Two weeks into the 2026 high school football season, six East County teams are undefeated. Kudos go to the Grossmont Foothillers, West Hills Wolf Pack, Monte Vista Monarchs and Santana Sultans for their 2-0 starts.
The Christian Patriots and Valhalla Norsemen are both 1-0.
Christian kicked off its season with a 41-20 non-league win at Valley Center last Friday while Valhalla had a bye after posting a record-setting 75-0 win in its season opener on Aug. 21.
“Yes, we had a big win.” Grossmont head coach Anthony Lawrence admitted after his team came from behind to nip the visiting La Jolla Vikings, 24-17, last Friday. “The defense played phenomenal. Vinny Michelson (junior defensive end) had a sack and Nate Clark (senior defensive back) had an interception.”
As for the Foothillers offense, senior quarterback Tyler Holmes racked up 385 all-purpose yards and scored three rushing touchdowns.
Grossmont trailed 14-8 entering the fourth quarter. While the passing game wasn’t working to perfection in the opening three quarters, the rushing game came through when it was needed most.
Holmes was sacked twice, fumbled and threw an interception while in passing mode against a strong La Jolla defense that also forced a fumble on a punt return that led to a go-ahead touchdown.
Grossmont rolled up 460 yards in total offense in recording the win. Holmes passed for 210 yards, completing 17 of 29 attempts, and rushed 19 times for 175 yards. His running ability helped the Foothillers control the game and keep the Vikings (0-2) off balance.
Holmes scored his second touchdown of the game on a 23-yard quarterback keeper that included a spin-o-rama move to fake out two linebackers.
La Jolla countered on an 81-yard pass play to set up a 35-yard field goal to creep back in front, 17-16, with less than eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
The hosts answered with the game-winning drive in which Holmes slipped through tacklers for a 20-yard scoring run. Junior Jamar McClendon tacked on a successful two-point conversion to put the Hillers up by seven points.
Clark, who earlier made a key 38-yard catch on Grossmont’s first touchdown drive (a 12-yard scamper by Holmes), made his pick with just over three minutes remaining in the game. Holmes made sure the Hillers kept possession of the ball on another run with two minutes to play.
The game ended in victory formation for Grossmont.
Junior receiver Cedric Norris had seven catches for 74 yards while junior running back Corbin Dow contributed 71 yards on 35 rushing yards and 36 receiving yards. Junior RB Jacob Fee added 40 rushing yards while senior Jonah Martinez (23 receiving yards), senior Max Bewley (19 receiving yards) and junior Jackson Baird (six receiving yards) helped buttress the Hiller offense.
Grossmont was perfect on three two-point conversions.
“Next we have a young but physical Bonita Vista team,” Lawrence said of his team’s upcoming non-league matchup on Friday, Sept. 4. “We need to play clean and execute.”
West Hills 20, Bonita Vista 10
The Wolf Pack remained undefeated while keeping the host Barons winless two weeks into the young season. Senior quarterback Evin Dill passed for 231 yards with one touchdown and tacked on 49 rushing yards with one score to pace the West Hills offense with 280 total yards. He finished the game with a 125.4 quarterback efficiency rating.
Other contributors included junior Rene Varela Ugalde with 143 total yards, including 141 receiving yards on six catches with one touchdown, and junior Evan Dorris (six carries, 16 yards) with one rushing touchdown. Additionally, senior E.J. Lee-Fields gained 74 yards on seven carries and junior Marcus Leath had two carries for 38 yards.
On the receiving end, junior Chuck Rosolino added six catches for 28 yards while senior Zach Waters caught one pass for 21 yards.
Lee-Fields also was active on defense with a team-high 15 tackles and one interception. Senior Seth Creech logged one sack and one fumble recovery.
Junior Fenix Fitzgerald converted two of three point-after-touchdown kicks.
Dill opened the game with a big ground-gainer as the Wolf Pack took the opening possession down the field for a touchdown and 7-0 lead on a five-yard run by Dorris. The Barons tied the game, 7-7, on a 44-yard breakaway run by junior Ta’Vyon Moore (nine carries, 68 yards) and then took advantage of a turnover to boot a 20-yard field goal by sophomore Mark Johnson to go up 10-7.
The visitors did the rest of the scoring in the non-league contest, highlighted by a 54-yard TD catch by Varela Ugalde and a five-yard sneak into the end zone by Dill.
Senior Cole Margetts logged 83 all-purpose yards for Bonita Vista: 52 receiving yards, 29 kick return yards and two rushing yards. Senior Anthony Lorenz collected 78 passing yards while senior Angel Cortes notched 10 tackles on the defensive side.
“Defensively, I thought we did a better job against the pass than we did the first week,” West Hills head coach Casey Ash said. “We really shut them down outside of one long run.
Our QB had a great day passing the ball, but the game stayed close because we struggled to finish some drives in the second half.
“We have a huge game against Mira Mesa (2-0) this week; we are looking forward to it.”
Monte Vista 29, Montgomery 14
Junior Daesean Jenkins returned an intercepted pass 95 yards for a touchdown with 27 seconds to play in last Friday’s non-league game against the visiting Montgomery Aztecs to seal a second consecutive win to start the season for the Monarchs.
Jenkins has scored three touchdowns in two games.
Monte Vista trailed 7-0 at halftime before ringing up all 29 of its points in the second half. Junior Braden Silie and senior Dion Hunter scored touchdowns to get the momentum rolling.
Defense also was key. The Monarchs produced a goal-line stand in the first half to keep the score within seven points at the halftime break.
“It was a solid team win.” Monte Vista head coach Page Culver said. “We made a number of mental mistakes in the first half that we were able to clean up in the second half. Dion Hunter and Daesean Jenkins did an excellent job of rushing the football. Josh Hunt (senior lineman) led the defense along with Silie. Both had over 10 total tackles in the game.”
Sophomore Reyes Bonnett (147 passing yards) fired two touchdown passes in the setback for the Aztecs (0-2) — one each to sophomore Liam Wilson (three catches, 56 yards) and senior Aidan Flores (one catch, 60 yards). Senior Marquis Benton keyed the visitors with 64 rushing yards on 11 carries.
Culver said the most impactful newcomer so far this season is junior defensive back/receiver Edwin Smith. “He has done a great job for us on both sides of the ball,” the Monte Vista coach said.
Monte Vista next plays at Morse (0-2) this Friday.
Santana 49, Crawford 0
The Sultans received 358 passing yards and four touchdowns from senior Ethan Miller in the rout of the Colts. Santana finished with five passing scores on the night as senior Josh Pehl had one touchdown pass.
The Santee team also compiled 104 rushing yards as Miller and Pehl combined for 47 yards. Pehl scored once on the ground while junior Julian Mayers (six carries, 31 yards) also scored one rushing TD.
Senior Kolten Thornton led the receivers with eight catches for 124 yards and three touchdowns. Next up were senior Denton Goar (six catches, 81 yards), junior Joaquin Murrieta (one catch, 46 yards, touchdown), sophomore Connor Galarneau (four catches, 35 yards, touchdown), Mayers (three catches, 26 yards) and senior Brenden Varner (one catch, 25 yards).
Thornton had the longest catch of the night at 60 yards.
Miller racked up 379 total yards while Thornton had 148 total yards and Goar had 98 total yards. As a team, the Sultans accumulated 465 yards in total offense to go with seven touchdowns.
Senior Brayton Knight led the defense with eight tackles, including one sack. Juniors Jack Lord and Dominic Johnson each had one fumble recovery.
Santana hosts Brawley (0-2) this Friday in a bid to improve to 3-0.
Christian opener
Senior Kaleb Runkle passed for 282 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another to finish the game with 318 total yards.
Sophomore Julian Morones collected 113 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns while also catching three passes for 77 yards and one score. Senior Kai Rosier had 148 receiving yards and one TD.
