San Dieguito

Members of the San Dieguito Town Council, a group promoting incorporation of Encinitas and possibly a few of its north coastal neighbors, have decided to survey area residents to assess support for cityhood. The council is one of two San Dieguito groups investigating the incorporation issue and studying boundary alternatives. Members opted to conduct the survey Tuesday night after rejecting a proposal to push forward with cityhood for Encinitas alone.

When Jack McDowell was a pitching standout at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in the early 1980s, umpires frequently found themselves receiving an earful from a teenager unafraid to express his feelings, because he hated to lose. He didn't change much at Stanford or in the major leagues, where he won the American League Cy Young Award in 1993 with the Chicago White Sox. At 46 and in his second year as head coach at San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas, McDowell jokes, "That's my biggest accomplishment with umpires -- staying in games.

In other tournament games: San Dieguito 53, Newport Harbor 47--Hui Nguyen scored a game-high 22 points for Newport Harbor (5-3). West Anchorage 79, Trabuco Hills 63--Ron Christ led Trabuco Hills with 14 points.

Caught in a web of politics, legal threats and conflicting scientific claims, the California Coastal Commission has delayed voting on whether to let Southern California Edison reduce its coastline restoration efforts in San Diego and Orange counties. The delay, which came at 12:20 a.m.

San Dieguito High School named Trace Deneke its new varsity football coach Friday. Deneke, a former Marine who once had a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys, has been an assistant the past two years at El Camino High School, which has won the San Diego Section 2-A championship. Before coaching at the running backs at El Camino, he was an assistant coach at Oceanside. "His leadership skills are incredible and he has a dynamic personality," said Terry Calen, athletic director.

When the final whistle blew ending the second and final 15-minute sudden-death overtime period of a soccer game for the girls' Division I Section championship, the Poway Titans cheered frantically. The San Dieguito Mustangs hung their heads. The game had ended in a 0-0 tie. So guess which team held a 22-1-1 record and had beaten the other in three games during the season? Guess which team had never scored off the other in those three games?

As though there was any doubt which school in San Diego County had the best dual-meet wrestling team, the matter was decided Saturday when Poway--ranked fourth in the nation--beat San Dieguito, 58-0, in the finals of the Section Dual Meet Championships at Escondido High School.

San Dieguito High named Marty Albert its second head football coach in less than a month Wednesday. He replaced Dave Rudolph, who resigned on Monday. Albert compiled a 120-95-4 record in a 17-year career that included 10 years at Strongsville, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

A star football player at San Dieguito High School was sentenced Friday to serve up to eight months in a Probation Department camp for juvenile offenders--the toughest sentence meted out to any of the five juveniles who pleaded guilty in a series of North County beatings. The 17-year-old senior was ordered by Judge William Pate to report Feb. 1 to the juvenile camp in Campo, as well as to pay $1,000 restitution to his victims and perform 200 hours of community service.

Greg August scored two touchdowns to lead San Dieguito over Morse at San Dieguito. Morse trailed 12-7 just before the half and had driven to the one yard line, but sophomore quarterback Michael Lira fumbled and San Dieguito recovered. Morse (6-4-1) took a 14-12 led early in the second half, but San Dieguito (9-2-0) took the lead for good on an August run.

Amid political maneuvering, the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday held its second marathon meeting on a request by Southern California Edison to reduce its reef and wetlands restoration projects in San Diego and Orange counties. Late Wednesday night, the commission had yet to take a vote despite hours of sometimes heated debate.

On the eve of a showdown at the California Coastal Commission, conservation groups Tuesday called on the panel to reject a request by Southern California Edison Co. to reduce its environmental restoration projects in San Diego and Orange counties. "Edison should not be let off the hook, not one little bit," fumed San Diego County Supervisor Pam Slater.

Marina midfielder Rhiannon Tanaka isn't the Vikings' leading scorer, but as Encinitas San Dieguito learned Wednesday, she's dangerous even when she is off the playing field. In the first seven minutes of the title game of the Excalibur girls' soccer tournament at Foothill High School, Tanaka had two throw-ins from out of bounds that led directly to Marina goals. Early in the second half, Tanaka assisted on a goal and the Vikings went on to win, 3-0.

Santa Margarita's Brian Finneran was named most valuable player of the San Dieguito boys' basketball tournament, but the award could have easily gone to his twin brother, Brad. The two were equally responsible for the 10th-ranked Eagles' 83-59 romp over San Marcos Tuesday night in the San Dieguito High School tournament final. Brian Finneran had 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists and seven steals.

The Encinitas San Dieguito girls' soccer team came to Orange County this week risking its 41-game unbeaten streak to find better competition. The Mustangs found it, but they did emerge from their trip unscathed. Almost.

When girls' soccer powers Encinitas San Dieguito and El Toro squared off Thursday night, bragging rights between Orange and San Diego counties were at stake. Thanks to some stellar defense, nothing was settled. While a steady drizzle made the field slick, the two teams played to a scoreless tie at Mission Viejo High School. The tie extended San Dieguito's unbeaten streak to 41 matches, including a 5-0-1 mark this season. El Toro, ranked No. 1 in Orange County, is 6-0-1.

Brian Daly, who has been an assistant basketball coach at San Diego State, Washington State and Iowa, has been named head coach at San Dieguito High School. He replaces Dave LaBorde, who became athletic director last month. Daly was a graduate assistant last year to Iowa Coach George Raveling, who is now basketball coach at USC. In 1984, Daly was head coach at Loara High School in Anaheim.

Two-time defending San Diego Section girls' soccer champion San Dieguito became the first team to win the Baron Soccer tournament in three consecutive years with a 2-1 victory over the host Barons in the title game at Bonita Vista High Saturday afternoon. Bonita Vista (5-1) has had to settle for second against San Dieguito (5-0), not only in its own tournament the past three times, but also as runner-up in the last section championship.