Opinions are like a certain area of the anatomy.  Most of us have one.

The opinion of Scouts.com, which maintains a running list of  who’s who in high school football and who is being recruited by whom, is that the following table is indicative of the probable 10 best players in the San Diego Section.

The table reflects Scout.com‘s individual ranking for California players and is updated daily.

Helix’s Isaac Taylor-Stuart is considered the No. 4 player in the state, behind only three, five-star wide  receivers, Amron-Ra St. Brown, Santa Ana Mater Dei; Devon Williams, Lancaster Antelope Valley, and Jalen Hall, Long Beach Poly.

Other rating services will differ.

Rank	Name	Pos.	School	Stars
4	Isaac Taylor-Stuart	DB	Helix	****
17	Jack Tuttle	QB	Mission Hills	****
41	Kyle Phillips	WR	San Marcos	***
45	Chris Brown	RB	El Camino	***
54	JR Justice	Athlete	St. Augustine	***
119	Donovan Laie	Tackle	Oceanside	***
120	Rocky Katoanga	OLB	El Camino	***
124	William Dunkle	Tackle	Eastlake	***
140	Chris Olave	WR	San Marcos	***
152	Rashad Scott	WR	Helix	***

A FEW AT 5-0

At the regular season’s halfway juncture there are six teams with 5-0 records and eight with 4-0 records.

Three City League teams are on a collision course.  Kearny and Crawford are 5-0 and San Diego is 4-0.

The Komets, overlooked by us last week, are off to their best start since 1978.  Crawford was 5-0 as recently as 2013. San Diego is traversing ground not covered since the 5-0 team of  2011.

San Diego is favored this week as it opens league play against visiting Clairemont (2-3). Crawford is idle and will prepare for tough University City (4-1) at Hoover the following week.  Kearny also is off and awaits Coronado (1-3)  at home next week.

Other 5-0 teams are Mission Hills, San Marcos, Ramona, and La Costa Canyon.

Clubs with 4-0 records:  Calvin Christian, Christian, El Centro Central, El Centro Southwest, Madison, Mira Mesa, The Bishop’s.

TWO-SPORT THREAT

La Costa Canyon’s Karson Lippert, football player or track man?

He’s taken the field by storm in each.

Last week the 165-pound junior rushed for 312 yards in 20 carries ad scored on runs 80, 82, and 90 yards as the suddenly lethal Mavericks ran past Carlsbad, 36-21.

Lippert caught everyone’s attention in June at the state meet in Clovis, finishing a surprising and scorching second in the 400 meters in :46.91, second fastest in area history.

La Costa Canyon is off to its best start since 2009 but faces the meat of its schedule the next three weeks against Avocado League toughies El Camino, Mission Hills, and San Marcos.

GRIZZLIES,WARHAWKS ON MOVE

Mission Hills and Madison continue to make incremental gains in the weekly Cal-Hi Sports rankings.

The Grizzlies, No. 1 in San Diego, rose from 18th to 17th on Cal-Hi‘s state list.  Madison moved from 26th to 25th, and Helix dropped from 30th to 31st.

San Marcos crashed the top 50 at 48th and La Costa Canyon got some “on-the-bubble” cred.

The Union-Tribune Week 5 poll :

Rank	Team	2017	Points	Last Week
1.	Mission Hills (23)	5-0	274	1
2.	Madison (4)	4-0	241	2
3.	Helix (2)	3-1	239	3
4.	San Marcos	5-0	193	4
5.	La Costa Canyon	5-0	137	8
6.	Ramona	5-0	134	7
7.	The Bishop’s	5-0	126	6
8.	Lincoln	4-1	57	10
9.	El Camino	3-2	52	5
10.	Eastlake	4-1	42	NR

 Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

NR: Not Ranked.

Others receiving votes:  Carlsbad (3-2, 14 points), Torrey  Pines (3-2, 13), Christian (4-0, 13),  Valley Center (4-1, 2), Mira Mesa (4-0, 1), Point Loma (3-2, 1), St. Augustine (2-3, 1).

Voters (28 sportswriters, sportscasters, officials): John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone, Rick Willis, KUSI Chl. 51; Adam Paul, East County Preps.com; Ramon Scott, East County Sports.com; Bodie DeSilva, San Diego Preps.com; Ted Mendenhall, Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090; Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions; Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Jerry Schniepp, John LaBeta, Carlton Hoggard, CIF San Diego; Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net; Montell Allen, MBASports-SDFNL Magazine; Bob Petinak,  1360AM; John Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9FM; Jim Arnaiz, Mike Dolan, John Carroll, CIF Football Tournament Directors.

 

How significant is 4-0?

Depends on your perspective.

Nice, but, hey, we’re used to being there, would be the reaction from Mission Hills, Calexico Vincent Memorial, Christian, Crawford, El Centro Southwest, San Marcos, and Calvin Christian.

All of those teams have reached the above juncture at least once since 2013.

Madison, La Costa Canyon, and El Centro Central have reason to feel more than nice.

Madison?

No, the Warhawks, despite winning state championships in ’12 and ’16, haven’t been 4-0 since 2011. La Costa Canyon last was 4-0 in 2009 and El Centro Central in 2008.

Which leaves two others from this eclectic group of 14. They wouldn’t know 4-0 from a leather football.

None of the 2017 University City or Mira Mesa players were around when their schools were unbeaten and untied at this point.

For U. City it hasn’t  happened since 1992, when the Steve Vokojevich-coached Centurions finished with a 9-2 record, best in school history.

For Mira Mesa it was 1997, when the Marauders were 8-4 in Gary Blevins’ second season as head coach.

University City was 60-151-3 (.287) under seven different coaches from 1993 until 2014, when Charles James, now trying to rejuvenate San Diego High, was 7-5.  The Centurions are 19-9 since 2015 under Ryan Price.

BLEVINS FOLLOWED BRAD

Blevins, in his 22^nd season, is only the second head coach at Mira Mesa.

Brad Griffith ran the program from its start-up in 1977 until he retired after the 1994 season.

Try finding another of the 90-odd teams playing football in the San Diego Section with similar stability.

Over 196 games during Griffith’s 18 seasons, the Marauders  compiled a 112-76-2 (.577) record, won two league championships, appeared in one San Diego Section title game, and got to the playoff semifinals four times.

Blevins reached game 196 in his 16^th season in 2010 and was 120-73-3 (.620), had won or tied for 5 league titles and reached the semis five times and the championship game once.

Mira Mesa is only 28-39-1 since 2011 and their unbeaten start will be facing stiffer challenges, beginning this week against Steele Canyon, followed by Morse and Western League rivals Point Loma, Cathedral, St. Augustine, and Madison, opponents with a combined 11-8 record.

University City is not faced with such a daunting challenge as it prepares for City League play. Crawford, in Week 6, is the most formidable. Combined, Centurion opponents, also including Serra, Hoover, Patrick Henry, and La Jolla are 8-11.

The Union-Tribune Week 4 poll :

Rank	Team	2017	Points	Last Week
1.	Mission Hills (22)	3-0	274	1
2.	Madison (4)	4-0	249	2
3.	Helix (2)	2-1	242	3
4.	San Marcos	4-0	183	4
5.	El Camino	3-1	146	7
6.	Bishop’s	3-0	92	8
7.	Ramona	4-0	89	NR
8.	La Costa Canyon	4-0	71	NR
9.	Carlsbad	3-1	62	5
10.	Lincoln	3-1	53	10

 Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

NR: Not Ranked.

Others receiving votes:  Eastlake (3-1, 36 points), Torrey  Pines (2-2, 30), Christian (4-0, 10),  St. Augustine (2-2, 5), Oceanside (2-2, 1), Cathedral (1-3, 1), Olympian (3-1, 1), Point Loma (2-2, 1).

Voters (28 sportswriters, sportscasters, officials): John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone, Rick Willis, KUSI Chl. 51; Adam Paul , East County Preps.com; Ramon Scott, East County Sports.com; Bodie DeSilva, San Diego Preps.com; Ted Mendenhall, Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090; Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions; Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Jerry Schniepp, John LaBeta, Carlton Hoggard, CIF San Diego; Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net; Montell Allen, MBASports-SDFNL Magazine; Bob Petinak,  1360AM; John Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9FM; Jim Arnaiz, Mike Dolan, John Carroll, CIF Football Tournament Directors.

San Diego was leaving the Southern Section at the end of the school year but was going out with an unprecedented show of force.

Hoover was ranked No. 1 and Helix No. 2 in seeding for the 32-team major playoffs.  Glendale, beaten by both Hoover and San Diego, was seeded fourth.

Hoover’s undefeated regular season and the high scoring Highlanders had earned the respect of Southern Section commissioner Ken Fagans, who’d won championships as coach of the Compton Tarbabes in the early ‘fifties.

But the Cardinals and their neighbors eight miles to the East in La Mesa  were beaten by the two teams that would play for the title, third-seeded Anaheim (search 1959-60: Cardinals Come Up Short at Finish Line) and unseeded Long Beach Poly.

Helix was eliminated, 50-48, at Poly in the quarterfinals, bringing an end to a record-setting, 26-4 season and to the career of coach Bob Divine, who had announced in January that he was stepping down to go into administration.

Divine’s timing was curious, coming in the middle of the season (“This basketball can make an old man of you, the way I coach,” he explained). His team’s sometimes uneven play also was curious.

HIGHLAND FLING

–Helix set a County record by averaging 67.9 points a game, breaking the mark of 64.6 set by St. Augustine in 1957-58.

–They trailed host San Diego at the half, 36-13, and won, 52-50.

–They lost at Hoover, 61-36, the next evening.

–They switched gears after losing the pre-Kiwanis Tournament game to Hoover and poked along on offense so effectively that the score was 33-30 late in the fourth quarter before the Cardinals prevailed again, 39-30.

–They topped Santa Barbara, 65-62, to win the 11^th annual Fillmore Tournament in Ventura County after Christmas. Jim (Bones) Bowers scored 25 points and was player of the tournament. Teammates Bob Mackey, Wally Hartwell, and Larry Cook joined Bowers on the all-tournament team.

–They defeated 15-11 Chula Vista, 49-26, at home but had a 14-game winning streak snapped at Chula Vista, 55-46, depriving the Scots of what would have been a 16-0 run through the Metropolitan League.

Bowers, who led the area in scoring with a 22.9 average and 670 points in 30 games,  set a school record with 44 points in a 98-54 win over first-year El Capitan.

Helix had other games of 99 and 94 points and set a County record when it shot 64 per cent from the field in a 114-65 romp over the Vaqueros as Bowers (34) and Clayton Raaka (24) set the pace.

FRUSTRATING ENDING

Helix defeated 13-8 Lincoln, 59-46, in the postseason first round and 16-11 Ontario Chaffey, 67-49, in the second round, played at Mount Miguel High.  The crowd outside the gymnasium was almost as large as the standing-room gathering of 1,200 inside.

Helix took an 18-13 lead over Poly in the quarterfinals, but the resourceful Jackrabbits, a notoriously poor shooting team but quick and tough on defense, pulled ahead, 23-21, at the half.

After taking a 29-28 lead in the third quarter, the Highlanders “lost control of the boards and were shabby with their ball handling”, according to the Union correspondent at the game.

Bowers, who had scored 10 points in the first quarter, finished with 19.  Poly defenders double-teamed Bowers and Raaka, who scored nine points, well below his average, and ignored the other three Helix starters.

The strategy worked.

Helix trailed, 49-48, with 30 seconds remaining, but the Jackrabbits’ Tom Sisk made one of two free throws to close out the win.

SCOUT STIFFED

Forces seem to have worked  against Helix.  Coach Bob Divine thought about complaining to Southern Section commissioner Ken Fagans after a Helix scout was denied entrance to Poly’s previous playoff game, a 70-54 victory at El Monte.

“I don’t want to be a cry baby about this,” Divine told writer Jerry Magee before the game against the Jackrabbits, “but we didn’t have room in our gym and we let all the scouts in.”

CAVALRY ARRIVES

After losing to Glendale Hoover, 51-40, on Friday San Diego recovered to defeat Glendale and CIF player-of-the-year Tom Dose the next night, 57-49.

Willie Bolton, Ernest (Moe) Watson, and Lou Scott, who had played in the Cavers’ 53-0, football championship victory against Monrovia the night before, made the trip north the next day and saw action that evening.

San Diego’s 11-10 record was its poorest since a 6-8 record in 1934-35, but the Cavers not only trimmed high playoff seed Glendale on the road but were ahead of CIF champion Long Beach Poly before losing in the final seconds, 40-39.

MELEE AVOIDED

San Diego overcame favored Lincoln with a 14-4 spurt in three minutes of the fourth quarter and defeated the Hornets, 64-59, in what Jerry Magee of The San Diego Union described as a “pell-mell” game in front of a shrieking crowd on the Hornets’ floor.

Alfred Willis, the younger brother of Cavers guard Albert Willis, came out of the stands and launched a punch at Lincoln’s Al Catlin, who had been aggressively guarding the older Willis.

Lincoln coach Warren Barritt rushed off the bench and literally back-pedaled Catlin to the end of the gym as referees Doug Harvey and Nolan Harvey sought to maintain order.

San Diego’s victory was achieved despite coach Dick Otterstad’s suspending leading scorer Ben Pargo, who was not at the game.

Football star H.D. Murphy and Watson each scored 17 points as the normally offensively erratic Cavers controlled the backboards and shot 44 per cent on 26×58 shooting.  Lincoln was 23×44 for 52 per cent.

SCORING LEADERS

NAME	TEAM	GAMES	POINTS	AVERAGE
Jim (Bones) Bowers	Helix	30	688	22.9 (1)
Clayton Raaka	Helix	29	450	15.5
Larry Hancock	El Cajon Valley	22	421	19.1(2)
Robbie Hewitt	Hilltop	29	390	13.4
Steve Thurlow	Escondido	26	384	14.8
Charlie Schneider	Hilltop	29	374	12.9
Bob Hoss	El Cajon Valley	23	366	15.9 (5)
Jacob Crawford	St. Augustine	19	358	18.8 (3)
Walt Ramsey	Hoover	28	358	12.8
John Bocko	Hoover	28	356	12.7
Bill Wylie	Hoover	27	352	13.0
Gary Meggelin	Chula Vista	26	342	13.2
Larry Moore	Point Loma	25	326	13.0
Jim Johnson	Kearny	19	311	16.4 (4)
T.W. Bell	Lincoln	21	310	14.8
Tuttle	Clairemont	23	298	13.0
Brian Ross	El Capitan	21	290	13.8

Bob Wueste of Carlsbad was reported to score 404 points but Avocado League scoring was published only for the circuit’s 10  games, in which Wueste scored 231 points.  Southern Prep and Avocado nonleague statistics often were unreported.

POINTERS TAKE ADVANTAGE

Western League teams were slotted into small schools playoff participation in all sports except football.  Eastern League teams would compete with large schools for all postseason sports.

The positioning was result of the City Prep League’s dividing into two circuits after the 1958-59 school year.

Point Loma, with a 5-8 record at one point in the season and 12-10 after clinching the Western League championship, was the postseason beneficiary.

The Pointers rolled to five consecutive victories to claim the Class AA crown, along the way defeating Beaumont, 32-24, Yucaipa, 55-23, Rosemead Bosco Tech, 54-37, Lompoc, 54-40, and, finally, San Marino, 52-36.

As Jerry Magee wrote, paraphrasing Britain’s World War II leader Winston Churchill, “Winston (Winnie) Yetta enjoyed his finest hour, scoring 22 points…”

Point Loma players hoisted Yetta and coach Hilbert Crosthwaite and paraded them around the floor at the Los Angeles State venue.

Yetta’s 10 field goals were reflective of the Pointers’ effectiveness.  They converted 21 of 44 attempts for 48 per cent.

After two disappointing losses for San Diego teams in the semifinals, Crosthwaite admitted to feeling some pressure.

“We had everything to lose,” said the coach.  “We couldn’t have walked out of here if we hadn’t won.”

 FREE AGAIN

Helix’ Clayton Raaka was able to shed a cast on his broken left hand and burst out in a 68-38 win over Escondido.  Raaka scored 15 points in the second quarter, had 20 at the half, and finished with 28.

ANOTHER BREAK

Lincoln’s Al Catlin was discovered to have played the entire season with a broken wrist on his right, shooting hand  that he sustained during the football season.  Catlin then was ruled out of the Hornets’ 59-46 playoff loss to Helix.

SURPRISING

Hilltop, a first-year school, emerged  to post a 20-9 record and win the post-Christmas Chino Tournament and was runner-up to Helix in the Metropolitan League.

DREADED ADMINISTRATIVE GLITCH

San Dieguito, aided by some legislation, clinched the Avocado League championship with a 63-43 win over Carlsbad as John Fairchild, a 6-foot-7 sharpshooter up from the junior varsity, scored 15 points.

The Mustangs’ earlier, 64-54 loss to Oceanside had become a forfeit win after discovery of an ineligible Oceanside player and gave the Mustangs a one-game lead over Mar Vista.

MORE SMALL SCHOOLS PLAYOFFS

San Dieguito led until the final 56 seconds before bowing at Bing Crosby Hall in Del Mar to Orange, 46-45, in Class AA.

Orange was outscored, 24-18, in the fourth quarter but held on to defeat Kearny, 64-63, in a second-round game at Santa Ana.

Army-Navy’s Matt Burnett stole an inbound pass and scored with two seconds remaining to defeat Tustin, 42-40 in  Class A.  The Warriors then were eliminated, 60-38, by San Bernardino Aquinas.

Ramona was sidelined in Placentia by host Valencia, 62-39, the loss punctuated by a scoreless third quarter.

BOWERS HONORED, NO BONES ABOUT IT

Helix’ Jim (Bones) Bowers was an all-Southern Section, AAA first-team selection by the Helms Athletic Foundation.  Teammate Clayton Raaka and Hoover’s Bill Wylie were on the second team.

Kearny’s James Johnson and Point Loma’s Winston Yetta earned first-team honors in the AA division and Carlsbad’s Bob Wueste made second team.

JUMP SHOTS

The Kiwanis Tournament individual scoring record was broken twice on the first night…Carlsbad’s Bob Wueste scored 40 in a 61-53 win over La Jolla…St. Augustine’s Jacob Crawford knocked down 42 points an hour later in an 83-40 win over Sweetwater…finals in the Unlimited and Limited divisions were held at one venue for the first time …Hoover was host and topped Crawford, 54-34, for the Unlimited and Mar Vista edged Oceanside, 51-49, for the Limited…for the first time there were no visiting northern teams in the tournament, only El Centro Central from the Imperial Valley… Helix’ 114-point game bettered the  record set by St. Augustine in a 105-34 win over La Jolla in 1957-58…St. Augustine’s Jacob Crawford missed the team bus to Hoover, arrived late, and scored three points in the first half…the Saints, trailing, 35-12, at halftime made a game of it, outscoring Hoover in the second half, 39-38, and Crawford finished with 25 points in the 73-51 loss…Julian, scoreless until one minute remaining in the half, bowed to San Miguel School, 38-22…Fallbrook scored the first 22 points in a 51-18 win over University…Chula Vista received two technical fouls for not advancing the ball in the offensive court in its 49-26 loss to Helix…the Spartans trailed, 5-0, after one quarter and 16-1 at the half…the Spartans went into a freeze in their next game against Hilltop and got into a 15-2 hole…Hilltop won, 58-48…Mission Bay won a double-overtime, 57-55 game against La Jolla when a Vikings player was cited for goal-tending in the second, sudden-death period…Chula Vista moved out of the city’s Recreation Center into its own gym in midseason…Hilltop had a gymnasium when it opened its doors in September…Kearny coach Jim Poole, a 1950 Point Loma grad, was a national badminton champion and worked 20 years as an NFL game official…The Crawford-San Diego, Eastern League contest served as the preliminary to the San Diego Junior College-East Los Angeles Metropolitan Conference contest…the game at San Diego High featured ex-Cavers Arthur (Hambone) Williams and Edward Lee Johnson for the Knights….

Seldom was a defeat as disappointing as that which knocked out Hoover in the semifinals of San Diego’s swansong in the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

The Cardinals sustained a numbing, 39-34 loss to Anaheim in the round of  four in a season when they were unbeaten for 26* straight games.

Coach Charlie Hampton had returned several key players from the 20-7 club of 1958-59, including twin towers 6-foot, 7 ½ inch Walt Ramsey and 6-5 Bill Wylie.

Ramsey and Wylie were joined again by John Bocko a sharpshooting 6-foot forward, and 6-foot, 1-inch Johnny (Bo) Williams, the glue in Hoover’s backcourt.

Baseball ace Dave Morehead moved up from the junior varsity and became the only underclass starter.

The Cardinals’ almost perfect season:

1—HOOVER 46, ALUMNI 42.

Unlike usually pliant, slightly out-of-shape graduates, the former Cardinals were competitive, losing, 46-42. Ramsey led the varsity with 19 points.

Norris Greenwood, who set a school single-season scoring record of 446 points in 1957-58 and had moved on to Cal Western University, played for the alums along with former first stringers Tommy Dobyns, Art Samuel, Wayne Britt, Harry Stadnyk, and Bill Lee.

 

2—HOOVER 48, GROSSMONT 32.

The Foothillers couldn’t find the basket and trailed, 25-5. at halftime. Ramsey scored 25 points.

3—HOOVER 61, HELIX 36, @San Diego.

Surprising, actually shocking, was this win over a team considered by some to be the best in the area.  Helix had all of its weapons intact, including high scoring Jim (Bones) Bowers and Clayton Raaka.   Ramsey (20), Bocko (11), Norm Potter (10) led the way.

4—HOOVER 57, @GLENDALE 49.

The Cardinals and San Diego High made December trips north for several years.  The favored Glendale Dynamiters featured 6-5 Tom Dose, destined to be Southern Section player of the year, but Wylie (20), Ramsey (17), and Bocko (14) kept the hosts and Dose (15) at a distance.

5—HOOVER 64, @GLENDALE HOOVER 51.

The Cardinals pulled away the next night after leading 39-33 at halftime.   Bocko scored 23 and Williams 19.

KIWANIS TOURNAMENT

6—HOOVER 72, MOUNT MIGUEL 15.

Hampton emptied his bench as 12 players scored and 14 saw action in the opening round of the 12^th annual event.

7—HOOVER 62, KEARNY 38.

The Komets’ Jim Johnson led all scorers with 19 points but that was offset by Ramsey’s 17, Bocko’s 15, and 11 by  Morehead.

8—HOOVER 39, HELIX 30.

The Highlanders switched gears and played a slow-down game, this after Helix set an Unlimited Division record with 99 points the day before.

9—HOOVER 54, CRAWFORD 34.

Crawford, in its first year under coach Jim Sams, who would go on to compile one of the San Diego section’s all-time coaching records, took an 8-1 record into the contest.

The Cardinals’ stiff, man-to-man defense kept the Colts scoreless from the field for more than 10 minutes beginning with the start of the third quarter.

In winning its first Kiwanis Tournament since the inaugural event in 1948, the Cardinals’ average victories were by a score of 54-29.

10—HOOVER 49, @POINT LOMA 34.

The Cardinals stepped into the Western League for their last pre-Eastern League competition.

As it had been most of the season the refrain of Bocko and Ramsey, Ramsey and Bocko was heard as John scored 20 and Walt 13.

11—HOOVER 47, LINCOLN 45.

The Cardinals opened the Eastern campaign against the 4-3 Hornets, a talented team that hadn’t lived to its so-called potential under first-year coach Warren Barritt.

In a gritty struggle, Hoover finally put Lincoln away on Williams’ 30-foot jump shot with 3 seconds left.

Williams scored 24 points as Hoover survived.  Bill Wylie was out with a leg infection.  Hampton was “barely audible” from effects of the flu, and Ramsey, battling the flu, played only one quarter and scored one point.

Norm Potter, 6-2, and Dave Sickels, 6-5, replaced Ramsey and Wylie.  Lincoln’s Joe Cisterna sustained a possible shoulder separation and was hospitalized.

The Cardinals made only 18 of 50 shots from the field for 36 per cent.  Lincoln, behind T.W. (Tommy) Bell’s 24 points, shot 43 per cent, 19×43.

12—HOOVER 66, @CRAWFORD 36.

The recovered Wylie led with 15 points and 10 other Cardinals scored.

*(Did Hoover finish the regular season with 24 consecutive wins, as has always been accepted, or was their total actually 23?

(The number appears to be 23.

(Published reports were that the 11-0 Cardinals were scheduled to play only Crawford in the second week of league play.   There was no record of a second game that week or a 13^th win.

(The San Diego Union’s weekly, Monday morning rundown of standings, however, listed the Cardinals with a 13-0 record, although the Union’s weekly individual and team statistics were for 12 games).

13—HOOVER 63, SAN DIEGO 44.

Biggest crowd of year, probably 1,600 including standees, at Hoover.   Hampton’s team collected its first victory over San Diego since 1956-57.  Williams and Bocko scored 18 points each.

14—HOOVER 47, @MISSION BAY 36.

The newspaper reported this as the Cardinals’ 15^th win in a row. The Union would be one game ahead of Hoover for the rest of the season.

15—HOOVER 59, POINT LOMA 44.

Wylie was picking up steam, connecting on 12 of 17 shots for 25 points and the Cardinals converted 23 of 43 shots for 53 per cent.  Walt Ramsey scored one point and fouled out with 5:25 left in the game.

16—HOOVER 85, @ST. AUGUSTINE 52.

Ten players scored, with Wylie (26), Bocko (17), and Ramsey (13) leading the parade.

17—HOOVER 57, @CLAIREMONT 50.

The Cardinals apparently were not excited at the prospect of playing a second-year school with a 6-9 record, in its first game in a new gymnasium, and in the afternoon.

The seemingly disinterested East San Diegans were guided by John Bocko’s 20 points. Ramsey added 17 and Wylie 15.

18—HOOVER 66, @LINCOLN 52.

The  Redbirds began the second round of league play with a convincing win at usually troublesome Lincoln. The Cardinals had beaten the Hornets five times by three points or less in the last three seasons.

Hoover converted only 37 per cent of field-goal attempts to Lincoln’s 40 but it commanded the backboards with 61 shots to 52 and with a 30-20 advantage in rebounds.

“Our all-around best effort,” said Hampton, who cautioned that if Hoover (6-0 in the Eastern) fell to San Diego in a couple weeks, “The race could end in a tie.”

19—HOOVER 60, CRAWFORD 36.

They were scoreless for the first four minutes and then solved Crawford’s zone defense, with all five starters scoring at least 10 points.

20—HOOVER 66, EL CENTRO CENTRAL 32.

Hampton picked up a late-season, nonleague game with the visitors from Imperial Valley.  All 12 players on each team saw action.

21—HOOVER 59, @SAN DIEGO 43.

The floundering Cavemen were never really in it, trailing 52-28 after three quarters. Hoover’s Big Three scored 48 of the 59 points.

22—HOOVER 74, MISSION BAY 33.

Kenny Hale, whom Charlie Hampton had replaced at Hoover in 1952-53, had retired  after beginning the Mission Bay program, and the Buccaneers, contenders in the previous three seasons, were not competitive.

Bucs coach Paul  Beck inherited a team minus such recent standouts as Doug Crockett, Frank Schiefer, Tom Tenney, Jerry Dinsmore, and Bill Cravens.

23—HOOVER 73, ST. AUGUSTINE 51.

“Unbeaten, untied, unawed,” wrote Jerry Magee of The San Diego Union of the Cardinals, who concluded an 8-0 league season and 23-0 regular season.

Hoover led, 35-12, at the half after  stunning the Saints with a 21-4 second quarter.

SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS

24—HOOVER 76, HILLTOP 58.  The first-year Lancers, coached by the taciturn Paul Pruett, who had success at San Dieguito, posted a 20-win season and won the Chino tournament.

The Chula Vistans were game but not ready for prime time.

Hilltop still was in the contest when it trailed, 61-50, midway in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals eased to the win behind Ramsey’s 25 points, and 18 each by Bocko and Williams.

Writer John MacDonald, who seldom covered the high schools for the Union, identified the Hoover back court as “Don” Williams and “John” Morehead.

25—HOOVER 60, COVINA 50,@Walnut.

Writer Jerry Magee said the Covina Colts resisted like a young bronc at neutral Mt. San Antonio Junior College in nearby Walnut.

Shorter Covina (23-7), with no starter taller than 6 feet, 3 inches, were coached by the legendary Windorf (Doc) Sooter, who won 647 games from 1947-72.

The Colts took an early, 11-5 lead and battled the Cardinals throughout, but Ramsey hitting jumpers and scoring under the hoop, logged 22 points and kept the Colts reined in.

Hoover, knocking down 50 per cent of its shots in the late regular season, may have felt playoff pressure in the unfamiliar environment, converting only 19 of 53 shots for 36 per cent to Covina’s 18×54 and 30 per cent.

Covina set screens for jump shooter Jerry Barron.  Wylie sat with 4 personals with 6:13 left in third.

The story was similar to a 68-57, 1956 playoff loss to Montebello, when the Cardinals got into foul trouble trying to check jump shooting Jerry Pimm.

Hampton had to shift to a zone defense early in the third period. It was the first time this season Hoover had to abandon its favorite, man-for-man barricade.

Sooter wouldn’t say Hoover was toughest team he faced, “but they were toughest on the backboards.  They were too big for us.”

Hampton declared the contest was his team’s poorest effort of the season.  “Mainly because this was the best defensive team we had played.

“Our boys may have been scared,” added the surprisingly candid Hampton.  “I told them how tough Covina was so often I may have scared them.”

26—HOOVER 41, MONROVIA 33.

Monrovia, routed 53-0 by San Diego in the football finals, brought a 20-4 record and a loss to Covina to Hoover.

Hoover led, 12-4, at the end of the first quarter and scored only 11 points in the second and third.

Monrovia played at an agonizingly slow pace and the Wildcats’ 6-7 Les Christensen scored 15 points, controlled most of the tips, and held Walt Ramsey to 6 points.

Ramsey ran into foul trouble again, acquiring his fourth with 2:13 left in the half.   With the visitors pressing at 22-20 in the third quarter, Hampton called on Ramsey, went into a zone defense, and pulled away.

27—ANAHEIM 39, HOOVER 34, @Los Angeles State.

“A basketball team which has won 27 (sic) straight games can’t possibly be in a slump…” wrote Jerry Magee, but Hampton was worried.

“We certainly haven’t played as well in the playoffs as during the season, but I think it has been more of a mental thing than a physical thing,” the coach told Magee.

Hampton went on to say, “We weren’t up for Hilltop.  In the next two games (Covina and Monrovia) we were a little tense, more nervous than we should have been.”

Hampton concluded with “we’ve had two of our better practices.  The boys have acted a lot better the last two days.”

Sunset League champion Anaheim won its 29^th game against one loss in a 38-36 quarterfinals game against Santa Barbara that was decided in the last two seconds.  That win followed  a double-overtime, 50-49 victory over Montebello and a 50-47  triumph against Long Beach Wilson.

The Colonists, as they did versus Santa Barbara,  continued to  travel slowly but in style.

Magee wrote that “Hoover manfully struggled back (from a 25-12 halftime deficit) even with its 6-7 center, Walt Ramsey, out early in the third period with five fouls.”

With Wylie and Bocko scoring, Hoover pulled into a tie at 34 with 5:08 remaining.

But Anaheim continued its strategic pattern.  The Cardinals scrambled for possession and fouled.

The Colonists scored the last five points on free throws, winning, 39-34, and advancing to the finals and losing to Long Beach Poly, 46-39.

28–VENTURA 53, HOOVER 50, @Los Angeles State.

Beaten by Poly in the other semifinal, 65-56, Ventura trailed Hoover, 50-45, with 4:11 to go in the third place game the next evening.

The Cardinals went scoreless the rest of the way and dropped a 53-50 decision.

BE LIKE NBA?

Jerry Magee indicated that Hampton, in the coach’s playoff postmortem, seemed to suggest that a rule similar to NBA’s 24-second shot clock should be passed down to the high schools.

“There should be something that should make a team shoot,” said the coach.  “I wanted to go into a zone against Anaheim to protect against fouling but if I had I think Anaheim would have been content to just stand there.”

“Every coach thinks this, but I still think we had the best team,” said Hampton.

 

Baby steps to others are leaps and bounds at San Diego High.

Save for a 13-8-2 record by the Keir Kimbrough-coached squads in 2010 and 2011, the Cavers have endured stretches of apathy and losses that extend into the misty past.

San Diego is 32-109-3 since 2002 and have had 12 winning seasons in the last 48, dating to 1970.

Shan Deniston’s 1974 club, led by the great running back, Michael Hayes, was 6-3 and tied for the Western League championship with Clairemont.

The Cavers have not finished that high since.

Which gives rise to their 2-0 start this season under coach Charles James, who took over the downtrodden program and was recipient of several kicks to the pelvic region in the 1-9 and 2-8 seasons of 2015 and ’16.

SCOREBOARD BUSY

San Diego has scored 82 points in 28-7 and 54-7 wins over San Diego Southwest and Francis Parker.

Such offensive fireworks haven’t been witnessed since…better take a seat…since the heyday of legendary Duane Maley and the fearsome Cavemen of the 1950s.

Maley’s 1958 squad scored 84 points in its first two games, defeating Kearny, 25-0, and La Jolla, 59-0.

The 82 points in the first two games of the 2017 team have been bettered in only four other seasons by the squads originally known as the Hilltoppers, in 1945, 1925, 1920, and 1919.

The Cavers face 2-1 Montgomery this week in what looks like an even matchup, one more challenging than the first two.

Whatever lies in store for the Cavers and James, who has roots at University City and Morse, it’s still a nice way to start the season.

CHANGES

Parris Pisiona, 12-12 since 2015, is out at El Cajon Valley.  He was replaced by the school’s vice principal before a 32-21 win over Clairemont.

The mysteries surrounding the tenures of Jerry Ralph at El Camino and Hans Graham at Castle Park drag on as the coaches remain in limbo.

Neither Ralph nor Graham has coached a game this year.

QUICK KICKS

Beat Casteel High of Phoenix-area Queen Creek this week and Monte Vista coach Ron Hamamoto will tie Helix’ Jim Arnaiz for seventh place among all-time County coaches with 213 victories…Arnaiz held sway at Helix for 27 seasons, 1973-99…Hamamoto, beginning in 1985,  spent 11 years at University, 11 at Rancho Bernardo, 4 at Lincoln, and is in his sixth season with the Monarchs…Mission Hills’ Chris Hauser, who started at Vista in 2000, won his 144^th game last week over Desert Hills of St. George, Utah, and is tied with Escondido’s legendary Bob (Chick) Embrey for 18th…San Ysidro, 3-0 for the first time since the school opened in 2004, steps up in competition at Calexico Vincent Memorial, also 3-0 and 18-7 under David Wong since 2015…Damon Baldwin’s Ramona Bulldogs will try to become 4-0 for the first time since 2014 when they begin Palomar League play against visiting Rancho Bernardo….

The Union-Tribune Week 3 poll :

Rank	Team	2017	Points	Last Week
1.	Mission Hills (22)	2-0	274	2
2.	Madison (4)	3-0	247	3
3.	Helix (2)	1-1	244	1
4.	San Marcos	3-0	171	6
5.	Carlsbad	3-0	153	7
6.	Torrey Pines	2-1	101	9
7.	El Camino	2-1	76	4
8.	The Bishop’s	3-0	71	10
9.	Cathedral	1-2	50	NR
10.	Lincoln	2-1	49	5

 Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

NR: Not Ranked.

Others receiving votes:  Ramona (3-0, 44 points), La Costa Canyon (3-0, 44), Oceanside (2-1, 9) St. Augustine (1-2, 9), Christian (3-0, 4), Eastlake (2-1, 3), Grossmont (2-1, 1).

Voters (28 sportswriters, sportscasters, officials): John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone, Rick Willis, KUSI Chl. 51; Adam Paul , East County Preps.com; Ramon Scott, East County Sports.com; Bodie DeSilva, San Diego Preps.com; Ted Mendenhall, Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090; Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions; Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Jerry Schniepp, John LaBeta, Carlton Hoggard, CIF San Diego; Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net; Montell Allen, MBASports-SDFNL Magazine; Bob Petinak,  1360AM; John Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9FM; Jim Arnaiz, Mike Dolan, John Carroll, CIF Football Tournament Directors.

Palm Springs defeated Scripps Ranch, 42-35, in two overtimes and Army-Navy’s topped Perris Military, 21-20, in one overtime last week.

Both of those game results presumably were more easily reached than the first in 1976.

That was the year of imposition of the new “California Tie-Breaker”.

As noted by Steve Brand, The San Diego Union representative who covered the game:

“History-making events are supposed to be heralded with sounding trumpets and helium-filled balloons.”

But a 6-6, semifinals playoff tie between Morse and El Camino resulted in “disappointment and confusion,” all because of the new rule, wrote Brand.

The young scribe, on a morning newspaper deadline, was not a happy camper.

Brand, as one deadline after another was missed, described “a twenty-minute discussion between officials, coaches, players, and statisticians over first downs, penetrations inside the 20-yard line, and a mysterious stopping of the clock just before the game ended.”

The teams had tied with 7 first downs each and both had made two penetrations inside their opponent’s 20-yard line.  Those represented the first two elements of the new system.

Play resumed when the third tie-breaker kicked in.  Each team was given four plays from the 50-yard line.

Morse lost the coin toss and had first possession.

The Tigers had a net of minus two yards after four plays that included a 15-yard penalty. El Camino took over and essentially fell on the ball four consecutive plays, according to Brand.

The Wildcats were declared winners but the game went into the books as a tie.

Brand noted that the game was played at Vista, a technically neutral site, but the clock “inadvertantly” stopped as time was running out and El Camino close to what would be an eighth and tie-breaking first

What happens if there still is a deadlock after each team has had three possessions of the ball in overtime?

A touchdown and two-point conversion can send everyone home, as long as the other team doesn’t match.

There is no time limit and no finite number of overtime periods.

BEWARE

Earth to San Diego’s usually elite teams:  Give certain Orange County squads a wide berth.

But if you’re Helix, or Cathedral, or Mission Hills, you’re not afraid of challenges, even if the results haven’t always been positive.

Cathedral, the defending state Division 1-AA champion, ran afoul of the Trinity League’s Orange Lutheran last week in one of the Honor Bowl games.

The 37-0 loss was the Dons’ most decisive since a 40-14 defeat by another Trinity team, Rancho Santa Margarita, in 2015.

Helix had Santa Margarita neighbor Mission Viejo of the South Coast League on the ropes but a fumble with two minutes left opened a door through which the host Diablos scored a 32-28, Southern California playoff victory in 2015.

Mission Hills, which dropped a 35-21 decision to Mission Viejo in 2012 and now is No. 1 in the weekly San Diego Union-Tribune poll, is one of the handful of San Diego Section teams that annually schedule major intersectional opponents.

The Grizzlies have gotten off seemingly easy this season, defeating Paramount of the Southern Section, 41-14, in their opener and slamming Desert Hills from St. George, Utah, 42-7, last week.

Cathedral is ninth in the Union-Tribune voting after its second consecutive loss (Loomis Del Oro, a stout Sacramento area entry, won, 22-13, in Week 1) and Helix dropped from first to third when it was upended, 23-6, by Lancaster Paraclete in the Honor Bowl.

TRUE GRID

Mission Hills rose from 41^st to 23^rd and Madison  from 35^th to 27^th in the weekly Cal-Hi Sports’ poll…Helix dropped from 10^th to 29^th and Cathedral, St. Augustine, and Torrey Pines are on the bubble…all six Trinity League teams are in the top 25 and Orange Lutheran rose from 25^th to 14^th…Lancaster Paraclete moved from 32^nd to 21^st.

The Union-Tribune Week 2 poll :

Rank	Team	2017	Points	Last Week
1.	Mission Hills (20)	2-0	272	2
2.	Madison (4)	2-0	234	3
3.	Helix (4)	1-1	231	1
4.	El Camino	2-0	200	5
5.	Lincoln	2-0	154	7
6.	San Marcos	2-0	123	8
7.	Carlsbad	2-0	83	NR
8.	St. Augustine	1-1	65	4
9.	Torrey Pines	1-1	55	9
10.	The Bishop’s	2-0	54	NR

 Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

NR: Not Ranked.

Others receiving votes:  Cathedral (0-2, 49 points), Oceanside (1-1, 16) Eastlake (2-0, 13), Ramona (2-0, 10), Valley Center (2-0, 10), La Costa Canyon (2-0, 7).

Voters (28 sportswriters, sportscasters, officials): John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Tom Saxe, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone, Rick Willis, KUSI Chl. 51; Adam Paul , East County Preps.com; Ramon Scott, East County Sports.com; Bodie DeSilva, San Diego Preps.com; Ted Mendenhall, Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090; Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions; Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Jerry Schniepp, John LaBeta, Carlton Hoggard, CIF San Diego; Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net; Montell Allen, MBASports-SDFNL Magazine; Bob Petinak,  1360AM; John Kentera, Prep Talent Evaluator; Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9FM; Jim Arnaiz, Mike Dolan, John Carroll, CIF Football Tournament Directors.