SAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : To McCullough, SDSU is Defenseless

Trying to get one last “live” look at some of the athletes they’ll be recruiting in the next few months, San Diego State Coach Al Luginbill and a several assistants were spotted at the high school championships Saturday at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Perhaps they shouldn’t bother with El Camino linebacker Abdul McCullough, a two-time Avocado League defensive player of the year.

McCullough, who scored a 1290 on his Scholastic Aptitude Test and wants to major in pre-medicine, has narrowed his choices to UCLA, Washington, Washington State, Kansas and Duke. He has a scheduled visit to Kansas this weekend and the other four schools in January.

“I want to go to a school that has great academics,” McCullough said. “I want to go a school that has a good football team. That’s why I’m kind of leaning toward UCLA or Washington.”

What about San Diego State?

“Their idea of defense is trying to keep the score under 100,” McCullough said. “It’s great that they have great offensive players, but I can’t respect a program like that.”

McCullough said he was considering SDSU until he watched the Aztecs play Brigham Young on ESPN.

“I can’t respect a team that can have a 40-point lead (actually 28) and let them come back (to tie, 52-52),” he said. “It would be a great opportunity to play, but . . .”

Although McCullough, 6-feet-1 and 190 pounds, has played outside linebacker, he is being recruited as a strong safety. He should have the speed to play there. McCullough has run the 40-yard dash in under 4.5 seconds.

Who Needs Him?: McCullough scored nine touchdowns as a defensive player the past two seasons for El Camino.

Respect, Just a Little Bit: The media couldn’t surround Point Loma lineman La’Roi Glover fast enough Saturday after the Pointers defeated Vista, 14-0, in the 3-A championship.

No one, however, was flocking to talk to fellow defensive end David Cunningham, and maybe they should have been.

Cunningham matched Glover with eight tackles and had three sacks to Glover’s one as Point Loma limited Vista to minus-6 yards passing in the championship.

Cunningham’s numbers during the regular season--51 tackles, 18 assists, 10 sacks, four blocked passes, a forced fumble and a safety--were impressive by any comparison. But the 6-1, 200-pound senior shined in playoff games, where he had 21 tackles, nine assists and a team-leading five sacks.

“In the toughest games, he’s played his best,” Coach Bennie Edens said. “Against Morse, like in this game, he was all over the field.”

Does the snubbing offend him?

A huge grin crossed Cunningham’s face. He paused.

“Yeah, a little,” he relented. “Sometimes it does bug me, but I just remember I’m contributing for the good of the team.”

Pointing South: Point Loma’s victory not only made amends for its season-opening loss to El Camino, it kept the North Country from sweeping the 3-A and 2-A titles.

“Since La Jolla lost, we had to show North County that the city was still the best,” Point Loma cornerback Micheal Driver said.

Magic Number: Unlucky for some, lucky for others; all four football finalists this year finished with 13-1 records.

Looking Back: Dorsey High, which won the Los Angeles City 4-A championship Saturday over Banning, 33-30, lost its only game of the year Sept. 13. The Dons (11-1-1) fell to Lincoln, 12-6, at Mesa College.

Lincoln finished 7-4 after losing to San Pasqual in the first round of the 2-A playoffs.

Try It, You Might Like It: With Rancho Bernardo moving to the 3-A Palomar League next season because of increasing enrollment, Torrey Pines will move to the 2-A Avocado League.

This season, Grossmont and El Capitan switched classes. Grossmont won the Grossmont 3-A League and El Capitan the Grossmont 2-A League.

And a Rout, To Boot: The Orange Glen boys’ basketball team won its first game in two years, spanning 46 games, on Dec. 6. The Patriots defeated Coronado, 67-47.

The Right One, Baby: The Pepsi Bronco Invitational this past weekend at Rancho Bernardo High included five of The Times’ top six girls’ basketball teams.

Nos. 1 through 4--Poway, Carlsbad, Mt. Carmel and Rancho Bernardo--made it to the semifinals and Poway defeated Mt. Carmel in the final.

Making A Point: Sweetwater scored zero points to make its point.

Upset over the way his team was playing offense Saturday in a boys’ basketball game against Chula Vista, Sweetwater Coach David Ybarra ordered his team into a spread offense throughout the second half.

Sweetwater did not shoot, and thus, did not score in the second half of the 44-22 loss.

Chula Vista didn’t score in the fourth quarter. It was 20-12 Chula Vista after one quarter, and 33-22 at the half.

All in A Day’s Work: Led by Corey Farkas and Steve Lee, the Poway High wrestling team won the prestigious El Dorado Tournament on Dec. 7 and set a meet record with 233 1/2 points.

Farkas, who pinned all five of his opponents in a combined 3:03 and won the heavyweight championship match in 45 seconds, and Lee, the 103-pound champion, were named the outstanding wrestlers of the meet.

And on that same day, Poway also sent five wrestlers to the Carlsbad Tournament, and they finished fourth as a team in the 20-school meet. Two Titans were champions and three third-place finishers.

And on that same day, Poway also conducted its own freshman/junior varsity tournament and won that, too.