Yeah, baby! The Granite Hills Eagles, El Capitan Vaqueros and Monte Vista Monarchs are all heading to San Diego Section championship games this weekend at Southwestern College.
It’s a rich reward for a season of superlatives as the right teams found the winning formula at the right time of the season.
Third-seed Granite Hills (10-2) will face the top-seed San Marcos Knights (11-1) in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. prime time Division I clash while second-seed El Capitan (9-3) will meet the fifth-seeded Westview Wolverines (6-7) in Friday’s Division II game at 3:30 p.m.
Monte Vista (8-5) will tackle the second-seeded Bonita Vista Barons (7-5) at noon on Saturday in Division V to kick off a championship triple-header.
Overall, five East County teams advanced to last Friday’s division semifinals.
The third-seeded Helix Highlanders (Division II) and the third-seeded Grossmont Foothillers (Division IV) both came up short to end their seasons.
Helix (5-7) dropped a 17-14 match-up at second-seeded Mater Dei Catholic (9-3) last Friday after rallying from a 7-0 halftime deficit to lead 14-10 in the second half.
Grossmont (5-7) lost a 35-14 shootout at El Capitan in an all-East County semifinal match-up.
Helix had an apparent touchdown negated by a penalty that could have significantly changed the outcome of which team advanced to the championship round. But the play was called back and it’s water under the bridge now.
The Scotties were also impacted by in-game injuries to standout senior running back Pablo Jackson and senior quarterback Jett Gottlieb.
Granite Hills 22, Carlsbad 16
The Eagles defeated host Carlsbad in last year’s Open Division semifinals and managed to repeat the feat in this year’s Division I semifinals. The end result in both cases was a berth in the division championship game.
Last Friday’s game in North County was back-and-forth before the visitors eventually wound up on top of the score.
“We’re excited to be playing an¬other week,” Granite Hills head coach Kellan Cobbs said.
Again, it took an all-around team effort for the Eagles to advance.
Granite Hills managed to punch three touchdowns across the goal line against the second-seeded Lancers (8-4). Sophomore Gage Spalding scored on the ground (five carries, 53 yards) while also snaring a touchdown pass through the air (two catches, 31 yards).
Sophomore quarterback Zac Benitez (189 passing yards) completed two touchdown passes in the game while also firing a score also to junior Tristan Diaz (two catches, 13 yards).
Senior Max Turner had 10 carries for 16 yards as Carsbad strove to shut down the Eagles’ vaunted running attack. However, Turner proved himself to be a versatile weapon by making five catches for 124 yards, including a 77-yard catch and carry to set up a touchdown.
On defense, senior Parker Vance led Granite Hills with 12 tackles while senior Trevor Smith had 11 defensive stops and junior Jayden Proctor had 10 tackles.
Vance made a game-saving interception late in the high impact contest.
“Carlsbad is a great team and did a good job of keeping our offense off the field,” Cobbs said. “Our defense got critical turnovers in big moments of the game.
“The play of the game was when senior defensive lineman Kuba Polock ran down their quarterback from behind and poked the ball out right in front of their own end zone. It ended up being a 15-point swing for us as we scored right before halftime.
“Zach Benitez completed 78 percent of his throws on the night and did a great job of distributing the ball. Sophomore running back Gabe Spalding had two big plays for us for touchdowns.”
The list of high achievers doesn’t stop there. Senior Gavin Taylor and junior Hunter Hamilton each recorded a sack while senior Jerzel Ramirez and sophomore Euro¬jah Schutza shared a sack.
Taylor and Smith were each credited with fumble recoveries.
Turner finished the game with 140 total yards. On the season, he has rushed for 1,686 yards and scored 28 touchdowns (24 rushing, four receiving).
“San Marcos looks to be a very explosive team,” Cobbs assessed. “They do a great job on defense with their man-coverage and do a great job of pressing on the edges. Offensively, their quarterback is very accurate and does a good job of getting rid of the football to his athletes. They have a few Division I receivers, so that can present some challenges. Overall, we need to go out and attack and not allow them to play finesse football.”
Section champions advance to the state playoffs as an added incentive.
Back in the saddle
The Grossmont Valley League champion Vaqueros are on a roll at the right time of the season while riding the crest of an eight-game winning streak.
El Capitan rose to the occasion with last Friday’s clutch win over the pass-happy Foothillers and standout senior quarterback Thomas Donovan, who entered the game with 3,911 passing yards and 51 touchdowns.
“We were the underdogs,” admitted Vaq junior Logan Dulyea, who had five catches for 67 yards and two touchdowns.
The hosts countered with 220 yards and three touchdowns from senior Brandt Barker while senior Ayden Banegas (three catches, 35 yards), junior Brody Copp (eight carries, 32 yards) and senior Brady Joralemon (10 carries, 29 yards) each scored touchdowns.
Monarchs roar
Bonita Vista, the runner-up team in the Metro-South Bay League standings, will be challenged all the way around by a Monte Vista team firing on all cylinders after a runner-up finish in the Grossmont Valley League standings and three consecutive playoff wins.
The Monarchs, who take a four-game winning streak overall into Saturday’s division final, have, in order, scored playoff upsets over fifth-seeded Fallbrook (34-33, first round), fourth-seeded Hoover (47-46, quarterfinals) and top-seeded Vista (34-14, semifinals).
The catalyst for the electrifying postseason run has been senior running back Alex Villanueva, the section’s leading rusher with 2,718 yards.
Villanueva rushed for 242 yards and one touchdown in the win at Fallbrook and tacked on 365 yards and six touchdowns in eliminating the Cardinals the following week. He rushed for 240 yards and five touchdowns in last Friday’s semifinal road victory.
Villanueva has been outspoken all season that this team has not received the proper recognition it is due. Monte Vista will have no excuses to make on Saturday.
There’s already a lot of talk about Monte Vista’s return to the finals after the Monarchs won the 2017 Division IV championship behind an eight-touchdown effort from Jahmon McClendon.
“I don’t know if this is true or not, but a lot of people are telling me we are the first 12-seed to make the finals,” Monte Vista coach Ron Hamamoto said. “We have really improved since the beginning of the season. Alex Villanueva is having a great season and is currently the leading rusher in San Diego County. We are a little beat up after playing 13 games, going on 14. I am very proud of this team.”
San Diego Section Football Championships
OPEN DIVISION
Saturday, Nov. 23
(1) Lincoln 31, (2) Cathedral Catholic 13
DIVISION I
Saturday, Nov. 30
(1) San Marcos (11-1) vs. (3) Granite Hills (10-2), 7:30 p.m.
DIVISION II
Friday, Nov. 29
(2) Mater Dei Catholic (9-3) vs. (4) Poway (5-7), 7:30 p.m.
DIVISION III
Saturday, Nov. 30
(4) San Pasqual (6-5) vs. (7) St. Augustine (3-10), 3:30 p.m.
DIVISION IV
Friday, Nov. 29
(2) El Capitan (9-3) vs. (5) Westview (6-7), 3:30 p.m.
DIVISION V
Saturday, Nov. 30
(2) Bonita Vista (7-5) vs. (12) Monte Vista (8-5), noon
DIVISION V-AA
Thursday, Nov. 21
(1) Calipatria 44, (3) Coastal Academy 25
DIVISION VI (8-PERSON)
Friday, Nov. 22
(1) Str. Joseph Academy 60, (3) Calvin Christian 22
