Sights and sounds before Cathedral Catholic High School and Carlsbad squared off for the CIF San Diego Section Open Division championship Tuesday night at Southwestern College:
Cathedral’s Honor Fa’alave-Johnson, widely considered the best player in the section, bobbed his head up and down, earphones strapped atop his head.
“Rhythm and blues, old ’90s,” said the junior running back, who came into the game scoring every 4.6 times he touched the ball.
“I like the music slow,” he said two hours before kickoff. “I’m already hyped.”
Carlsbad coach Thadd MacNeal shook Fa’alave-Johnson’s hand 55 minutes before kickoff.
MacNeal’s take on the Dons’ star: “The film speaks for itself. Extremely fast and explosive. Can change a game in the blink of an eye.”
A Cathedral dance coach told her girls: “Time to apply lipstick.”
Carlsbad linebacker coach Aaron Gutridge barked to his players during warmups: “It’s a great day to be great. From the start. We start strong. We start fast.”
Cathedral defensive line coach Mike Irving yelled as his players exploded off the line in drills: “San Diego’s a beautiful town to have bragging rights, I can promise you that.”
Our Aaron Donald?
Carlsbad defensive tackle Ashawn Cranford stands 5-feet-11.
“C’mon,” he said, “round up to 6 feet.”
He weighs 230 pounds, squats 550 pounds and is quick as a cat.
Cranford came into the game with 10½ sacks. He has no scholarship offers. The only programs talking to him are junior colleges and NCAA Division II programs.
“If he were 6-4,” said MacNeal, “he’d be a national recruit.”
Cranford models his game after Aaron Donald, the Rams’ former 6-foot-1 star defensive tackle.
As for not being heavily recruited, Cranford said: “It can definitely be frustrating, for sure. I try to stay optimistic. I kind of use it as fuel to play better.”
Drop a line
Cathedral Catholic senior defensive back Logan Jones wants to be a two-sport college athlete. He wants to play football and … fish.
Yes, there are collegiate fishing teams. Majorleaguefishing.com ranks the top bass fishing schools. In case you’re wondering, the top five are: 1. North Carolina State; 2. Auburn; 3. UNC-Charlotte; 4. Virginia Tech; 5. Wisconsin.
“That’s my relaxation,” Jones said. “I wrote my college essay on fishing. Fishing teaches you patience, teaches you humility. You can be out there all day and not catch a thing. Still, it’s a great day. You’re out on the water.”
Something’s missing
MacNeal is one of the section’s most respected coaches. He came into the championship game with a 15-year record of 114-53. His teams win, play hard and play with class. But on the eve of the game, MacNeal admitted something was missing.
Heading into Tuesday night’s game, he’d yet to win a section title.
Asked if it bothered him, MacNeal said, “Of course. As a competitor, you don’t work so hard and do all these things to be second place. But I’ve just worked extremely hard and tried to be in a position (to win) again. We let the chips fall. A lot of teams never get to the championship. We’ve been fortunate enough to get there. We’re going to do everything in our power to win it.”
The Lancers were 0-3 in Open Division title games under MacNeal, losing in 2019, ’21 and ’22.
Carlsbad led at halftime, 10-0.
De-commits
On the opening Friday of the season, the Union-Tribune wrote a feature on the three local quarterbacks who had committed to Power Four schools: Cathedral Catholic’s Brady Palmer (Cal), Cash Herrera of Bishop’s (Indiana) and Mission Hills’ Troy Huhn (Penn State).
All three have since backed off their commitments.
Huhn was in Blacksburg, Va., visiting Virginia Tech last weekend. The Hokies’ new coach, James Franklin, was at Penn State when he initially committed.
Palmer is planning to visit the University of Minnesota next weekend.
“It’s crazy,” said Palmer before kickoff. “College football’s different than it used to be.”
The message on his long-sleeve shirt during warmups: “God Lives in San Diego.”
By the numbers
33 – Carlsbad cheerleaders in attendance; 81 in the school’s entire program. The dance team didn’t make the trip.
42 – Combined cheerleaders (23) and dance team members for Cathedral Catholic.
1:24 – Hours and minutes of Carlsbad’s commute to Southwestern College.
Glass half full
Carlsbad defensive coordinator Paul Publico on the drive to Chula Vista, “There were clear skies. The birds were singing and Christmas music was playing.”
Food review
No time for grub. Colleague John Maffei supplied Krispy Kreme donut holes. Yummy, but no entree. Three belches on U-T’s five-belch meter.