Section Offers Wide Variety of Key Events

What’s your pleasure? The San Diego Section seemingly features the best of it all this weekend.

Beginning Friday afternoon with the individual finals of girls’ tennis and ending late Saturday night with the eight-man football championship, 28 athletes or teams in six sports will be crowned champions of 1991.

In addition to the tennis on Friday, which will be held at The Bishop’s School, beginning at 1 p.m., there will be two girls’ volleyball finals--in divisions IV and V--at Mira Mesa High starting at 5 p.m. The volleyball finals for divisions I, II and III will be held on Saturday, starting at 3 p.m. at Mira Mesa.

Cross-country will feature eight races in four divisions (four boys, four girls) beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday at Morley Field.

The field hockey final (noon at Diegueno Junior High) and two water polo championship matches (5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center) are also on Saturday.

The eight-man football championship features defending champion La Jolla Country Day vs. upstart Santa Fe Christian at 7:30 p.m. at Mira Mesa High.

In addition, there will be 16 first-round football games in the 3-A and 2-A classes, spread out over Friday and Saturday nights, and the 1-A championship on Friday night at Holtville.

Not This Time: With the University of San Diego High School routing defending champion La Jolla, 14-4, on Thursday in the 2-A girls’ tennis semifinals, it marked the first time since 1983 and only the third ever La Jolla has not made the finals.

La Jolla won its 10th section title last year, featuring two players who went on to play NCAA Division I tennis--LeeAnn Rostovsky (UCLA) and Lynn Coakley (UC Santa Barbara).

USDHS--under second-year coach Steve Anderson, a USDHS graduate--advanced to its first final behind the play of freshman Marisa Velasco, who is ranked No. 1 in Southern California among 14-year-olds.

Devils Fooled: After a 25-20 football loss to Castle Park two weeks ago, Sweetwater Coach Gene Alim complained about Castle Park’s deception in turning a fake punt into a 55-yard touchdown pass from Scott Whitman to Dejuan Franklin. Alim claimed Franklin never entered Castle Park’s huddle, lining up instead along the sideline before streaking downfield for the catch.

Sweetwater, remember, played its three nonleague games in other counties, in part so no other league team could scout it.

Limping In: Orange Glen, football’s 3-A runner-up in 1990, snuck into the playoffs with a victory Friday night, despite having lost its leading rusher, Joaquin Randall, and receiver, Kris Plash, to injuries for two games.

With Randall, the Patriots were 3-1-1. Without him, they were 2-3.

King Edwards: Linebacker Kenny Edwards of Vista had three sacks in the Panthers’ 20-3 victory over Torrey Pines. Edwards had five last week in a victory over Fallbrook.