League play has finally arrived for Grossmont Conference football teams — five games in the Grossmont Valley League and four games with a bye in the Grossmont Hills League.
Who are the teams to beat?
That’s a tough one as there are several good candidates.
Could it be the Helix Charter Highlanders in the Grossmont Hills League or the four-time defending champion Granite Hills Eagles?
Helix owns the higher San Diego Section ranking at No. 6 to Granite Hills’ No. 8 ranking. The teams flipped positions after last Friday’s split: Helix (4-2) hung a 49-14 homecoming victory against visiting Mater Dei Catholic (0-6) while Granite (3-2) lost, 42-21, to No. 3 Cathedral Catholic (3-2).
Cathedral held on to beat Helix, 24-19, the previous week. Whether the Scotties or Eagles eventually emerge on top may not be decided until they meet on the field on Oct. 30.
The Grossmont Valley League appears just as interesting as both the West Hills Wolf Pack and Santana Sultans sport 4-1 records after falling from the ranks of the undefeated last Friday.
West Hills dropped a 40-33 non-league decision to the Grossmont Foothillers (5-1) while Santana lost 31-21 to the visiting Fallbrook Warriors (4-2).
Waiting in the wings are the new-look Valhalla Norsemen at 3-2 with two forfeit losses and one forfeit win. Games on the turf have not been close.
Based on the section rankings, the GHL pecking order features No. 6 Helix, No. 8 Granite Hills, No. 20 Grossmont, No. 31 Steele Canyon and No. 41 Mount Miguel. The order in the GVL includes No. 28 Valhalla, No. 37 West Hills, No. 42 Santana, No. 53 El Capitan, No. 67 Monte Vista and No. 81 El Cajon Valley.
Rankings have a tendency to change from week to week at this point of the season.
Tartan Nation
Helix zipped away from the Crusaders with 28 second-quarter points to lead 42-0 at halftime.
Junior Jeremy Robinson led the Highlanders with 135 all-purpose yards to delight the large crowd in attendance. He opened scoring on a 43-yard punt return and scored on a 43-yard pass from senior quarterback Caden Thompson on the first play of the second quarter to boost the host to a 21-0 lead.
Junior Stephon Fuentes (11 carries, 89 yards) made it 28-0 on a 27-yard scoring run
Robinson scored on a 19-yard end-around for a 35-0 lead.
Robinson’s final tally included two catches for 50 yards with one touchdown, 19 rushing yards with one touchdown, 66 kick return yards with one touchdown and one interception on defense for good measure.
The Scotties racked up 325 offensive yards and seven touchdowns in the blowout win — three rushing, three passing and one on special teams.
Thompson passed for 102 yards with three touchdowns. Besides Robinson, juniors Kingston James (two catches, 17 yards) and Eunique Johnson (one catch, two yards) each recorded one touchdown.
James rushed three times for four yards and one touchdown to finish the night with two scores.
Junior Jacob Martin Del Campo contributed seven kicking points.
The hosts intercepted three passes — one each by Robinson and juniors Jace Sells and Cason Iapala.
Senior Dean Niumata had 1.5 sacks, five tackles (3.5 for losses) while classmates Diego Cano-Robinson and David Hubert each had one sack and junior Denzel Griffin and senior Jordan Fuga each shared one sack.
Helix kicks off Grossmont Hills league play Friday against the visiting Mt. Miguel Matadors (1-3) in the annual Battle for the Claymore Sword. The rivalry dates to the opening of Mt. Miguel High School in 1957.
The Matadors are coming off a 42-12 non-league loss to visiting Poway on Sept. 18.
In Grossmont Valley League openers on Friday, Valhalla hosts Monte Vista, West Hills hosts El Cajon Valley while Santana hosts El Capitan.
Game times are 7 p.m.
