Sports Shorts: Tartans Streak Into Football Season

leads all Orange County high schools with eight consecutive league titles, shared or won outright, going into the 2011 season, according to the Orange County Register.  Laguna Hills and Servite enter the season with six shared or outright titles.

Some other numbers of note for the Tartans:

• 65-5 overall record in the last five seasons
• 4 CIF Southern Section championships from 2006-2009
• 1 CIF State Championship Bowl game victory in 2008

St. Margaret's opens its season on Saturday, hosting Coronado at 7 p.m.

Who's on First in Coast View Conference?

As you probably know by now, the Coast View Conference is made up of the 10 high schools in the Capistrano and Saddleback Valley unfiied school districts. Where these schools are placed -- in either the South Coast or Sea View leagues -- is determined on a sport-by-sport basis.

However, the makeup of the leagues is scheduled to change every two years, which means after the 2011-2012 school year, the bottom two teams in the South Coast will change places with the top two teams in the Sea View in every sport. The South Coast is considered the stronger of the two leagues.

With San Juan Hills being the newest high school in either district, it was pretty simple to figure out that all of its athletic teams would compete in the Sea View League. Next year? Well, we'll see.

The Stallions open their season on Thursday, playing host to Villa Park in a 7:30 p.m. game at Tesoro High.

This also is the final school year for the current CIF-Southern Section playoff groupings for football. Not that they'll change any, but there's always a league or two that would rather be in a different division.

Time Keeps on Ticking, Ticking...

Did you know that if a football team leads an opponent by 35 points or more by the end of three quarters of play this season, there will be a running clock during the fourth quarter?

This “mercy rule,” approved by the CIF Southern Section last spring, will be in effect for all CIF Southern Section football games -- nonleague, league and the playoffs -- beginning this fall.

During a “running clock,” the clock will be stopped only after a score, a fair catch, a charged team timeout or an official’s timeout. Coaches can agree to establish a running clock earlier in the game, but if the points gap between the teams is reduced to less than 35 points in the fourth quarter, the running clock will remain in operation.

Read more about the new "mercy rule" .

Just Like the Swallows

Tom Lewis, who averaged 27 points and guided Mater Dei to two CIF Southern Section boys basketball championships in three seasons of varsity play, has returned to San Juan Capistrano as head boys basketball coach at Saddleback Valley Christian School, athletic director Rod Markum announced this summer.

Lewis, who coached at JSerra from 2003-08, replaces Dave Martin, who will remain at the school as its softball coach.

Last season, Martin guided the Warriors to a 20-6 record, including an 8-2 mark to finish runner-up to Fairmont Prep in the San Joaquin League. SVCS won its first-round Division 5A playoff game, beating Providence, 80-65, but lost in the second round to Pasadena Poly, 70-40.

Have some sports news or results you'd like to share? Send it to Bob.Rohwer@patch.com.