The Grossmont Valley League’s football championship race has taken an exciting twist with a pair of unbeaten teams pairing up Friday as the West Hills Wolf Pack will host the Grossmont Foothillers. Both teams are 2-0 in league play.
Grossmont (6-1 overall) kept its league slate perfect with a statement making 46-6 win over the visiting Santana Sultans last Friday while West Hills (2-5 overall) defeated the host Valhalla Norsemen, 17-7, to capture its second consecutive win since opening the season 0-5.
The Foothillers are riding a four-game winning streak.
“The defense has been flying around and playing great,” Grossmont head coach Anthony Lawrence said. “Their defense did a great job stopping our offense.”
Santana, which has prided itself on its defensive prowess this season, did limit the Foothillers’ offense to 73 passing yards and 105 rushing yards. But the Grossmont defense was even better at producing points.
Senior Drew Sasena recorded a strip sack, senior Kai Jones turned in a 75-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown, senior Colton Burke had a fumble recovery touchdown and junior Kaiden Ong had an interception return for a score.
That’s three defensive touchdowns to go with three offensive touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Tyler Holmes completed nine of 18 passing attempts for one touchdown to junior Jonah Martinez for 27 yards while also rushing for four yards on nine carries and a touchdown.
Senior Isaiah Lababit (five carries, nine yards) scored a rushing touchdown in the third quarter to extend the Hillers’ lead to 46-0.
The Grossmont defense was lights out by holding the Santana rushing attack to negative-two yards. Sophomore leader Julian Mayers rushed 13 times for negative-five yards after rolling up 137 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-14 win at El Cajon Valley the previous week.
The Foothillers led 30-0 at the end of the first quarter. Junior A.J. Hooker rushed four times for 50 yards while sophomore Corbin Dow rushed four times for 42 yards. Senior Dallin MacKay had two catches for 15 yards.
The Sultans committed six turnovers in the game.
Santana could only muster 60 total yards in offense. The visitors averted a shutout when senior Liam McGhen passed four yards to senior Sean Gardinera for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Junior Ethan Smith had one catch for 37 yards while junior Denton Goar had two catches for 14 yards.
Seniors Jordyn Gillissie and Caleb Carnes each recorded one sack.
West Hills used a balanced offensive and defensive effort to spoil Valhalla’s homecoming, forcing five turnovers.
The teams traded touchdowns to start the game. Senior Jacob Romero (10 carries, 24 yards) scored on a two-yard run in the second quarter and senior Christian Slojkowski added the point-after conversion for a 7-0 lead. Senior Marcus Martinez answered for the hosts when he caught a short pass over the middle and spun away from defenders to score on a breakaway 51-yard sideline jaunt to tie the game.
Junior quarterback Evin Dill passed for 97 yards and rushed for 30 more to key the West Hills offense.
He fed senior Brayden DeAngelis (two catches, 25 yards) to the one-yard line to set up a TD run by senior Zack Marticorena (four carries, 26 yards). With Slojkowski’s assistance, the Wolf Pack took a 14-7 lead.
Slojlowski added a 40-yard field goal in the late going to close out scoring.
Junior Andrew Serrato tacked on 42 rushing yards while Romero had two catches for 32 yards.
West Hills racked up three interceptions, two fumble recoveries and one sack on defense.
Juniors E.J. Lee-Fields, Michael Ware and Scotty Miller each made interceptions. Junior Marcus Leath and senior Aidan Kidwell each recovered fumbles. Junior Cameron Kirkpatrick had one sack.
Senior Brody Shartel keyed Valhalla with 13 tackles. Junior Adrian Rojo-Hernandez had one pick.
