Strong teams abounded but it was University of San Diego High, third in the Western League and only 12-10 overall, that emerged in the Class AA playoffs.

Dick Serrano coached the Dons to their first CIF championship and followed with titles in 1978, ’80, and ’81, figurative mileposts for the 1961 Uni graduate who coached and taught at the school for 48 years, 1966-2014.

When Serrano walked off the field after coaching his final varsity game in 30 seasons in 2000,  he had led his team to 549 victories, against 294 losses for a .691 winning percentage.  Serrano sent several players to universities and professional baseball, including future major leaguers Barry Zito, Mark Prior, and Carlos Quentin.

CIF bosses, once critical and myopic of long seasons and extended play, increased the playoff pool to 16 teams this season.  Serrano and Uni took advantage.

5/1/72

Aces Rick Tronerud and Dwayne Steele were unavailable, forcing Hoover coach Jerry Bartow to send seven pitchers to the mound and the result was a 17-hit, 19-4 Morse victory on the Cardinals’ diamond.

—Ray Smith’s double in the eighth inning gave Lincoln a 4-3 win over visiting Patrick Henry.

—Chuck Lopez (8-0) kept Vista in the Avocado League lead with a 3-2 win over Escondido, wrapped by Paddy Fagan’s sixth-inning single that scored John Pangrace.

5/2/72

Point Loma swept Madison, 1-0, and 1-0 in a doubleheader that began on March 21, seven weeks to the day earlier.

The chronology:

—Point Loma’s Mark Connors had not given up a hit through 11 innings when he gave way to Mark Mulvany, who pitched a hitless bottom of the 12^th inning.

—The teams were tied, 0-0, but there would be no 13^th inning because darkness was closing in on the Madison diamond.

–Since it was a league game and standings would be affected, the game needed to be completed.

—Forty-two days later, Mark Mulvany took the mound again for coach Dick Huddleston’s Pointers.

Mulvany and gave up a hit in the 13^th and three more before Point Loma’s Steve Grimes tripled in the 15^th inning and scored on Jose Rodriquez’ single for a 1-0 victory.

–Mulvaney took the ball again several minutes later for the regularly scheduled contest.

–Point Loma won again, 1-0, as Mulvany (7-3) singled and scored in the fourth inning, gave up two hits, and headed home with two victories in one day.

Point Loma (9-6) was battling Kearny and University for second place.  Clairemont clinched a tie for the championship with a 5-2 win over Mission Bay.

5/5/72

Helix clinched the Grossmont League championship, 2-1 in an eight-inning battle with Monte Vista, matching the Scots’ 1962 and ’68 championship squads.

Helix scored a run to tie in the seventh inning and another in the eighth, winning when  Don French walked, was sacrificed to second base, took third on  a wild pitch, and scored on Danny Hiben’s single.

—Mark Briscoe’s three-run home run in the seventh inning was the difference in St. Augustine’s 5-4 victory over San Diego and moved the Saints (9-6) into a tie for first in the Eastern League with Hoover.

—Clairemont, behind the two-hit pitching of Craig Skoglund and Mike Rector, clinched the Western League title, 8-0, over La Jolla.

—Talk about putting out the fire, Crawford’s Guy Beaghler came on in the seventh inning with the Colts leading Patrick Henry, 3-2, and flames raging everywhere.

–Beaghler faced a situation in which Henry had loaded the bases with none out. The batter had a 3-0 count. Beaghler battled from behind to earn a strikeout,  then coaxed the next  Patriot to hit into a double play and send the Colts home happy.

5/8/72

Clairemont, winner of 12 in a row, 15-2 in the Western League, and 20-3 overall, continued its ride to the playoffs, 3-1 win over University, the last team to beat the Chieftains 33 days before.

–Rene Quinones improved his record to 9-3 and pitched Mar Vista (11-4) to a step closer to the Metropolitan League title, 4-3 over Chula Vista in 11 innings.

5/10/72

Tom Merritt’s three-hit pitching boosted St. Augustine into a tie for the Eastern League championship.

The 2-0 victory at Patrick Henry gave the Saints (11-6) a one-game lead over Hoover and Crawford, but the Saints still had to face Crawford in the regular-season finale.

5/12/72

Hoover’s Dwayne Steele “booted” the Cardinals into second place in the final Eastern League standings.

St. Augustine defeated Crawford, 9-3, to clinch the championship; Hoover topped Patrick Henry, 5-4, with Crawford third and Henry fourth, all destined to make the playoffs.

Let’s try Dwayne Steele’s so-called boot again:

—Hoover trailed Henry, 4-3, with two out and the bases loaded in the last of the seventh inning.

—The Cardinals’ Rick Tronerud drove a low liner to the right side of the infield.  Steele, running from first, apparently was struck in the ankle by the ball.

—The rule is that the base runner is automatically out, but the rule also stipulated that an umpire must see the ball strike the runner, wrote Evening Tribune reporter Bill Finley.

—Umpires Bob Russell and Andy Anderson apparently didn’t see what happened.

—The ball caromed into right field.  By the time the ball was fielded Hoover’s runner from third base had crossed the plate and the Cardinals were celebrating.

—Steele, who was on base after being hit by Patrick Henry hurler Andy Bertrem, admitted later that he had been hit by Tronerud’s grounder.

“Either that or I stepped on an arrow,” said Steele.  “It still hurts.”

”That’s the first time I’ve ever been beaten by an umpire and I’ll admit it shook me up,” said Patriots coach Bob Imlay, between a few more chosen words.

FINAL STANDINGS

EASTERN LEAGUE

	LEAGUE				OVERALL
TEAM	WON	LOST	Pct.	GBL	WON	LOST	TIE	Pct.
St. Augustine	12	6	.667	—	14	8	0	.636
Hoover	11	7	.611	1	17	7	1	.700
Crawford	10	8	.556	2	16	9	0	.640
Patrick Henry	9	9	.500	3	11	12	0	.478
Lincoln	7	11	.388	5	10	13	0	.435
San Diego	7	11	.388	5	9	14	0	.391
Morse	7	11	.388	5	9	14	0	.391

WESTERN LEAGUE

	LEAGUE				OVERALL
TEAM	WON	LOST	Pct.	GBL	WON	LOST	TIE	Pct.
Clairemont	15	3	.833	—	20	4	0	.833
Point Loma	12	6	.667	3	13	8	1	.614
University	10	8	.556	5	12	10	0	.522
Kearny	7	11	.388	8	13	12	0	.520
Madison	6	12	.333	9	10	14	0	.417
La Jolla	4	14	.222	11	7	16	0	.308

AVOCADO LEAGUE

	LEAGUE				OVERALL
TEAM	WON	LOST	Pct.	GBL	WON	LOST	TIE	Pct
Fallbrook	11	5	.688	—	16	6	0	.727
Oceanside	10	6	.625	1	14	8	0	.636
Vista	10	6	.625	1	15	9	0	.652
Carlsbad	9	7	.563	2	14	8	0	.636
*Orange Glen	8	7	.533	2 1/2	13	10	2	.560
*Poway	8	7	.533	2 1/2	12	9	2	.565
San Marcos	7	9	.463	4	9	14	0	.391
Escondido	6	10	.375	5	9	12	2	.435
San Dieguito	2	14	.125	9	6	16	0	.273

*Poway and Orange Glen played tie game in league.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE

	LEAGUE				OVERALL
TEAM	WON	LOST	Pct.	GBL	WON	LOST	TIE	Pct.
Bonita Vista	12	4	.750	—	16	6	0	.727
Mar Vista	12	4	.750	—	14	9	0	.609
Hilltop	11	5	.688	1	15	8	0	.652
Chula Vista	11	5	.688	1	13	11	0	.542
Sweetwater	7	9	.438	5	11	12	1	.489
Coronado	6	10	.375	6	8	15	0	.348
Castle Park	5	11	.313	7	7	15	0	.318
Montgomery	5	11	.313	7	7	14	0	.333
Marian	3	13	.188	9	5	17	0	.222

GROSSMONT LEAGUE

	LEAGUE				OVERALL
TEAM	WON	LOST	Pct.	GBL	WON	LOST	TIE	Pct.
Helix	13	1	.929	—	19	2	1	.887
Monte Vista	8	6	.571	5	11	11	0	.500
Santana	8	6	.571	5	12	11	2	.520
El Capitan	7	7	.500	6	11	9	0	.550
Mount Miguel	7	7	.500	6	11	11	0	.500
Grossmont	5	9	.357	8	9	14	0	.291
El Cajon Valley	4	10	.286	9	8	15	0	.348
Granite Hills	4	10	.286	9	7	13	1	.357

SOUTHERN LEAGUE
Coastal Division

	LEAGUE				OVERALL
Team	Won	Lost	Pct.	GBL	Won	Lost	TIE	Pct.
Army-Navy	7	1	.875	—	9	6	0	.600
Christian	7	1	.875	—	9	6	0	.600
Francis Parker	4	4	.500	3	6	10	0	.375
San Diego Military	1	7	.125	6	3	7	0	.300
La Jolla Country Day	1	7	.125	6	3	9	0	.250

Mountain Division

	LEAGUE				OVERALL
TEAM	WON	LOST	Pct.	GBL	Won	Lost	TIE	Pct.
Ramona	9	0	1.000	—	15	10	0	.600
Borrego Springs	5	4	.556	4	8	15	0	.348
Mountain Empire	2	7	.222	7	8	15	0	.348
Julian	2	7	.222	7	5	13	0	.278

 GBL=Games Behind Leader.

5/16/72

SAN DIEGO SECTION PLAYOFFS

CLASS AA

FIRST ROUND

Santana 6, @St. Augustine (14-9) 1.
Patrick Henry (11-13) 0, @Fallbrook 2.
Fallbrook won in its first playoff experience, three years after not winning a game in the Avocado League.

Monte Vista (11-12) 1, @Mar Vista 2.
Point Loma 4, @Hilltop (15-9) 2.

Crawford (16-10) 1, @Clairemont 2. (9).
Chieftains Sophomore Gary Skogsdill pitched six innings of scoreless relief and improved to 3-0 with seven saves and an 0.95 earned-run average.

University 6, @Helix (19-3-1) 4.

“As long as he could walk, he was going to be our starter against Helix,” said Dons coach Dick Serrano of Jim Whitaker, three weeks removed from a knee injury, and giving the Dons six innings.

Vista (15-10) 2, @Bonita Vista 4.
Oceanside (14-9) 3, @Hoover 9.

5/17/72

QUARTERFINALS

Bonita Vista (17-7) 3, Clairemont 20, @Southwestern College.
Point Loma 4, @Santana (13-12-2) 2 (11).

Mike Mulvany opened the 11^th inning with a single and scored on Paul Contreras triple and then Contreras scored on an error.

Mar Vista (15-10) 4, Fallbrook 18, @San Diego State.

The Warriors had half of their 22 hits in the first inning and took a 10-1 lead.

Hoover (18-8-1), 2, @University 4.

5/19/72

SEMIFINALS

Point Loma 9, vs. Fallbrook (18-7) 3, @San Diego State.

Pointers catcher Paul Contreras had three doubles and a single, and centerfielder Dave Watson had three hits and drove in four runs, including a two-run home run.

Clairemont (22-4)  4, vs. University 5, @Mesa College (13).

Coach Dick Serrano’s Dons, third in the Western League, five games behind Clairemont, scored three runs in the seventh inning and won with an unearned run in the 13^th.

Three walks, an error, and a single by Kevin Buchanan had drawn Uni even with the No. 1-seed Chieftains.

Bill Nally, who hadn’t pitched a varsity inning all season, relieved Jim Whitaker in the 11^th.  “It was a gamble,” said Serrano, but he throws strikes and our luck had been so good, I thought maybe he would get ‘em out.”

Nally gave up one hit in three innings and got the victory when Don Hogan singled, went to third on a throwing error and scored the winning run on Charlie Tuttle’s sacrifice fly.

“I’ve known all year we had a good ball club, but until this week we just weren’t doing the job,” Serrano told Bill Finley of the Evening Tribune.  “Not only were we playing poorly, but we got the toughest draw in the tournament.”

5/20/72

AA CHAMPIONSHIP

University (16-10) 4, Point Loma (16-9-1), 1, @San Diego State.

About 1,500 persons watched University complete a remarkable stretch run with a 4-1 victory, becoming the first to finish third in the league season and win a title in the Section’s 13-season history.

Uni defeated the County’s top-ranked teams, Clairemont (1), Helix (2), Point Loma (4), and Hoover (5).

Bill Nally pitched three more innings in relief of starter Mike Dunning and the two, despite giving up 11 hits, stranded 11 Pointers base runners.

”We played well and the breaks that were going against us bounced our way for a change,” said Dons coach Dick Serrano.  “These guys could have rolled over, but they sucked it and went after ‘em this week.”

Clairemont scored on a home run by Vic Damico.  Its second run was unearned and the third and fourth because a Pointer didn’t tag first base on an apparent double play.

5/18/72

CLASS A

CHAMPIONSHIP

Ramona (16-10) 5, @Army-Navy (9-7) 0 (5).

The last of John Maffei’s The San Diego Union weekly poll voting was at conclusion of the San Diego Section playoffs. Cal-Hi Sports and Cal Preps.com rankings included all games in the  CIF state postseason.  Max Preps’ entries were inclusive of San Diego Section playoffs.

RANK	TEAM/RECORD	POINTS	MAXPREPS.COM	CALPREPS.COM	CAL-HI SPORTS
1.	Granite Hills (12-1)	*30/300/3	18/6	59.3/59.7	11/11
2.	Lincoln (11-1)	267/1	13/9	60.6/60.8	12/15
3.	Carlsbad (10-1)	262/2	26/26	53.2/53.4	16/14
4.	Helix (9-2)	197/4	29/28	51/50.1	19/16
5.	St. Augustine (10-5)	175/10	44/41	42.3/43.2	38/43
6.	Mission Hills (9-4)	146/6	49/38	41.6/42.3	52
7.	Del Norte (11-3)	70/NR	118	28.2/29.3	NR/NR
8	El Camino (7-5)	65/7	91	34.5/34.7	NR/NR
9	San Marcos (9-3)	43/NR	108	29.2/30.1	NR/NR
10.	Madison (6-7)	41/NR	83	34.1/34.3	75/NR

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Mount Miguel (12-2, 32 points), La Jolla Country Day (11-3, 23), Torrey Pines (7-4, 17), Mater Dei (6-4, 6), La Costa Canyon (5-6, 3), La Jolla (103, 3), Cathedral (4-8, 2), Sweetwater (8-7, 1).

VOTING PANEL

Twenty-nine sportswriters, sportscasters, administrators from San Diego County, plus Max Preps.com.

• John Maffei (San Diego Union-Tribune).
• Don Norcross, Steve Brand, Rick Hoff, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez , Freelance contributors.
• Brandon Stone, Allison Edmonds, John Carroll (KUSI, Channel 51).
• Rick Smith (partletonsports.com).
• Adam Paul (EastCountySports.com).
• Bodie DeSilva (ScorebookLive.com). 
• John Kentera, Braden Suprenant (97.3-FM The Fan).
• Steve (Biff) Dolan (Mountain Country 107.9-FM). 
• Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association).
• Troy Hirsch, Nic Pollino (Fox 5 San Diego). 
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (CIF San Diego Section).
• Mike Dolan, Rex Johnson, Bruce Ward (CIF Advisory Committee).
• Joe Evangelist (San Diego Coaching Legends Committee).
• Will Torrez (Valley Sports Network).
• Tom Ronco  (Imperial Valley Press).
• Raymond Brown  (SDfootball.net).
• Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference Advisor).
• Max Preps.

SirDarius Autry, a 160-pound junior running back, wide receiver, and cornerback, became the 37th player in County history to score at least 200 points in a season.

“Sir” Autry also became the third running back to finish first in the County in the Hoover Cardinals’ 94-season history, according to available statistics from newspapers and Max Preps research.

Autry matched the total of Terry Rodgers of Sweetwater, the first to score 200, hitting that number in 1985.

Hoover’s Roy Engle and Oceanside’s Bobby Betoncini led County scorers with 57 points each in 1935 and the Cardinals’ Eddie Crain scored 25 points in the abbreviated, 1943 wartime campaign.

Autry bettered the reported school one-season record of 132 points by Deontray Johnson in 2008.   Bob Miller in 1947, Terrell Williams in 2000, and Damonte Holiday in 2013 each had 126.

SOME HIGH SCORERS, PRE-SAN DIEGO SECTION

(Game stats haven’t always been reported or published and individual records haven’t always been accurate .

YEAR	NAME	TEAM	GAMES	TD	PAT	Pts.
1916	Bryan (Pesky) Sprott	San Diego	11	22	0	132
1925	Bert Ritchey	San Diego	11	26	0	156
1929	Frank Greene	Coronado	9	23	26	164
	Blas Torres	St. Augustine	9	17	11	108
1944	Ralph Swain	San Dieguito	7	16	4	100
1946	Art Preston	Grossmont	10	20	3	123
1947	Preston		11	22	0	132
	Bob Miller	Hoover	9	21	0	126
1950	Harry Sykes	Coronado	9	15	10	100
1952	C.R. Roberts	Oceanside	9	31	1	187
1953	Roberts		9	30	14	194
1954	John Adams	Hoover	10	17	6	108
1956	Chuck Wood	Escondido	10	14	19*	106
1957	Hal Tobin	Coronado	9	20	24	144
1958	Gary Mayer	Ramona	11	25	43	193
1959	H.D. Murphy	San Diego	11	21	6	132

*Includes field goal.

Lists of Top Annual Scorers and All-Time Individual Scorers.

The Coach 100 Club welcomed a new member in 2023 and the 200 club could add another in 2024.

Mater Dei coach John Joyner, who announced he was stepping down at conclusion of the season, became the 49^th to win at least 100 games, finishing the season with an all-time record of 104-69, .601 and state Division II-A championship in 2022.

Chris Hauser ended his 15^th season at Mission Hills with a record of 198-86-2, .686, stands 11^th all-time, and could continue to travel with the elite.

BENNIE IN SIGHT

Among 200-game winners, Cathedral’s Sean Doyle could make the biggest jump in 2024.

Win eight games and Doyle (231-110-0, .677) could move past Bennie Edens (238) into fourth place.

Ron Hamamoto (236-188-4, .556), who coached Doyle at earlier-named University and was succeeded by Doyle at Uni in 1996, is also likely to move past Edens.

Others who gained in 2023:

Ramona’s Damon Baldwin is 32^nd with 128 victories, up from 34^th.  Nine wins in 2024 would leapfrog Baldwin over seven others into a tie at 137 with Steve Sutton.

Point Loma’s Joel Allen succeeded Baldwin at No. 35 with 122 victories before announcing his retirement at the end of the season.

El Capitan’s Ron Burner is 40^th with 111 wins after starting the season in a tie for 43^th with Morse’s Tracy McNair, whose four victories in ’22 moved McNair to 44^th.

100 AWAITING OTHERS

At least four coaches, Tony Corley of San Pasqual; Thadd MacNeal of Carlsbad; David Dunn of Lincoln, and Kellan Cobbs of Granite Hills are within six victories of the Century mark.

Corley has 97 wins, MacNeal 96, Dunn 94, and Cobbs 93.  La Costa Canyon’s Sean Sovacool is next with 89.

The full Coach 100 Club list is here.

It almost was all quiet on the San Diego County track and field front.

Pole vaulter Bob Henderson of San Diego high tied for second in the state meet at 12 feet, 9 inches, and was the only local entry to score.

Henderson had a career best of 13 feet and teammate Ben Sohn was one of the better shot putters in Southern California with a best of 50 feet, 8 1/4 inches.

4/2/36

Metropolitan League nomenclature was changing.

A Class C competition was being added in the upcoming league meet at San Diego State and joined by Class A and Class B entries.

The Metro was formed in 1933 and league championship meets in the first three years included two classes, Unlimited and Limited.

Classes are to be determined by exponents, i.e., height, weight, and age.

With 259 entries from eight schools, competition will begin at 10 a.m. and continue until the late afternoon, according to meet director Morris Gross.

4/4/36

Rain washed out the Metropolitan League championships at San Diego State.

4/11/36

San Diego won the sponsored De Molay track meet, part of the Pacific Exposition in Balboa Park and on an apparent temporary track and field site at the Exposition site.

The Hilltoppers had 38 points, followed by Whittier, 33; Montebello, 32; Compton, 21; Sweetwater, 5; Oceanside 3, and Point Loma, Huntington Beach, Coronado, Hoover, and Santa Ana, 1 each.

Five-foot, 8-inch Bob Henderson won two of the Hilltoppers’ five first places, pole vaulting 12 feet, 9 inches, and high jumping 5-11 ¾.

Ben Sohn hurled the shot 50-8 ¼, bettering the school record of 49-6 ½ by Ray Russell in 1930.  Leslie Webb won the 120-yard high hurdles in :16.6 and C.P. McVay won the discus throw at 117-7.

Virgil DeLapp of Montebello created buzz when he won the 880-yard run in a blazing 1:54.6, but twice around the track oval was determined to cover only 796 yards.

4/17/36

San Diego was first in 10 of 13 events and won its Coast League meet at Santa Ana, 83-30.

Ben Sohn won the shot put at 50-3, Bob Henderson the pole vault at 12-3, and Jerry Rudrauff the broad jump at 21-8 1/2.

Bob Henderson and sophomore future star Bob Logan tied for first in the high jump, each clearing 5-9 7/8.

4/18/36

Grossmont coach Ladimir (Jack) Mashin, described as the “Greyhound of the Foothills,” (later known as the Fox of the Foothills) suggested to fellow coaches during the San Diego State-La Verne-Whittier triangular meet that Mashin could run eight laps on the Aztecs’ oval in 14 minutes.

Coaches Hal Niedermeyer of Coronado; Lawrence Carr of La Jolla, and Joe Beerkle of Point Loma, and two others each ponied up $1.

Mashin covered the two miles in 13:43.5 and walked away with $5.

—Hoover’s Don Grenfell was reported to be timed in :22.2 for first place in the 220 in the Davis Relays, near Sacramento.

4/20/36

Billy Gray set a Grossmont school record when he ran :25.5 in the 220 low hurdles at San Diego State, where the Aztec freshmen defeated the Foothillers, 71-28.

4/21/36

San Diego outscored Hoover, 82-31, in their annual dual meet, and set four meet records.

Leslie Webb ran the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.9.  Bob Henderson pole vaulted 12 feet, 9 inches. C.P. McVay whirled the discus 114-6, and Ben Sohn heaved the shot 48-9 ½.

Dick Grenfell was a double winner for Hoover, :10.1 in the 100-yard dash and :23.2 in the 220.

Jerry Rudrauff of San Diego won the broad jump with a leap of 22-1 ½.

4/23/36

Grossmont’s Billy Gray, who set a school record three days before in the 220-yard low hurdles and a consistent 45-foot shot putter, was declared ineligible for the Metropolitan League finals.

CIF boss Seth Van Patten upheld a league ruling after Grossmont coach Jack Mashin took the matter to the higher authority for clarification.

Metro bosses cited Gray for playing in a Sunday baseball game on April 12, a week after the original date of the league track finals.

Someone in the Metro ratted out Gray for a seemingly minor transgression.

4/24/36

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE FINALS @SAN DIEGO STATE

Grossmont could not defend its league championship, finishing fourth in team standings, the loss of Gray meaning expected points in the hurdles and shot put, and in the 880-yard relay, in which the Foothillers did not run.

Oceanside was first in Class A with 48 points.  La Jolla led Class B with 45 points, and Coronado’s 35 was first in Class C.

A total of 22 records were set in the 32 events.

Oceanside’s Billy Huntales raced to a :10.2 win in the 100 and broad jumped 21-6 for two Class A records.

Jerry Soule of La Jolla set three Class B records, 5-10 ½ high jump, :09.6 70-yard high hurdles, and :14.4 120-yard low hurdles and Class C teammate Jim Tripp also tripled, :10.8 100, 20-6 broad jump, and record, :24.8 220.

—San Diego went North to Alhambra without shot putter Ben Sohn, who apparently missed the bus. The Hilltoppers still won, 72 ½-46 ½, and Charles Bell, not Jerry Rudrauff, was reported to have won the broad jump at 22 feet, 2 inches.

5/2/36

BAY LEAGUE FINALS, @LONG BEACH WILSON

Hoover was seventh in a field of seven teams with 12 points as the Wilson Bruins ran away with the team championship with 64 ½ points, outdistancing Santa Monica, which had 35 ½.

Hoover’s Dave Grenfell was fourth in the 100 and third in the 220, races with winning times of :10 and :21.7.

Hoover’s Bud Berg was timed in 2:04.2 and was fifth in the 880 behind the winning 2:02.7.

The Cardinals also were last in Class B with 6 points and were blanked in Class C.

COAST LEAGUE FINALS, @ALHAMBRA

Glenn Broderick’s Hilltoppers rebounded from the 59 ½-53 ½ dual meet loss to Long Beach Poly.

The border city team won two events and tied for first in another, enough for the Hilltoppers to edge Long Beach Poly, 65 1/6-61 2/3, in the team race.

Leslie Webb’s :16.1 in the 120-yard high hurdles, Bob Henderson’s 13-foot pole vault, and Rudy Gonzalez’ 6-1 ¾ high jump, which was matched by a Long Beach Wilson jumper, put  Broderick’s thinclads over the top.

5/8/36

CIF DIVISIONAL, @SAN DIEGO STATE

Bill Huntales won a heat in the 100-yard dash in :10.2 and broad jumped 22 feet, 1/2 inch to lead Oceanside to the team lead with 38 points.

Entries were from the Metropolitan and Imperial Valley leagues.

First-place finishers automatically qualified.  Others could advance after their marks were compared with those from other divisional meets.

5/8/36

CIF DIVISIONAL, @GLENDALE HOOVER

San Diego High entries were aligned against qualifiers from the Bay, Foothill, and Prep leagues.

Bob Henderson of San Diego tied for first with Dave Bodkins of Inglewood at 13 feet in the pole vault.  Hilltopper John Barnhill also qualified, but did not clear 12-3.

Ben Sohn of San Diego was second in the shot put at 48-9 ¼ and teammate Jerry Rudrauff was third in the broad jump at 21-5.

CIF FINALS, @LONG BEACH WILSON

5/16/36

San Diego scored 9 ½ points to finish sixth in team scoring as seven Wilson athletes scored 27 ½ points.

Los Angeles Jefferson, 1935 champion, did not participate as the school had joined others in forming the L.A. City Section.

Pasadena Muir was second with 14 ½, fired by the early-in-the-meet victory at 23 feet, ¾ inches in the broad jump by Jackie Robinson.

Eddie Arnold, Robinson’s teammate, won the Class B broad jump at 23-2 ½.

Bob Henderson of San Diego tied for first with Dave Bodkins of Inglewood at 12-6 in the pole vault; Henderson’s teammate, John  Barnhill, was third at 12 feet, and Ben Sohn was fourth with a 50-2 ¼ effort in the shot put.

5/23/36

22nd STATE MEET, @GRIDLEY HIGH.

About 125 athletes, including one from San Diego, competed in 90-degree weather at the high school 55 miles North of Sacramento.

Bob Henderson of San Diego tied for second in the pole vault with Jim Peterson of Carpinteria, behind the 12-11 by Dave Bodkins of Inglewood.

Pasadena Muir Tech, aided by a CIF decision to allow Southern Section Class B broad jump champion Eddie Arnold to compete, upset Long Beach Wilson, 18-15 in final point totals.

Arnold, who set a Class B meet record of 23-2 ½ a week before, won the event with a jump of 23-1 ¾.  Jackie Robinson was not listed as placing in the top five.

After five defeats in the Southern California regionals, including a couple jaw-droppers, Del Norte, 30-28 to Lake Balboa Birmingham, and St. Augustine, 21-20 to Ventura St. Bonaventure, the San Diego Section is down to one team.

Would you believe 8-6 Sweetwater?

The same Red Devils, 0-4 at the start of the season and 8-43 from 2015-20, who won their fifth game in a row, the last four in the charged atmosphere of the playoffs, including the regional, 47-27, versus visiting Santa Monica St. Monica (11-4).

The Red Devils of coach Ervin Hernandez, will play 13-0 Colusa of the Northern Section Saturday at 11 a.m. at El Camino College in Torrance for the state VI-A title.

Sweetwater, despite some lean years after the millennium, has a long and honored history, notably the wildly successful 1960’s-‘80’s eras of coaches Dave Lay, Gene Alim, and Al Jacobus.

The latest success represented the Red Devils’ first in an intersectional game in the postseason since a Cinderella run in the 1958 Southern Section playoffs, in which they reached the semifinal round before losing, 34-20, to Santa Monica after tying Anaheim, 7-7, and beating Santa Maria, 27-7.

Dave Lay was 76-27 (.739) from 1967-77, not counting a Dreaded Administrative Glitch which cost his 1968 team eight forfeit losses and a no-contest.  Gene Alim was 74-9 (.892) from 1981-87, and Al Jacobus 23-7 (.767) from 1978-80. The trio overall was 173-39 (.816), not counting forfeits. Alim also coached again at Sweetwater from 1991-94.

WHA’ HAPPENED?

Del Norte (11-3) and St. Augustine (10-5) are asking that question.

Visiting Birmingham, from the Los Angeles City Section, trailed in the III-AA contest, 28-24, and appeared dead in the water until quarterback Kingston Tisdale launched a Hail Mary pass from his 48-yard line on the game’s final play.

Peyton Jackson, Tisdale’s intended receiver, did not make the catch at the 12-yard line but deflected the ball.  Teammate Devyn Jackson was in position at the 17-yard line, made the reception and ran untouched for the winning score.

“I just can’t believe we’re going to go out on a play like that,” Nighthawks wide receiver Ty Olsen, who had put his team ahead on a 75-yard kickoff return with 9:52 remaining, told Don Norcross of The San Diego Union.

Said Nighthawks quarterback Jack Schneider: “I don’t know what to believe.  Disbelief.”

LAST SECOND AGAIN

St. Augustine led visiting St. Bonaventure of the Southern Section, 20-14, until a halfback, four-yard touchdown pass on the game’s final play in the D-I contest.

Not as dramatic as Del Norte’s loss, but equally stunning.  St. Augustine had given up the ball on its 30-yard line with eight seconds to play.

A pass completion put the ball on the Saints’ four-yard line with four seconds to play, followed by a quarterback ball spike that left two seconds on the clock.

Two too many.

NOT AS CLOSE

Granite Hills led the I-AA playoff at Mission Viejo, 14-0, and then was buried under a 49-0 Diablos onslaught to finish the 12-1 season with a 49-21 loss.

Mount Miguel was ushered out in DIII-A, 52-21, by Lakewood Mayfair at Bellflower High and La Jolla Country Day was ousted, 41-21, in DV-A at Wilmington Banning.

TRUE GRID

Sweetwater will be making it 70^th playoff appearance, dating to a 13-6 playoff loss to San Diego High in 1922…the Red Devils were 2-6-1 in Southern Section postseason games, are 33-28-1 in the postseason since joining the nascent San Diego Section in 1960, and 35-34-1 overall…the Colusa Red Hawks are 13-0, having won the Northern California regional, 42-6 over South San Francisco after Northern Section wins of 14-7 over East Nicolaus and 42-13 over Winters…Colusa High opened in 1916, about 65 miles North of Sacramento…until 2010 the school mascot was the Colus plant, a flowering grass endemic to the area…the Red Hawks have a 10.4 Cal-Preps.com rating to Sweetwater’s -4.4…Colusa is ranked 256th in California and Sweetwater 448th by Max Preps … the computer is calling a 38-22 victory for the Red Hawks….