In the spring of 1976, Gerald R. Ford was in the White House, a gallon of gas cost 59 cents, and Peter Frampton was rocking the music world.
It was also the last time Madison High School won a CIF baseball championship.
That is, until Saturday.
The Warhawks snapped a 50-year drought by capturing the CIF San Diego Section Division 1 crown with a scintillating 3-2 victory over Mt. Carmel at USD’s Fowler Park.
Senior pitcher Jeremiah Jennings kept the Sundevils off balance with a complete-game effort, allowing Madison to improve to 25-7 as they advance to the Southern California Regionals.
“We have a bunch of bucket crabs on our team,” said longtime Madison coach Robert Lovato. “They’ll do anything to get out of that bucket, and they’ll fight and crawl all the way to get a win.”
Jennings did his part: The 6-foot-4 right-hander limited the Sundevils to five hits with no walks and two strikeouts.
“Jeremiah located all three of his pitches real well today,” said junior catcher Charlie Kroning, referring to Jennings’ assortment of fastballs, curves and changeups. “He stayed consistent, and he didn’t let the pressure get to him.”
“I was trying to mix it up the best I can, and I got a lot of ground balls today,” said Jennings, who will be pitching for UC Santa Barbara next season. “When you throw strikes, good things will happen.”
Madison’s pitcher Jeremiah Jennings delivers to Mt. Carmel in the first inning of the CIF Division 1 championship at USD’s Fowler Park in San Diego on Saturday, May 30, 2026. (Hayne Palmour IV / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Third-seeded Madison came into the championship game having won 14 of their previous 15 games, including a 6-4 win over No. 6 seed La Jolla Country Day four days earlier in the semifinals. The Eastern League champs with an 11-1 record, the Warhawks’ only loss down the stretch came in the final league game against Christian on May 15.
Fifth-seeded Mt. Carmel also had a hot streak going following a sixth-place finish in the North County Coastal League, winning five of six playoff games going into Saturday’s final.
Included in that run were 5-3 and 9-6 wins over top-seeded La Costa Canyon in the semis earlier in the week.
It was the Sundevils who struck first in the section title game, scoring in the top of the third inning following Mt. Carmel’s first hit of the contest, a one-out single to right field by Gavin McCoy. One out later, Kelle Leuck delivered an RBI double to right to score McCoy.
Madison tied the score in the bottom of the fourth, which began with a leadoff double to the right-field corner by Easton Ochoa. A one-out single by Landis Nguyen advanced Ochoa to third, and designated hitter Tristan Thomas hit a first-pitch game-tying single to left.
The momentum continued to stay with the Warhawks in the following frame as Jorge Luque led off the bottom of the fifth with a single down the right-field line which was misplayed for a two-base error. Mt. Carmel starting pitcher Jack Grassa then hit two batters on back-to-back pitches, loading the bases with no outs.
Sundevils coach Keith Johnson then called on senior Kelle Leuck to replace Grassa on the mound. With a 3-0 record and one save in 11 relief appearances this season, Leuck struck out the first two batters he faced, but Nguyen connected on a 2-2 delivery for a two-out single up the middle which scored Luque and William Barden for a 3-1 Madison lead.
“Landis has been doing that all year,” said Lovato. “He’s going to be a real good four-year player in college.”
“I just shortened up my swing and trusted the process,” said Nguyen, a junior left fielder who had two of Madison’s 10 hits and also earned his team’s Sportsmanship Award. “I was thinking I had a bigger purpose, and that was to help my team.”
Mt. Carmel made it interesting in the top of the sixth when Nate Godbold hit a leadoff single, advanced to second on a throwing error by Jennings on a pick-off attempt and scored on a two-out single to left by Wyatt Aeling. Jennings retired the next batter on a groundout, and the seventh inning began with a fine running catch in shallow right field by second baseman Tyler Villegas.
Jordan Kutzner singled to left to keep the Sundevils’ hopes alive, but he was thrown out by Kroning while attempting to steal second base. Jennings then retired the final batter on a deep fly ball to center fielder Keith Clark.
Nguyen, Luque, Ochoa and Thomashad two hits apiece for the winners.
Although the loss dropped the Sundevils to 19-15-1 on the season and denied them a chance to repeat as section champions, they still qualify for the SoCal Regionals with their runner-up finish.
“I’m proud of my boys,” said Johnson, who coached the Sundevils to the CIF Division 2 crown a year ago. “We reached the championship game for the second year in a row, and at a higher level.”
When the Warhawks loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning, Johnson saw a familiar situation.
“I had a flashback to last year’s championship game against San Ysidro when we got out of a bases-loaded jam,” recalled Johnson. “Kelle was making great pitches, but their guy (Nguyen) got a big hit when they needed it.“Hats off to Madison. That’s a real good, well-coached team.”
And after claiming the Class 2A title five decades ago, the Warhawks finally have second CIF banner to hang.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” said Lovato.