I went out on a very unstable limb last week and crashed.

Picking Torrey Pines to beat Carlsbad and Mission Hills to knock off Cathedral not only was ill-advised but was punctuated with an in-your-face (mine) combined, 82-17 score  by the winning teams.

Now we have a championship that brings together two clubs representing, on paper, the closest matchup in several years of teams in the highest division.

Coach Thadd MacNeal’s 11-0 Carlsbad Lancers take on the Sean Doyle-coached Cathedral Dons for the Open title at Escondido High.

Wilson Stadium, named after a 1946 Escondido Cougars player who financially backed a new stadium, which opened as a 5,111-seat concrete edifice in 1998, will be the site.

Championship games have been played at Balboa Stadium, Aztec Bowl, San Diego-Jack Murphy-Qualcomm Stadium, and Southwestern College since the San Diego Section was formed in 1960 .

Plus Escondido, site of championship games in 2012 and the smallest venue yet for the Section.

“You probably could get a comfortable six thousand or seven thousand, cheek to jowl,” said John Maffei of The San Diego-Union-Tribune.

Southwestern, which officially seats, 7,275, was the site since 2014.

Southwestern offered more seats but Escondido, especially for the two North County clubs in this week’s Open finale, is much easier to reach. Escondido High has a sports-oriented staff and was able to offer the CIF more agreeable arrangements.

11-0 vs. 9-2

Carlsbad (11-0) has won 16 in a row dating to the 2019 season and is 26-2 since 2018. The Lancers have won the last three championships in the deep and tough Avocado League.

Cathedral (9-2) played one of the toughest schedules in the state, most notably traveling and losing to Concord De La Salle and Corona Centennial.  They are 22-5 since 2018. The Dons have won four straight Western League titles and six of the last eight.

OUTSTANDING RECORDS

Lancers coach Thadd MacNeal, a 1985 Carlsbad graduate, replaced the retiring Bob McAllister in 2011 and has a 76-44 record.

Sean Doyle played at Cathedral and became their head coach in 1996, succeeding Ron Hamamoto.  Doyle last week moved into a tie with Helix’ Jim Arnaiz for ninth place on the all-list for victories and has a 213-96 career record.

Carlsbad holds a 9-8 lead in an off-and-on series.  The first time the teams met was in the 1964 Class A (small schools) championship and the then University of San Diego High, coached by Robert (Bull) Trometter, won 40-0.

A reintroduction was needed before the next Lancers-Dons meeting 17 years later, in 1981.  They didn’t cross paths again until 2010.

Doyle has a 5-5 record against Carlsbad and is 45-14 in postseason contests with a stunning, 10 championships.

MacNeal is 2-2 versus Cathedral, 7-9 in the postseason, and was on the winning end of a 21-20 game in the 2019 semifinals against Cathedral.

HOW OTHERS SEE THEM

Carlsbad moved up from 13^th to 10^th in Cal-Hi Sports’ rankings this week.  The Lancers are 17^th in the state, according to Max Preps, and have a 56.9 rating from CalPreps.com.

Cal-Hi Sports jumped Cathedral from 19^th to 13^th this week and MaxPreps ranks it 14^th.  The Dons have a 63.0 rating by CalPreps.com

THE PICK

It should be a Lucky (running back Sutton) night for Cathedral over the Lancers and sophomore QB Julian Sayin.

Round two of the San Diego Section playoffs offer quarterfinals in Divisions I-V and semifinals in the  Open Division.

The four clubs in the highest bracket, beginning play after a week off:

 4 TORREY PINES (6-3) @1 CARLSBAD (10-0)

The Falcons get another shot at the unbeaten Lancers, a team Torrey Pines had on the ropes, 33-27, only to lose, 34-33, in the final seconds after a 90-yard Carlsbad touchdown drive in Week 6.

The Falcons’ second and third losses were to the other semifinalists, Cathedral, 28-14, in the season opener and Mission Hills, 20-14, in Week 8.

Coach Thadd MacNeal is 75-44 in 11 seasons at Carlsbad.  Ron Gladnick is 38-23 in six seasons at Torrey. MacNeal and Gladnick are 3-3 against each other, but Carlsbad has won the last three.

Carlsbad takes a 15-game winning streak and 25 wins in the last 27 into the contest.

The Lancers lead the all-time series, 18-9.

Carlsbad has a 55.2 Cal Preps.com rating and Torrey Pines 44.4.  The Lancers are Cal-Hi Sports’ No. 13 team and Torrey Pines No. 37.

Another barnburner could be in the works and Carlsbad will try to defeat this tough opponent a second time in the same season.

The pick:  Torrey Pines.

3 MISSION HILLS (8-2) @1 CATHEDRAL (8-2).

Cathedral was a 44-21 winner in the 2016 playoff semifinals in the only meeting between the schools.

Sean Doyle and Chris Hauser have head-coached 429 games in their long careers but this will be only the second time they’ve been on opposite sidelines.

Doyle and Hauser are two of the most successful coaches in San Diego County history.

Doyle is 212-96, .688, in 26 seasons at University-Cathedral and a victory would tie Helix’ Jim Arnaiz for the ninth most wins in County history.

Hauser is 180-76, .703, in 22 seasons at Vista and Mission Hills.

Cathedral has a 58.0 Cal Preps.com rating, the Grizzlies 50.5. Cal-Hi Sports has Cathedral at 16^th in the state and Mission Hills 20^th.

Cathedral beat Torrey Pines, 28-14, in the season opener.  Mission Hills edged the Falcons, 20-14, in Week 8.

Cathedral received a forfeit, 1-0 win over Lincoln in Week 10.  Mission Hills lost to Lincoln, 30-13, in Week 3.

It will have been 18 days since their last game and the ensuing controversy surrounding Lincoln’s decision to not play the Dons after racial taunts last season by Cathedral players.

The pick:  Mission Hills.

“POWER PERCEIVED IS POWER INDEED”

That was a line uttered by Ernie Hudson, the crooked principal at Florida’s Miami Columbus High,  to Tom Berenger in “The Substitute”, a 1990’s movie starring Berenger as a faux substitute teacher who cracks a drug ring.

Power indeed was the story in the first round.

Seeded favorites had a combined 34-6 record, with a few mild upsets (3) two not-really upsets, and one sort-of shocker.

The latter was manufactured by San Ysidro, a 12 seed in Division V, squeezing past No. 5 Escondido Charter, 16-13.

TENS ROLL SEVEN

Three 10’s dispatched 7 seeds.

Granite Hills eliminated Oceanside, 31-14, in D-I. El Cajon Valley topped No. 10 Army-Navy, 21-14 in D-IV, and El  Centro Central ushered out Otay Ranch, 33-28 in D-II.

A couple No. 9’s edged No. 8’s.

D-I Grossmont edged Steele Canyon, 17-14, and D-II Christian beat San Diego and retiring coach Charles James, 31-28.

There were blowouts of 49-7 (Brawley over Westview) 50-18 (Rancho Buena Vista over Mar Vista) and one why-did-they-bother-with-this (Sweetwater 73-6 over Valhalla).

League championships can be forgotten amid the giant second season of playoffs.

if a team has a pulse, no matter how few W’s and how many L’s, it’s most likely a postseason participant.

But don’t pass that along to the San Diego Section’s regular-season winners. Players identify these achievements on their letter jackets, coaches enhance their resumes, and student bodies and communities take pride.

Take a bow, champions.

*Playing for San Diego Section 8-man championship.
RATINGS GAME

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES 

Mt. Carmel (9-1, 21 points), West Hills (10-0, 7), El Camino (4-6, 3) Mira Mesa (6-2, Eastlake (7-3, 2),  Poway (7-3, 2), Patrick Henry (7-2, 1).

VOTING PANEL
Twenty-four sportswriters and sportscasters throughout San Diego County.

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
• Steve Brand, Thomas Gutierrez, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, freelance contributors.
• John Carroll, Nick Pollino, KUSI Ch. 51.
• John Kentera, Braden Suprenant, 97.3-FM The Fan).
• Adam Paul, ECPreps.com.
• Bodie DeSilva, scorebooklive.com.
• Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com.
• Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
• Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego.
• Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net.
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez, Mike Dolan, CIF San Diego Section.
• Ramon Scott, Eastcountysports.com.
• Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country, 107.9-FM.

How others see San Diego’s Top 10:
*The second entry in each rating is from the previous week.

Big Brother split with Little Brother in two traditional games last week.

Younger Helix made it a quarter century of continued success with a 25^th consecutive win over older Grossmont, 29-14, and older Mira Mesa topped younger Scripps Ranch, 38-35.

Helix now is 46-18-2 against Grossmont since 1951, when the fledgling school divided enrollment and geographic borders with the Foothillers and struck out on its own.

Mira Mesa, honoring their late coach, Chris Thompson, who passed during the season, won its fifth game in a row under coach Aurelo Morales and took a 21-7 lead over Scripps Ranch in a rivalry the schools trumpet as “The Battle of Interstate 15”.

Scripps Ranch, which opened in 1994, is less than 2.5 miles from Mira Mesa and separated by I-15.

The Marauders (6-2), who played their first game in 1976, had the Falcons (7-1) on their heels, leading 14-0, 21-7, and 35-21 well into the third quarter. The game was tied at 35 when Mira Mesa freshman Eddy Medina kicked a 24-yard field goal as time expired.

According to Don Norcross of The San Diego Union-Tribune, the Falcons’ student section was shouting,  “No pressure! No pressure! No pressure!”

Medina replied to Norcross, “Were they?  I didn’t hear them.”

The Falcons twice had called timeout in an attempt to “ice” Medina.

Steady Eddy.

OVER-AND-OVER TIME

The Oceanside-Ramona thriller which went three overtimes before the visiting Pirates escaped with a 35-33 win was a record fourth triple extra since the first between Torrey Pines and Vista in 2002.

Other three-overtime games matched Cathedral and San Pasqual in 2013 and Escondido and Mira Mesa in 2014.

There have been 79 San Diego Section games since 1976 that were forced into an extra session, including 58 that ended in the first overtime and 17 that necessitated two, according to Henrik Jonson, who maintains our scores database and coordinates our website.

Jonson pointed out that the period of 2012-2014 favored frantic finishes.  There were 9 in 2012, 5 in ’13, and 7 in ’14.

RATINGS GAME

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES 

Mt. Carmel (8-1, 12), Mira Mesa (6-2, 11), El Capitan (8-1, 4),West Hills (9-0, 3), Eastlake (6-3, 2), Patrick Henry (7-2, 1), Poway (6-3, 1).

VOTING PANEL
Twenty-four sportswriters and sportscasters throughout San Diego County.

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
• Steve Brand, Thomas Gutierrez, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, freelance contributors.
• John Carroll, Nick Pollino, KUSI Ch. 51.
• John Kentera, Braden Suprenant, 97.3-FM The Fan).
• Adam Paul, ECPreps.com.
• Bodie DeSilva, scorebooklive.com.
• Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com.
• Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
• Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego.
• Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net.
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez, Mike Dolan, CIF San Diego Section.
• Ramon Scott, Eastcountysports.com.
• Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country, 107.9-FM.

How others see San Diego’s Top 10:
*The second entry in each rating is from the previous week.

Grossmont is going to beat Helix one of these years.  Maybe this week.

The way things have gone the last 40-odd that’s a lukewarm maybe.

The teams will meet for the 66^th time with host Helix holding a 45-18-2 record in the all-time series.

A victory for the Foothillers over their so-called younger sibling took place so long ago that those who played now are nearing their fifties. It happened in 1991 when Judd Hurlburt’s squad beat the Highlanders of coach Jim Arnaiz, 28-14.

Others have forgotten or perhaps gone to the gridiron in the sky since an earlier Grossmont win.  That was in 1978 when Pat Roberts’ team, which finished with a 5-3-2 record, beat a 10-2 Arnaiz club, 21-7.

Arnaiz won the CIF championship that season and, after losing his first four games in the rivalry, posted a career, 19-6-2 record against the Foothillers.

‘Twas not always.

Grossmont built a 16-11 series edge from 1951-77, when Arnaiz’ program kicked in and the Highlanders took off.

METRO LEAGUE SUES FOR RELIEF

Grossmont’s enrollment soared in the 1940’s, creating such a student body numbers mismatch that the Foothillers were ousted from the Metropolitan League, in which they had been a 1933 charter member with Sweetwater, Escondido, Oceanside, Army-Navy, La Jolla, and Point Loma.

Grossmont was bursting at the seams.

Enter Helix in 1951, about 4 miles West in La Mesa on University Avenue.

The Foothillers would have a new rival, after years being a traditional foe of Sweetwater.

Helix’ campus still was under construction when school opened, forcing Grossmont to share its digs for a year.

Grossmont students attended school in the morning and hosted Helix students in the afternoon.

The pubescent Highlanders joined Grossmont in the City Prep League, which had been created and included Grossmont in 1950.  Both schools re-entered the Metropolitan loop in 1955 and were charter members of the Grossmont League in 1961.

BELL TOLLS

Brawley and El Centro Central players can hear the clanging their sleep. They’ll go at it again next week in the historic desert rivalry.

Brawley leads El Centro Central, 50-27-1, since a  Bell trophy first rung in 1944, but the squads reportedly played twice a year most seasons from 1921 through 2003.

An actual bell was purchased by the student bodies of each school for a sum of $50  from a seafaring, San Diego vessel in 1943.

El Centro Central has won the last four meetings.

RATINGS GAME

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES 

Poway (6-2, 17 points), Mt. Carmel (7-1, 8), Ramona (6-2, 7), Eastlake (5-3, 4), Rancho Bernardo (5-3, 4), West Hills (8-0, 3), Mira Mesa (5-2, 2), El Capitan (7-1, 1).

VOTING PANEL
Twenty-four sportswriters and sportscasters throughout San Diego County.

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
• Steve Brand, Thomas Gutierrez, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, freelance contributors.
• John Carroll, Nick Pollino, KUSI Ch. 51.
• John Kentera, Braden Suprenant, 97.3-FM The Fan).
• Adam Paul, ECPreps.com.
• Bodie DeSilva, scorebooklive.com.
• Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com.
• Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
• Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego.
• Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net.
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez, Mike Dolan, CIF San Diego Section.
• Ramon Scott, Eastcountysports.com.
• Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country, 107.9-FM.

How others see San Diego’s Top 10:
*The second entry in each rating is from the previous week.

Three neighborhood rivals with long histories resume their versions of trench warfare this week.

Chula Vista and Sweetwater, 2.9 miles apart and the oldest schools south of the San Diego city limits, play for the 74th consecutive year in a chain that began when Chula Vista opened in 1947.

The Spartans lead the Red Devils, 39-33-3, in the longest continuous series in the County.

Chula Vista (4-2) is on a 2021 four-game win streak and Sweetwater (2-3), delayed by two cancelations because of Covid implications, is looking for a third straight victory.

HISTORY FAVORS OCEANSIDE

Carlsbad is ranked No. 1 in John Maffei’s Union-Tribune weekly poll below, but Oceanside is 38-18-6 against the Lancers.

The series began in 1958 when the schools, 3.9 miles apart, were coached by the legendary Herb Meyer (Oceanside) and Sveto (Swede) Krcmar, who had been an assistant at Oceanside when Meyer was a player there.

Meyer was 10-4-1 against Carlsbad when he moved to the new El Camino in 1976, but Krcmar’s Lancers won two small school CIF championships in head-to-head battles, 13-6, in 1962 and 12-3 in 1965.

SO CLOSE

Crawford is 1.5 miles east of Hoover, having opened and taken a chunk of Cardinals enrollment in 1957.  The two played every year from 1958-75 and then went their separate ways, only to return.

Over the decades Hoover and Crawford have been partnered in the Eastern, Western, Central, and Harbor leagues and are back together in the Central. The off-and-on relationship favors the Colts, 29-17.

HOLY BOWL

Not as close geographically as when Cathedral was University, with a Linda Vista address instead of Carmel Valley,  St. Augustine and Cathedral bring the heat, no matter the venue.

University began playing in 1957 and became Cathedral in 2004. The schools didn’t meet until 1966. Cathedral will take a 38-22 lead into their game at home this week.

RATINGS GAME

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Madison (5-2, 12 points), Poway 5-2, 8), Eastlake (5-2, 7), Ramona (5-2, 3), El Capitan (6-1, 1), San Diego (7-1, 1). 

VOTING PANEL
Twenty-four sportswriters and sportscasters throughout San Diego County.

• John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
• Steve Brand, Thomas Gutierrez, Rick Hoff, Jim Lindgren, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, freelance contributors.
• John Carroll, Nick Pollino, KUSI Ch. 51.
• John Kentera, Braden Suprenant, 97.3-FM The Fan).
• Adam Paul, ECPreps.com.
• Bodie DeSilva, scorebooklive.com.
• Rick Smith, Partletonsports.com.
• Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
• Troy Hirsch, Fox 5 San Diego.
• Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net.
• Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez, Mike Dolan, CIF San Diego Section.
• Ramon Scott, Eastcountysports.com.
• Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country, 107.9-FM.

How others see San Diego’s Top 10:
*The second entry in each rating is from the previous week.