Every game at this point of the season becomes more important than the last as teams continue to build up seeding points during non-league play with an eye on fine-tuning their on-field product for the start of league play.
The Granite Hills Eagles will look to get back on track after suffering back-to-back non-league losses to a pair of section heavyweights when they test the Otay Ranch Mustangs this Friday at 7 p.m. in a neutral site game at Hilltop High School.
The Eagles will take a 2-2 record into the non-league encounter while the host Mustangs are 1-1.
Granite Hills dropped a 34-14 matchup against visiting Madison on Sept. 3 to fall into the loss column for the first time. The Eagles lost their second consecutive home game, 31-0, last Friday to the visiting Eastlake Titans to spoil the school’s homecoming contest.
After outscoring their opening two opponents 78-10, the Eagles have been outscored 65-14 in their last two trips to the gridiron.
Otay Ranch defeated Madison, 19-14, in its season opener but dropped a 29-14 non-league contest to Helix Charter on Aug. 27. The Mustangs have been idle since after having their Sept. 3 game against Mira Mesa canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Marauder program and having a bye last week.
“We didn’t play well on offense,” Granite Hills head coach Kellan Cobbs said in regard to last Friday’s blowout loss to 10th-ranked Eastlake.
The Eagles fell victim to the Titans’ aggressive defense that recorded two interceptions and three fumble recoveries. The visitors turned three of those costly turnovers by the Eagles into 17 points.
Junior quarterback Lance Rodgers was pressed into service early on. The hosts relied on the ground game for much of the contest to move the ball but could not tame the Eastlake defense.
It was the first shutout loss by Granite Hills in nine years.
Eastlake (3-1) piled up 436 yards in all-purpose yards, including 210 rushing yards, 73 yards on kick returns and 50 yards on interception returns.
The Titans scored four rushing touchdowns — one each by senior quarterback Jordan Blondin (11 carries, 87 yards), senior Nayhum Lao (three carries, 44 yards), senior Christian Aguilar (two carries, 15 yards) and senior Trey White (two carries, seven yards).
Blondin, who took over signal-calling duties the previous week because of an injury to sophomore Johnny Limon, completed 15 of 19 passes for 106 yards. He scored on a 34-yard run following a strip fumble recovery.
Sophomore Ayden Billups led the Titans with 25 receiving yards on three receptions while senior Jordan Swan had three catches for 18 yards.
Junior Kaipo Mauga led the visitors with 13 tackles while Aguilar posted 11 stops. Aguilar and senior Dominick Wright had interceptions while Wright, senior Jayden Kendricks and senior Marco Gonzalez all recovered fumbles.
Wright returned his fumble recovery 40 yards. He also had an 83-yard interception return for a touchdown nullified by a penalty.
Junior Kalen Jones handled duties on six kickoffs and collected seven kicking points in the contest, including four extra-point conversions and a 47-yard field goal. He also returned a punt 43 yards.
Wright had a big night by returning one punt 30 yards.
Senior Isaiah Hinojosa had one sack.
Senior linebacker Carter Braun, who was a member of the homecoming court, keyed the Eagles with nine tackles.
Senior cornerback Mikey Birkenbach earned honors as this year’s homecoming king during halftime ceremonies.
Rancho Bernardo 32, Grossmont 6
The visiting Foothillers suffered their second consecutive loss after opening the season 2-0. Senior Brennan Sanders scored the lone touchcown for Grossmont as senior quarterback Trenton Giles was intercepted three times in the non-league setback.
