Tiny Christian of El Cajon has gold mine of talent

Although Christian (El Cajon) is not enjoying a banner season, the Patriots do have a couple of nuggets in their lineup.

Tyrone Sauls, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound running back-linebacker, has offers from Oregon, Air Force, Navy and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on the board. Washington State has also made overtures.

Oregon sees him as a linebacker, while Air Force likes him as a fullback. The other interested schools view him as an athlete and will determine where best to play him if they can get Sauls to sign on board. Sauls, who rarely leaves the field, has rushed for 801 yards and 10 touchdowns on 149 carries. He is also Christian’s leading tackler.

Meanwhile, Christian’s 6-foot-5, 185-pound junior quarterback Shane Dillon continues to attract attention. He has offers on the table from Cincinnati and Ohio State.

Oregon recently intensified its interest in Dillon as has Stanford, Miami (Fla.), Tennessee, Colorado and UCLA have also pitched their hat in the recruiting ring. Dillon is the top passer in the eastern part of San Diego County with 1,636 yards and eight touchdowns, completing 115 of 233 attempts.

NO. 1 VISTA RALLIES TO DODGE MAJOR UPSET
Football pride at Vista is built around its ‘Black Shirt’ Defense. The CIF-SDS top-ranked Panthers have limited three of their foes to nine points or less. Outside of the 21 the Panthers have allowed in a win over Oceanside, only San Pasqual has scored more.

This is a scary thought, considering San Pasqual (2-6, 0-2) took a 14-0 lead in the opening quarter last week. Remember, now, this is a San Pasqual team that began the month with a 21-game losing streak dating back to last year.

On this particular night it was the Panthers’ offense that turned possible defeat into victory. Senior running back Shakeel Marshall led the charge by garnering 233 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries. Three of Marshall’s touchdowns came in the fourth quarter to break a 21-all deadlock.

CATHEDRAL CATHOLIC COMEBACK CONTINUES
Except for a 35-12 blowout loss to Steele Canyon on opening night, Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) has been in every game even though the Dons' 3-4 record may not indicate such. Three of Cathedral’s losses have come by a total of 19 points – all to teams ranked in the Top 10 at the time.

The perennial power Dons have begun a midseason turnaround and are in the running for the Eastern League championship following victories over Scripps Ranch (17-0) and Lincoln (31-15). They are 2-0 in league activity with a chance to run the table.

If the Dons' momentum continues they could well capture a top-four seed in the CIF-SDS Division III playoffs.

Running back Jonny Martin, the cornerstone in the Cathedral offense, rushed for 193 yards and all four touchdowns on 17 carries in the win over Lincoln.

MOUNT MIGUEL MATADORS’ MAGIC
A non-starter at the outset of the season, Rico Monroy of Mount Miguel (Spring Valley) has executed some pretty clever plays. In the Matadors’ 41-10 romp over Santana, Monroy took a snap as an upback and bolted 45 yards for a touchdown on a fake punt. A 5-foot-7, 162-pound junior, Monroy has scored five touchdowns for Mount Miguel (7-1).

EL CAPITAN PITCHER HELPS TEAM USA WIN U16 CROWN
El Capitan (Lakeside) junior Troy Conyers has a penchant for pitching in the clutch. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound left-hander pitched the final two innings in the United States’ 16-and-under 11-4 victory over host Mexico in the COPABE Pam-Am AA championship game. Conyers made four appearances in the tournament with five scoreless innings of work as the closer for the Americans.

The USA compiled a 9-0 record in the tournament that included teams from North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean.

OTHER TOP PERFORMANCES
— Helix (La Mesa) held Grossmont do-it-all quarterback DeSean Waters to two yards on 16 rushes and 10 yards on 2 of 13 passing as the Highlanders buried the previously undefeated Foothillers 41-0.

— Quarterback Cory Lockman was 19-for-26 passing for 264 yards as Granite Hills (El Cajon) edged West Hills 28-27 to avenge a 27-26 loss last season when West Hills scored on a 67-yard pass with 33 seconds left.

— Hilltop (Chula Vista) junior quarterback Omar Hernandez fired four touchdown passes in a loss to Olympian.

— Senior tight end Connor Sodano of Carlsbad caught only three passes against El Camino – all went for touchdowns in the Lancers' 28-0 victory.

— Senior running back Dakota Furr of El Capitan (Lakeside) has rushed for 421 yards and seven touchdowns on 47 carries the last two games.

— After beginning the season with back-to-back losses, Poway has won five straight, including a 50-7 romp over Westview last week.

— Noah Tarrant, a senior running back, rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries and lofted a 63-yard touchdown pass to help lead Oceanside past Ramona.

— Quarterback Kevin Giese (6-3, 170) of Tri-City Christian (Vista) clicked on nine of 16 passes for 181 yards, four touchdowns and kicked five extra points in a 35-7 roll over Vincent Memorial.

— Senior middle blocker Claire Shannon of Poway was named the MVP of the Southern California Volleyball Invitational.

COMING ATTRACTIONS
Top-ranked Vista (7-0, 2-0) visits No. 11 Mission Hills (San Marcos) (5-2, 2-0) Friday in the battle of Avocado East League leaders. The headliner in the Avocado West pits No. 3 Oceanside (5-2, 1-0) at No. 7 La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) (5-2, 2-0).

DICKENS' DEALINGS
It seems the plight of football officials carries beyond the stripes.

According to a report by Seattle television station King 5 News, dozens of local football referees used pink whistles at football games last week. Now, the Pacific Northwest Football Officials’ Association may throw the flag at them.

The intent of the referees was to raise awareness for breast cancer research. The officials also donated their game checks to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

However, the chair of the Washington officials’ association, Todd Stordahl, is chastising the referees for not asking permission to do so. That’s absurd. That’s like saying you cannot donate to a charity unless I say so.

Steve Coover, the head of the San Diego Football Officials Association said, “The difference is that our officials asked us if they could wear pink ribbons. We’ve given our permission for them to wear pink ribbons or anything they want to (in support of this cause). We’re not restricting any crew – pink ribbons, whistles – probably not every crew will do the same thing.”

Unfortunately the Washington hierarchy is overreacting. They are worried about their power. Last spring a softball umpire wore a Hawaiian shirt while calling a game. Doing so violated state officials’ rules.

I guess if a person is not wearing the appropriate uniform it will affect his ability to call balls and strikes.

“It sends the wrong message to the kids that are playing the game,” Stordahl told King 5 News. “If they broke the rules, why can’t I do the same thing.”

It seems to me that, once again, the officials take themselves too seriously. It’s one thing to bend the rules so flagrantly as to wear a Hawaiian shirt, but quite another to use a pink whistle.

I don’t have a rule book, but I’ll bet nowhere in it does it say an official’s whistle has to be a certain color. If an official wears a Hawaiian shirt while officiating a game, kick him out. He’s done – finished.

Sadly, somebody will probably create a lawsuit out of this.

“Fortunately we don’t have problems like that,” Coover said.