San Diego High School Review / Chris De Luca : New 2-A Division May Have to Wait

The possibility that a low-level 2-A division will be added for next season appears slim, according to San Diego Section Commissioner Kendall Webb.

The division, which will be discussed by the Section’s coordinating council on Jan. 7, has been proposed by Coronado High School for teams too strong to play 1-A schools but not good enough to compete against other 2-A schools.

Section rules require four teams to participate in such a division. Coronado, Marian, St. Augustine, Christian and Ramona high schools have shown an interest.

Ramona, however, would join the division only for football because of travel costs in other sports. The Bishop’s School could compete in the other sports, according to Hugh Watson, Coronado High principal.

But Webb said the schools felt uncomfortable playing in a four-team division, and prefer that the fifth school participates in all sports.

Watson wants the division started for the 1988-89 school year.

“For the next season that would be very difficult because some of the athletic schedules have already been made,” he said. “We will accept (a new division) any time it comes, though.”

Watson said the new 2-A division would give schools, such as Coronado, a chance to win a 2-A championship in football, baseball, basketball or track and field.

Coronado’s rivals in the 1-A Mountain-Desert League have asked Webb to ban the school from playing in the league. Competing in the Mountain Desert League the past two seasons, Coronado has won the 1-A football title both years.

Webb said Coronado could stay in the league or play a freelance schedule if the new division isn’t formed.

Could the dominance of Poway’s basketball team finally be wearing thin?

Poway has lost to powerful Morse, 71-39, and to Madison in double overtime, 61-57. But Poway Coach Neville Saner doesn’t seem to be worried. He admits his team was overpowered by Morse last Friday, but added that’s not the start of a trend.

“We don’t have quite what we had before, in terms of personnel,” Saner said. “But we have good players and we will get better. You can’t expect the last three years to continue for ever--that’s not an every-year occurrence.”

Saner is confident that Poway (5-2) will be ready for Palomar League play, which opens Jan. 7.

“We ‘re not out of tune, we just played a fine Morse basketball team,” he said. “It hurts when you get beaten like that. We’ll be back, we gave Madison a fine game. Even though we lost in double overtime, we showed we can play with better teams.”

A girls’ basketball team from Edinburgh, Scotland will tour Southern California during January, playing several San Diego County basketball teams, including defending 3-A champion Point Loma.

The team, composed of high school-age girls from Edinburgh, arrived in San Diego Monday night. The team will play four San Diego County teams before traveling to Orange County to face Brea-Olinda High School Jan. 17.

The San Diego schedule, arranged by Point Loma Coach Lee Trepanier, has the Scottish team playing Madison (Jan. 6), Point Loma (Jan. 7), Mt. Carmel (Jan. 9) and Bonita Vista (Jan. 16).

Prep Notes

The Section coordinating council will discuss Jan. 7 whether there should be a state-cross country meet next season. Each of the 10 CIF sections will make recommendations to the Federated Council, according to Kendall Webb, Section commissioner. Currently, the only postseason championships are sectional meets.