It didn’t exactly go the way that El Capitan High School head coach Ron Burner and Monte Vista head coach Ron Hamamoto would have liked, but the El Capitan Vaqueros and Monte Vista Monarchs remain champions nonetheless in the eyes of their fans.
And with good reason.
El Capitan emerged as this year’s Grossmont Valley League champion with a spotless 5-0 record before going on to claim the San Diego Section Division IV championship with a 17-14 win over the Westview Wolverines Nov. 29 at Southwestern College.
The Vaqueros then defeated Victorville Silverado, 33-19, to capture the Southern California regional championship in Lakeside on Dec. 6.
As for the Grossmont Valley League runner-up Monarchs, they won the Division V section title with a 38-20 victory over second-seeded Bonita Vista Nov. 30 at Southwestern College before continuing their magical postseason run with a 42-21 win over visiting Pasadena on Dec. 7 to secure a Southern California regional championship.
The SoCal regional titles qualified both Grossmont Conference teams to play for state championships.
El Capitan finished runner-up in the Division 5-AA state final by a score of 48-7 against undefeated Carmel (15-0) in a game played last Friday at the Fullerton Union High School District Stadium to snap a marathon 10-game winning streak while Monte Vista saw its six-game winning streak end in a 38-21 loss to Toulumne Summerville (14-1) in the Division 6-A state championship game at the same site on Saturday.
The Vaqueros, seeded second in the Division IV section playoffs, ended their season 11-4.
The Monarchs, the No. 12 seed in the Division V section playoffs, ended their season 10-6.
“I’m very proud of our 2024 team, as we were the 12 seed,” Hamamoto said. “The last team in the playoffs is usually out quickly. We not only won the CIF title but also won the Southern California Regional championship.
“We ran out of gas, as our legs looked very tired in the state championship game. High school players usually don’t play 16 games in a season, so we are very proud that they lasted this long.”
“It was a great run by a great group of hard-fighting and hard-working young men,” Burner said. “They played to win and played their hearts out. It was too bad they placed us against a team that was ranked 130 points higher than us and should have been a division or two higher. We fought hard and in the end that just wasn’t enough.
“I am beyond proud of the way we played all season long and for their second-ever CIF title and second-ever ever Southern California Championship. They have set the tone again for years to come.
“My last words to my team after the loss were ‘Don’t be sad — you lost but be sad you are done playing football for the year and with this set of teammates.’”
Names of the game
The Monarchs were done in by junior Bryce Leveroos, son of coach Sean Leveroos, who rushed for 169 yards and three touch¬downs and passed for 159 yards and a 75-yard catch-and-run to junior Luke Larson.
The Bears totaled 411 yards in total offense, including 252 rushing yards.
By comparison, Monte Vista recorded just 84 rushing yards, led by senior Alex Villanueva, who had 14 carries for 76 yards to finish the season with the section single-season rushing record of 3,227 yards.
While Summerville’s game plan was to stop Villanueva, and it worked, the Monarchs had to open up the passing game and that worked, too. Junior Derrick Taylor and senior Dayon Bean combined to pass for 224 yards.
Villanueva had three catches for 36 yards.
The Bears opened up a 10-point lead to start the game on a one-yard scoring run by Bryce Leveroos and a 22-yard field goal by junior Bryson Benites following a fumble recovery on defense.
Villanueva scored Monte Vis¬ta’s first touchdown on a two-yard run to make the score 10-7.
But Summerville capitalized on the 75-yard pass completion to Larson to move ahead 17-7.
Once again, the Monarchs displayed some grit by engineering a 63-yard drive capped b y a nine-yard scoring run by Taylor.
17-14 Bears at halftime.
Summerville advanced the score to 38-17 with three unanswered touchdowns to start the second half, including two by Leveroos, before Bean scored on a three-yard run to punctuate a lengthy 70-yard drive with 49 seconds to play.
Junior Rahshawn Florence hooked up for 101 receiving yards to help pace the Spring Valley team.
It was the first state title for the Bears. Gold Country finished with two state champions as Sonora won the Division 4-A title with a 52-34 victory over Southern California champion St. Pius X-St. Matthias in a game played concurrently in Long Beach.
El Capitan answered the Padres’ opening score with one of their own — a two-yard scoring run by junior Brody Copp (four carries, 57 yards) — to tie the game, 7-7.
But NorCal champion Carmel reeled off 41 unanswered points to win in a rout.
Carmel has won 25 of its last 26 games over the past two seasons.
The Padres finished the 2024 state championship game with 539 yards, including 309 passing yards.
Senior Ashton Rees led Carmel with four touchdowns (two rushing, two receiving) while senior Brooklyn Ashe caught two scoring passes. Senior quarterback Hudson Rutherford completed four touchdown passes while scoring once via the ground.
El Cap signal-caller Brandt Parker was harassed most of the game, completing 10 of 26 attempts for 113 yards with four interceptions. The Vaqueros rushed for 70 yards.
Next up
Eleven East County teams qualified for the section’s tackle football playoffs. Ten advanced to the division quarterfinals and six to the semifinals.
Three East County teams won division titles and two went on to win regional championships.
So, what does the 2025 season hold at first glance? It could be just as successful for many teams that kicked off the 2024 season.
“Almost everyone on defense will return next season,” Hamamoto said. “We lose Alex Villanueva and most of our offensive linemen, but our quarterback Derrick Taylor and leading wide receiver Rahshawn Florence return. We also have some very talented sophomores and freshmen from our JV team. I think the future looks good here at Monte Vista High School.”
“We are most likely moving up to the Hills League, so we get to play Granite, Helix, Steele and Mount Miguel as our reward,” Burner offered.
