-3 record over two seasons was in sharp relief to Fallbrook’s short gridiron history.

The school opened with 20 students in 1893 and didn’t field a team until 1937.

WHAT’S THE SCORE?

Results of games often (usually) were unreported in San Diego newspapers but available information revealed only 12 Fallbrook victories in the eight seasons before the school of less than 250 students found success.

This year’s team was fired offensively by all-Southern California selection Glen Crawford, who scored at least 10 touchdowns, and backfield running mate Morris (Dude) Hedrick.

Despite the postwar boom, Stone stepped down after the season and Fallbrook would enter into another period of mediocrity.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Convair’s XC-99, the world’s largest airplane, made its second flight Dec. 3 and was airborne over the San Diego area from 12:05 p.m. until 2:45 p.m. carrying a larger takeoff load than on its maiden flight 10 days earlier.

BALBOA FACELIFT

City playgrounds bosses announced plans to construct new restrooms, new concession stands, and a new press box for Balboa Stadium.

MOST PRODUCTIVE

A Guernsey cow from Lakeside set a record for milk and butterfat production. “Natalie” produced 11,600 pounds of milk and 675 pounds of butterfat, highest total ever in the Herd Improvement Division of the American Guernsey Cattle Club.

CARNIVAL ATMOSPHERE

New rules were in force at the ninth annual City Schools’ carnival, played before an overflow, standing-room crowd estimated at a hyperbolized 30,000 to 32,000 in Balboa Stadium.

There were kickoffs at the start of each, 15-minute quarter. In the past, when teams left the field, the new teams played from where the ball had last been spotted.

The East of San Diego, La Jolla, and Kearny defeated the West of Hoover, Point Loma, and outsider Sweetwater of the Metropolitan League, 12-6.

St. Augustine, coached by former Hoover standout Chuck Coover, was outscored, 12-0, in one quarter by Santa Monica St. Monica in the Southland Catholic League carnival at Hollywood’s Gilmore Stadium.

Not to be left out, Brown Military Academy took part in the Imperial Valley League carnival in El Centro.

EVERY DAY BUT SUNDAY?

Writer Ken Bojens suggested that, with so many high school, college, and military teams fielding teams, the crowded Balboa Stadium schedule could use a break.

Bojens suggested San Diego preps use the stadium on all other week nights than Friday, as was being done in San Francisco, according to Bojens.

The Union columnist must have been thinking ahead.

A few weeks later the Southern Section playoffs began and San Diego was scheduled to play Saturday night in the Stadium against Los Angeles Cathedral.

The Hilltoppers agreed to move their game to Friday night to allow San Diego State and Santa Barbara State on the stadium turf Saturday  night.

To accommodate all, San Diego JC and East Los Angeles JC agreed to move their Metropolitan Conference game from Saturday afternoon to Friday afternoon.

GO FIGURE

The upset of the season came when Chula Vista defeated big and established Point Loma in the Spartans second-ever game, 15-7, on a 95-yard pass interception return by Terry Shaw.

Point Loma had just scored a major surprise of its own, defeating Hoover, 18-13.

BALBOA TOO SMALL?

Big crowds at the football carnival, Hoover-San Diego, and any of the numerous military facilities’  games prompted another  suggestion by Ken Bojens:

“It might be a good idea for city fathers to begin looking to the near future and formulating plans to enlarge Balboa Stadium,” said Bojens.  “By the end of the season there will have been a half-dozen turnaway crowds.”

Balboa Stadium would be made larger 14 years later, from its original 23,500 seats to 34,500, when the Chargers moved South from Los Angeles.

HONORS

Hoover end Bill McColl and San Diego tackle Bob Van Doren made the all-Southern California first team.  Fallbrook halfback Glen Crawford earned second-team honors and San Diego halfback Ted Ritchey was on the third team.

The 6-foot, 4 inch, 210-pound McColl, one of the city’s all-time great athletes, also was all-Southern California in basketball and baseball and competed in track, went on to become a collegiate all-America at Stanford University, and played nine seasons in the NFL for the Chicago Bears.

TRUE GRID

Gene Earl, who covered the high school beat for The San Diego Union, took the field and played right end for the St. Augustine alumni in its year-end game against the Saints’ varsity…card stunts were brought back after a wartime lapse, according to Jerry Brucker of the Evening Tribune,  and were presented by the San Diego cheering section at halftime…the cards featured a blue San Diego High castle on white background in addition to displays honoring San Diego and Hoover…Hoover and Muir kicked off at the unusual time of 5:45 p.m. in the Pasadena Rose Bowl…the Cardinals and Mustangs had argued over game sites before agreement was reached…Brown Military coach Eddie Olds was on the roster of the Green Bay Packers of the NFL in 1946 and then hooked on with the San  Diego Bombers of the Pacific Coast League…the Breitbard Athletic Foundation and auto agency Guarantee Chevrolet footed the bill to film the San Diego-Hoover game that would be shown to Monday morning quarterbacks and at school assemblies…Hoover’s Bob Miller, who scored 120 points, topped only by the 132 of Grossmont’s Art Preston, was on fire against Northern opponents…Miller had five touchdowns in a 38-15 win over San Bernardino and 4  in a 44-18 rout of Long Beach Poly…Martin Perry, who manned virtually every educational position in the Escondido school district, including head football coach at the high school from 1917-21 (while simultaneously serving as principal) announced his retirement after 30 years’ service….

 

The regular season is finished, playoffs are about to begin, and who claimed league championships?

AVOCADO EAST                                                                                                               Mission Hills.  It’s time to retire the trophy.  Grizzlies have won or tied for championship six consecutive seasons.

AVOCADO WEST                                                                                                     Carlsbad.  It’s the Lancers’ first  since 2006, a year they won the San Diego Section D-I crown.

CITRUS (EIGHT-MAN)                                                                                                      Ocean View.  Third title in last four years in this or the Sunset League .

CITY                                                                                                                                    Christian Patriots are 32-4 overall and 10-0 in league play in Central or City League since 2013.

CENTRAL                                                                                                                            Kearny‘s first since they were in the Central in 2011.  Komets moved to the Western in 2012 and had a rough patch, 3-23, before moving back.

COASTAL                                                                                                                          Santa Fe Christian. First for Eagles since 2012 and first for third-year coach Jon Wallace.

EASTERN                                                                                                                           St. Augustine has won the East four times in coach Richard Sanchez’ seven seasons.

GROSSMONT VALLEY                                                                                                      Granite Hills alums who were there in 1988 now are in their mid-40s.  Eagles claimed first title since they were part of Grossmont AAA League 27 years ago.

GROSSMONT HILLS                                                                                                      Helix has taken High(landers) road  13 times in the last 20 years, for four different coaches, Jim Arnaiz, Gordon Woods, Donnie Van Hook, and Troy Starr.

IMPERIAL VALLEY                                                                                                       Imperial, two seasons later still trying to absorb the graduation of superstar Royce Freeman, finished first for the first time since 2013 season and for third time in last six.

MANZANITA                                                                                                               The change of scenery agreed with  Crawford, with two Manzie titles in three years and 23-10 overall after going 10-68 in Central from 2005-13.

METROPOLITAN MESA                                                                                              Former Scripps Ranch assistant Chris Thompson has Bonita Vista rising, from 3-8 and 5-6 to this season’s 8-2.

METROPOLITAN PACIFIC                                                                                         Castle Park earned a first first-place finish since 2008.                                                                                                                                                                                          METROPOLITAN  SOUTH BAY                                                                                  Mater Dei would be 10-0 and in position take a shot at school-record 13-0 of 2003 squad except for dreaded administrative glitch and forfeiture of one victory.

OCEAN (EIGHT-MAN)                                                                                                   A first  since 2009 when Calvin Christian of North Escondido was in D-V Southern League and the second since Crusaders started football in 2007.  They tied with Calvary Christian San Diego, each with 2-1 league record, but Calvin beat the Royal Knights  head-to-head, 44-16.

PALOMAR                                                                                                                        Coach Tristan McCoy’s Rancho Bernardo Broncos make it two in a row after going 2-19 in 2012 and ’13.

PACIFIC                                                                                                                           Tri-City  Christian of Vista is back in driver’s seat since winning in 2010 and ’11.

VALLEY                                                                                                                        Fallbrook, San Pasqual, and Valley Center took turns beating each other and arrived at the finish line, each with  3-1 league record.

WESTERN                                                                                                                      Madison has blown up the league, beating closest pursuers Point Loma and Mission Bay, 48-0 and 64-7. Rick Jackson’s Warhawks have won 108 games and 11 championships in 11 seasons, one in Harbor, five in Central, and five in Western.

 

 

 

City schools experimented with a schedule of Saturday games for one week.

At the same time it was revealed that the board of education had supplemented schools’ associated student body accounts with $49,000 since the ban on night games began in 1974.

The school board said it hoped to determine whether parents and students would prefer games on the weekend.

“The Great Experiment…was neither a success nor a disaster,” wrote Steve Brand of The San Diego Union.

Brand noted that none of the games approached the former Friday night crowds and attendance pretty much equaled that of Friday afternoons.

The switch from night to day was the result of postgame violence at Friday night venues.

The move to day games in 1974 resulted in such a continuing decline in attendance that the city came up with the Saturday plan halfway through this season.

“Economic pressures will force a move (back to Friday night),” said Crawford coach Bill Hall.  “The choices are going back or going broke.”

CITY ROCKED BY “F” WORD

Five games in the Eastern and Western Leagues were forfeited, effectively changing the records of six teams in one of the city’s most widespread instances of the ubiquitous “dreaded administrative glitch”.

Patrick Henry forfeited three games and Hoover and San Diego one each.

Kearny, Point Loma, and Madison were the beneficiaries of Henry’s malfeasance.

San Diego forfeited to Hoover and Hoover forfeited to St. Augustine.

Residential impropriety and academic hi-jinks usually are the reasons for administrative judgment. Both were in effect.

Hoover was peripherally involved in Henry’s forfeits when two Cardinals players transferred.

TAX RETURNS, TOO?

“The parents simply did not want their sons attending Hoover,” said Henry coach Russ Leslie, who thought that his school had jumped through all necessary hoops to make the players eligible.

“However, when rumors persisted we asked for and received specific guidelines for change-of-address eligibility,” said Leslie.  “I had never seen them and I’ll bet none of the other coaches have either.”

The procedure requires more than telling the postman you’re moving.

“Some of the items which indicate change of address are changing the address on a driver’s license, on auto registration, on income tax returns, and so forth,” said Leslie.

“If rent was involved, as it was in this case, rent receipts are needed.  They were provided, but some of the other criteria, which were not even known to me, were not,” Leslie added.

The two tranfer players became eligible and Henry, 9-3 on the field but 6-6 legislatively, battled all the way to the San Diego Section semifinals before bowing to Oceanside, 14-0.

QUID PRO QUO?

Coach Roy Engle’s Hoover Cardinals lost their last seven games of 1973, scored all of seven points in 1974, and were working on a 18-game losing streak after a 21-20 loss to San Diego.

But the Cardinals caught a forfeit break, thanks to the Cavers.  Hoover finally scored a victory on the field when it outscored St. Augustine, 22-8, a month later.

Not quite.  Another ineligibility.  St. Augustine was declared winner.

NO GOOD DEED UNPUNISHED

The newspaper headline said, “Edens Feels Sting Of Own Prep Project.”

Point Loma coach Bennie Edens was instrumental in developing the city’s overtime rules which rewarded the team with the most yards gained during the extra session.

Madison was given a 1-0 victory over Point Loma when the  tie-breaker was used for the first time in the season’s Week 8.

The defeat knocked Point Loma out of contention for a San Diego Section playoff berth and kept Madison in the hunt for a Western League championship.

Edens’ colleagues in the city voted, 8-2, to change the tie-breaking rules.  In answer to a mail poll, 10 County coaches voted for the California Tie-Breaker, in which each team gets four downs, starting at the 50, alternating plays.

San Diego Section squads would use a “new” California Tie-Breaker beginning  in 1976. The state CIF invoked overtime in 1968, not including playoffs.

WHAT’S THAT, BENNIE?

Edens exonerated his kin when discussing the forfeit frenzy:

“It’s never pleasant to win or lose by forfeit.  While we all hate the concept of a forfeit you have to have rules, not so much for the coaches, but for the students who might take advantage.”

SHACKLETT AND MORSE CONNECT

John Shacklett’s fourth season at Morse did not portend greatness.

The Tigers were only 14-20-3 as Shacklett was building a program in his first three seasons but they came from behind to defeat Patrick Henry, 14-9, for the Eastern League title and their 10-1 finish signaled the beginning of a remarkable, quarter-century run for Shacklett and the players he coached at the Skyline Drive campus.

From 1975-99 Morse was 207-67-6, for a .742 winning percentage. Shacklett’s teams won five Section titles in eight appearances and his 1990 squad, perhaps the best ever assembled in San Diego, was No 1 in Southern California, No. 2 in the state and No. 4 in the country.

Demographic change struck quickly and devastatingly at Morse around  the Millennium.

Bad coaches will lose with good players.  Good coaches, as was Shacklett, will not win with bad players.  The talent pool at Morse shrank.

Shacklett was 8-31 in his last four seasons but finished with 229 victories, fourth highest total in San Diego County history.

MARCUS ALLEN ARRIVES

Crawford led Lincoln, 3-0, deep into the fourth quarter.

From writer Steve Brand’s game account on Oct. 18, 1975:

“Lincoln coach Vic Player inserted 6-foot, 180-pound sophomore Marcus Allen with only 3:30 to play.

“Allen hit Matthew Santos for a 38-yard gain to the Crawford 25.  Four (sic) plays later, Lincoln had gained only one yard.  Allen seemed trapped on what surely would have been Lincoln’s last play.  He scrambled loose, passing the ball to Santos on the one.”

Mild controversy on the play.

Crawford’s Dennis Uhle, who earlier had intercepted two of Lincoln starter Lederer Hampton’s passes, stepped in front of Santos and thought he had an interception, but referee Gary Todd, a Crawford graduate, ruled simultaneous catch.

Lincoln retained the ball and scored on the next play to win, 7-3.

The Hornets would enjoy a great ride with Allen, as would USC and two NFL teams in a 15-year, Hall of Fame career.

YOU’RE OFFSIDE

A Bonita Vista security guard would not allow a car to park in the restricted upper level of a garage at Southwestern College, where the Barons were scheduled to play Castle Park.

The driver patiently explained to the guard who he was, that traffic had made him late, and that he desperately needed to park in the more accessible space.

The security guard, perhaps flushed with authority, denied the request and the now pissed off and irate visitor was forced to park on the street, a hundred yards away.

The inconvenienced driver happened to be a member of the four-man game officiating crew.

The game official and his colleagues didn’t take it out on  the host Barons or their parking garage enforcer.

Bonita Vista was penalized 10 yards to Castle Park’s 90.

For Castle Park coach Gil Warren, the garage incident was the beginning of a bad evening.

Warren’s Trojans fell behind, 20-0, but rallied with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to go ahead, 27-20, and then apparently stopped a Bonita drive at Castle Park’s 40 yard line.

Holding, Castle Park. Fifteen-yard penalty.

Given life, Bonita’s Russ Palser connected with Don Slater for a 25-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds left in the game.

ESCHEWS TWO-POINTER

Barons coach Jan Chapman kicked for the one-point PAT and the game ended in a tie at 27.

Chapman’s reason against going for a two-point conversion and victory  was that, with one point, Bonita would clinch at least a tie for the Metropolitan League championship that could be outright if Castle lost one of its last two league games.

The teams finished tied with 6-0-1 records, but Bonita Vista was given the league’s top seeding in the playoffs, with Castle Park second.

“We feel we should have been number one,” said Warren, “but anytime you have a vote of coaches personalities get involved.  The principals vote, but the coaches tell them how to vote.”

Castle Park had a five-point advantage in comparative league scores, 215-121 to 151-62.

Both teams won opening playoff games but were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Kearny beat Mount Miguel, 20-6, in the first round of the playoffs and Matadors quarterback Steven Slater was sacked three times and intercepted thrice.

“He’s like I am,” said Slater’s father, Birt, the coach at Kearny, after Steven angrily pulled away from dad after the game.  Steven was not, as Michael Grant of the Union wrote, “interested in some parental consolation.”

“We’re both pretty competitive and he’s ticked off,” said Birt. “He wanted to win as badly as I did.”

Steven scored Mount Miguel’s only touchdown.

TAKE THE THREE

Field goals were becoming more and more a part of the landscape.  La Jolla’s Dick O’Neil, who toed a 37-yarder with 16 seconds remaining to give La Jolla a 17-14 win over Coronado, was tied for the state lead with 10 for the season.

German exchange student Jens Halle of Fallbrook kicked a 25-yarder in the first American football game he ever saw or was part of, and scored Fallbrook’s first points of the season.

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND…

Pat Roberts’ Grossmont team was going to play Granite Hills on the Foothillers’ “home” field, Helix.

“I feel guilty about taking my kids over there to play,” said Roberts.  “It’s a terrible disgrace to high school football.”

Roberts asserted that “I must have thrown 15 rocks off the field, all about seven inches in diameter,” the previous week, when Grossmont topped Helix, 42-14.

So as not to think Roberts was dumping on hated-rival Helix, Roberts widened his scope of criticism.

“There aren’t any good fields in the league,” he said, also putting the knock on Granite Hills’ Valley Stadium and lighted venues at Monte Vista, El Capitan, and Mount Miguel.

Roberts, 77-52-7 in 14 seasons from 1968-81 with one championship and two appearances in the finals, may have been taking an oblique shot at his Grossmont School District bosses.

Like, why can’t we have lights?

The Foothillers predated Helix as the oldest school in the district, having opened in 1920, while the Highlanders came along in 1951 and had their own, campus facility by 1954.

Grossmont continued to travel to Helix and to Aztec Bowl for home games with an occasional afternoon tussle on its campus.

QUICK KICKS

El Camino’s Toussaint (Tootie) Tyler was named after the man who freed Haiti of Napoleon’s rule:  Pierre-Dominique Toussaint l’Overture…Tyler’s 168 rushing yards were the difference in Oceanside’s 25-14 victory over Granite Hills for the CIF title…a osing team made the playoffs for the first time…Fallbrook was 4-5 and Patrick Henry was 4-5, although 7-2 on the field in the regular season…Patrick Henry quarterback Steve Fairchild went on to play at Colorado State, was head coach at his alma mater, and also coached in NFL…Official attendance at the championship in San Diego Stadium was 9,200…writers had estimated the turnout at 13,000..Morse’s starting backs, Eddie Ford, Charles Crews, Delvin Barnett, and Barry Alexander, called themselves the “Four Horses”…St. Augustine’s 422 points allowed was a San Diego Section record, topping the 357 of Mount Miguel in 1970…the show must go on?  Because of rain vendors refused to sell game programs at playoffs between Castle Park and Morse and Patrick Henry and Bonita Vista…La  Jolla Country Day dropped football and wouldn’t field a team again until 1981…Chula Vista’s Bob Korzep would remember his first coaching victory, 14-7 over Marian, in which the Spartans intercepted 9 passes and Oscar Ohnessorgen returned one for a 100-yard touchdown…With quarterback Mark Malone leading the way, El Cajon Valley won its first league championship since the school opened in 1955…Russ Boehmke, 10-5-1 in two seasons as Lincoln’s quarterback in 1956-57, guided Valhalla to an upset win over Helix and a 3-4-1 record in the Norsemen’s first varsity season….

An outstanding run by Sweetwater, starting in the 1960s, actually was just beginning.

The Red Devils went 12-1, won a championship for the first time since 1972 and launched a 36-game winning streak.

They would claim another title in 1985 and posted an ’80-’87 record of  80 wins and 11 losses, 73-9-2 under coach Gene Alim.

Starting in 1968, David Lay’s second season as head coach, the Red Devils compiled a 20-season record of 172-40-6 an .803 winning percentage.  Between Lay and Alim, Al Jacobus was 23-7 from 1978-80.

Alim retired after the 1987 campaign and later came back to coach at Sweetwater, Eastlake, and Otay Ranch.  His success at Sweetwater from 1981-87 is unparalleled in San Diego Section history.

The 1983 season was Alim’s third.  He was 10-1-1 in each of his first two, knocked out in the playoff semifinals each year.
Alim, a 1970 Mar Vista graduate whose 22 pass interceptions tied for the career high in San Diego Section history, was not the most popular coach, but he commanded a grudging, sneering respect and usually was a step ahead of his competition.

Alim didn’t push the envelope.  He  shoved it.

BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU SAY

A possible, 37-game Sweetwater winning streak was short circuited in the opening game.  The Red Devils defeated Morse 10-0 but had to forfeit because of an improper residential transfer, also known as the “dreaded administrative glitch.”

Morse quarterback Carlos Siragusa transferred to Sweetwater during the 1982-83 school year and was quoted in newspapers after the opener as saying he was better suited to the offensive system used at Sweetwater, rather than the predominant wishbone of Morse’s.

Siragusa’s remarks caught the attention of San Diego Section commissioner Kendall (Spider) Webb.  “I mentioned to Gene that even if he had changed schools for the reason he mentioned, it didn’t look good to say so,” Webb told Steve Brand of The San Diego Union.

Alim’s conversation with Webb begged a question, usually posed only in situations involving interscholastic athletics:  Did Siragusa’s family move with him?  “It turned out there was a violation of rule 218 in the CIF green book,” said Webb.

Siragusa, according to Webb, was living with his mother and brother in the Sweetwater district, but the father remained at a residence in the Morse district.

Morse is a city school, Sweetwater a county school but they’re barely five miles apart, a quick ride up and down Sweetwater Road.

“We’ll take it to court if Carlos is ineligible, or if we’re forced to forfeit the Morse game,” Alim huffily told Steve Brand.  “We know we won.  The County knows we won.”

Webb said that although Siragusa would be eligible as soon as his father established Sweetwater district residence, the forfeit would stand, because legal residence had not been established before the Morse game.

Siragusa was declared clear to play later in the week.

MAD MARIAN

Three games later the Red Devils were working on their fourth straight shutout.  They led Marian 47-0 after three quarters when Marian coach Bill Kinney  raised the white flag.

Kinney still was furious with Alim three days after the game:  “I’ve never been in a situation where one team was 40 points ahead and didn’t play the reserves,” said Kinney.

“I can understand him playing his first-string defense,” Kinney said.  “They hadn’t allowed a point all season, but he had two fourth-and-long situations in the third quarter and he passed. I’ll never play him again.”

Sweetwater was in the 3-A Mesa League and Marian was in the 2-A  South Bay League.  As part of the Metropolitan Conference the Mesa and South Bay leagues annually scheduled interleague games.

Marian and Coronado wanted the right to decline a game with an 3-A team.  Metro Conference bosses voted down the two schools but the San Diego Section board of managers sided with Marian and Coronado.

Kinney stepped down at the end of the year and Sweetwater and Marian went on hiatus.

Sweetwater was 15-0 against the Crusaders since Marian joined the Metropolitan League in 1967.  Marian didn’t play the Red Devils again until 2000, when it went on a four-year rampage, punishing its old antagonists,  35-27, 44-6, 48-13, and 60-17.

Coronado  and Sweetwater had played 64 games in a rivalry that started in 1914, but the Islanders had not been competitive since Harry Truman was president, losing 35-0 this season and having gone  1-20-1 since 1952.

Few people remembered but Coronado once dominated the rivalry and knew about piling on, a point brought home in 1929 by Frank Greene’s 11 touchdowns and 14 extra points in a 108-0 Islanders victory.

POLITICAL ROAD TO STADIUM

The San Diego Section was in a financial fourth and long.  It cost money to play the football championships in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The rental fee and assorted expenses were beyond the CIF’s reach in 1982 and the 3-A and 2-A championships were played at Southwestern College and Mt. Carmel High, respectively.

“We saved $10,000 in expenses,” said Kendall Webb.  That was the good news, quickly followed by the bad news. “We simply did not get the gate receipts,” Webb said of attendance at the smaller venues.

The rental free was $5,000 at the Stadium, but other costs, for ushers, ticket takers, lighting and scoreboard use would bring the total to than $15,000.

The 1983 playoffs would present the same problem.  Webb went to the Stadium Authority, a board made up on local businessmen-sports fans, and asked for the stadium rental fee to be waived.

The Sports Authority, not the most powerful entity, was sympathetic but declined, saying it did not want to set a precedent.

The CIF geared up for a stronger push and found an ally in Councilman Ed Struiksma, who was able to place the CIF request on a City Council meeting agenda.

Webb marshaled support from the media, had the mother of Marcus and Damon Allen prepared to read a letter to the Council from Marcus, and was supported by numerous ex-athletes and burgeoning politicians, including ex-Charger Mike Garrett, who along with the supporting Bob Filner, was seeking a Council post.

The Council was proactive.  In chamber, before the scheduled Oct. 1 meeting, the policy-making group voted to support the CIF and underwrite the Stadium rent fee for the next five years.

GOOD MORNING, VIET NAM!

Ba Ly, a general in the South Vietnamese army, ordered his family to leave four days before Saigon fell during the war with North Viet Nam in 1975.  Ba Ly stayed behind.

The general’s son Chau Ly, was 10 years old, did not speak English and had never seen or heard of American football when he relocated that year with his mother and siblings in Carlsbad.

Two years later Chau signed up for Pop Warner, mainly because of his newfound friends.  Three years of Pop Warner and a year each of freshman and junior varsity competition took the 5-foot, 5 ½-inch, 135-pound junior to the Lancers’ varsity as a running back and cornerback.

“I love the contact,” said Ly.  “I love to run with the ball and I love to hit.  Even when I get hit I get a good feeling.”

Ly caught three touchdown passes in the first two games, threw a 33-yard pass completion to set up the winning touchdown in the third game, and ran 80 yards for a touchdown against El Camino in the fourth game.

Carlsbad’s 3-1 start translated into a 7-3 finish, third behind playoff powers El Camino and San Pasqual.

“If I had 11 Chau Lys  I wouldn’t care about their size.  We’d do all right,” said Carlsbad coach Mel Galli.

Ly’s father still was held in a North Vietnamese prison.  Chau sent his dad a photo that the father did not receive, but Chau reported that his father was allowed to write occasionally and to receive mail.

THE VAQS ARE BACK

Snow on neighboring El Cajon Mountain, better known to locals as El Cap, was becoming more common than victories over Helix and winning seasons at El Capitan High.

The Vaqueros had one victory in 1982, no winning seasons since 1977, and five straight losses to Helix, during which they had been outscored 139-13.

So East County rodeo buffs, 4-H aspirants, and state highway 67 commuters took notice along with the rest of the Grossmont League when the Vaqueros beat Helix 20-7 to open the season 4-1.

El Capitan would run the table with an 8-0 league record.  The Vaqueros’ overall, 8-2 mark tied the 1963 San Diego Section finals team for best in school history.

Running back Allen  Murray scored 102 points, second in the County, and reminded Lakeside denizens of the Friday night exploits of former Vaqs  Dave Duncan and Bill Fudge.

Guided by ex-Helix standout Joe Rockhold, in his second tour as head coach, the Vaqueros lost only their opener, 21-7,  to Mira Mesa, which advanced to the 3-A finals, and to Castle Park, 34-21, in the 2-A quarterfinals.

NEIGHBORS AT A DISTANCE

Lincoln and Morse, not more than 2 miles apart, got together at Mesa College, 15 miles away.

Morse, which won the 3-A title in 1979, then fell back, would emerge again in what would be a great last half of the decade for John Shacklett’s Tigers.  Declining enrollment and optional school choice would continue to bedevil Lincoln.

Shacklett had begun to discard his traditional wishbone offense for a straight, power I.  The Tigers put a 57-25 whipping on the Hornets, equaling the most points ever scored by Morse, tying a similar outburst against Hoover in 1975, and the most ever allowed by Lincoln.

Darrel Rosette ran 60 and 10 yards and returned a punt 62 yards for first-half touchdowns as Morse opened a 40-13 lead.  A rare, official counting of the house took place at Mesa, where the attendance was announced at 4,457 persons.

In an era when you actually had to be a good team to earn a playoff bid, the Tigers were 8-2 with 262 points against 134, but finished third in the Eastern League and out of the postseason.

SCOTT WHO?

It didn’t take long for Helix to find a successor to graduated record-breaker Scott Webb.  Joe Nikodem kicked field goals of 20, 37, 40, and 37 yards and 1 point after for all of the Highlanders’ points in a 19-19, opening-game tie with Montgomery.

GOT YOUR BACK, COACH

“Chula Vista coach George Ohnesorgen prepared to inspire his unranked, 2-0 team as the 2-A squad took on 3-A power and neighorhood tough Castle Park.

“They wouldn’t let me say a word,” said Ohnesorgen, a former San Diego State star who, in 1970, scored 21 touchdowns for his alma-mater, Castle Park.

“They were all shouting, ‘This game’s for you, coach!'”.  I couldn’t respond. I guess I really didn’t have to say anything.”

Bud Maloney wrote in the Evening Tribune  that “Ohnesorgen probably came as close to giving into his emotions as he ever will.”  The coach tightened up and his voice was hushed as he described the pregame moment after Chula’s 21-9 victory.

“This is the best win I’ve been associated with anywhere any time,” Ohnesorgen managed to say.

Ohnesorgen may have changed his mind after the season’s final game, a 17-13 victory over El Camino for the 2-A championship.  The Spartans’  12-1 season was  stalled only by a 20-14 loss to Sweetwater in the 37^th  meeting between the backyard rivals.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Port District commissioners granted amnesty to taxi drivers, who had been given almost 300 citations in the last 13 months for illegal parking at Lindbergh Field…a driver in downtown San Diego sported a “Don’t let San Diego become another Waikiki” bumper sticker but also was wearing a Hawaiian aloha shirt…condos were priced from $71,000 to $142,000 in “North City West.”

 QUICK KICKS

Brothers Kevin (senior) and Terry (sophomore) Rodgers scored all of Sweetwater’s points in the 20-0, 3-A semifinal win over San Pasqual…Kevin returned a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown, shades of his Heisman Trophy-winning father Johnny Rodgers… San Diego failed on two field goal tries in the final 3 seconds against Kearny…a 35-yarder missed, but the Komets drew a penalty… the second attempt was botched by a bad snap from center… Crawford opened 4-0 for the first time since 1973 (and 1972 and ’71)  when the  Colts’ Alex Bolden intercepted a blocked pass and Crawford drove 95 yards in the last three minutes to beat Kearny 14-7…Point Loma had a 14-game winning streak snapped by Carlsbad,13-10…the Pointers were 16-0-2 from 1938-40… Lincoln forfeited two games with uncommon scores, 26-4 over Inglewood and  8-8  with Madison… the Hornets overcame a third and 10 to go 98 yards and top Hoover 13-7 in the final three minutes… Lincoln went 66 yards to beat Crawford 19-13 in  the final 13 seconds… Pro Football Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff was assisting Paul Moyneur at Orange Glen and ex-Chargers tight end Pat Curran helped Lynn Cole at Grossmont… Tom Pack’s passing game, orchestrated by guru Jack Neumeier, was in full bloom at Fallbrook, with junior varsity graduate Jaime Miramontes at quarterback, brothers Kirk and Erik Hanson as flanker and slot receivers, and Paul Newlan at running back… the Union’s Steve Brand said Fallbrook’s passing game made the Chargers’ Air Coryell look like a commuter airline… Fallbrook scored 327 points in a 10-1 season, ended by a 24-21 playoff quarterfinals loss to Mira Mesa… Sweetwater and Chula Vista each was 6-0 when they kicked off, the latest since the 1953 season that both teams were undefeated….