Poll: Mission Hills the new No. 1 in the Union-Tribune’s high school football rankings

Since the first week of the high school football season, Lincoln has been the No. 1 team in the San Diego Section.

That all changed Friday night, when the Hornets were upset by a Cathedral Catholic team playing without its starting quarteback.

Mission Hills (8-1), after a 56-0 win over No. 10 Rancho Bernardo, is the No. 1 team in the section. The Grizzlies garnered 15 first-place votes, jumping from No. 3.

Cathedral Catholic (7-2) moved from No. 5 to No. 2, getting 10 first-place votes. La Costa Canyon (8-1), after a 50-22 win over No. 2 Carlsbad, moved up a spot to No. 3 with five first-place votes. Lincoln (7-2), which had all 30 first-place votes the last two weeks, fell to No. 4. Carlsbad (8-1) dropped to No. 5.

Mission Hills, La Costa Canyon and Carlsbad all play in the Avocado West League, where they’ve been beating up on each other. Mission Hills beat La Costa Canyon, but lost to Carlsbad. La Costa Canyon lost to Mission Hills on a botched 2-point conversion attempt in the final 30 seconds, but stunned Carlsbad. And Carlsbad beat Mission Hills, but lost to La Costa Canyon.

Cathedral Catholic was upset by Point Loma two weeks ago, a game that weighed on the voters.

San Diego Union-Tribune High School Football Poll

(First-place votes in parentheses; points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis)

Team/Record/Points/Last 

1. Mission Hills (15); 8-1; 260; 3

2. Cathedral Catholic (10); 7-2; 258; 5

3. La Costa Canyon (5); 8-1; 252; 4

4. Lincoln; 7-2; 219; 1

5. Carlsbad; 8-1; 180; 2

6. Granite Hills; 6-3; 146; 6

7. Point Loma; 9-0; 125; 7

8. San Marcos; 6-3; 89; 8

9. Mount Miguel; 6-3; 42; 9

10. Oceanside; 5-4; 37; NR

Others receiving votes: Imperial (9-0, 14 points), Santa Fe Christian (9-0, 8 points), Rancho Bernardo (7-2, 3 points), Mission Bay (9-0, 2 points), Holtville (8-1, 1 point).

Voters: 30 sportswriters, sportscasters and administrators from throughout the San Diego Section: John Maffei (San Diego Union-Tribune), Don Norcross, Kevin Farmer, Rick Hoff, Steve Brand (Union-Tribune freelance writers), Joe Heinz, Todd Cassen, Ron Marquez (CIF Office), Brandon Stone, Allison Edmonds, John Carroll, Chase Izidoro (KUSI-TV), Rick Smith (Partletonsports.com), Braden Surprenant (97.3-FM The Fan), Mike Dolan (Coaching Legends Committee), Tom Helmantoler (Southern Conference Advisor), Joe Evangelist, Rex Johnson and Bruce Ward (CIF Advisory Committee), Raymond Brown (sdfootball.net), Christian Pedersen (San Diego Sports Association), Bodie DeSilva, John Kentera, Dennis Ackerman, Steve Dolan, Eric Williams, Thomas Gutierrez, Tom Ronco, Adam Paul (freelance contributors), MaxPreps.