Three East County high school football teams entered last Friday’s slate of games still sporting undefeated records. Fast forward to Monday and only one still does: the Christian Patriots.
Christian defeated the host Monte Vista Monarchs, 62-27, in an all-East County non-league matchup to improve to 5-0 in reaching the midpoint of the 2026 season.
Both the West Hills Wolf Pack and Santana Sultans failed to match the Patriots’ perfect start by each falling to their first losses of the season.
West Hills lost, 40-33, to the Grossmont Foothillers in another non-league all-East County matchup while Santana’s 4-0 start was undone by the visiting Fallbrook Warriors, 41-31.
Christian now hosts the San Diego Cavers (1-4) this Saturday to kick off City Conference Eastern League play. It marks the first of five league games for the defending San Diego Section Division III champions.
Going forward, the Pats may have solved their quarterback concerns, at least in the short, term as sophomore Joel Hardy IV completed 12 of 17 passing attempts for 89 yards and one touchdown.
Previously senior Kai Rosier had played parts of the last three games following an injury to starter Kaleb Runkle.
Rosier remains in the backfield. He had one carry for 15 yards and one touchdown and also made two catches for 26 yards in the win over the Monarchs.
Sophomore Julian Morones carried the team on his back with 313 rushing yards and five touchdowns. He also caught one pass for a 10-yard touchdown and recovered a fumble for a 20-yard TD to give him seven touchdowns on the memorable night.
Sophomore Taj Carrillo rushed eight times for 67 yards and one TD.
Christian scored nine touchdowns against Monte Vista — seven rushing, one receiving and one on a fumble return.
The Patriots racked up 484 yards in total offense, including 395 rushing yards.
Junior Connor Nguyen led the team’s receivers with six catches for 59 yards.
Morones led the Pats with 323 all-purpose yards.
Defensively, Christian was just as active on the field. Sophomore Kayne Hubbard keyed the hosts with 12 tackles while senior Xander Molina recorded 11 defensive stops. Morones also chipped in with one tackle for a loss while Rosier was credited with two tackles.
The loss was the third consecutive for Monte Vista, which battled Christian to a 7-7 deadlock through the first quarter and trailed 28-21 at halftime. The Patriots blew open the game with 34 third-quarter points.
Daesean Jenkins led the Monarchs with four touchdowns — three rushing and one receiving.
Jenkins opened scoring on a 72-yard touchdown run. He later scored on a one-yard run to knot the teams in a 14-all standoff and then caught a scoring pass to put the Spring Valley team ahead, 21-14.
But the Patriots responded to build a 41-21 lead on Morones’ sixth touchdown in the game.
Morones scored on breakaway runs of 50 and 62 yards to highlight his rushing prowess. He averaged 20.9 yards per carry.
Monte Vista kicks off Grossmont Valley League play this Friday at Valhalla (3-2). The Norsemen have now been involed in three forfeit games this season — two against them and one in their favor after last Friday’s non-league game scheduled at St. Pius X-St.
Matthias ended in a forfeit win.
