1949 Baseball: Hillers Clobbered Almost All Opponents

Only a team more than 400 hundred miles away and in another state could stop coach Dewey (Mike) Morrow’s powerful San Diego Hillers.

The also named Cavemen dropped three of four games in a home-and-home series with Arizona’s Tucson Badgers but bludgeoned 29 teams from Southern California and won Morrow’s 10th Southern Section championship.

According to Don King’s “Caver Conquest”, Morrow had seven hitters in his lineup who batted at least .400 in a 10-0 Coast League season.

The Hillers averaged 15 runs a game and scored at least 10 runs in 24.

Morrow had coached 10 of San Diego’s Southern California championships since the Montana native came to the Hilltop from the University of California at Berkeley in 1926.

3/1/49

Hoover scored nine runs in the fourth inning and defeated the team from the destroyer tender USS Piedmont, 10-7, at Navy Field.

–Kearny won at La Jolla, 12-11, in a nonleague game between Metropolitan League rivals.  Tom Eggert hit a three-run home run for the Komets.

3/4/49

Bill Atkisson gave up two hits and Don Bonatus and Jack MacKay each had two and Hoover defeated Point Loma, 3-1, on the Pointers’ diamond.

–John Doughty and Dick Geraci, limited host Brown Military to two hits in a 10-4 Sweetwater victory.

San Diego High coach Mike Morrow was host for special baseball school event, with special guest, bat-holding Jack Fournier, St. Louis Browns scout. Other coaches (from left):  Keith Broaders, Coronado; Charlie Smith, San Diego State, and Bill Matthie, Hoover.

3/8/49

Bill Guevarra struck out 17 and pitched Oceanside to a 6-3 win at Escondido.  Erwin Heald drove in three runs with a double and two singles.

–Don Lenardi and Jack Wilburn each hit grand slam home runs in Grossmont’s 10-8 win over visiting La Jolla.

3/10/49

After opening with wins of 12-2 and 20-5 over La Jolla, San Diego High hooked up with interstate power Tucson, Arizona, for a two-game series in Balboa Stadium.

The Hillers won the opener, 9-6, as Frank Sanfillipo and Tommy Martinez each delivered two-run doubles.

–Terry Shaw had three hits and Luis Bruun clouted a three-run home run in Chula Vista’s 6-3 win at Hoover.

3/11/49

Tucson got a split in the two-game series at San Diego, 2-1.

–Sophomore John Doughty struck out 17 batters and Sweetwater defeated El Centro Central, 10-4, in the desert.

Three of coach Mike Morrow’s heavy hitters (from left), Clyde Thomas, Frank Sanfilippo, and Eddie Simpson.

3/16/49

Vern Couts was touched for only two hits and San Diego scored a 7-1 win at Chula Vista.

–Jerry Meyers’ two-run home run in the second inning was the difference in St. Augustine’s 3-1 win at La Jolla.

3/17/49

San Diego High opened the Coast League campaign with an 11-1 victory at Hoover, advancing the Hillers to a 5-1 record.

Jack Smith had four hits and limited the Cardinals to six, with a ninth-inning single by Joe Duke scoring Ed Thile when the ball got past outfielder Chuck Powell (to become better known as Charlie).

3/20/57

The first annual Prep Baseball Carnival at Lane Field was announced to the media, which received a mimeographed, 13-page document.

“The publication, evidently designed to serve the dual role of military field order and publicity booklet, seems to cover everything from the color of pom poms to the size of the leftfielder’s belt buckle,” wrote Jerry Brucker of The Tribune-Sun.

The evernt would start at 6:55 p.m. with bands and pageantry from the seven participating Metropolitan League schools and former member Grossmont from the Coast League.

Pregame activity would conclude with the Star Spangled Banner by the massed bands at 7:50. First pitch was at 8 p.m. Teams would play three innings or to a 25-minute time limit.

Host Chula Vista High went all out in promotion of the league carnival. Front row (from left) cheerleaders Dolores Ivars, Marilyn DeWofe, Audrey Holmes, Joyce Hawthorne. Others, including players (from left): Laura Lewis, Don Jack, Vera Fortune, Larry Blocker, Geneva Dupree, Terry Shaw.

3/24/49

Carnival-participating Grossmont and Coach John Hancock faced a busy weekend.

The Foothillers defeated visiting Compton, 9-0, the day before the tournament and also had a 10 a.m. appointment the day of to play Pasadena Muir.

–San Diego blanked Pasadena, 15-0, and Hoover topped Muir, 12-6, in other games with Coast League visitors.

3/25/49

Carnival chairman/Chula Vista principal Joe Rindone and vice-chairman Dick Barber of Kearny weren’t concerned with geography.

La Jolla, Oceanside, Point Loma, and Sweetwater, the “South”, defeated the “North”, Escondido, Kearny, Grossmont and Chula Vista, 8-0.

Kearny’s Jim McMinn singled off La Jolla’s Bud Hemmerly for the North’s only base hit.

The 12-inning program was reduced to a more manageable eight innings but was declared a success with announced attendance of 5,000 persons.

3/28/49

San Diego ran its record to 9-1 with a fourth straight Coast League victory, 12-3, over Grossmont.

Frank Sanfillipo hit a grandslam home run in a five-run sixth inning.  Eddie Simpson had four hits and a home run and Jack Smith gave up two hits.

–Jerry Newton was 2 for 3 and Hoover made a run in the fifth inning stand up in a 6-5 win at Chula Vista.

3/31/49

–Kearny was out hit, 8-3, but beat St. Augustine, 9-3, with Dick Bartz earning the victory.

–Metropolitan League play opened with Sweetwater’s John Doughty stopping Oceanside on five hits, 8-3.

–Escondido’s Bob Linares gave up 11 hits, including a double and triple to Bob Schertzer, but defeated Chula Vista, 4-1.

Hoover’s Ralph Buckingham winced as he slid safely back to third base as ball (right) bounced away. Buckingham had been drilled by San Diego catcher’s pickoff attempt. Third baseman Al Kennerly reacted. Hillers won, 11-1, at Hoover.

4/1/49

San Diego walked Hoover into submission, 21-3.  Three Cardinals pitchers allowed 18 bases on balls, an average of two an inning.

The Hillers, who amassed 11 hits, scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning.

4/6/49

Neale Henderson tripled and Frank Sanfilippo homered and San Diego beat St. Augustine, 13-4.

4/7/49

Sweetwater’s John Doughty, aided by catcher Dave Brennan, who had four hits in six times at bat—single, two doubles, and triple—kept Escondido in check, 10-4.

–Three ninth-inning errors paved the way for Oceanside to come from behind and win at Point Loma, 4-3.

Kearny’s Metropolitan League championship team included batsmiths Tony Roe, George Eggert, Tom Eggert, and Jim McMinn (from left).

4/8/49

Nineteen base hits echoed in Balboa Stadium. San Diego scored 13 runs in the fourth inning and went on to a 15-5 win over Compton.

Curt Everett was 4 for 4 at the plate for the Hillers.  Neale Henderson had three hits and Bobby Jordan started the fourth-inning avalanche with a three-run triple.

–Bob Fuller was three-for-four but Grossmont sustained a 9-3 loss at Pasadena.

–Kearny, a 1-0 loser to La Jolla in the teams’ two-inning joust in the Metropolitan loop carnival, reversed the score, 14-5.

Jim McMinn, Joe Spano, and pitcher Dick Bartz all had two hits. The Komets scored four runs in each of the second and third innings.

–Hoover defeated visitor St. Augustine, 5-4, with two runs in the bottom of the ninth.

4/9/49

San Diego sluggers’ 14 hits punched out Pasadena Muir, 11-4. Curt Everett had three hits in four at-bats, giving Everett a 7 for 8 week in Coast League play.

–Don Bonatus hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning and singled to start a five-run ninth as Hoover won at Compton, 9-4.

–Chula Vista won a morning-afternoon double header in the desert that started with Larry Blocker’s no-hitter and 7-0 whitewash of Calexico.

The Spartans came back after lunch and Don Jack yielded six hits and hung on for a 7-6 win over El Centro Central.

4/10/49

Seven San Diego teams traveling North at an early hour were scheduled to open play in the 14th annual Pomona 20-30 Club tournament.

Area squads, including San Diego, Point Loma, Coronado, Hoover, Grossmont, La Jolla, and Escondido, were scheduled for first pitches at 11 a.m. Other first-round games started at 9.

Hoover’s Bob Petty reached third base when throw pulled Pasadena Muir’s Salazar off bag. Cardinals won, 12-0.

4/11/49

San Diego and Point Loma rolled into the quarterfinals.

Point Loma opened with an 18-3 victory over Corona and followed by defeating Santa Barbara, 9-5.  San Diego topped Covina, 7-4, and Santa Ana, 16-1.

–La Jolla, beaten by Compton, 5-4, remained alive in the consolation bracket with a 4-2 win over Colton.

4/12/49

Al Kennerly was another reliable bat and infielder for coach Mike Morrow’s Hillers.

San Diego rampaged through the quarterfinals, 21-2 over Huntington Beach.  Point Loma made a sixth-inning run hold up and nudged Compton, 5-4.  Corona ousted La Jolla, 4-2, in the consolation quarterfinals.

Things became more difficult as the two survivors moved into the semifinals in the afternoon.

Coach Mike Morrow’s Hillers pushed over a run in the ninth to edge Inglewood, 3-2.  Frank SanFilippo’s single scored the winning run and Ray McCoy’s four-hit pitching kept the Sentinels at bay.

Coach Hilbert Crosthwaite’s Pointers got past Compton in the quarterfinals and then fell behind after one inning, 5-0, to Pomona

Ed Serrano relieved starter Jim Poole in the first inning and kept the Red Devils from crossing the plate again.

The Pointers swung  away at Pomona’s Marty Keogh, tying the game in the third inning and going ahead with a three-run sixth, highlighted by Izzy Lang’s two run homerun.

The 8-5 victory meant Point Loma and San Diego would meet in a City Prep League-versus-Metropolitan loop final.

4/13/49

Curt Everett hit a grand slam home run in a nine-run first inning and added a three-run shot in the second inning as San Diego continued a scorched earth policy in a 19-3 rout of Point Loma for the title.

The Hillers had 20 hits and took advantage of 11 Pointers errors, four in the first inning.

San Diego had scored at least 10 runs in 11 of 16 games and were heading into the second half of the season with a 15-1 record.

Neale Henderson of San Diego stole second base as Hoover’s Jack MacKay awaited throw. Hillers romped in Balboa Stadium, 21-3.

4/20/49

Dick Murphy hit two home runs and drove in five in St. Augustine’s 9-5 win over Hoover, whose Ralph Buckingham gave up only three hits but was the victim of seven errors.

4/21/49

Dick Day had three hits and five runs batted in and Larry Blocker hit a three-run home run, and Chula Vista was a 12-5 winner at Oceanside.

4/22/49

Don Bonatus and Ralph Buckingham had three hits and each hit two-run homers as host Hoover defeated Pasadena, 7-3, behind Bert Grigsby’s six-hit pitching and 11 strikeouts.

–Muir’s Mustangs, the Pasadena Bullpups’ neighbors, topped Grossmont, 2-1, and La Jolla knocked Sweetwater from the Metropolitan League’s unbeaten ranks, 8-2.

4/26/49

Jay Harris’ three-run homer in the eighth inning sent Grossmont to a 12-8 victory over Hoover.  Ralph Fuller also homered with two on for the Foothillers.

4/29/49

Dick Day’s single scored Frank Castro with the winning run in an 11-inning, 4-3 win over La Jolla.
–Point Loma won in 10 innings at Escondido, 3-2, Frank Leinmeister scoring when the Cougars made two errors.

5/6/49

Eight Sweetwater errors and a four-hit day by Tony Roe were more than enough for Kearny to win, 14-3.

–Ed Serrano struck out 15 and Point Loma edged Chula Vista, 4-2.

Irwin Hedstrom Jack Rosenquist, and Bob Borden (from left) carried lumber for Oceanside.

5/8/49

Jack Lutz gave up four hits while his San Diego teammates manufactured 19 and mowed down Pasadena, 12-1, for the Hillers’ ninth straight CPL victory.

5/10/49

Curt Everett hit two home runs and a double and San Diego topped Point Loma, 12-3.

5/13/49

Point Loma stunned the Metro loop’s undefeated Kearny and ace pitcher Dick Bartz, 13-4. The Pointers erupted for eight runs in the eighth inning.

Manny Vargas had four hits and a three-run home run off Bartz in the big inning.  Calvin Burns and Izzy Lang also homered.

–The Southern Prep League opener at Julian was called in the fifth inning because of fog.  The Eagles and Army-Navy were deadlocked 8-8.

5/19/49

Hal Conrad and Joe Haas were the hitting stars in Brown Military’s 14-9 win at San Dieguito.  Conrad had a home run and Haas three hits.

5/20/49

Jerry Rees and Dick Bartz took their places in Kearny High history, leading the Komets to a 2-1 victory at Chula Vista for the Metropolitan League championship.

The win marked Kearny’s first varsity title in any sport since the school began playing upper level competition with its first senior class in 1944 after opening as a junior high in 1941.

Jerry Rees singled in what proved the winning run in the fifth inning and Bartz set down the Spartans on two hits.

Kearny completed the one-round pennant race with a 5-1 record.  Point Loma was 4-2.  Oceanside, La Jolla, and Chula Vista were 3-3, Sweetwater 1-4, and Escondido 1-5.

–Eddie Serrano struck out 15 in Point Loma’s 7-2 win over Sweetwater and Oceanside beat La Jolla, 4-3, in 15 innings on Jack Troupe’s single that scored Erwin Heald.

5/21/49

Paul Lockridge, with brother Frank catching, and two other Fallbrook pitchers allowed two hits as the Warriors made it three out of four in the Southern Prep with an 11-2 win at Ramona.

5/22/49

Charlie Powell’s three-run home run in the 12th inning ended a San Diego warmup for its Southern California playoff against Orange, 10-8 at Naval Training Center.

5/24/49

Don Hartridge struck out 20 batters and pitched Vista to a 7-4 victory at Brown Military.

–Future NFL game referee Fred Swearingen homered in Fallbrook’s 8-3 win over San Dieguito.

5/25/49

Idle from prep play for almost two weeks, guest San Diego continued to batter the opposition, routing Orange, 15-1, in a Southern Section quarterfinals round playoff.

Tommy Martinez, Curt Everett, and Neale Henderson sprayed nine of the Hillers’ 20 hits around the Panthers’ ball park.

Martinez had four singles in five times at bat, Henderson two singles, and Everett doubled and added two singles.

Sweetwater pitcher John Doughty took double digit sign for curve ball from catcher Dave Brennan

5/27/49

A crowd of 3,000 in Pomona came to watch the high-powered team from the border town and they witnessed another explosive San Diego attack.

Coach Mike Morrow’s Hillers struck for 15 hits in a 13-5 win over the Red Devils, sending San Diego into the Southern California finals against Santa Barbara, 11-2 winner over Long Beach Wilson.

Frank SanFilippo, Tommy Martinez, and Curt Everett had three hits each and Clyde Thomas tripled twice.

6/3/49

Vista added the Southern Prep League championship to titles won in football, basketball, and tennis by defeating Fallbrook, 8-4, behind Don Hartridge’s five-hit pitching.

6/4/49

With a championship on the line, some teams appeared intimidated or struck with a case of jitters facing San Diego.

As Point Loma felt in the Pomona Tournament, Santa Barbara, beaten only by the Pointers in Pomona, was similarly affected.

The Golden Tornado, 14-1, coming into the Southern Section final, committed 10 errors and San Diego won its 15th championship, 8-2.

The San Diego Padres gifted the teams with the use of Lane Field and 1,000 persons were on hand.

Jack Smith limited the visitors to seven hits, including a home run by future major league slugger Eddie Mathews, who drove a ball over the 358-foot sign in right field onto Pacific Highway.

Mathews also almost got into a dustup with the Hillers’ Neale Henderson after Henderson’s hard tag at second base.  Cooler heads prevailed.

Tommy Martinez led the Hillers with two hits, two runs batted in and two runs scored.




2021-22 Week 7: St. Augustine, San Marcos Neck and Neck

RATINGS GAME

The San Diego Union-Tribune poll.  First-place points in parenthesis.  Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

RANK TEAM RECORD POINTS LAST WEEK
1. St. Augustine (11) 10-6 145 1
2. San Marcos (4) 8-3 139 2
3. Torrey Pines (1) 10-4 115 3
4. Cathedral (2) Catholic 13-5 97 4
5. Mission Hills (1) 11-5 96 6
6. Mission Bay 12-4 88 5
7. San Ysidro 11-5 76 7
8. La Costa Canyon 10-4 66 8
9 Mater Dei 8-3 19 9
10. San Diego 9-2 18 10

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Carlsbad (9-7, 6 points), La Jolla Country Day (9-3, 4), Del Norte (13-4, 3), Montgomery (12-2, 2), Scripps Ranch (12-5, 2), Otay Ranch (11-4. 1), Granite Hills (12-3, 1).

VOTING PANEL

  • John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
  • Aaron Burgin Fulltime Hoops.com.
  • Nick Pollino, Fox 5 San Diego.
  • John Kentera, Braden Suprenant, 97.3-FM The Fan.
  • Adam Paul, ECPreps.com.
  • Bodie DeSilva, scorebooklive.com.
  • Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com.
  • Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Steve Brand, Freelance correspondents.
  • Brad Enright, LA Court Report.
  • Ramon Scott, Eastcountysports.com.
  • Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country, 107.9-FM. Christian 
  • Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
  • Max Preps.   



1927: Foothillers Bring Championship to Grossmont

Grossmont’s Southern California Minor Division football championship for schools with less than 1,000 students was achieved following a series of competitive and administrative tug of wars.

Coach Ladimir (Jack) Mashin’s Foothillers defeated Calexico High, 9-0, on the Grossmont gridiron to complete an 8-0-3 season that included a championship in the San Diego County League.

With a 4-0-2 league record and two nonleague wins behind them, the Foothillers opened the playoffs at home with a 14-7, semifinal victory over the Oxnard Yellowjackets, Holly Partin scoring the winning touchdown on a 10-yard run, reportedly as the gun sounded to end the game.

The championship was to be decided at El Centro’s Central High, Grossmont taking on the Calexico Bulldogs. But after four hard-fought quarters the teams were tied, 0-0.

The San Diego Sun noted Grossmont's playoff game.
The San Diego Sun noted Grossmont’s playoff game.

Grossmont had a chance to win in the closing seconds, but Partin’s field goal attempt from the 15-yard line, on a sharp angle, “failed to clear the crossbar by less than an inch,” according to Charles Savage, The San Diego Union reporter who had made the three-hour trek across the Laguna Mountains to the Imperial Valley locale.

PRECIPITATION AND THEN NIGHTFALL

“A heavy rain fell during the entire contest,” Savage wrote. “Officials were forced to abandon the required playoff rule at the end of sixty minutes of play because of darkness. This arrangement calls for five plays by each team, with two points going to the eleven making the most yardage.”

Grossmont’s 12-8 advantage in first downs was not a factor.

Savage pointed out that conditions had become such in the Imperial Valley that players and spectators could not follow the action in the game’s closing moments.

Instead of being declared co-champions,   CIF Southern Section rules decreed that the teams  should play again.  Mashin and Calexico coach Ed Covington both announced that the CIF Southern Section  would be requested to fix a playoff date.

“It is probable that the battle will be replayed in the San Diego stadium next Saturday,” Savage wrote.

“Not so fast,” actually words much stronger, were uttered by Calexico’s Covington. Five days after the game a site for the rematch had not been selected.

WHO PLAYS AT HOME?

Long Beach Wilson principal Harry J. Moore was the official who coordinated the CIF Minor Division playoffs.

On Monday, two days following the 0-0 deadlock, Moore notified Mashin that the contest could be played at Grossmont “or any field the Foothillers selected,” according to The San Diego Union.

But Covington protested that the previous game, having been played at El Centro Central (approximately five miles from the Calexico campus) was on a neutral field and that Calexico should be the home team in title game II.

Covington’s argument was specious, but Moore waffled.

Long-distance telephone calls flooded the lines from La Mesa and the Imperial Valley into Moore’s office.  Finally Moore declared that the rematch could be played on the “neutral” Navy Field in San Diego or at San Diego’s City Stadium.

Both venues would be favorable to Grossmont.

The Foothillers argued that they already had made arrangements for a home game, prepared their playing field, and had sold tickets.

PARTIN PAVES THE WAY

Grossmont finally prevailed on choosing of the site, then defeated the Bulldogs before a large crowd on the Foothillers’ field.

Holly Partin was the scoring star for Grossmont.  He kicked a 25-yard field goal in the first quarter and fielded a Calexico  punt and raced 60 yards  to a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Grossmont had a 10-1 edge in first downs and was 2 for 4 on passing attempts, while Calexico did not complete a pass in seven attempts.

Grossmont’s season had begun with the Foothillers scrambling for a game when Mountain Empire dropped out of the County League four days before the eight-game, round-robin league schedule was to begin.

Rumors swirled that the Redskins, who participated in the league in 1925-26, were going to bail.

The Union reported days before that “coaching gossip” indicated the Campo school did not have enough players or suitable talent to compete.

Grossmont filled the open date at the start of the season and scored a 13-0 victory over the San Diego High B team.

COACH FOR ALL SEASONS

Mashin coached two other undefeated teams during his 25 seasons as head coach at the school which overlooks the El Cajon valley from its perch near the Grossmont summit, hard by Interstate 8.

Mashin had posted a 125-66-23 record for a winning percentage of .633 when he retired from the position after the 1947 season. When he passed away in San Diego at age 92 in 1987 Mashin’s career as a football coach and game official was almost forgotten.

Known as the “Fox of the Foothills,” the kindly Mashin also was track and field coach at Grossmont and developed teams that battled mighty San Diego High and other Coast League and City Prep League powers for league and Southern California supremacy.

In the 1950s Grossmont distance runners and field event competitors were among the best in the country.

Mashin and his wife, Virginia, for many years a math teacher at Kearny, had met when both were on  staff at Grossmont. They traveled internationally, attending several Summer Olympics. At behest of the U.S. State Department, Mashin coached Pakistan’s 1956 and first Summer Olympics team.

The Fox still was coaching and developing top-flight shot putters in his seventies.

Mashin’s widow died in 2005. She and her husband left much of their estate, almost $2 million, to the Grossmont Union School District, San Diego Education Fund, the San Diego Hall of Champions, and their alma maters, Purdue University for her and Montana State for he.

SAN DIEGO HIGH ON THE OUTS?

Relations between San Diego High and its Coast League counterparts were viewed with suspicion.

Evening Tribune columnist Ted Steinmann wondered whether the league’s Northern entries were trying to “freeze out” the Hillers, not notifying them of recent league meetings, and creating an embarrassing situation surrounding the appointment of game officials for the Hilltoppers’ home contest against Glendale.

Steinmann wrote that three days before kickoff league president Harry Moore of Long Beach Wilson asked San Diego principal John Aseltine to appoint officials from those available in San Diego.   At game time four Los Angeles-area officials showed up.

The San Diego officials “gracefully bowed out after learning to their surprise that the Los Angeles group had been appointed two weeks in advance,” Steinmann wrote.

Steinmann’s report was at odds with that which was reported by The San Diego Sun, which noted two days before kickoff that game officials were coming from a Los Angeles-area association.

ASELTINE DENIES RUMORS

San Diego High principal John Aseltine issued a statement saying that Coast League officials took no action to oust the Hilltoppers during a league meeting Dec. 6 at Whittier, but Aseltine hinted of a new direction for his school.

“We are strongly considering the proposition of becoming a free-lance school next year (it did not),” said Aseltine, who spoke in concert with his director of athletics and former head football coach, John Perry.

Clockwise from upper left: Hilltoppers Alfred Ritchey, Virgil Haulman, Henry Landt, John McRae, Ashley Joerndt.
A few traveling Hilltoppers, clockwise from upper left:  Alfred Ritchey, Virgil Haulman, Henry Landt, John McRae, Ashley Joerndt.

Travel time and travel expenses were cited.

Sitting south and alone in  the “Border Town”, San Diego and its league partners were dogged by distance from 1923-49, the years the Hillers were in the league (not counting 1941 and the travel-restricted World War II period, 1942-45).

The San Diego Sun pointed out that each school year the “Hillers travel more than 100 miles each way for at least three games in all four major sports, football, basketball, baseball, and track and field”.

In addition, all swimming, tennis, and wrestling meets were held at northern schools in the 1926-27 school year, The Sun reported.

“And when northern league members come to San Diego we must split the gate receipts on a fifty-fifty basis,” said Aseltine.

In another move, the CIF said the annual state football playoffs were being canceled.

THE PLACE TO LIVE

Realtor Oscar Cotton, whose promotional vision led to the creation of the San Diego Convention and Tourist Bureau, urged San Diegans to “Go North”, touting the advantages of buying and building on 60-foot residential lots priced from $150 to $350 in Chesterton, an area in the undeveloped Kearny Mesa.

Completion of the Sixth Street Extension had created an artery to what became Ulric Street and the Chesterton and Linda Vista areas. Chesterton also was accessible from “the inland paved highway, Camp Kearny Boulevard”, later known as Linda Vista Road.

The Sixth Street Extension exists today as that snippet of Sixth Avenue, north of University Avenue, that connects with State 163 (and former U.S. 395) into Mission Valley.

SIGNS OF THE TIME

William and Ida Church made history.  They were the first husband and wife in the history of the San Diego Courts system to sit on the same jury.

The Churches were on the panel  trying Hazel Blair, charged with selling beer.

Blair failed to appear as the trial began.  Her sister advised the court that Blair was suffering from “chills and fever”, and her trial was postponed.

BOOK CRACKDOWN

The Evening Tribune reported  that students at San Diego High who lost their books or failed to pay for them would be given a “dishonorable dismissal from school”.

HERE COMES HOOVER

The need for a new high school on the “East side” was evident when  enrollment at Woodrow Wilson Junior High, 37th Street and El Cajon Boulevard, jumped from 1,300 to 1,650.

Hoover High would come along in three years, with Wilson principal Floyd Johnson moving on as principal of the new school.

2 FOR 1 

San Diego offered “bargain day” at the Stadium, a football doubleheader on the final Saturday of the season.

Lathrop Junior High of Santa Ana played Memorial Junior High of San Diego in the opening game, followed by old rivals Santa Ana and San Diego in the nightcap.

HUDDLE UP!

San Diego coach John Hobbs announced that the Hilltoppers would use the “huddle system” before plays against  Santa Ana.

Ashley West usually barked signals for the Cavers from his quarterback position but Hobbs opted for more  security as far as which play the Cavers would employ.

Santa Ana coach Tex Oliver was a former coach at Memorial Junior High.

QUICK KICKS

Say it ain’t so, Joe. Pirates winless.

Grossmont footballers John Cornelius and Walter Barnett went on to long careers in administration…Barnett was Grossmont’s principal from 1959-76…Cornelius was boss when El Cajon Valley High opened in 1955…Grossmont playoff opponent Oxnard was coached by former Coronado mentor John Nichols…John Perry, who had stepped down as coach at San Diego but remained on the physical education staff, welcomed some 600 students to the first annual interclass handball doubles tournament…Oceanside coach Joe Reynolds promised to field a “much better team” in 1927… Oceanside was 0-8 and scored 6 points; it was 1-6-1 in 1926…Coronado picked up Brawley as an opponent after Mountain Empire dropped out of the County League and defeated the Wildcats, 6-0, before 3,000 at Coronado…San Diego High’s Class B team defeated Alhambra’s lightweights,  71-0…San Diego’s game with South Pasadena was switched from Saturday to Friday, allowing  Hillers coaches  to scout Santa Ana, their next opponent… Point Loma completed 15 of 16 passes against Sweetwater…the Pointers-Red Devils game was one of 10 scoreless ties involving San Diego teams… La Jolla erected bleachers for 500 spectators for the Vikings’ game with Sweetwater…Kendall (Bobo) Arnett scored all of San Diego’s points in a 13-9 loss at Pasadena on a touchdown and 35-yard field goal… Monrovia, the opponent for St. Augustine in the last game of the season, was coached by former San Diego High standout and future Cavers coach Hobbs Adams… Whittier came into the game with the Cavers with a team average of 190 pounds, making the Poets the largest high school team in the country, according to The Union… Poly defeated Pasadena 6-3 for the Coast League championship before 10,000 fans at Long Beach’s Burcham Field…Fullerton defeated Santa Maria, 20-13, for the Southern California championship… San Diego High finished the season in Arizona, helping Phoenix Union dedicate its new campus stadium and dropping a 7-0 decision to the Coyotes…almost 1,000 students marched the night before, rallying for the “interstate game”…tackle Gordon Cox was named Captain at Sweetwater…Cox would become the Red Devils’ head coach in 1943…Research by The San Diego Sun writer Nelson Fisher revealed that 40 San Diego High graduates had earned college football letters since 1914…thirteen schools, from  USC to California and Notre Dame to Centre, were represented…leading 49-0 at halftime, St. Augustine and South Pasadena Oneonta Academy agreed to eight-minute quarters for the second half…the Saints didn’t slow down with the final score 73-0….

 




2021 Football: About Sutton, Gardinera, O’Sullivan

Lucky Sutton became one the 10 highest single-season scorers in San Diego County history this season.

Sutton’s 40 touchdowns for 240 points tied the Cathedral senior and San Diego State-bound running back for ninth with Imperial’s Royce Freeman, who also scored 240 in 2011.

Sutton played in 13 games and was deprived of a 14th when Cathedral sat out a 1-0 forfeit victory over Lincoln.

The Dons’ school and County record is 336 by Tyler Gaffney, who played in 14 games in 2008.

For a complete list of seasonal leaders, dating to the 1920s, see the All Time Individual Leading Scorers page.

EVOLUTION OF HIGHEST SCORERS

YEAR POINTS NAME TEAM RECORD
1916 132 Byron (Pesky) Sprott San Diego 12-0
1929 164 Frank (Toady) Green Coronado 8-1
1953 194 C.R. Roberts Oceanside 7-2
1985 200 Terry Rodgers Sweetwater 11-1
1988 214 Scott Garcia Rancho Buena Vista 13-0
1998 262 Chad Cox Mountain Empire 8-4
2004 276 Zay Shepard Brawley 12-1
2008 336 Tyler Gaffney Cathedral 14-0

*Rashaan Salaam of La Jolla Country Day scored 322 points in 1990, but his team played both 11-man and eight-man games.

**Julian’s Evan Fisher scored 342 points in 12 games in 2001, playing a full schedule of eight-man games.

GARDINERA HONORED

Scripps Ranch’s Marlon Gardinera, who led the Falcons to a 13-1 record and the state Division II-A championship, has been named the overall State Coach of the Year by Cal-Hi Sports.

The Falcons’ mentor is the seventh San Diego coach honored by Cal-Hi Sports. Others:

NAME TEAM RECORD YEAR
Clarence (Nibs) Price San Diego 12-0 1916
Duane Maley San Diego 11-0-1 1955
Dick Haines Vista 13-0 1974
Bennie Edens Point Loma 13-0 1987
Herb Meyer El Camino 13-0 1991
Bob McAllister Carlsbad 10-0-2 2006

Cal-Hi Sports also recognized Gardinera as state medium schools coach of the year, an honor won by Madison’s Rick Jackson in 2012 and Cathedral’s Sean Doyle in 2008. Matt Oliver of Christian was state small schools coach of the year in 2013.

HENRY LOSES COACH

J.T. O’Sullivan, who resurrected a flailing Patrick Henry program, has stepped down.  O’Sullivan has been rumored to already have received an offer for another coaching position in San Diego.

O’Sullivan, who played quarterback at the University of California at Davis and in the NFL, coached the Patriots to a 20-10 record in three seasons after inheriting a program that was 4-17 the previous two years.




1957 Track: Cook and Cerveny Lead Way; Cavers Win a Championship

The thinclads were so good that several made national lists.

Roscoe Cook of San Diego High held the national record in the 100-yard dash, if only for a few days.  Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny came close to the national record in the 880-yard run.

Bobby Staten, Jim Wade, Luther Hayes, Ed Buchanan, and Dick Verdon also made their marks and would remain historic names.

San  Diego and Hoover still were entrenched powers in the City Prep League, but Lincoln, in its third year, established itself. County leagues Avocado and Metropolitan had their moments, but urban forces held sway.

The Cavemen of coach Birt Slater won the Southern California team championship for the first time since 1948, outscoring heavily favored Compton Centennial.

2/15/57

Lincoln announced itself as a City Prep League contender, winning 10 of 12 events in a 74-29 win at Chula Vista.

After the dual meet Tom Rice, the coach of the Spartans, requested that Lincoln coach Walt Harvey not report the results to the downtown newspapers.

Unbeknownst to the coaches, I was there as a representative of the Lincoln High Buzz and collected $5 for reporting the results to The San Diego Union.

It was my first newspaper reporting payday.

The small story included the byline By Ricky Smith, Lincoln High correspondent.

Rice. who passed away  in Coronado at  age 100 in 2023, was surprised and unhappy.  Harvey, after seeing the result published and hearing from Rice, gave me a very mild rebuke.

Chula Vista’s Ed Fabisak had the day’s best mark, a school record of 4:36.4 in the mile.

Roscoe Cook, Charles Davis, Willie Jordan, and Bobby Staten (from left) check their time in 880-yard relay.

2/21/57

A show of City Prep League power:  San Diego rocked Grossmont, 76-28.

—Kearny defeated St. Augustine, 74-30.

—Hoover beat Sweetwater, 71 ½-32 ½.

—Mission Bay edged Oceanside, 58 ½-45 ½.

Roscoe Cook doubled in the 100-yard dash (:10.3) and 220 (:23.4) and got the Cavers off to a good start on the first leg of a 1:32.4 relay victory.

Dick Verdon pushed the shot 55-6 in Hoover’s win and Sweetwater’s George McElvain turned the 440 in :51.8.

2/26/57

Luther Hayes (6-foot, 2-inch high jump) and Russ Boehmke (:23.4 220) set school records as Lincoln beat El Cajon Valley, 70-34.

Jim Cerveny ran :51.7 in the 440 in Mission Bay’s 62-42 win over St. Augustine.

3/3/57

The ninth annual City Prep League relays were canceled because of wet grounds in Balboa Stadium.  San Diego High coach Birt Slater said the event would not be rescheduled.

3/5/57

Ed Buchanan, a junior at Kearny, raced himself into the sprint picture with a :09.7 in the 100 at Lincoln, which defeated the Komets, 62-42.

Buchanan returned to traverse the Lincoln curve in a eye-opening :21.2 220.

But the time for the race was exaggerated because there was no smoke from the starter’s pistol.  Smoke is seen before the sound, so timers, on the other side of the track, went with the delayed noise.

Hoover routed La Jolla, 92 ½-11 ½.  Dick Verdon pushed the shot a school-record 56 feet, 5 inches, almost an inch better than what Verdon reached in 1956.

3/8/57

More than 1,000 athletes in large and small schools divisions, including a sizable contingent of San Diego entries, converged on Huntington Beach High for the 36th Southern Counties’ Invitational.

Rain had everyone running for cover after two events.  Compton Centennial’s Preston Griffin won the small schools 100 in :10 and Los Angeles Mt. Carmel Mike McKeever pushed the shot 55-9 ¼.

Ed Buchanan of Kearny and Jim Stewart of Sweetwater were second and third in the 100 and Larry Himmer of Sweetwater was fifth in the shot put.

The meet would not be rescheduled, according to Huntington Beach athletic director Alvin Reboin, former 1920’s star at Roosevelt Junior High in San Diego.

Metropolitan League dual meet 100-yard dash, from left: Don Davis, Mike Rogers, Sweetwater; Fred Washburn, Jeff Miller, Chula Vista; winner Bob Rockwell, Sweetwater, and Walter Coop, Chula Vista.

3/13/57

Ed Buchanan was not available, so Larry Ray took charge, winning the 100 in :10.3 and 220 in :22.6 and helped the winning relay team (1:35.2) as Kearny beat Point Loma, 68 1/3-35 2/3.

3/15/57

Dick Verdon set a County record of 60 feet, 10 inches, and led Hoover to an impressive 55-49 victory over Lincoln.  The score would have been 60-44 had not the Cardinals been disqualified for a lane violation in the relay.

“I didn’t think I was big enough to throw sixty feet,” said the 200-pound Verdon. In bettering his best of 56-5 1/8, Verdon served notice with practice throws of 58 feet.

Mike Madrigal and Denny Berg followed Verdon, giving Hoover a sweep and adrenaline charge early in the meet.  The Cardinals finished off the Hornets when Bill Stephenson and Chuck Hansen went 1-2 in the 180 low hurdles.

Despite the loss Lincoln still set three school records.  David Grayson won the 100 in :10.1, Bill Hultz the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.2, and Russ Boehmke the 220 in :22.7.

3/16/57

The third annual National City Junior Chamber of Commerce Relays were washed out by rain, joining the Southern Counties Invitational and City Prep League relays as weather casualties.

3/19/57

A triangular meet that had been scheduled at El Cajon Valley between the host Braves, San Diego, and Compton Centennial, which had come South for a dual meet with Grossmont in 1955, was postponed because of rain.

Jim Cerveny hit tape with 1:55.9 time in 880 in Mission Bay’s dual meet versus Hoover.

3/21/57

El Cajon Valley was not available, but San Diego and Centennial met in Balboa Stadium.

The Apaches won eight of 12 events and the meet, 60-44.  Roscoe Cook of the Cavers was second in the 100 and 220 and third in the broad jump.

Cook was stunned when he set a school record of 23-10 in the jump but was third, behind the 24-6 1/4 by Preston Griffin and 23-11 by John Blaylock of the visitors.

San Diego’s Bobby Staten won the 180-yard low hurdles in :19.2 and added a strong anchor leg in the relay, although Centennial won in 1:28.8 to the Cavers’ 1:29.

San Diego’s other victories came in the shot put, in which Bobby Hatcher reached 48-5; mile, with Ralph Holt running 4:46.5, and high jump, with Andrew Willis tying three Centennial jumpers at 6-feet, 2 inches.

Cook and the Cavemen would get another shot at Griffin and Centennial later.

3/23/57

Kearny’s Ed Buchanan posted the fastest 220 of the season, :21.5 on the Chula Vista straightaway and Kearny won, 83-21.

Sweetwater’s Jim Stewart logged a :09.9 100 and :22.7 220, but Helix hung on to win, 54-50, after a sweep and 9-0 start in the 120-yard high hurdles, paced by Gael Barsotti’s :15.8.

Larry Himmer set a Sweetwater record of 50 feet, 1/2 inch in the shot put.

Hoover routed Point Loma, 86 ½-17 ½, as the Cardinals’ Chuck Hansen ran :14.9 in the high hurdles and Bill Stephenson :19.5 in the lows. Dick Verdon got to 57-3 in the shot put.

3/26/57

Wendell (Bill) Ernest set a school 220 record of :22 and Larry Williams bettered the shot put record with a 51-6 ½ heave in Helix’ 69-35 win over defending Metropolitan League champion El Cajon Valley.

Mkission Bay coach Chuck Coover clocked a time trial with Jim Cerveny before state meet.

3/27/57

Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny ignored his favored 880 and set Mission Bay records of :22.2 in the 220 and :49.6 in the 440 in the Bucs’ 58 2/3-45 1/3 win over Point Loma.

3/29/57

Sixteen-year-old Jim Wade, 6 feet, 5 inches, 210 pounds, hurled the shot 58-6 ½ after reaching 60 feet in practice and Grossmont went on to a 79-25 win over Chula Vista.

3/30/57

Lincoln stunned San Diego, 56-43, winning seven of 12 events.  The Hornets also finished first in the 880 relay but both teams were disqualified because of lane violations.

Luther Hayes doubled for Lincoln at 6-1 1/4 in the high jump and 23-3 in the broad jump. Scott Archibald set a Lincoln record of 50-5 ½ in the shot put.

3/31/57

Six meet records were bettered in the South Bay Relays at Sweetwater, where a carnival of events’ results were mostly team cumulative.

Helix’ Bill Ernest topped Sweetwater’s Jim Stewart in the featured 100-yard dash in :10.1.

Grossmont was the team leader with 36 ½ points, followed by El Cajon Valley,  29 ½.

4/5/57

Helix trailed, 46 2/3-42 1/3 with two events remaining against Grossmont, but sophomores Morris Nunez and Vic Berg led a 1-2 Highlanders finish in the mile and Bill Ernest anchored the Scots to a 1:32 flat win in the 880 relay and Helix had its first dual meet win over Grossmont, 55 1/3-47 2/3, clinching a tie for the Metropolitan League championship.

San Diego bombed Point Loma, 88-16, and, after winning the 880 relay, extended the race for another 880 yards, timing 3:01.9.

The eight runners were Fred Jackson, Art Buchanan, Richard Engler, Earl Kellough, Willie Jordan, Charles (Sugar Jet) Davis, Roscoe Cook, and Bobby Staten.

El Cajon’s Max Cheney ran a 1:59.4 880 but Hoover won the dual meet, 68 1/3-35 2/3.

4/9/57

The gap between the City and the Metropolitan League was glaring as Hoover won nine of 12 events and tied for first in another, and eased past Helix, 68 ½-36 ½.

4/12/57

City competitors were warming as was the weather.

Jim Cerveny took the national lead in the 880 with a 1:55.9 clocking.  San Diego’s Roscoe Cook ran :09.9 in the 100 and Bobby Staten :21.4 in the 220.  Lincoln’s Luther Hayes broad jumped 23 feet, 4 inches.

Cerveny and Mission Bay were on the receiving end of an 86-18 loss to Hoover, Kearny of a 79-25 loss to San Diego, and Grossmont of a 67 1/3-36 2/3 loss to Lincoln.

Curtis Tucker set a Lincoln record of :10 in the 100 and anchored a 1:30.7 record relay victory. Bill Hultz (:15) and Ronnie Grey (:19.5) also set school records in the 120-yard highs and 180-yard low hurdles.

Lincoln’s Luther Hayes completed great career with state championship in broad jump.

4/26/57

Cleavon Little, destined for Hollywood and a legendary role in the movie “Blazing Saddles’, was credited with a broad jump of 23-4 in the Komets’ 61-38 win at La Jolla.

Bob Reynolds of Kearny became the sixth pole vaulter in county history to clear 13 feet.  Reynolds thrust was measured at 13-1/8.

El Cajon Valley’s Bill Logan cleared 13-6 in 1956, preceded by four San Diego High athletes:  Bill Hubbard, 13-2, 1926; Bill Miller, 13-3, 1929, Bob Henderson, 13-0, 1936, and Bobby Smith, 13-2, 1947.

—San Diego routed Hoover, 65 1/3-38 2/3 and created a three-way tie with Lincoln for the CPL dual-meet championship.

Roscoe Cook won the 100 (:09.9), broad jump (22-3), and ran a leg on the Cavers’ relay team that won in 1:29.9.

“I’ve always thought San Diego had the best team, even though it lost to Lincoln,” a perspicacious Hoover coach Raleigh Holt told Jerry Magee of The San Diego Union, before the meet.

—Don Magoffin set an El Cajon Valley shot put record of 49-4 ½ and the Braves defeated Chula Vista, 69-35.

—Grossmont’s Jim Wade hit a career shot put high of 59-11 ¾ but Sweetwater won, 64-40, as George McElvain led the way with a :51.4 440.

—Bill Ernest doubled in :09.9 and :22.2 in the 100 and 220 and Helix whipped Mission Bay 67 1/3-36 2/3.  Jim Cerveny stepped up to the mile for the Buccaneers and logged a CPL best 4:33.7.

Roscoe Cook won City Prep League 100-yard dash in :09.9. Kearny’s Ed Buchanan (right) was second.

4/30/57

CITY PREP LEAGUE TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Ed Buchanan ran the 220-yard dash on the Balboa Stadium curve in a record :21.6. San Diego’s Bobby Staten ran :21.8 in the previous heat, which also had bettered the mark of :21.9 by Grossmont’s Bert Kohnhurst in 1952.

Buchanan and San Diego’s Roscoe Cook earlier had tied the 100-yard dash record of :09.9, set by the Cavers’ Herman Thompson in 1954.

The :19.3 clocking in the 180-yard low hurdles by Staten tied Thompson’s 1954 record.

San Diego led qualifiers with 14, followed by Lincoln, 11, and Hoover, 8.

Helix qualified 17 in Metropolitan League trials at El Cajon Valley, followed by Sweetwater, Chula Vista and El Cajon Valley with 11 each.

Coronado qualified 12 and Oceanside 11 to lead Avocado League entries at Vista.

5/3/57

CPL FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

San Diego was first six times, tied for first in another event, and scored in 9 of 12 races and field events to win the team championship in the  with 59 points.

Lincoln had 44 ½ points and Hoover 43.  Kearny followed with 19 ½, Mission Bay with 10, La Jolla with 8, and Point Loma with 7.

Five meet records were set or tied:

–Lincoln’s Bill Hultz ran the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.8, topping :14.9’s by Hoover’s Bernie Nelson in 1953 and San Diego’s Leonard Kary in 1955.

–San Diego’s Roscoe Cook tied the often-equaled :09.9 100-yard dash and Bobby Staten equaled the 180-yard low hurdles record of :19.3.

Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny ran the 880 in 1:55, fastest in the nation, and bettered by two seconds the record Cerveny set in 1956

–Luther Hayes of Lincoln broad jumped 23 feet 10 ¾ inches, improving on his 23-9 ½ in 1956.

–The San Diego 880-yard relay quartet of Willie Jordan, Charles (Sugar Jet) Davis, Cook, and Staten ran 1:28.3, bettering the 1:30.1 of Hoover in 1955.

Lincoln led the Cavers until Cook passed David Grayson coming off the turn on the third leg.

Staten was a double winner, topping 100 runner-up Ed Buchanan in a  :21.8 220.

Hoover had strength and depth with shot putters Dick Verdon (left) and Mike Madrigal. A third, not pictured, was football star Denny Berg.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE

El Cajon Valley edged Helix for the team title, 56 ¼-49 ¾.

Jim Wade of Grossmont set a shot put record of 61-2, third best in the country. The league record was 59-8 ¼ by Grossmont’s Dick Bronson in 1954 and Bronson had broken the record of 57-3 by another Foothiller, Clyde Wetter in 1951.

AVOCADO LEAGUE

Coronado won the relay in a meet-record 1:32 to claim the team title with 39 points.  Oceanside had 38, as did Vista.

Ron Sjoberg of Vista set a record of :15 in the 120-yard high hurdles.

5/11/57

Five-hundred athletes from the City Prep, Metropolitan, Avocado, Southern Prep, Sunset, and Rio Hondo leagues, and independent St. Augustine were prepared to compete in the CIF Divisional meet at San Diego State, but were rained out.

5/14/57

Three days later the venue was Balboa Stadium.   Lincoln led with nine qualifiers, followed by San Diego and Hoover with six each.  El Cajon Valley had five.

Best mark of the day was a :19.2 in the 180-yard low hurdles by Bobby Staten of San Diego.  Grossmont’s Jim Wade hurled the shot 59-5 /34 and beat Hoover’s Dick Verdon, who reached 57-9 ¾.

Bill Stephenson and Chuck Hansen (left) ran 1-2 in 120-yard high hurdles, with San Diego’s James Blake third. Cavers, Hoover, and Lincoln tied for dual meet championship.

5/21/57

El Monte Arroyo was site of a Divisional semifinal meet that was almost as good as a championship.

—Jim Cerveny had launched a chase of the national record of 1:52.3 in the 880 and set a CIF record of 1:53.9, better than the 1:54.7 of Claremont’s Ernie Cunliffe in 1955.

—Roscoe Cook, a :09.7 sprinter a year ago, finally got below :09.9, winning his heat in a season best :09.8 and defeating Alhambra’s Rusty Weeks, who ran :09.6 in another divisional the previous week.

—Hoover’s Dick Verdon won a shot put duel with Grossmont’s Jim Wade, reaching 59-10 ½.  Wade was second at 59-1/2.

—An unheralded Lincoln relay team of Russ Boehmke, David Grayson, Ronnie Grey, and Curtis Tucker also qualified in 1:29.2.  San Diego won its heat in 1:28.3.

There was elation and disappointment for Lincoln hurdlers.

Football and basketball standout Leonard Burnett, lowered his best time from :15.1 to :14.8 and qualified for the finals in the 120 highs.  Bill Hultz ran :14.7 in another, faster heat but was third and nonqualifying.

Cook and Bobby Staten each showed their competitiveness and savvy against Jerry McCullough of Riverside Poly, Carl Skavarna of Ontario Chaffey, and Rusty Weeks, who were favored in the 100, 220, and 180 low hurdles because of their times during the season.

Up ahead was the CIF finals with the imposing Preston Griffin, who ran :09.5 in the other divisional today and who would lead favored Compton Centennial.

Sophomore Arnold Tripp won 100-yard dash in :10.2 and tripled with wins in 220 and broad jump at Mission Bay. Buccaneers’ Frank Day was second in this race and Hoover’s Jim Goss third.

5/26/57

Also Search 1957: Cook’s and Cavers’ Great Day.

San Diego outscored Compton Centennial, 19 ½-16 ½, for the CIF team championship, coming up tough against the Apaches’ Preston Griffin.

Griffin was favored in four events, 100 (tied by Roscoe Cook), 220 (edged Bobby Staten), 880 relay (beaten by San Diego), and broad jump, defeated by Lincoln’s Luther Hayes, who had a season best 23-11.

6/1/57

Jim Cerveny again was dominating, setting a state record of 1:52.7 in the 880 and topping the 1:52.9 by Don Bowden of San Jose Lincoln in 1954 but falling short of Bowden’s 1:52.3.

Luther Hayes of Lincoln won the broad jump at 23-8 ½. Jim Wade was third in the shot put at 60-7 ¼ and flashed potential in a post-competition exhibition, going 50-6 with the 16-pound shot.

The state wouldn’t not become a two-day meet until 1963. The morning-afternoon format was not good for San Diego.

Roscoe Cook and Bobby Staten were required, in a space of a few hours, to run several races.

Bobby Staten had virtually no rest, with only a five-minute interval after the 220-yard dash, and pulled out of the 180 lows.

Cook was third in the 100 in :09.7 to Griffin’s :09.6 and :09.7 by Taft Union’s Doug Smith.  Ed Buchanan of Kearny was fourth in :09.7 and fifth in the 220 in :21.7.

Staten was third in the 220 in :21.4 and ran a tremendous anchor leg in the relay, almost catching Berkeley’s Fred DeWitt, who brought the Yellowjackets home in 1:27 to the runner-up Cavers’ 1:27.2.

San Diego and Centennial tied for second with 10 points each, behind Berkeley’s 22.




2021 Week 17 Wrapup:  3 Champs; Doyle, Gilster, Others Move Up; How Section Teams Rate

Scripps Ranch Coach Marlon Gardinera would have been in the spotlight on every college, NFL pregame or postgame show.

But Gardinera’s gutsy (crazy?) move did not go “national”, instead raising eyebrows and begging comment on a level just as significant to all involved.

Gardinera decided to “relax” his defense and allow Santa Clara Wilcox to score a go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s state Division II-A championship game at Mission Viejo Saddleback College.

Wilcox, which had battled back from a 21-0 deficit, took a 28-24 lead with less than two minutes to play.

“We backed off,” said Gardinera, according to Bodie DeSilva of Scoreboard Live.  “I knew if we got our offense back on the field we’d be okay….”

The Falcons, behind 6-foot, 6-inch quarterback Jax Leatherwood, embarked on an 11-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with Leatherwood‘s 10-yard pass to Dean Paley for the winning touchdown and 31-28 victory with 31 seconds to play.

The touchdown pass was Leatherwood’s 52nd of the season, against two interceptions.

SECTION IS 3-0

Scripps Ranch’s and Cathedral’s 33-21 win over Folsom and Mater Dei’s 34-25 triumph against Modesto Central Catholic represented the first San Diego Section three-game sweep since state playoffs were resumed in 2006.

Cathedral and Madison won titles in 2016. San Diego teams were 1-2 in 2015, 2-2 in 2016, 1-2 in 2017, 1-3 in 2018, and 0-2 in 2019.

DOYLE GAINS

Cathedral’s Sean Doyle continues to move up the ladder in all-time wins.

Doyle’s 1-AA win over Folsom was the 221st of his 26-season career, moving the Dons’ mentor into seventh place in the San Diego Section, past Jim Arnaiz, Ed Burke, and Gil Warren.

Nine wins in 2022 would elevate Doyle to fifth.  John Shacklett is next at 229.

Valley Center’s Rob Gilster now is third with 239 wins, edging the late Bennie Edens, who had 238.

Go to the “Football” menu on the website and select “”Coaches”, then scroll down to “Coach 100 Club” for a complete list.

HOW OTHERS SEE US

TEAM RECORD CALPREPS MAX PREPS CAL-HI SPORTS
Mater Dei 13-0 54.1 21 23
Scripps Ranch 13-1 44.2 55 55
Cathedral 12-2 70.8 5 8
Carlsbad 11-1 50.6 17 25
Madison 9-3 33.3 84 On the bubble
Mission Hills 8-3 44.3 39 42
Helix 9-4 43.8 43 23
Lincoln 8-4 43.2 44 26

And a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the coaches, players, administrators, and fans who love the San Diego Section brand of football.