SAN DIEGO COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Mission’s Southern Division Off to Poor Start

Steve Harvey, whose syndicated Bottom Ten column takes a shot at some of the nation’s worst college and pro football performances, would have a field day with the Mission Conference Southern Division.

San Diego’s Mission (Impossible) teams--San Diego City (0-4), San Diego Mesa (0-4), Grossmont (1-3), Southwestern (1-3) and Palomar (1-3)--are a combined 3*-17 and haven’t won a game the past two Saturdays.

* Note: Of the three victories, Palomar and Grossmont have each defeated College of the Desert and Southwestern beat Rio Hondo. COD won its first game last weekend. RH has yet to win.

Things have gotten so bad that, two weeks ago, after Pasadena defeated Southwestern, 22-20, Pasadena dropped from 10th to 16th in one national poll.

“They must not think we’re very good, whomever the pollsters are,” Southwestern Coach Bill Kinney said.

“We’re all talking about (the poor records),” Palomar Coach Tom Craft said. “There’s a good possibility we could be 0-20 in conference play before we get to division play in two weeks.” The three victories were not against conference opponents.

Palomar has come the closest to respectability, losing the last two games by one point each. Palomar quarterback Brett Salisbury is averaging 29 completions and 312 yards per game. Salisbury, the brother of former USC and Orange Glen High star Sean Salisbury, transferred to Palomar last spring from BYU.

Palomar has even had some balance, rushing for more than 200 yards in two games, but running back Jerry Garrett is out with a broken leg and O.J. Hall is nursing a bruised back and hip pointer.

Southwestern also has some injuries--all four starting linebackers are out. Mesa quarterback Lance Lowrey (thumb) is injured for the third consecutive year. Grossmont, which switched to the wishbone this year, is having trouble scoring, as is San Diego City, which under new coach Martin Moss has been shut out the past two weeks.

Speaking for the group, Kinney said, “I wish I had an answer.”

Palomar, which won the state wrestling title two years ago and finished fourth last year, is off to an outstanding start this season.

In their first dual meet, the Comets nearly shut out Cypress, which finished seventh in the state last year. The final was 44-3, with Palomar’s only loss a 7-5 decision at 118 pounds.

State rankings are not expected until after this weekend’s big Questas College tournament in San Luis Obispo, but the Comets figure to be one of the top two or three teams. Palomar will host its annual tournament Oct. 27.

Area high school graduates wrestling for Palomar include Erik Johnson of San Dieguito and Erik (Lumpy) Johnson of Orange Glen. Others are Dusty Harles (Monte Vista), Ken Carlile (Helix), Craig Francis (Fallbrook), Mike Purnell (Serra) and Hugo Martinez (Escondido).

Rudy Suwara will be going for his 400th victory as SDSU’s women’s volleyball coach Thursday night at Peterson Gym against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.