Mater Dei’s recovery from an 0-21 hole to a 22-21 win over Downey in the Southern California playoff last week wasn’t the only remarkable achievement by the South Bay club this year.

The Crusaders’ 10-game winning streak, following four straight losses to open the season, is unprecedented, according to researcher and webmaster Henrik Jonson, who estimated that almost 29,000 games have been played by San Diego County teams since San Diego High (then known as Russ High School) kicked off in the first in 1891.

Two teams, 2014 Madison and 2018 Canyon Hills, lost their first three and then won nine straight before bowing in their final games.

Mater Dei can add an 11th consecutive victory and defend its state II-AA championship Friday at 4 p.m. at Mission Viejo Saddleback College against Oakland McClymonds, champion of the tiny Oakland section, comprised only of the historic Oakland Athletic League. “Mack” is the alma mater of many great athletes, including basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell and baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson.

II-A

Granite Hills will attempt to win its first state championship after winning its first San Diego Section title in the school’s 63-season history.  The Eagles meet Danville San Ramon Valley at noon Saturday at Mission Viejo Saddleback College.

Coach Kellan Cobbs’ team likes to attack with a three-pronged running game of Isaiah Jackson, Zak Darling, and Maxwell Turner, who have combined for 2,437 yards and 34 touchdowns in the 12-2 season.

The Eagles showed as birds of prey they were higher up the figurative food chain when they soared past the Rancho Cucamonga Eagles, 41-21, in the Southern California playoff last week.

VI-AA

Classical’s almost Cinderella season comes to a conclusion Friday, beginning with a 5 a.m. bus departure from the Escondido campus and 442-mile ride to south San Jose.

The Caimans will meet Central Coast champion Santa Teresa on the Saints’ home field at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Classical’s 10-3 record is in sharp relief to the 1-9 campaign of 2021 and the 0-4 of 2020.  The Caimans finished third with a 1-2 record to city rival Escondido Charter and Francis Parker in the Pacific League this season.

The Caimans got Life (Pollard) this season from the running back, who rushed for 1,423 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Following the 16-8 loss to rival Escondido Charter in the final regular-season game, Classical rolled through the playoffs, defeating Calexico Vincent Memorial, 32-0; winning a rematch with Charter, 28-14; topping San Diego Section D-V No. 1 seed Crawford, 33-14, and ousting Lancaster, 34-14, last week in the Southern California playoff.

Matchups involving San Diego Section teams in the state bowl championship series this week:

Lincoln (12-1) versus Concord De La Salle (10-3), North Coast Section, Friday, 8 p.m., Mission Viejo Saddleback College.

Calpreps pick:

Lincoln, 65 per cent chance of winning.

Mater Dei versus Oakland McClymonds (Oakland Section), Friday, 4 p.m., Mission Viejo Saddleback College.

Calpreps pick:

Mater Dei, 65 per cent chance of winning.

Granite Hills versus Danville San Ramon Valley (North Coast) Saturday, noon, Mission Viejo Saddleback College.

Calpreps pick:

Granite Hills, 62 per cent chance of winning.

Calpreps pick:

Classical @San Jose Santa Teresa (Central Coast), Saturday, 6 p.m.

Calpreps pick:

Santa Teresa, 65 per cent chance of winning.

Lincoln, riding with Hot-Roderick Robinson, a 228-pound running back committed to the University of Georgia, will attempt to do what no San Diego Section team has done in this week’s CIF state bowl Division 1-AA championship:

Win a game against Concord De La Salle, the North Coast Section champion with the pedigree of 151 consecutive wins from 1992-2004.

Four of those 151 victories were against San Diego Section squads and two others have brought the Spartans a 6-0 record against the area’s best clubs:

Lincoln (12-1) stunned Chatsworth Sierra Canyon and a legion of Los Angele-area experts with a 37-14 victory on the road in the Southern California playoffs last week.

Robinson has been nursing a tender hamstring but he blazed a trail through the Trailblazers with 178 yards in 16 carries and four touchdowns, including 74- and 47-yard scoring runs.

Lincoln, leading, 10-7, at halftime, threw down on the Trailblazers with a 27-0 blitz in the third quarter.

The Hornets are Cal-Hi Sports’ No. 9 team this week and have a 65.1 calpreps rating.  They are fourth in California, according to Max Preps.

De La Salle (10-3) advanced with a come-from-behind, 17-14 win over Folsom, another blooded state contender. The Spartans are Cal-Hi’s No. 8 team, have 55.5 calpreps strength, and Max Preps ranks them 12^th.

Heralded Mikey Williams  has returned for his senior basketball season at San Ysidro after two years at an academy in North Carolina.  Updated Max Preps stats show Williams with an 18.3 average in the Cougars’ five games, in which San Ysidro is 3-2, including a 95-70 loss to Corona Centennial. Williams scored 24 points.  J.J. Taylor leads the team with a 25.2 average, according to Max Preps.

The first poll actually follows the preseason Top 10 created by John Maffei of the Union-Tribune several days ago and is reflected in the “Last” column.  The season began for most teams around the first of November.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Week 1 poll:
First-place votes in parenthesis.
Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
*First-place votes. NR—Not ranked.
Last entries in column indicate previous rank.

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES

Cathedral (3-3, 23 points), Otay Ranch (5-1, 15), San , Lincoln (4-1, 2), San Diego (3-1, 5), Bonita Vista (4-1, 3), El Capitan (10-3, 2), San Diego High Tech (6-0, 1).

VOTING PANEL

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
• Steve Brand, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Freelance contributors.
• Rick Smith, partletonsports.com.
• Adam Paul, eastcountysports.com.
• John Kentera, (97.3 FM The Fan).
• Bodie DeSilva, scoreboardlive.com.
• Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM.
• Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
• Todd Cassen, Joe Heinz, Ron Marquez, CIF San Diego Section.
• Rex Johnson, CIF Advisory Committee.
• Joe Evangelist, San Diego Coaching Legends Committee.
• Tom Helmantoler, Southern Conference Advisor.

The San Diego Section and the rest of California prepare for a final act in the 2022 season with CIF state bowl championships this week.

Teams from here have a 15-18 record (victories below in bold type) in the competition that resumed in 2006 after an 80-year hiatus. Lincoln, Mater Dei, Granite Hills, and Classical will represent the San Diego Section.

San Diego High, a Division-V winner in 2018, has some history with the earlier incarnation of state championships.

The Hilltoppers, as they were known, declined an opportunity to play Bakersfield (1916: “Did Hilltoppers Forfeit to Drillers?”) after winning the Southern Section championship, posting a 12-0 record, and eventually being declared national champions by a publication.

The Hilltoppers played for a mythical Southern California championship in 1922 (after winning the Southern Section), with the winner taking on Berkeley for the state gonfalon.  Bakersfield defeated San Diego, 17-6, in City Stadium, which was renamed Balboa Stadium in 1939.

Classical (10-3) makes a first-ever appearance in the Southern California playoffs, host at neutral Del Norte to Lancaster (9-5) in Division VI-AA.

Despite finishing with a 1-2 record and in third place in the Pacific League, the Caimans rolled in the playoffs, upsetting Crawford, 33-14, in the D-V championship.

OPPONENT DOWN AND UP

Lancaster won eight of its last nine games, a streak interrupted only by a 63-0 loss to Palmdale Highland. The Eagles defeated Cerritos Valley, 44-42 for the Southern Section D-XII title.

Calpreps.com declared the Caimans are holding a 65 percent chance of defeating the team from North Los Angeles County.

GRANITE GOES SATURDAY

Granite Hills (11-2) takes on Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda (9-5) in the Division II-A playoffs.

Other San Diego teams’ games are Friday, but the Eagles-Eagles contest is Saturday night at Granite Hills.

The computer calpreps.com gives Granite Hills a 62 percent chance of winning.

Coach Kellan Cobbs Eagles won their first San Diego Section championship, a D-II rout of 48-12 over Ramona after losses in 1975 and ’79.

The Eagles lost only to teams ranked in the Union-Tribune Top 10 this season, Poway (10-1), 31-19, in the opening game, and Madison (9-2), 15-12.

THE OTHER BIRDS OF PREY

Etiwanda’s Eagles overcame a 4-5 start and caught fire in a wild run to the Southern Section D-5 title.

Following a 38-7, opening-round victory over Yucaipa (a 21-14 winner in the regular season over University City),  the Eagles topped Anaheim Canyon, 69-49, Lawndale Leuzinger, 22-21, and La Canada  St. Francis, 45-42.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PLAYOFF BRACKETS