An annual goal of the Point Loma High’s football team is to earn a top-four seed in CIF playoffs, giving them a first-round bye and an automatic berth in the quarterfinals.
That goal was reached for the first time since 2011 when CIF power rankings placed the Pointers as the No. 4 seed in Div. I, giving them a week to rest sore muscles and additional time to prepare and allowing coaches to personally scout their future opponents.
Those first two opponents will be either No. 5 seed Poway (5-5 season record) or No. 12 and final seed El Capitan (2-8), who meet in a first-round game this week, with the winner drawing the unenviable task of facing a Pointer team that would seem to be peaking at just the right time.
That quarterfinal match will automatically be a Pointer home game. However, since the CIF requires all playoff games be played at 7 p.m., the Nov. 20 game will be moved to Clairemont High School, a neutral site with lights. If the Pointers advance, the same situation will apply to the semifinal game.
The Div. I final is set for Dec. 4 at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Meanwhile, the Pointers destroyed their final two Western League opponents by a combined score of 85-7 to finish the regular season 7-3 (3-1 in league). Both games saw the CIF’s Mercy Rule invoked after the Pointers built leads of 35 points.
Most interesting was what loomed as a showdown Oct. 30 between undefeated (8-0 at the time) and No. 8-ranked Mission Bay and the Pointers. The host Bucs appeared to be flying high while playing in their sparkling new lighted stadium after their entire 2014 season was spent on the road during its construction. Pointers 41, Mission Bay 0
Rolling up 378 yards on the ground, the Pointers added another 60 passing for a game total of 438 yards of offense.
Defensively, the Dogs yielded a mere nine yards rushing and 70 through the air in a dominating performance.
By halftime, Pointer running back Jaylen Griffin had covered 177 yards on only nine carries, including touchdown runs of 62, 71 and 13 yards. On his only carry of the second half, he added a 26-yard scoring run to finish the game with 198 yards on 10 carries.
Other Point Loma scores came on a 58-yard run by junior Anthony Quintanilla and a 35-yard fumble recovery and return by sophomore defender Mathew Fa’alele.
The Bucs finished their season at 8-2 and received a No. 2 seed and first round bye in Div. III. Pointers 44, La Jolla 7
Last week, the Pointers gave La Jolla the boot but received a shoe.
Known for decades as “The Shoe Game,” the Pointer-Viking rivalry is one of San Diego County’s longest-running, with this year’s victory upping the Pointers lead in the series 46-21-5.
A once-proud trophy, with a football shoe, bronzed and sitting atop a large base with annual scores engraved, has disappeared. One explanation has the keepsake being given to the family of a deceased Viking coach during his final illness.
In its place is a spray-painted shoe, with chips of golden paint falling off, mounted on a small piece of lightly stained oak wood with a tiny plate indicating it was made in 2005.
This year’s game, also the Vikings’ Homecoming, played at University City High School while their stadium undergoes a major renovation, was a battle of opposites: the Pointers run game against the Vikings’ almost total reliance on the passing game.
Just moments into the game, a stray Viking pass was picked off and returned for a score by junior cornerback Antonio Pelayo.
On their next possession, Griffin scored for a 14-0 lead, but the Pointers got the ball back immediately when the Vikings failed to cover Jaime Medina’s kickoff to the sideline, with junior Miguel Rodriguez recovering the live ball at the La Jolla 24.
The Pointers forced a Viking punt from the end zone, but the punter stepped out of bounds for a two-point safety and 16-0 lead.
Forced to kick the ball from their own 20 after the safety, Griffin took the ball straight up the middle through the Viking defense for an 80-yard score, giving the Pointers nine points in eight seconds of play.
Griffin scored twice more, once on a run the first play after a fourth-down play by the Vikings failed. Later, he leaped to catch a 15-yard pass from quarterback Kyle Grady in the end zone, the score set up by a poor Viking punt from the end zone, giving the Pointers a very short field.
Tshombré Carter scored the final Pointer points on a short run set up on a 60-yard run by sophomore Josh Ball.
Earlier, Caleb Johnson had a 50-yard interception return for the Dogs. EXTRA POINTS:
The new CIF playoff system uses computerized rankings based on the performance of teams and the strength of its opponents. With the top eight teams composing the Open Division, the Pointers are rated the 12th strongest of 97 school in the San Diego Section.
The Pointer junior varsity team finished the season with a 7-2 record, while the freshman team recorded a 4-5-1 campaign.