"If the opportunity presented itself, we were going to ride that horse until he fell over dead," Mt. Carmel coach Sanford Carvajal told The North County Times.
James produced one highlight-reel play after another against Westview, rushing for touchdowns on runs of 84, 70, 39 and 5 yards. The state individual game rushing record is held by Ronney Jenkins, who rushed for 619 yards and seven touchdowns on 30 carries in Oxnard Hueneme’s romp over Oxnard Rio Mesa in 1995.
Seale of approval
No matter what happens to Escondido in the SDCIF Division I playoffs, senior tailback Ricky Seale will add to his already eye-popping record pace. Slashing for a career-best 404 yards on 25 carries in a 48-20 Avocado League win over San Pasqual, Seale fell just 6 yards shy of the school record of 410 yards set in 2003 by Jackson.
The bottom line is the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Seale is the first player in SDCIF history to break the 6,000-yard career rushing mark. Remember now, this is the same section that has produced NFL running back greats Marcus Allen, Reggie Bush, Ricky Williams and Terrell Davis.
No doubt Seale with 6,379 career rushing yards has to realize he can run with the best.
Spring Valley Mount Miguel claims the Claymore
It wasn’t the Super Bowl of high school football. Nevertheless, it was pretty darn important to the Mount Miguel Matadors and their screaming fans.
The Matadors used a 34-7 second-half spree to manhandle the host Helix Highlanders, 44-21, in Friday (Nov. 13) night’s Grossmont South League finale. The Mount Miguel victory snapped a 19-game losing streak to the Highlanders (6-4, 2-3 GSL). The last time the Matadors finished on the top side of a game with Helix, most of the players in Friday’s game weren’t even born yet. It was 1987.
"That’s 22 years, baby!" crowed Mount Miguel quarterback A.J. Stanford. "We’re gonna bring the Claymore Sword (the perpetual prize awarded to the annual winner of this rivalry) back where it belongs. We’re gonna put it in the main office where everybody can see it."
Fast start, but sad ending for Chula Vista
Chula Vista registered long distance first-quarter interceptions by Tyrone Richardson (101 yards) and Aaron Taylor (89 yards) to put undefeated Eastlake on the rocks 14-0 in the first quarter of Friday’s Mesa League championship game.
The Titans (8-0-2) regrouped after the rocky start to pull out a 28-14 victory. UCLA-bound running back Tony Jefferson keyed the Eastlake comeback with three scoring dashes.
Pirates keep plugging along
Upstart Ramona managed one touchdown – the first given up by Oceanside's first-team defense since the opening game of the season – but the Pirates won the Valley League game 52-6, stretching their unbeaten streak to 35.
The last time Oceanside came up on the short end was a 28-20 setback against Helix in the 2007 season opener.
Other top performances
— Spring Valley Monte Vista quarterback-turned-receiver Shervin Iraniha set a pair of school records for receiving in the Monarchs' regular-season finale against Steele Canyon. The 5-8, 155-pound junior caught 11 passes for 135 yards, breaking the Monte Vista record for most receptions in a season with 46. The old mark of 44 was set by Kenny Carroll in 1981. Iraniha’s 11 receptions is also a Monte Vista game record, breaking the mark of 10 shared by Carroll (vs. Grossmont, 1981) and Travis Spatter (vs. Mira Mesa, 1990). In his last two games Iraniha had 19 receptions for 263 yards.
— La Costa Canyon torpedoed Torrey Pines 30-20 to earn its first perfect regular-season record in school history. The Mavericks (10-0) have won 19 games in a row.
— The longest road trip in the first round of the playoffs belongs to Palo Verde. The Yellowjackets will travel 228 miles from their campus in Blythe to play at La Jolla in a Division IV opener.
— Ten Valhalla receivers caught 21 passes for 402 yards and 3 touchdowns Friday at Granite Hills, as the Norsemen produced 571 total yards (on 51 plays averaging 11.2 yards per touch) in the regular-season finale for both teams.
— Oceanside’s Quentis Clark passed for four TDs and 267 yards against Ramona.
— Valhalla’s blue-chip defensive end Shane Pennix includes a dozen sacks in his portfolio.
— Spring Valley Mount Miguel’s Derall Hunter rushed for 330 yards (eight shy of the school record) and 5 TDs on 27 carries in a 44-21 romp over La Mesa Helix
Coming attractions
The San Diego CIF section playoffs begin Friday. Top games include Brawley (8-2) against El Capitan (6-4) in Lakeside at 7 p.m.
Dickens dealings
The fact that 60 out of 90 teams make the San Diego CIF playoffs is absurd enough. The fact that 17 of the invitees have losing records makes it even more ludicrous. Let’s face it. The early round of the SDCIF playoffs are purely for the sake of padding the SDCIF coffers.
Even the survivors of those first-round games are not likely to be around come time for the semifinals. Is conducting these first-round games a plus? Some would argue that creating an opportunity for kids on average teams to participate in a playoff game makes those games worthy – no matter how much money is generated.
The four teams seeded in each of the five divisions have earned that first-round bye. The remainder of the "playoff flock" is hoping they get hot at the right time and can spring an upset or two. Rarely do the non-seeded teams ever reach center stage. However, the teams that play in the early rounds will always have the memory and the bragging rights to say they have played in a playoff game.
Sometimes it’s not all about money.
