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 10-7 halftime lead they improved to a final score of 19-7 against El Capitan in the County Conference semifinals in Aztec Bowl.

Although the fog prevented anyone but officials under the goal posts from witnessing Johnson’s field goal, most of those on hand enjoyed the faculty of perceiving sounds.

El Capitan principal Russell Savage was one whose organ of hearing was working.

Savage heard two starter pistol reports at the end of the first half and announced immediately following the game that the Vaqueros were going to  protest the Dons’ three-point play.

Referee Clarence Burton ruled Johnson’s kick was launched before the half ended.

According to Burton, the unidentified timer, located high above the field in the press box, told the referee that the first shot sounded after the ball was snapped for the kick.

NO SEE, NO HEAR

The second shot, according to the timer, was to let the teams know that the half was over, because in the timer’s words, “The first shot was too faint to be heard throughout the stadium.”

Bill Center of The San Diego Union wrote that no one in the stadium was in position to see the scoreboard clock in the bowl’s South end zone or the kick at the north end.

In fact, Center added, few of the 6,500 on hand could have witnessed either.

An unidentified panel of three principals ruled against El Capitan the following Monday.

After more than an hour of deliberation, the principals issued a statement:  “Due to inconclusive evidence as to whether or not any time remained, the protest is disallowed.”

RAW DEAL?

The El Capitan principal asked CIF commissioner Don Clarkson that the game be replayed from just before the field goal attempt.  Russell Savage noted the timer could neither see the field or the clock.

Savage also cited the fact that one official had told him that only 15 seconds remained two plays before the kick and that University had only one time out.

Savage also protested that no provision had been made for keeping time on the field, although “everyone knew it was going to be foggy.”

Game clock timing from the field had been done many times before.

For an example, search “1939: Pointer Coach Has Scary Exit From Europe” and scroll to the segment tilted  “Ghosts in the Mist.”

The principal’s final shot, no pun intended, was that the semifinals contest was “handled with complete incompetence.”

CO-CHAMPIONSHIP STINKS

Bill Center reported that coaches and administrators were preparing to take several grievances to the  CIF, most notably the idea of two winners at season’s end.

The second year in which a Metropolitan titlist and a County winner would be declared co-champions was roundly criticized.

So were dates of games (the Metropolitan playoff was on the same night as the San Diego State-Utah State game)  and methods of picking playoff teams (at-large squads were being given preference over teams that had finished tied for first in their leagues).

Morse defeated University, 26-21, and Castle Park edged Escondido, 21-14, in the two title games.

Chuck Coover of Morse weighed in on the two-championship controversy.  “We want it and I know Gil (Castle Park coach Warren) wants it.  I don’t know of a coach who doesn’t want one title and one game.”

Castle Park and Morse would meet…in the season-opening game of 1969.

FIZZLED KOMETS

Birt Slater’s Kearny Komets had to gag on another bitter pill  after being knocked  out of the playoffs for the second successive year.

In 1967 they were on Lincoln’s one-foot line when time ran out in a 7-6 loss.

Kearny led Morse, 19-13, with at least two downs to run out the final 61 seconds in the City Conference final.

On second down from the Komets’ 27-yard line, quarterback Gene Watkins was sacked by Avery Clark, Morse’s 6-foot-3,  215-pound all-San Diego Section tackle, as Watkins attempted to hand off on a risky end-around play.

Clark hit with enough force that Watkins fumbled the ball into the air and Clark intercepted and rumbled to the 10-yard line.

Rick Halsey’s 10-yard pass to Mike Hawks on the next play etched a 19-19 tie.  Hawks then soccer-styled the winning point after through the heavy fog of Aztec Bowl with seconds remaining.

Until Clark’s game-breaking play, the game was a Watkins-Ed Evilsizor show.

The quarterback and his split end collaborated on touchdown pass plays of 43, 20, and 46 yards for a 19-13 lead.  Evilsizor had set up Kearny’s first score when he ran 18 yards on fourth and eight out of punt formation.

SIGNS OF THE TIME

San Diego County population was 1,320,000, increasing by 97 persons a day.

Caltrans district supervisor Jacob Dekema said the freeways weren’t keeping up with the population as he announced groundbreaking for an extension of the I-8 freeway from east of the bridge crossing the San Diego River  west to Nimitz and Sunset Cliffs boulevards.

Dekema,  also said that traffic analyses would be impossible in the metropolitan area “without use of computers”.

Computers?

SIGNS, CON’T

The Adams Avenue Bridge over the man-made I-805 canyon between Iowa and Boundary Streets was being replaced. The old structure, with its wooden trestles, conveyed the historic Adams Avenue trolley.

MORE DISSATISFACTION

Small schools bosses Tom Gillaspie of Julian and Louis Bitterlin of San Diego Military Academy wanted no part of a releaguing proposal that  pitted their teams against Army-Navy and Ramona, schools with much larger enrollments.

The two principals suggested a two-division Southern League.  This would include a Mountain Division of Borrego Springs, Mountain Empire, Julian, and Rancho del Campo and a Coastal Division of Francis Parker, La Jolla Country Day, Christian, and San Diego Military.

Army-Navy and Ramona would become independents under the Gillaspie-Bitterlin plan.

The CIF disagreed.  Releaguing in 1969 would put Ramona in a Southern Mountain Division and Army-Navy in a Coastal Division.

Ramona and Army-Navy were going to move, because the Palomar League would go on hiatus in 1969, with San Marcos headed for the Avocado and Marian for the Metropolitan.

OOPS

Orange Glen coach Dick Disney spoke too soon. “Potentially, this team is every bit as good as last year’s.  I’d have to rate our chances as good for a repeat.”

Disney must have overlooked the fact that the Patriots lost 31 of their first 38 players from the 1967 club that was 11-0 and won the County Conference title.

Orange Glen flatted out to a 3-5 record.

 

 

DREADED ADMINISTRATIVE GLITCHES

Point Loma won its first game of the season…twice.

The Pointers, forced to forfeit three victories, bounced back to defeat Crawford, 21-9, for their official first win.

Point Loma, Mission Bay, and La Jolla all were penalized for using residentially ineligible players.

Games between the three Western League schools were declared “no contest.”  The schools also were forced to vacate any nonleague wins from start of the season.

La Jolla saved one victory because it did not use  its ineligible player in a 21-6 victory over Point Loma.

STOP THE CLOCK

La Jolla coach Gene Edwards stormed away after the Vikings’ frantic signal for a time out either was not seen, heard, or was too late in an 18-14 loss to University.

La Jolla and Uni had combined for 213 yards in a wild last seven minutes on the Vikings’ rain-soaked, muddy field.  La Jolla was parked on the Dons’ 10-yard line at the final gun and screamed that its time-out shouts weren’t recognized.

RISING GIANT

Patrick Henry, 1,732 students strong in two grades, opened its doors and 170 boys turned out for football, eventually pared to 66 for varsity and junior varsity.

Head coach Russ Leslie, an assistant to Roy Engle at Hoover since 1960, had coached at least one all-Eastern League lineman since 1962.

The Patriots played three varsity games, going 1-1-1 and overall were 3-1 with a statistics freak’s dream, 5 ties, against mostly junior varsity competition.

NEXT YEAR IS GOAL

“We’re not deep, but we’ve got some real good football players,” said Leslie.  “If we can play with these small schools now, we should be able to play with anyone next year.”

The coach was prescient.  Henry tied Lincoln and St. Augustine at 5-1 for the Eastern League championship in 1969 and was 6-3 overall.

POPULATION BOMB

Crawford was the largest school in the city with 2,932 students in three grades.  Madison was next at 2,700, followed by Kearny at 2,640.

The fourth largest was Horace Mann Junior High, one block from Crawford, where 2,469 students were enrolled.

County schools Mount Miguel (2,571), Helix (2,510), and Oceanside (2,485) had more students than Mann but all had freshmen classes.

THIGH BONE IS CONNECTED…

…to the knee bone.

Morse’s Joe Kneebone teamed with quarterback Rick Halsey and scored on 60 and 41-yard pass plays in a 41-7 victory over Clairemont

ALMOST GOALLINE STAND

Hoover stopped Lincoln on six plays inside its four-yard line, but Lincoln scored on the seventh.

You can’t blame the Cardinals’ defense if it focused a collective stink eye on the offense.

After recovering a Lincoln fumble on the three-yard line, the Cardinals fumbled on the next play and Lincoln recovered.

Fullback Larry Williams finally scored from the one-yard line and that was all the Hornets got, or needed, in a 6-0 triumph.

QUICK KICKS

Bill Walton was about to become a nationally known basketball player at Helix and his older brother, Bruce, 6 foot 5, 270 pounds, was the anchor lineman at Helix…Bruce went on to UCLA and was a fifth-round draft choice of the Dallas Cowboys in  1973…Mount Miguel, scoreless in its first three games, outscored, 92-6, in its first four, made a startling recovery, outscoring its last 4 opponents, 135-22, to finish 4-4…Lincoln returned 9 of 11 defensive starters and moved end Melvin Chapman to quarterback, but Jerry Powell had graduated and the Hornets fell to 6-3 after winning the City Conference title in 1967…the Grossmont League’s eighth annual carnival drew an overflow crowd of 12,000 to Aztec Bowl as El Capitan, Santana, Grossmont, and Granite Hills led the East to a 27-0 victory over the West, made up of Helix, Monte Vista, Mount Miguel, and El Cajon Valley…when in doubt give the ball to Jeff Phair, who got the call on 11 successive plays and scored from 9 yards for Hilltop’s first score in a 14-6 win over Clairemont…Lincoln and Los Angeles Locke were “rained out”…Hornets coach Shan Deniston and his team were en route to their final game when Deniston was informed by Locke officials that the field at Gardena High was  a quagmire and that the game should be called…the Hornets collected a forfeit victory, turned around on Interstate 5 and headed home…Coronado would like to forget its 1968 homecoming game…final score, Sweetwater 58, Islanders 0…stone tossing, harassment, and rowdyism at night games had city officials thinking hard again about going to an all-daytime schedule…some games were switched but game lights prevailed….

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 Chaparral’s season plays out, the Highlanders dug themselves a hole in future state rankings, but they can start making up ground in two weeks against usually tough  Eastlake, which took a 14-13 loss from Whittier La Serna.

Game of the week  is Friday’s St. Augustine (2) tussle against Madison (4) at Mesa College.  The Saints stung Ramona on the road, 41-3, and Madison blew out El Capitan, 44-7.

Mission Hills moved up from second to supplant Helix at the top of the weekly Union-Tribune grid poll.  The Grizzlies beat a middle-of-the-road Los Angeles Crenshaw squad, 38-26.

Cal-Hi Sports‘ preseason top 50 included Helix at 12, Mission Hills, 17, Oceanside, 23, Cathedral, 35, and St. Augustine, 41.

Week 2:

#	Team (1st place votes)	Points	W-L	Previous
1.	Mission Hills (20)	234	1-0	2
2.	St. Augustine (1)	202	1-0	4
3.	Helix (2)	185	0-1	1
4.	Madison	156	1-0	6
5.	Oceanside	154	1-0	5
6.	Torrey Pines	90`	1-0	9
7.	Cathedral	84	0-1	3
8.	Rancho Bernardo	60	1-0	12
9.	Christian	42	1-0	13
10.	Eastlake	31	0-1	7

Others receiving votes (points, record & previous ranking in parenthesis):                         El Camino (23, 1-0, 18^th), Bonita Vista (1-0, 13, 16th), San Marcos (11, 0-1, 11th), Carlsbad, 8, 0o-1. 10th), Granite Hills (6, 1-0, 21st), Hoover, Grossmont (3 each, 1-0. NR) Poway, Mt. Carmel (2 each, 1-0, NR), The Bishop’s (1, 1-0. 20th), La Costa Canyon, (1, 0-1, 19th).

Twenty-four media and CIF representatives vote each week: John Maffei (U-T San Diego), Steve Brand, Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Jim Lindgren, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff (U-T San Diego correspondents), Bill Dickens, Chris Davis (East County Sports.com), Steve (Biff) Dolan, Rick (Red) Hill (Mountain Country 107.9 FM), John (Coach) Kentera, Ted Mendenhall, Bob Petinak (The Mighty 1090), Rick Willis, Brandon Stone (KUSI-TV), Rick Smith (partletonsports.com), Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta (CIF San Diego Section), Bodie DeSilva (sandiegopreps.com), Drew Smith (sdcoastalsports.com), Lisa Lane (San Diego Preps Insider), Raymond Brown (sdfootball.net), Chris Smith, Montell Allen (MBASportsrecruiting.com).

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON, LIKE GRANDSON

Lincoln graduate Gary Webb was a proud father watching his linebacker son Deron earn all-Grossmont League honors  35 years ago and Saturday he watched with pride another generation.

Webb’s grandson, Davis Webb, was the starting center for the Scottsdale Chaparral team that beat Helix.

Seated beside Gary was Deron Webb, Gary’s son.  Davis Webb is Deron’s son.

Deron Webb, now a successful Certified Public Accountant in the Phoenix area, was a member of the Helix squad that won the San Diego Section championship in 1980.

A 1980 teammate of Deron’s for coach Jim Arnaiz’ Scots was Jerry Schniepp, future San Diego Section commissioner.

 

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 least seven games, compared with 11 in 1979.

The second season of 3-A and 2-A playoffs featured at least one great game and strong clubs in the Grossmont, Western, Metropolitan, and Palomar leagues.

After beating Mount Miguel 35-13 in the regular season Helix won the rematch, 13-0. Lincoln overturned an earlier, 23-20 loss to La Jolla with a 39-22 victory.

Helix’ victory reversed the “loss” it sustained to Morse in 1979, when the Highlanders and Morse tied, 21-21, but Morse, in the last year of the old California tiebreaker rule, won on yards gained in the overtime.

FIT TO BE TIED

The revised California tiebreaker, installed by the ruling California Interscholastic Federation in October, favored Helix in its playoff opener against Torrey Pines. The teams deadlocked 7-7 in regulation but Helix won 21-14 in the overtime.

For official records, the game is a tie, a unpopular rule that deprived Helix of an undefeated, untied season of 12-0, with probably the best team in the long and successful career of head coach Jim Arnaiz.

Helix’s 11-0-1 record represented  the first ever undefeated season in the 21-season history of the Grossmont League and the Highlanders’ first in their 30 seasons.

Helix sophomore Scott Webb broke the 1977 record of Sweetwater’s Albert Calderon with his 25th consecutive point after touchdown.

Webb made 25 in a row on the junior varsity in 1979 and converted 31 in a row for a two-season total of 56 before missing one in the Section championship.

Helix’ victory in league play against Mount Miguel was a showcase for the Durden family.

Allan Durden, the third son of Chargers coach Earnel Durden, caught 6 passes for 149 yards, and touchdowns of 4, 43, 23, and 5 yards from quarterback Jim Plum.

Middle son Kevin scored on a 37-yard run in the Highlanders’ victory.

Allan and Kevin followed older brother Mike, who went to an outstanding career at UCLA.

In what The San Diego Union writer Steve Brand declared was “magnificent football”, La Jolla went back and forth with Castle Park before holding off the Trojans in the final two minutes to win 33-28 in the first round of the 2-A eliminations.

ALL THERE IN GREEN AND WHITE
With a 1-5 record, the Hilltop Lancers still were listed in Union‘s Top 10. They were that good.

They would end up 7-2 on the field, fired offensively by brothers Mark (quarterback) and Blake (wideout) Armbrust and running back Tom Hinzo, a future major league baseball outfielder.

The trio helped Hilltop set a  school record of 29 points a game. But the Lancers were 3-6 legislatively after forfeiting four victories from early in the season.

San Diego Section commissioner Kendall (Spider) Webb ruled that an ad-hoc committee of Metropolitan League honchos had overstepped its bounds when the group decided not to punish the Lancers because of “extenuating circumstances.”

DREADED ADMINISTRATIVE GLITCH

Marian complained to the league that one of its players transferred to Hilltop without proper paper work  (principals from both schools had not signed off on a residential change).

Webb referred to the CIF Green Book: “The league may not determine the penalty. That’s not their decision to make. That is written in the Green Book.”

Lest he be perceived as callous, Webb noted what may have been an “innocent oversight” or “honest mistake”, aware the player and team would be the ones suffering the most.

The forfeits knocked out a fine Hilltop team that battled Castle Park (9-2), Bonita Vista (8-2), and Sweetwater (7-2 with forfeit win) in a competitive Metropolitan League.

Hilltop’s hit reminded of the 1976 forfeitures that reduced Chula Vista’s 9-0 season to 5-4.

CIF TO THE VALLEY
The Imperial Tigers, champions of the Southern Section’s Chaparral League in 1979, were in the vanguard of four schools joining the San Diego Section.

Coached by St. Augustine alumnus Dave Gross, the Tigers were accompanied by desert neighbors Calipatria, Holtville, and Winterhaven San Pasqual.

Those four teams from the  Imperial Valley formed the Southern Conference’s Mountain-Desert League with Mountain Empire, which moved over from the original Southern League.

Julian, Borrego Springs, Santa Fe Christian, and Army-Navy of the original Southern became part of the Southern Conference Coastal League.

Imperial defeated Santa Fe Christian 12-10 for the 1-A championship.

The four newcomers brought to 50 the total of 3-A, 2-A, and 1-A schools playing football. There were several other 8-man teams. Winterhaven would return to the Southern Section after the 1984-85 school year.

A FIRST FOR EVERYTHING

Southwest coach Bob Arciaga had 36 reasons to celebrate.

Thirty-six was the number of losses the school had endured since opening in 1976…with one victory on the field  (another victory came as a result of Chula Vista’s forfeiting a 76-0 win over the Raiders in 1976).

So when the Raiders defeated Coronado 8-7 in Week 2, Arciaga couldn’t be restrained.

“It was the first time we beat Coronado,” said the coach, just getting warmed up. “It was the first time we swept (the JV won 24-0), the first time we ever blocked a punt, the first time we ever made a two-point conversion, and the first time we’ve ever been 1-1.”

The blocked punt and winning two-point conversion all came in the final three minutes.

Jesus Villa scooped up the block and ran 47 yards for a touchdown. Going for the win, Arciaga called a play in which James Taylor slammed into the line, bounced off a tackler, and caromed into the end zone for the decisive point.

From 1-36 the Raiders jumped to 4-5 this year.

BEST OF BEST
Blue Chip Report, a national publication, listed 7 San Diego Section players as major college prospects.

Five of the seven were rated in the Top 10 at their positions: Quarterbacks Sean Salisbury (Orange Glen) and Sean McKee (Patrick Henry); wide receiver Glen Kozlowski (Carlsbad); tackle Keith Kartz (San Dieguito), and linebacker Joey Tavita (Castle Park).

Also cited were Vista running back Joe Faraimo and Oceanside defensive back Nathan King.

Salisbury, Kozlowski, and Kartz made NFL rosters after college. Lincoln free safety Lew Barnes, Helix linebacker Leon White, and El Camino defender Jayice Pearson also played in the NFL. Lincoln quarterback Damon Allen played 23 seasons in the Canadian League.

 

HOGS TO BIG MACS
San Pasqual’s Hog Squad of the 1970s spun off to the Big Mac Attack this year. Linebackers Barry (Mac) McKeever, Brian McFadden, and Jeff McCoy were coached by Bill McAllister.

McKeever is the son of Mike McKeever, who starred with twin brother Marlin at USC before an auto accident ended his life.

BALLYHOOED MATCHUP

Russ Leslie, athletic director and former head coach at Patrick Henry, made a call in the spring to Dick Disney,  athletic director and ex-coach at Orange Glen.

“Let’s play,” said Leslie. “Sounds good to me,” said Disney, or words to that effect, the idea being to showcase each team’s star quarterback, Sean Salisbury for ‘Glen and Sean McKee for Henry.

College scouts were in abundance but the most significant moment was left to an unknown kicker, Mehrdad Nabizadeh, who kicked a 27-yard field goal with 15 seconds left for a 10-7, Henry victory.

McKee completed 8 of 28 passes for 91 yards, three interceptions, and 1 fumble. Salisbury completed 10 of 26 for 181 yards, and two interceptions.

TRUE GRID
Torrey Pines and Ramona played into Johnny Carson’s time slot…fog prevented the JV undercard from getting started until minutes past 8 p.m…Torrey won the delayed varsity main event, 35-7… Ramona coach Jack Menotti said he would step down if the Bulldogs didn’t have a winning season…after a 2-0 start and 2-7 finish, Menotti stayed on…27 of the 50, 3-A, 2-A, and 1-A teams playing football had attempted 35 field goals in the season’s first four weeks…by way of comparison, not a single field goal was attempted between 1951 and ’55, years before soccer style kickers came on the scene… largest running back in the section? Probably Cortez Greer of Sweetwater, 240 pounds… unlike the finals, semifinal playoff opponents were almost complete strangers… Helix played Poway; Mount Miguel met Vista; Lincoln took on Bonita Vista, and La Jolla lined up against San Pasqual… Vista defeated Mount Miguel 40-13 for the small schools championship in 1960 in their only meeting… the others had never met… Castle Park’s Walter Holmes scored 15 touchdowns in the first 6 games and ended the season with 21 TD’s in 10 games and led the County with 128 points… Oceanside clinched a victory in the game’s first 12 seconds when Dale Walton ran 91 yards for a TD on the opening kickoff of a 7-6 win over San Pasqual… the “Shoe,” a bronze trophy that had been awarded every year since 1926, except for 1972-76, was back at La Jolla after Casey Brown ran for 153 yards and the Vikings beat Point Loma, 13-7, their first victory over the Pointers since 1972… he never got on the NFL field because of injury but Castle Park linebacker Matt Johnson was a fifth-round draft out of USC by the San Diego Chargers in 1984….

 

 

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 of Fame.

The younger Allen bettered Marcus at Lincoln by winning two San Diego Section championships and quarterbacking the Hornets to a two-year record of 22-2, best in school history.

Damon also quarterbacked Cal State-Fullerton to a pair of conference championships, made all-West Coast, received votes in Heisman Trophy balloting, and completed 6 of 8 passes for 1 touchdown and rushed 3 times for 20 yards in the Senior Bowl.

He added to his football accomplishments as a pitcher on Fullerton’s 1984 College World Series championship squad that posted a 66-20 record. Allen was such a prospect that he was selected in the seventh round of the baseball draft by the Detroit Tigers.

Despite his credentials Allen went undrafted by the NFL. He was “too” (read: short, thin, other uncomplimentary adjectives) and often described in terms that began with “yeah, but”.

Damon Allen just played.

He went north and found a home.

At a comparatively slight 6 feet 1, 175 pounds, Damon stuck around a stunning 23 seasons in the Canadian Football League before retiring at age 44 in 2008.

Allen set a professional record with almost 14 miles of passing yards, actually 72,381. He attempted more than 9,000 passes, played in 370 games and threw for 394 touchdowns. He rushed for 11,920 yards, only 323 less than Marcus gained in his NFL career.

He quarterbacked his teams to 4 Grey Cup championships and twice was MVP of the Grey Cup game.

Of his time in Canada, Allen once said, “It may not be the NFL, but I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do ever since I was a kid. If you respect the game of football it doesn’t matter what league you play in.”

He was a kid when  Damon joined the Valencia Park Pop Warner team near his home off Euclid Avenue in San Diego.

Graduating to the Junior Pee Wee League, Damon became a quarterback when he fielded an errant pass and threw what was described as a  tight spiral back to the coach at the line of scrimmage.

When Allen repeated the throw his coach said, “You’re my quarterback,” and Damon led the team to two undefeated seasons. Allen then created his own legacy at Lincoln but kept alive a tradition. He wore jersey number 9, Marcus’ number in high school.

Damon led the Hornets to a 12-0 record in 1979 and defended the 2-A title this year, reversing an earlier loss to La Jolla while completing 7 of 12 passes for 150 yards and 3 touchdowns in Lincoln’s 39-22, championship-clinching win over the Vikings.

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 seasons, including a San Diego Section championship in his senior season.

“I was only at San Diego High, because of the legacy of my brothers (Charlie, Art, and Ellsworth),” said Powell.

Powell did not live within San Diego’s attendance district.  The family had moved from Logan Heights to Valencia Park , within walking distance of Lincoln.

Powell was granted permission by school authorities to attend San Diego because he also was enrolled in two college preparatory classes at San Diego City College, across the street from the San Diego High campus.

But when Powell turned out for practice the following spring he was told by coaches the Cavers probably were going  to alternate quarterbacks, Powell, Leonard Simon and Glenn Callan.

A revolving quarterback situation didn’t appeal to the youngster.  “I transferred out of  San Diego and enrolled at Lincoln for the final quarter of my sophomore year,” said Powell.

“All of those guys at Lincoln, I played with in Pop Warner…Melvin Maxwell, Doug Jones, Bebe Franklin, all of them…I’d known them since we were little kids.

“Horace Tucker (a Caver of Art Powell’s vintage) even talked to me about Lincoln.  Horace’s little brother, David Tucker, was on the team.”

Powell never looked back.

“It was natural for me, especially with coach Deniston.  Shan told me, ‘I’m going to put the ball in your hands.’ Shan was  a very underrated coach, innovative,  always thinking.”

Powell and many of his teammates, including Wally Henry, a 1970s transfer from San Diego to Lincoln, continued to celebrate Deniston and lunch with the coach several times annually until he passed away at age 100 in 2020.

“He’s still driving his car,” said Powell in 2015, smiling  at the thought.  “We’re always telling Shan to pass us some of those secrets to a long life.”

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), Ellsworth (basketball), and Art Powell (football, basketball, track) starred for the Cavemen from 1948-56.

Charlie and Art went on to long careers in pro football and Charlie also was a heavyweight boxing challenger, rising to No. 5 in the ratings.

LEAVES THE HILLTOP

Jerry burst on the scene at San Diego in 1965, quarterbacking the junior varsity to a 9-0 record, but the youngest Powell transferred to Lincoln before the end of his sophomore year.

San  Diego never recovered and Powell created his own legacy at the school whose birth in 1949 (and Morse’s in 1962) eventually led to San Diego’s athletic decline.

Powell led coach Shan Deniston’s varsity to a 7-2 record in 1966.  One of its wins was 31-20 over Eastern League champion Morse, but upset losses to Hoover and St. Augustine knocked the Hornets out of the playoffs.

BOSSES TINKER WITH POSTSEASON

Not long after that season San Diego Section administrators made a decision that would have a profound effect on Powell’s senior year.

The bosses found a way to not extend the playoffs but to make them more inclusive.

They decided to anoint two champions.

The San Diego Section board of managers, made up of various administrators, did this by creating a playoff “Metropolitan Conference” of teams from the Eastern, Western, and Grossmont leagues.

A similar “County Conference” of teams from the Metropolitan, Avocado, and Palomar leagues  was put in place.

RULING FAVORS HORNETS

While the two-conference idea was not popular among prep football followers and purists (the format was for football only; the other major sports followed previous guidelines), coaches and players had an additional championship for which to compete.

The good news was that an “at-large” team from each  AA league was going to be invited to the postseason.

Lincoln was a beneficiary, as was Escondido.

The Hornets, who finished second to St. Augustine in the Eastern League and would have been an observer under the pre-1967 playoff setup, won the championship playoff of the Metropolitan Conference.

A longer, more maneuverable, three-week playoff season would come in the future.

Administrators were reacting, slowly.

REDEMPTION

Lincoln beaten, 20-13, when St. Augustine overcame a fourth-quarter deficit in the teams’ regular-season encounter, was Eastern runner-up but defeated the Saints, 28-0, in the championship rematch.

Lincoln first had to survive a scare against Birt Slater’s typically tough Kearny Komets.

After Chester Wells recovered a Lincoln fumble on the Hornets’ 28-yard line with 2:38 remaining in the game, quarterback Wayne Obereutter pushed Kearny to Lincoln’s one-foot line.

There the Komets expired, out of time outs and not able to run another play.

Obereutter dropped to his knees in frustration on the rain-soaked Balboa Stadium field.

MISMATCHED REMATCH

Powell rushed for 124 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown hike, and passed for 136 yards, including an 87-yard touchdown strike to Mike Chapman, and passed or kicked for four points after in Hornets-Saints II.

Powell was San Diego Section player of the year, all-state, and a prep all-America, but he shared Eastern League back-of-the-year honors with St. Augustine quarterback Reed Chastang.

San Diego’s Dale Davis was lineman of the year and one of St. Augustine’s all-leaguers was tackle Dave Gross, years later a four-decade head coach at San Diego section schools.

THE RIGHT CITRUS

Orange Glen topped Chula Vista, 16-7, in the County finals as quarterback Paul Moyneur, the Avocado League player of the year, ran for 171 yards in 19 carries and scored on runs of 23 and 32 yards.

A winner-take-all, Lincoln-Orange Glen game would have extended the postseason into three weeks but that was not going to happen.

The 10-1 Hornets would have been favored over the 11-0 Patriots.

NORTH COUNTY FRENZY

Escondido High was 68 years older than Orange Glen and had won 242 games, compared with the Patriots’ 16 since they became the city’s second high school in 1963.

But their midseason battle for Avocado League supremacy was billed as the Super Bowl of the North County.

Escondido was coached by the legendary Bob (Chick) Embrey,  Orange Glen by Dick Disney, a standout running back in the early ‘fifties at Point Loma and a former assistant to Embrey at Escondido.

The undefeated, 6-0 new school, 4 ½ miles away on the city’s East side, played its home games at Escondido High and were taking on the tradition-strong Cougars, 5-1.

Bill Center of The San Diego Union reported a turnout of 12,000 persons as Orange Glen defeated the Cougars, 14-7.

“We played Escondido before 11,500 in a stadium that seats 8,500,” said Disney, who claimed that he “looked around to send in a play one time and there was a 45-year-old lady sitting on the bench.”

Orange Glen defeated Chula Vista before 8,000 persons at Aztec Bowl.

WITHER BREITBARD GAME

Bob Breitbard’s annual College Prep All-Star game, a fixture on the sports calendar for 19 summers, passed into history after Grossmont’s Brian Sipe led the County all-stars to a surprising, 13-7 win over the City.

Sipe, 1966 San Diego Section co-player of the year with Hoover’s John Morstad, completed 13 of 26 passes for 210 yards and 2 touchdowns as the County evened the series at 2 wins apiece.

A crowd of 9,721 first announced at Balboa Stadium by Breitbard officials, was amended to 7,477.

STARTED IN 1949

The game had come under criticism from junior college coaches in 1966.  The coaches  did not like the event date (usually late August) and were fearful of injuries to players who would be reporting within a week.

Bob McInerney, the Breitbard Foundation’s executive director,  was defensive when addressing questions from the media and seemed to challenge  anyone to come up with a better solution.

The popular game made its debut in 1949 and hewed to a format of all-Southern California against all-Los Angeles City through 1955.

The game became San Diego County versus L.A. City in 1956, and finally went to the San Diego City-County format in 1964.

Insurance costs for liability and some occasional rowdyism at the teams’ training camps, Marine Corps Recruit Depot and Naval Training Center, were two of Breitbard’s reasons for bailing.

UPWARDLY MOBILE?

University left the  suburban Avocado League for the urban Western circuit and found that the cost of living had gone up, taxes were higher, and real estate more expensive.

The Dons were 40-17-4 since 1960 as members of the Southern Prep or Avocado leagues but fell to 2-5-1 this season, the poorest record in coach Bull Trometter’s 13 seasons.

Trometter sensed a long season when, trailing Lincoln only 13-0 after three quarters in the season opener, the Dons fell apart as the Hornets erupted for 26 fourth-quarter points in a 39-0 victory.

NO “CARRYOVER”

Marian  coach Jan Chapman declared that “when we tied San Marcos, 20-20, we proved to ourselves that we can play with anyone in the Palomar League.”

The Crusaders finished 5-3-1 and had 17 returning lettermen but would finish only 4-4 in 1968 and lose to perennially powerful San Marcos, 27-6.

Monte Vista was walking proud at the start of the season, having won four consecutive Grossmont League games at the end of the 1966 campaign, ending a streak of 34 consecutive league losses; the school opened in 1961 and the Monarchs never had won a league game.

The success of 1966 meant nothing.  The Spring Valley school was 0-6-1 in Grossmont play.

UNDERMANNED

Bonita Vista, adding an 11^th grade in its second year, played a varsity schedule in its first attempt at football.

Schools that did not have a complement of grades 10, 11, 12, often tried playing a combined junior varsity-varsity slate, or all JV except for 1 or 2 majors.

The Barons fielded a varsity without any seniors. As expected, coach Wayne Whitby’s youngsters looked and felt as if they’d run a gauntlet of baseball bats.

Things looked fairly promising after a 19-10 loss to Calexico in the opening game, which was followed by a 40-7 victory over Wildomar Elsinore.

Reality set in.

The Barons dropped their next game, 47-0, to Brawley and gave up 287 points in their last 7, limping to the finish line with a 1-8 mark.

HARD ROCK

Barren, unlevel, cement-like fields at Mount Miguel, Monte Vista, Helix, Escondido, and La Jolla were cited by coaches.

“It worries me to just to be on one of those fields,” said Grossmont’s Pat Carroll.

“There’s  a lack of grass, uneven surfaces, and overwork,” said another Grossmont League coach who didn’t want his name in the newspaper.

The coach pointed out that the situation at Mount Miguel resulted from “ten weeks of drills, varsity and JV games, and Pop Warner activity.  Then the field was patch-worked (with) dead clumps of sod.”

Granite Hills’ Jim Symington pointed out the danger of sprinkler heads.  “They’re two to three inches above the ground,” he said.  “Those are really dangerous.”

The solution would be more fields and artificial surfaces in the future.

HAIL, MONTEZUMA!

Gil Warren was named head coach at Castle Park and Dave Lay at Sweetwater, pairing as rivals two former San Diego State teammates.

Lay, a tackle from Grossmont High, and Warren, a wingback-defensive back out of Sweetwater, were on Don Coryell’s first Aztecs team in 1961.

Each coached 11 years at his respective school.  Warren had a record of 87 wins, 23 losses, and three ties for a .783 winning percentage and was 7-3-1 against Sweetwater.

Lay was 82-30-4 (.724) and, including another head coaching stint at Orange Glen, compiled a career mark of 101-35-5 (.734) in 13 seasons.

Warren’s 28-year record at Castle Park (he returned, from 1992-98 ), San Diego Southwest, and Olympian, was 218-88-5 (.709).

Lay liked to run the ball.  Sweetwater rushed for 525 yards in Lay’s first victory, 34-7 over La Jolla.

QUICK KICKS—St. Augustine’s 32-6 win over Hoover gave the Saints their first Eastern League title and first league championship in the 42 years the school had been playing football…for most of that time the Saints played an independent schedule…several Lincoln players went on to play college football and safety Doug Jones had a six-season  career in the NFL…Jones was  Kansas City’s sixth-round draft choice in 1973 out of Northridge State and played for three teams…Oceanside’s 19-game Avocado League winning streak ended with a 14-0 loss to Orange Glen…the Pirates also were stunned in the season opener, losing, 38-20, to El Capitan as the Vaqueros’ 150-pound workhorse, Fred Hight, rushed for 285 yards in 41 carries and scored 4 touchdowns…Hight also averaged 12 yards on three pass receptions…the eight teams in the playoffs had a combined, 59-9-3 record:  St. Augustine,  9-0,  Orange Glen,  9-0, Lincoln, 8-1, Kearny, 6-1-2,  Escondido, 7-2, Grossmont, 7-1, and Chula Vista, 6-3, and San Marcos, 7-1-1…future all-pro cornerback Willie Buchanon was an all-Avocado League end at Oceanside…all-league tackle Pete Shmock of San Dieguito held the County shot put record at 64 feet, 11 inches, for several years, was best man at the wedding of  University of Oregon teammate Dan Fouts,  and earned international status when he qualified for the 1980 Olympics…his lifetime best was  69-3…more often than not, Shmock’s name was misspelled Schmock in the media…George Hoagland announced his decision to retire after Madison’s seventh straight loss…the Warhawks were 18-35-1 under Hoagland, the school’s first coach who started the program at Madison in 1963 after years at San Diego High… “I can’t stand to get beat,” said Hoagland…”I came from the school of winners and I can’t be anything else.”….