By Bill Dickens
MaxPreps.com
More often than not it is the college recruiters who pull a last-second switch on a high school prospect who is pondering his options for the future.
In this particular case, however, it was the Wynn’s of change. That is, Oceanside quarterback Jordan Wynn rescinded his oral commitment to play at Colorado and instead has committed to Utah.
Not unlike any high school senior Wynn said he dreaded having to inform the Buffaloes hierarchy of his choice to blow out Boulder, Colo., to check in at Salt Lake City, Utah.
Colorado's abundance of depth at quarterback was probably the primary factor for Wynn’s change of heart.
Wynn is eligible to graduate from Oceanside in January and originally planned to get a jump on his college football career. With his latest change of direction, he says he “might stay at Oceanside and enjoy my last few months of high school."
Utah recruiting coordinator Dave Schramm, a former Grossmont College quarterback who played and coached at San Diego State, was in Ramona on Friday (Nov. 14) when Wynn passed for 339 yards against the Bulldogs.
"Utah hasn't promised me the job, far from it," Wynn told The North County Times. "But there is a chance to compete for the job.”
Under NCAA guidelines, college coaches are not allowed to comment on a player until he has signed a national letter of intent. For football, that is the first week of February.
Wynn’s decision to cast his fate with Utah came on the heels of a stunning 33-33 tie at Ramona, which snapped Oceanside’s 21-game win streak. That outcome isn’t all bad, though, as the Pirates now maintain an unbeaten skein of 22 games.
Wynn, who has completed 139-of-214 passes for 2,509 yards and 26 touchdowns this season, leads the Pirates (9-0-1) into the CIF-San Diego Section seeking a fifth straight Division II championship.
Gaffney finishes regular season with 42 Tds
Cathedral Catholic senior running back Tyler Gaffney continues to be a bull in a glass factory. In seven of his 10 games, the 6-foot, 215-pounder has scored four touchdowns or more. He saved his best for last, tying the San Diego Section record with seven touchdown runs in the Dons 70-37 spanking of Scripps Ranch.
Gaffney finished the regular season with 42 touchdowns and 252 points, trailing only Brawley’s Zay Shepherd (274 points, 26 TDs, set in 2004). The Dons extended their winning streak to 17 games and captured the Eastern League championship. Gaffney, who said he has narrowed his college choices to Stanford, USC and Notre Dame, praised his offensive line for his big night.
Randall runs roughshod
Led by speedy junior quarterback Deon Randall, Francis Parker (9-1) overpowered previously unbeaten El Cajon Christian 45-21 Friday (Nov. 14) to capture the Coastal League championship. Randall rushed for 158 yards and five touchdowns, amassing 244 total yards for the Lancers. He also notched nine tackles. Christian (9-1) lost for only the second time in 26 games since 2006.
The Patriots likely will get a second chance against Parker in the CIF-SDS finals considering they are seeded second to the No. 1 Lancers in the Division V playoffs.
Defensive dynamos
The name of the game was defense and Valhalla and Vista found different means to shut down their final regular season foes on Nov. 14 with authority.
Known more for their offensive excellence, the Grossmont South League runner-up Norsemen (9-1) rationed Granite Hills of El Cajon to 85 yards in a 49-7 Valhalla victory.
The North County Conference Vista Panthers limited Rancho Buena Vista to 100 yards, including a paltry 5 through the air in the Panthers 23-0 Palomar League romp.
Seale of approval
Escondido junior Ricky Seale led CIF-SDS rushers with 2,090 yards on 231 carries, averaging a smidgeon better than 9 yards per rush. Seale capped a brilliant regular season with a career best 321 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carries in the Cougars 45-14 rout of San Pasqual. Earlier in the year, Seale scampered for 311 yards in a lopsided win over Torrey Pines.
Other Top Performances
—Tanya Valenzuela of Hilltop dusted the Mesa League and South Bay League runners in the Metro Conference cross country finals. The senior finished in 15 minutes, 41 seconds – 26 seconds faster than her closest challenger on the 2.5-mile Rohr Park course.
— El Cajon Foothills Christian do-it-all junior Garret Campbell kicked a 27-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Knights a 16-14 Southern Conference title-clinching victory over Escondido’s Calvin Christian. This is only the third year Foothills Christian has played 11-man football.
— Tommy Brown rushed for 260 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries to lead Carlsbad’s Army-Navy Academy to the Pacific League football title with a 27-6 victory over Escondido Charter.
— Ramona senior Mike Head was a double threat for the Bulldogs. He caught five passes for 126 yards and a touchdown and contributed nine tackles and an interception to help Ramona tie Oceanside.
— Junior Jacob Roach of Otay Ranch won his second consecutive individual cross country championship, while the Mustangs marched to the Mesa League team title. Roach covered the 3.1-mile Rohr Park course in 16:13.
Coming attractions
The CIF-SDS football playoffs kick off on Friday (Nov. 21) with a 16-game schedule. Top-seeded teams are: La Costa Canyon (Div. I); Oceanside (Div. II); Cathedral Catholic (Div. III); Valley Center (Div. IV); and Francis Parker (Div. V).
All top seeds draw a first-round bye. A championship quadruple-header will be staged at Qualcomm Stadium on Friday (Dec. 12). The Div. V title bout will be concluded a day later at Southwestern College.
Dickens Dealings
In Valhalla’s 32-year history of football, the Norsemen have never won a league football championship. Oh, they’ve come close. In 1988 they might have won a share of a title had they not been hit with a bevy of forfeits.
Arguably Valhalla’s best team in 2005, the Norsemen finished undefeated in the Grossmont South League at 3-0-2. Still, they came up short when eventual champion Steele Canyon turned a regular season 30-30 tie into a 36-33 overtime victory.
Valhalla’s frustration continued into the playoffs where the Norsemen slugged it out with St. Augustine for more than 3 hours before the Saints scored eight points on the last play (counting a two-point conversion pass) as time expired to claim a 49-48 edge to advance to the CIF-SDS Division III semifinals.
In that late-round knockout, the Norsemen overcame a 27-6 deficit, eventually tying the game three times at 27-27, 34-34 and 41-41, the last time coming on an 80-yard TD run by Garen Demery. Valhalla went on to take a 48-41 advantage on Demery’s 3-yard run with 0:58 remaining.
The Saints scrambled back on a 3rd-and-10 from the Valhalla 26 with only 4 seconds left to shave the Norsemen’s advantage to 48-47 as time expired.
Instead of kicking the tying PAT, St. Augustine went for the 2-point conversion and the win. The Saints were successful, dealing Valhalla its lone defeat, ending their finest season to date and eliminating them from the playoffs.
That was a Wing-T Valhalla outfit, with a so-so defense. The latest Valhalla model has a big-time quarterback in Pete Thomas, a bevy of sure-handed receivers and probably the best band of defenders this school as ever known.
Whether the Norsemen can slap a gag on Gaffney and Cathedral Catholic in the CIF-SDS playoffs remains to be seen. Bottom line is no Valhalla football team has won as many as 10 games in a season.
