Four weeks into the 2026 high school football season, four East County teams remain among the San Diego Section’s 11 undefeated 11-player teams. It’s becoming a select group: the Santana Sultans, West Hills Wolf Pack, Valhalla Norsemen and Christian Patriots.
Santana and West Hills are both 4-0 while Valhalla and Christian are both 3-0.
To add to the excitement of last week’s round of non-league games Helix Charter won its third consecutive game while Granite Hills captured a one-point nail-biter in a matchup of top 10 ranked teams.
Also, El Cajon Valley picked up its first win of the season.
Comeback kids
The Sultans trailed the host Chula Vista Spartans from the get-go until senior Brenden Varner kicked a 23-yard field goal with 11.2 seconds to play in regulation to keep the East County visitors undefeated on the season.
The Spartans, showing signs of life in their previous two games, went up early 14-0 before Santana began to chip away at the deficit over the remaining course of the game.
The Sultans had to contend with CV sophomore Asher Richardson, whose breakaway speed presented problems for the Santana defense all game long. Richardson rushed 33 times for 236 yards and four touchdowns to put the Spartans (0-4) in position to pick up their first win of the season.
Chula Vista opened the game with a 45-yard kickoff return by senior Gabriel Ruiz to set up Richardson for a five-yard touchdown run for an early 7-0 lead. The Spartan lead grew to 14-0 when Richardson scored from one yard out following a blocked punt.
The Sultans started scoring thereafter while playing catch-up.
A 48-yard catch by senior Ethan Smith on the last play of the first quarter set up Santana on the two-yard line. Junior Julian Mayers scored from there on the first play of the second quarter to make it a 14-6 game after the hosts blocked the extra-point attempt.
Senior Koko Thornton stymied the Spartans with an interception on a deep pass down the sideline. The Sultans reversed field as Thornton hauled in a 13-yard scoring pass from senior Ethan Miller to cut the deficit to 14-12. Thornton was denied on the two-point conversion run to keep it a two-point game.
But the Santana defense couldn’t contain the nimble Richardson, who was suddenly at the Santana six-yard line following a 30-yard return. Junior Jaidyn Davies bowled in from five yards put to put Chula Vista in front 21-12 following the successful extra-point conversion by junior Alexis Amador.
An interception by Spartan senior Jaylen Clark ended the first half.
The Sultans completed their comeback with a 25-14 scoring edge in the second half.
Thornton was next on the scoreboard on a 14-yard run with 6:41 remaining in third quarter but he was denied again on a two-point conversion to leave the score at 21-18.
Richardson again found himself in the end zone for a 28-18 CV lead with 4:35 to play in the quarter.
A 30-yard bomb set up senior Denton Goar for a touchdown at the back of the endzone. This time the two-point conversion was good to Smith as Santana crept back to within two points on the scoreboard at 28-26.
But Richardson once again made it a foot race down field, eventually scoring on a three-yard run to hike the Spartan lead to 35-26.
Santana did the rest of the scoring in the game.
Goar hauled in a seven-yard TD catch with 4:24 to play and Thornton tacked on the two-point conversion to narrow the Chula Vista lead to one precarious point at 35-34.
The Spartans regained the momentum on a 40-yard kickoff return. But a bad snap pushed them into third-and-15 and a punt with 2:40 to play.
The Sultans took over possession at their own 23-yard line. Mayers moved the ball 10 yards for a first down but a short run and two incomplete passes forced Santana into fourth-and-eight.
Mayers carried the ball to the 50-yard line for a clutch first down. An incompletion followed and then a completion to Goar to the CV 34 with1:20 left.
Goar caught another aerial to the nine-yard line with 53.9 seconds remaining and Mayers then carried to the three-yard line with 42.7 seconds left. Thornton kept the momentum going with a carry to the one-yard line with 22.4 seconds on the clock.
But the Sultans could not score on first-and-goal or second-and-goal or third-and goal as the ball remained at the one-yard-line. A motion penalty on fourth down with 15.7 seconds left moved the ball back to the six-yard line. There was only one option left: attempt a field goal from the 13-yard line.
Problem: Varner had yet to successfully kick a field goal in three previous games and already had a PAT blocked on Santana’s first touchdown.
The pressure was on. Would the Sultans’ final drive of the game end in disappointment or victory?
The snap was good but the kick was low.
It was hard to determine at first in the dim lighting at the far end of the Montgomery High
School field if the Spartans had blocked Varner once again or if the ball had sailed either wide or fell short.
But Santana players came out of the pile-up at the line of scrimmage with arms raised. The ball had somehow found a way through the uprights.
37-35 Sultans.
But the game was not over. The Spartans returned the ensuing kickoff to the 43-yard line with 6.8 seconds to play in the non-league contest. Another big play and the hosts would be conceivably in field goal range if not in the end zone on another spectacular breakaway run by Richardson.
But the Santana defense sacked CV junior quarterback Isiah Orta to take care of matters and end the game.
Snatched from the jaw of defeat.
Varner said he felt confident stepping up to the ball.
“It wasn’t my best kick but it went through,” he noted with a smile and perhaps also with a sigh of relief. ‘I have to credit my offensive line. We were down in the first quarter but we knew we had plenty of time left in the game to come back. We did a lot of scoring in the last three quarters.
Miller completed 31 of 43 passing attempts for 362 yards with four touchdowns and one interception while Mayers rushed 24 times for 130 yards and one touchdown.
Santana scored five touchdowns overall in the game plus one field goal and a pair of two-point conversions.
Goar caught 11 passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns while Thornton had 12 catches for 99 yards and two scores. Varner had three catches for 48 yards in a dual role.
“The defense made a huge stop at the end and the offense got it together,” Sultans head coach Tim Estes said. “We had an error (penalty) and couldn’t score. But we still found a way to get to 4-0.”
Goar led Santana with 145 all-purpose yards — 110 receiving and 35 on kick returns — while Thornton tallied 138 all-purpose yards (99 receiving, 37 on kick returns and two yards rushing).
Junior Tatum Morehouse logged 16 tackles for the visitors, including 14 unassisted tackles and three tackles for losses. Senior Ben Knight added 10 defensive stops, including eight solo hits and two tackles for losses.
Junior Cameron Cipro followed with nine tackles (seven solo) while senior Dillon Timanus notched eight stops.
Morehouse was credited with two sacks while Knight was credited with one sack. As a team, Santana was credited with five tackles for losses.
Thornton tacked on four tackles to go with one pick and one pass deflection.
On the season, Miller has passed for 1,240 yards with 14 touchdowns against two interceptions while Thornton has 407 receiving yards with eight touchdowns. Thornton also has one rushing TD to his credit while Mayers has rushed for 255 yards and three scores.
Morehouse has racked up 40 total tackles and 4.5 sacks on defense.
Chula Vista came closest to its first win of the season with 307 rushing yards on 43 carries, an average of 7.1 yards per carry. Richardson’s longest venture from the backfield measured 39 yards. In four games, he rushed for 366 yards with seven touchdowns.
Richardson’ older brother Elijah Richardson had nine carries for 66 yards, including one sprint for 22 yards and a team-leading nine tackles and one sack on defense.
Junior Alfred Francis was credited with one blocked punt and blocked PAT.
Amador had five kicking points.
The Sultans will host Fallbrook on Sept. 25 after a bye week while the Spartans will play two road games before opening their new on-campus stadium: Sept. 18 at Olympian (1-3) and Sept. 25 at Crawford.
Chula Vista is scheduled to host Southwest on Oct. 9 following a bye on Oct. 2.
Crawford (2-2) out-lasted Mountain Empire, 42-41, in a non-league game last Friday while Southwest (1-3) dropped a 43-21 decision against Morse (2-2).
