Despite a 42-21 non-league setback to the No. 3 Cathedral Catholic Dons last Friday in front of a packed stadium, the Granite Hills Eagles have much still to look forward to before the current high school football season is over.
The Eagles have four Grossmont Hills League games to play, as well as one more non-league contest, before the San Diego Section playoffs tip off.
At 3-2 on the season, Granite Hills is currently No. 8 in the section rankings with losses to No. 10 Oceanside (2-3) and Cathedral Catholic (3-2). The Eagles defeated No. 2 Mission Hills (4-1) in Week 3 but will not see No. 1 Carlsbad (5-0), No. 4 La Costa Canyon (3-2) or No. 5 Santa Fe Christian (5-0) through the end of regular season play.
It’s not clear at the midpoint of the season whether the Eagles will make the Open Division cut. At worst they should be battling for one of the top seeds in the Division I playoffs.
Things have a tendency to work themselves out with wins.
That starts this Friday in a very meaningful way when Granite Hills hosts the Grossmont Foothillers to kick off defense of their league title.
“We’re excited to get to league play,” Eagles head coach Kellan Cobbs said. “We challenged ourselves with Cathedral and Mission Hills (28-27 win). Now we have a chance to go win our fifth straight league championship. It all starts with a 5-1 Grossmont team that can score a lot of points. We need to be dialed in on defense this week and be ready to cause turnovers.”
Last Friday’s loss to the Dons was closer than the final score indicated.
The hosts turned a two-touchdown deficit into a one score game late in the third quarter, 28-21, but were unable to complete their comeback as the defending Open Division champions tacked on a pair of fourth quarter scores for the final 21-point victory.
Early on, a gritty Granite squad hung close by twice reducing the Dons’ lead to seven points before the high-powered visitors pulled ahead by two touchdowns.
The Eagles did not embarrass themselves with 283 yards in offense. Cathedral gained 278 yards, though 200 of those yards came of the arm of senior quarterback Koa Smith-Mayall, who completed five touchdown passes in the win.
Granite HIlls senior Zac Benitez completed 22 of 33 attempts for 158 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Senior Gage Spalding had 11 carries for 51 yards and one touchdown.
Senior Courtney Miller-Thompson caught 10 aerials for 67 yards but also launched a 67-yard touchdown pass to senior Jesse Wilhite (two catches, 76 yards). Senior Brody Vicars (two catches, 21 yards) also reeled in a TD pass.
Senior Cayden Phillips keyed the Granite defense with 10 tackles while junior Ty Spencer had one interception.
