San Diego U-T Preps

CARSON — Staying dry: In 2010, Madison High’s first trip to the State Football Championship Bowls, the rain came down in torrents at The Home Depot Center. Water cascaded down the stair wells and flooded the field as the Warhawks lost to Escalon 30-14. Saturday afternoon, the weather was perfect — cold, but not a cloud in the sky for the noon kickoff as the Warhawks rallied to beat Kentfield Marin Catholic 38-35 for the Division III title.

New homes: The CIF signed a new deal Friday that will keep the State Championship Bowls at The Home Depot Center for the next two years. The deal could signal the start of a rotation system for several sports. The Home Depot Center has been the home for football since the state bowls began in 2006. But Northern California, namely Sacramento State, would like to host. The boys and girls state basketball playoffs have been in Sacramento for the past several years at the home of the Sacramento Kings. Southern California would like a crack at hosting and has plenty of facilities, namely Viejas Arena at San Diego State (12,414 seats), Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus (13,800), Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario (11,089), the Galen Center on the USC campus (10,258). The girls volleyball state championships have been played at Concordia University in Irvine the last two years while track has been in Clovis, Fresno hosts cross country and wrestling is in Bakersfield. “We’ve put in bids to host and will continue to do so,” said San Diego Section commissioner Jerry Schniepp. “Viejas Arena bid for wrestling, but the state seems pretty happy with Bakersfield. Jenny Craig bid on volleyball, and I think would be a tremendous site. “We’ll keep bidding and hopefully San Diego will get rewarded one of these days.”

Travel plans: Madison drove to Carson on Saturday morning, leaving campus about 7:45 a.m. for the noon kickoff. The Warhawks stayed in a hotel for last week’s 8 p.m. Southern California Regional in Monrovia, about a 2-hour drive from the Madison campus. Marin Catholic arrived Friday, practiced near The Home Depot Center and stayed in a hotel.

Class act: After the coin toss, the entire Marin Catholic team walked across the field to shake hands with the Madison players.

Notable: The game started with the clock nonoperational. It wasn’t until after the game’s first possession that the problem was corrected. There was a problem with the clock during Friday’s late game.

•?For such a beautiful stadium, The Home Depot Center scoreboard is woefully inadequate. There is no down-and-distance and the timeout designations were listed under S.O.G.

•?Chris Wiggins, perhaps the best official in the San Diego Section, was the referee for Friday’s game.