HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Mancillas Quits Post at Castle Park

Jorge Mancillas, head football and track and field coach at Castle Park High School, has resigned from those positions citing time and family commitments as the primary reasons.

“I’ve been coaching for 15 years, and I just felt like I needed a break,” said Mancillas, 38. “I feel I have more of a responsibility to my family.”

Mancillas, who played defensive line for the Castle Park team that won the 1968 county championship, has coached at the school for seven years, including the past two as head football coach. The Trojans finished 5-5 this year, fourth in the Metro Conference, after going 4-6 last year.

Mancillas, who teaches Spanish and physical education as well as helping with the wrestling team, said he will remain in those capacities. He also did not rule out returning to coaching football.

“If they make me an offer I can’t refuse, I won’t,” Mancillas said.

Castle Park could have received an at-large bid in the 3-A Division football playoffs. However, the coach must be present at the seeding meeting for the team to be considered, and Mancillas chose not to attend Saturday’s meeting.

“We set a goal at the beginning of the year,” Mancillas said. “If we finished third in the league or better, we’d go. We were 3-4 in the league and I didn’t want to go into the playoffs with a losing record. I don’t think a team that finishes fourth in any league should go to the playoffs.”

Falling short of the goal was the main reason Mancillas did not attend Saturday’s meeting, but he also said injuries have reduced Castle Park’s roster to 33 players and only five offensive linemen.

The Helix girls’ volleyball team is steaming mad . . . and with good reason.

The Highlanders (30-0) are the only undefeated team in the county but they remain unranked in state polls and are mentioned in ‘the best of the rest’ in the national rankings. Meanwhile, Torrey Pines (23-2) is ranked third in the state and Poway (20-4) is fourth.

“We’re getting more and more mad,” Helix Coach Mike Welch said. “It’s really disappointing. The girls have worked very hard and they’re never recognized.”

Helix did earn the top seeding in the Division II playoffs and will play unranked Monte Vista (26-8) at 7:30 tonight in the semifinals at Serra High School. Torrey Pines, seeded second, will play third-seeded Escondido (13-6) at 5 at Serra High School.

This will be the third meeting between Helix and Monte Vista, which finished first and second in the Grossmont 3-A League. Helix defeated Monte Vista twice, both in close matches.

“I would have preferred them to be in the other bracket,” Welch said, “but I’m also really happy to see two Grossmont 3-A teams in the semifinals.”

Thursday’s Ramona-Clairemont volleyball match had to be rescheduled after referees failed to show up. The teams will play their Division III quarterfinal match at 4 p.m. today at Ramona. The winner will then play USDHS on Wednesday in the semifinals.

It’s not unusual to find football fans dancing in the stands when their team makes a big play. But during home games at Mission Bay, a 20-piece jazz ensemble gives the fans something else to dance about. The band has forsaken march cadences and fight songs for hip funk riffs and verses of jazz standards.

The unique format was the idea of band director Rey Vinole, an actor/musician who attended Mission Bay and played in garage bands with former classmate and rock innovator Frank Zappa during the 1950s. Vinole’s band is so popular the school allowed a parent to build a grandstand stage next to the pressbox, and community groups frequently call on the students to play for them.

“They’re tremendously popular on campus,” Vinole said, “but they much prefer to go out and do a gig. They really feel like they’re professionals.”

The band plays for free but often receives donations for the Mission Bay music program, much needed in the wake of Proposition 13 budget cuts. The ensemble has grossed $1,800 since September, and Vinole expects it to raise more than the record $3,000 it did last year. Vinole said many former students have gone on to successful entertainment careers in Hollywood, Las Vegas and Broadway. The band’s next school engagements will be at home boys’ basketball games.

Times Staff Writers Dana Haddad and Jim Lindgren contributed to this report.