A whopping 12 East County teams qualified for this year’s San Diego Section football playoffs. Nine are still in contention for divisional championships entering this weekend’s second round of elimination play.
Seven local teams competed in last weekend’s opening round, with four emerging with victories to join the five-byed teams to continue their title quests.
Coming out of opening-round games with key victories where Helix (No. 7 in Division II), Christian (No. 6 in Division III), Santana (No. 7 in Division V) and Mountain Empire (No. 3 in Division V-AA).
Teams ending their seasons too soon included Grossmont (No. 9 in Division II), West Hills (No. 12 in Division IV) and Valhalla (No. 11 in Division V).
Five East County teams enter the fray this week after receiving first-round byes. They include No. 2 Granite Hills and No. 3 Mt. Miguel in Division I, No. 2 Steele Canyon in Division II, No. 2 El Capitan in Division IV and No. 3 Monte Vista in Division V.
The lineup of games features No. 7 Rancho Bernardo (9-2) at Granite Hills (7-3) and No. 6 Oceanside (7-4) at Mt. Miguel (7-3) in a pair of Division I quarterfinals and Helix Charter (5-6) at Steele Canyon (7-3) in what should be a hotly contested All-East County Division II quarterfinal elimination game.
Christian (4-7) will continue its season at No. 3 Ramona (5-5) in the Division III bracket while El Capitan (4-6) will host No. 10 La Jolla Country Day (5-6) in a Division IV contest.
Monte Vista (5-5) hosts No. 6 Fallbrook (4-7) while Santana (6-5) plays at No. 2 Morse (6-4) in the Division V quarterfinals. Mountain Empire (9-2) travels to No. 2 Palo Verde Valley (7-4) for a Division V-AA semifinal matchup.
A total of eight games will feature East County teams still in the running.
Interestingly, El Capitan has a chance to capture back-to-back Division IV championships if the Lakeside team is able to run the table. Meanwhile, the Helix Steele Canyon winner is guaranteed a berth in the Division II semifinals.
There’s still a lot of high school football left to play. The excitement level is only going to increase for surviving teams.
Championship games are scheduled Nov. 28-29 at Southwestern College for Division I through Division, Nov. 25 for the Open Division and Nov. 22 for Division V-AA and Division VI at Escondido High School.
“It puts us in a place, if all goes well, to make a run for sure,” El Capitan head coach Ron Burner said. “We played a league schedule that included four Division I-Division II schools and we played all of them tough for three quarters. But in the end, of course, we lost.
“I feel playing those games puts us in a great situation to make a run for another title. We still have to be perfect in practice and perfect in our games. Having the bye week really helped us get some guys healthier and ready to take on La Jolla Country Day this Friday. They are a good group of players and play hard.”
Granite Hills will be facing a RB team coached by former Charger Eric Weddle, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, and second round pick by the Bolts out of Utah in 2007.
Gaige Weddle, who doubles as a play-making quarterback and hard-hitting safety, has passed for 2,119 yards and 19 touchdowns against six interceptions, has rushed for 611 yards and nine touchdowns, and has logged 95 tackles, two sacks and two interceptions.
The younger Weddle threw for 236 yards and five touchdowns with a team-leading eight tackles in last Friday’s 49-15 first-round win over 10th-seeded Del Norte (4-7).
There’s obviously a lot of drama in this one.
Winners circle
Host Helix scored seven rushing touchdowns to flatten 10th-seeded San Pasqual (7-4). Senior quarterback Lee Norman-Lester rushed for 190 yards and scored three touchdowns. He also passed for 47 yards to cap the victory with 237 total yards.
Junior Donte Wright rushed for 112 yards and scored two touchdowns while senior Jordan Lindley (seven carries, 59 yards) and sophomore Bryson Calloway (five carries, 43 yards) each scored one TD.
The Highlanders, who led 14-0 after the opening quarter and 28-13 at halftime, racked up a 450-173 edge in total yards, including 403 rushing yards.
Christian, which finished 1-4 in fifth place in the six-team City Eastern League, received 241 offensive yards from junior quarterback Caleb Runkle (210 passing, 31 rushing) to send the visiting Wildcats to a 21-point defeat. Runkle passed for two touchdowns with one interception and rushed for one score.
Junior Kai Rosier (three catches, 58 yards) and senior Ronnie Scott (two catches, 24 yards) each pulled in one touchdown pass while senior Hank Houston (five carries, 14 yards) tacked on one rushing touchdown.
Sophomore Drew Gaut had one interception on defense. Senior Steven Benson successfully converted four of five point-after touchdown kicks while senior Roman Gustin split the uprights on a field goal attempt.
The Sultans will take on a Morse team led by senior Superior Garror’s 1,264 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns in Friday’s gridiron matchup.
“They are pretty good and are fast on defense,” Santana coach Tim Estes said. “To slow down their running back, we need to keep him off the field to help our defense. Our defense has been our strength all year.”
Junior Ethan Miller passed five yards to senior Maddox Esoo for a touchdown with 40 seconds to play to lift the hosts to within one point on the scoreboard. The Sultans lined up for the extra-point attempt, then crossed up the Bonita Vista defense by completing a pass to Esoo for a game-winning two-point conversion instead.
Santana also received a 31-yard field goal from senior Liam McGhen as the Barons took a 7-3 halftime lead. The Chula Vista visitors went up 10-3 on a third-quarter field goal by junior Diego De La Fuente.
The Sultans out-gained the visitors 187-94 in total yards. Seniors Caleb Carnes and Grant Johnson each had one sack on defense.
Junior Denton Goar had one interception while senior Xander Bennett blocked a field goal attempt that could have extended the Bonita Vista lead to 13-3 earlier in the fourth quarter.
The visiting Barons, who did not complete a pass, were led by senior Kenneth Watson’s 48 yards on eight carries and junior Angel Cortes’s 27 yards on eight carries. Cortes scored the BV touchdown.
“Both teams played great defense,” Estes said.
Junior QB Chance Ross passed for 150 passing yards and three touchdowns, seniors Junior Ponce and Mike Noble each caught touchdown passes while junior Amar Mahasin had 100 receiving yards and a touchdown to lift host Mountain Empire in a back-and-forth game won 44-37 by the Redhawks. Sophomore Elisha Lashone Robinson racked up 180 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
But the game wasn’t decided until a final Mountain Empire touchdown with 40 seconds to play, a sack and Hail Mary.
On the short end
Grossmont Valley League champion Grossmont (9-2) saw its seven-game winning streak snapped in brutal fashion in a 45-20 loss to eighth-seeded (and defending Division III champion) St. Augustine (5-6). Junior Pai Polamalu mauled the Foothiller defense with 263 rushing yards and five touchdowns while also catching one touchdown pass (three catches, 67 yards). Not to be outdone as the player of the game, he also made two interceptions on defense.
The Saints will take on No. 1 Santa Fe Christian (10-0) next.
Valhalla came up short by a touchdown in its game in Fallbrook. Senior Liam Hypes opened scoring on a 51-yard touchdown bust but the East County visitors would trail 35-7 by the end of the third quarter.
The Norsemen (3-8) showed resilience by scoring three times in the fourth quarter. Given the ball again, Fallbrook (4-7) ended Valhalla’s season with a fourth-down stop.
Senior quarterback Jackson Newman threw a pair of 45-yard touchdown strikes to seniors Lorenzo Matos and Anderson Turner to narrow the gap and then connected with Turner on a 29-yard score to capitalize on a defensive turnover.
Senior Brody Shartel led the Norsemen with 16 tackles while classmate Giacomo Lupo added 11 stops.
Fifth-seeded Eastlake (5-6) out-gained West Hills 365-105 (192-48 in rushing yards) to end the Wolf Pack’s season at 4-7, including a runner-up finish in Grossmont Valley League play (4-1 in league).
