HIGH SCHOOLS /JIM LINDGREN : Aztecs’ Rice Steamed About Playoffs

If San Diego State Coach Al Luginbill considered the fumblerooski excessive trickery, imagine how Montgomery High Coach Roger Rice felt when he learned his Aztecs would not be one of 16 teams invited to the San Diego Section 3-A playoffs.

“If this is a joke? You got me,” Rice must have been thinking on Saturday when playoff pairings were determined.

It was not a joke. The Aztecs are finished.

Granted, an independent accounting firm was needed to sort out the Metro Conference standings, but when all columns were tabulated, and presumably double-checked, Montgomery was left in ashes. Reconstruction will not come easy.

When the dust settled Friday night, Castle Park (8-2, 5-2) and Bonita Vista (7-3, 5-2) emerged as co-champions with Bonita Vista earning the league’s No. 1 playoff berth by virtue of having beaten Castle Park earlier this season.

Sweetwater (6-3-1, 4-2-1) and Chula Vista (5-3-2, 4-2-1) tied for third because they tied each other, 0-0, three weeks ago.

Southwest (6-4, 4-3) and Montgomery (5-4-1, 4-3) tied for fifth, but Southwest was chosen for the playoffs instead of Montgomery because the Raiders beat the Aztecs, 21-12, four weeks ago.

Montgomery had a chance to finish in a three-way tie for first, but lost to Sweetwater, 28-6, Friday night and were consequently left out of the playoffs.

“I guess those are the things that happen when you leave your destiny to other people,” Rice said. “We had our chance on the field, and we didn’t get it done.

“I’m disappointed. We had a chance to put a banner on the wall, and we couldn’t do it.”

Championships aside, Montgomery’s argument as to why it should have been an “at-large” playoff selection is a strong one:

* Montgomery beat both co-champion Castle Park (21-14) and co-champion Bonita Vista (7-0) as well as City Central League champion Crawford (41-0) during the regular season.

* Five of Montgomery’s opponents were league champions, including Las Vegas Green Valley (8-1-1), which Montgomery tied, 14-14, and Moreno Valley Valley View (9-1), which defeated Montgomery, 25-7.

* Eight of Montgomery’s 10 opponents are in their respective playoffs.

* The Aztecs never lost two games in a row, shut out three opponents and held five to 14 or fewer points.

* Montgomery’s losses came against teams that were a combined 26-11-3, and its victories came against teams that combined for a 25-25 mark.

* At least two teams that did make the playoffs cannot come close to matching Montgomery’s claim. Without going into excessive details, Mira Mesa (5-5) had a poorer record, lost five in a row, and did not beat a team with a winning record, those five combining for a 14-35-1 record. Grossmont (6-4) did not beat a team with a winning record, either, those six combining for a 14-46 mark, and the Foothillers lost three of their last five.

Said Rice: “The thing that bothers me is they call it an at-large selection. . . . After the league champions and runner-ups, it’s my understanding they’ll pick the next best teams for the playoffs. What happened was, they didn’t want six teams from our league.”

BACK ON TOP

With Southwest upsetting Chula Vista on Friday, victorious Bonita Vista and Castle Park moved into a first-place tie in the Metro Conference, giving their new head coaches their first titles in many years.

Gil Warren, who guided Castle Park to the 1968 county championship, returned to the Trojan program this season after spending 15 years at Southwestern College.

Carl Parrick moved to Bonita Vista this season after finishing second in the Metro seven times since last winning a title in 1982.

“Seven second-place finishes gets old,” Parrick said. “We knew what we needed. We put it up on the board. Sure enough, everything happened.”

PLAYOFF SCRAMBLE

Seven schools playing host to first-round playoff games do not have lighted stadiums, including Morse, which had to scramble on Saturday morning to secure a field for Friday night’s game against Grossmont.

The Tigers considered Mesa College (taken by Kearny-Valhalla), Southwestern College (Bonita Vista-Rancho Buena Vista), Balboa Stadium (St. Augustine-Santana) and Patrick Henry (Crawford-Carlsbad) before settling on Serra High School, which is closer to Grossmont than Morse.

University City (vs. Oceanside) and Point Loma (vs. Poway) opted to play Saturday afternoon games on their respective campuses.

Additional bracket notes:

* Playoff rivalry: San Pasqual (9-1) drew Lincoln (4-6) in the first round for the second consecutive year, marking the fourth time in five years the two will have met in the playoffs.

* Get ‘em next year: Vista and La Jolla, the 3-A and 2-A runner-ups last season, did not make the playoffs.

* Alma mater: When top-seeded Morse (10-0) meets Grossmont (6-4) on Friday, it will mark the first time Morse Coach John Shacklett has ever coached against his alma mater. Shacklett, Morse’s coach for 22 years, was graduated from Grossmont in 1957 along with Dave Lay, Castle Park’s offensive coordinator.

* Wishful thinking: The 2-A playoff pairings sheet had Santana listed as 7-3. That was the score of Friday’s night loss to El Capitan. The Sultans are actually 6-4.

* Color coordinated: Two of the three schools with purple uniforms--Santana and St. Augustine--play each other in the first round.

* Rematch: The only regular-season rematch in the first round of the playoffs involves El Camino-USDHS. El Camino beat the Dons in Week 3, 14-3.

* Rematch II: Julian (8-1) meets Francis Parker (5-5) in the eight-man championship Friday at Ramona. Julian beat the Lancers, 37-20, on Friday.

HASTA LA VISTA, BABY

Vista’s two schools, Rancho Buena Vista and Vista, were fourth and seventh, respectively, in The Times’ preseason rankings. RBV (4-6) would have to win the championship to finish better than .500, and Vista finished 4-5-1.

THE FINAL COUNT

St. Augustine led the county in scoring with 348 points despite being shut out by Patrick Henry, 12-0 . . .

University City, which finished second in scoring with 319 points, led the county in scoring defense at 46 points despite losing to Kearny, 21-12, on Friday . . .

Junior Betsy Miringoff, the defending girls’ tennis singles champion who led Torrey Pines to its third consecutive team title this season, was seeded second for this week’s singles tournament. The No. 1 seed went to Barbara Valkova of Grossmont.

Football Top 10

No. School (Record) LW This Week 1. Helix (10-0) 1 vs. Mira Mesa 2. Morse (10-0) 2 vs. Grossmont 3. El Camino (9-1) 3 vs. USDHS 4. San Pasqual (9-1) 4 vs. Lincoln 5. Mt. Carmel (8-1-1) 5 vs. Southwest 6. El Capitan (9-1) 6 vs. Serra 7. Kearny (9-1) 8 vs. Valhalla 8. University City (9-1) 7 vs. Oceanside 9. Orange Glen (7-3) 9 vs. Sweetwater 10. Castle Park (8-2) 10 vs. Fallbrook

Others receiving consideration: Torrey Pines (8-2), Poway (7-3), St. Augustine (9-1).