Sixteen teams remain undefeated through the opening four weeks of play in the 2025 San Diego Section tackle football season.
The lone East County team is Steele Canyon after the Cougars topped host Rancho Christian, 42-14, last Friday in Temecula.
The perfect start has allowed Steele Canyon to jump up the early season rankings to No. 24 from No. 28 last week, which would place the Rancho San Diego team in the middle of the Division II tier if the playoffs started today.
The Cougars continue to trail Granite Hills in the section rankings. The Eagles dropped to No. 6 from No. 5 after coming up short, 31-21, last Friday at Mission Hills. Granite Hills, which saw its perfect 3-0 start end, would be the No. 2-seeded team in the Division I playoff tier.
Mission Hills (4-0) moves into the No. 1 ranking among Division I teams.
Lincoln, which suffered its first loss to the season, 34-24, to Mission Viejo last Friday at home, remains No. 1 in the section rankings ahead of No. 2 Cathedral Catholic (3-0), No. 3 La Costa Canyon (4-0) and No. 4 Carlsbad (4-0).
Those top four-ranked teams would constitute the section’s Open Division playoff tier at present.
But there’s still a long way to go until the playoffs start. Seeding will not be accomplished under the final regular season game is in the books.
“Had too many mistakes on the offensive side of the ball,” Granite Hills head coach Kellan Cobbs said. “Need to clean things up moving forward. Special teams units need to be better as well.
Have two more tough teams to play before we get to league play. When we put together the schedule, we knew this would be a hard stretch. Good early tests in the season for us.”
The Eagles aren’t the only team waiting to take flight.
Mt. Miguel climbed up to No. 9 in the section poll after topping the visiting Torrey Pines Falcons, 14-10, last Friday in Spring Valley.
The Matadors would join Granite Hills in the Division 1 playoff tier alongside Helix Charter, which currently occupies the No. 15 spot.
Mt. Miguel improved to 3-1 on the season while Helix saw its record dip to 1-3 following a 41-14 non-league loss at Oceanside (1-3).
Granite Hills takes its show on the road to undefeated Los Alamitos (4-0) this Friday as non-league play continues.
Helix hosts Cathedral Catholic in a behemoth matchup while Mt. Miguel travels to No. 10 Poway (2-2).
Still the ones
Of the section’s 16 unbeaten teams, 10 sport 4-0 records: No. 3 La Costa Canyon, No. 4 Carlsbad, No. 5 Mission Hills, No. 20 Central Union, No. 22 Imperial, No. 24 Steele Canyon, No. 26 Santa Fe Christian, No. 29 Mission Bay, No. 39 Olympian and No. 46 Army-Navy Academy.
The leaves six teams with 3-0 marks: No. 2 Cathedral Catholic, No. 12 Rancho Bernardo, No. 14 Point Loma, No. 25 Bishop’s, No. 33 San Diego and No. 35 Mira Mesa.
There are a host of teams with 3-1 early season records: No. 1 Lincoln, No. 6 Granite Hills, No. 7 San Marcos, No. 9 Mt. Miguel, No. 21 La Jolla, No. 23 University City, No. 42 Montgomery, No. 50 Santana, No. 59 Calexico, No. 64 Monte Vista, No. 70 Maranatha Christian, No. 71 Coastal Academy, No, 74 Mar Vista, No. 75 Southwest and No. 86 Mountain Empire.
The rankings will work themselves out as teams play more games, particularly against foes ranked near them.
Cougar country
Steele Canyon employed a total team effort to subdue the Eagles, including two rushing touchdowns from junior Abel Lopez and 109 passing yards with one touchdown from junior quarterback Gavin Caha.
It’s the best start for the Cougars since going 9-0 to start the 2019 season. The team has already matched last season’s total of four wins (4-7 record). There are six regular season games, including four Grossmont Hills League games, remaining on this year’s schedule.
Steele Canyon rolled up 294 yards in total offense, including 185 rushing yards.
Junior Marcus Hunt keyed the Cougars with 97 all-purpose yards (70 rushing, 27 receiving) while Lopez was credited with 92 all-purpose yards (69 rushing, 23 receiving).
Caha completed seven of 11 attempts spread around to six receivers. Junior Trevor Zenno had one catch for 19 yards while senior Josiah Stocker had one catch for 17 yards and senior Jacob Henton had one catch for 12 yards.
Henton finished the game with 58 total yards by adding 46 rushing yards.
Junior Gunner Minich turned in a monster defensive game with two interceptions, including one for a touchdown, and a fumble recovery.
Senior Vincent Pryor paced the visitors with nine tackles, including seven unassisted stops, whie junior Luke Rode chalked up six tackles.
Steele Canyon scored six touchdowns with senior Ace Woolf successfully converting all six point-after-touchdown attempts.
The 42 points were a high mark so far this season.
Rancho Christian dropped to 1-3.
The Cougars travel to neighborhood rival Valhalla for Friday’s Jamacha Helmet rivalry game. Kick-off is 7 p.m.
Steele Canyon won last year’s helmet game by a score of 45-14.
Eagles nest
Granite Hills’ vaunted passing game was done in by a pair of interception returns for touchdowns that proved the difference in a 10-point loss at Mission Hills.
Junior Xavier St. John scored on a 24-yard pick-six early in the game and senior John Garcia iced the game with an 82-yard pick-six late in the contest.
Between those key defensive plays, Eagles junior signal-caller Zac Benitez passed for 294 yards while connecting on 28 of 42 attempts with three touchdowns to offset the two interception returns.
He hit seven receivers — eight times to senior Noah Walker for 79 yards with one touchdown, six times to senior Tristan Diaz for 54 yards, five times to senior Rocket Demery for 52 yards and one touchdown, four times to junior Zhedan Smith for 38 yards, three times to senior D.J. Wilkins for 52 yards, once to junior Davion Williams for 11 yards and once to senior Emilio Vera for eight yards and one touchdown.
The Eagles, who trailed 14-0 at halftime before getting untracked in the second half with a 21-17 scoring edge, rushed for 160 yards, led by Williams with 85 yards on 17 carries and junior Anthony Mattar with five carries for 36 yards. Benitez rushed 10 times for 32 yards.
The East County visitors racked up 468 all-purpose yards in the loss, including 326 by Benitez.
Junior Eurijah Schutza led Granite Hills defensively with nine tackles while junior Jayden Thomas had one interception for 14 yards. Thomas, junior Cayden Phillips and senior Wyatt MacLeod each logged seven tackles. Phillips had one tackle for a loss.
Junior Jacob Nunez had three extra-point conversions.
Benitez has passed for 1,159yards with 12 touchdowns against four picks through four games. Walker is the team’s leading receiver with 20 catches for 317 yards and four touchdowns.
Granite Hills won last year’s Division I championship while Mission Hills qualified as the No. 4 seed in the Open Division bracket, dropping a 13-7 overtime decision to eventual champion Lincoln.
Matador pride
Mt. Miguel clipped the Falcons’ wings on a pair of touchdowns from junior quarterback Jeremiah Loper (251 passing yards_ to senior receiver A.J. Logan (105 receiving yards).
The game between ranked teams was close throughout with the visitors leading 3-0 at halftime before the hosts took a 7-3 lead by the end of the third quarter on a 20-yard TD reception by Logan.
The Falcons (2-2) scored midway through the fourth quarter to jump in front 10-7. But the Torrey Pines lead was only temporary as Loper responded with a 15-yard scoring pass to Logan.
Senior Frank Fauna’s sack in the fourth quarter proved pivotal on defense to kill a Falcon drive.
Timely defense played a key role in the game’s outcome.
Senior Zane Rottier and junior Gianni Porfilio each forced fumbles to further stymie the North County visitors. Rottier, senior Jordan Fuga and junior Delontay Williams each turned in tackles for a loss.
Senior Malachi Jackson paced the winners with eight tackles while Fanua logged six stops with a half-sack.
“The defense came out and played lights out,” Mt. Miguel coach Verlain Betofe said. “It was led by our interior lineman Frank Fanua (Cal Berkeley commit) and Dristan Williams (Northern Arizona commit). We put pressure on them all night.
“We still haven’t put a complete game together. We will take a win anyway we can.”
The Matadors seek to remain over the 0.500 mark by tackling No. 10 Poway (2-2) this Friday.
