The San Diego Section is sending six teams to this weekend’s Southern California regional playoffs, all with a chance to land in the following weekend’s state championship bowl games.
The Sweetwater Red Devils will represent South County in the elite fray. The reigning Division V section champions (7-6) will host St. Monica (11-3) on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 6 p.m. The winner will play either Colusa (12-0) or South San Francisco (12-1) for the state Division 6-A title.
The Granite Hills Eagles and Mt. Miguel Matadors will represent East County. Both reigning section champions will open their state title quest on the road.
Granite Hills (12-0) will play at Mission Viejo (11-3) on Friday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. The winner will play either Clovis North (13-0) or De la Salle (10-2) for the state Division 1-AA championship.
Mt. Miguel (12-1) will play at Mayfair (11-3) on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 6 p.m. The winner will play either Oakland McClymonds (8-2) or Marin Catholic (12-1) for the state Division 3-A championship.
Other regional qualifiers include Division I section champion St. Augustine (10-4), Division II champion Del Norte (11-2) and Division III champion La Jolla Country Day (11-3).
St. Augustine will host St. Bonaventure (10-4) on Saturday, with the winner advancing to meet either Pittsburg (13-0) or Folsom (11-2) for the state Division 1-A title.
Del Norte will host Birmingham (11-2) on Friday, with the winner advancing to meet either Escalon (12-1) or Acalanes (9-4) for the State 3-AA championship.
La Jolla Country Day will open at Banning (8-6) on Saturday, with the winner advancing to meet either Woodland Christian (13-0) or Orland (11-1) for the state Division 5-A banner.
Six of the eight San Diego Section divisional champions (Open Division through Division V) qualified for the regional playoffs.
Second-seeded Sweetwater took down top-seeded Vincent Memorial Catholic, 46-37, with a second-half rush. The Red Devils did what they have done best from midseason onward: attack opponents with a bruising rushing attack while minimizing self-made mistakes.
The National City team rushed for 433 yards and seven touchdowns.
Still, it was an uphill climb against the Scots (9-4).
Sweetwater trailed by scores of 7-0 and 21-14 in the first half before nosing out in front 26-21 through three quarters. The NC team out-scored Vincent Memorial 20-16 in the pivotal fourth quarter.
“Down 21-14 at half we knew if we stuck to our game and believed we would be able to pull it off,” SuHi head coach Ervin Hernandez said. “We’ve been through so many challenges in the year starting off 0-4, last-second touchdown against Hilltop, that being down a touchdown was another bump on the road.
“Once our offense scored to start the half, I looked at our kicker Gio Aceves and he told me let’s go for the onside. Jameek Jackson did a good job swatting it from their hands and we recovered. That was a huge momentum changer in the game going up 26-21. We have some tough National City kids and they believed throughout the whole year. I am so proud of our boys and all the hard work our coaching staff put.
“Being part of the fifth CIF championship in our school history feels amazing. But the job’s not finished yet and our kids have been dialed in since we started playoffs. We’ve had great practices and I expect us to continue to do so for regionals and hopefully state.”
Senior Xzavier Crews had 13 carries for 162 yards and three touchdowns while senior Izell Wright had 18 carries for 76 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Carlos Delgado (12 carries, 105 yards) and junior Zaryan Crews (eight carries, 86 yards) each scored one touchdown.
The Red Devils did pass for 108 yards to generate a total of 541 offensive yards. Zaryan Crews completed three of five attempts for 72 yards while Xzavier Crews completed a 36-yard pass to sophomore Sean Carlos. Delgado had one reception for 44 yards while junior Israel Carreon had one catch for 18 yards. Xzavier Crews had one catch for 10 yards to finish the game with 208 total yards.
The SuHi defense recorded two fumble recoveries (one each by Zaryan Crews and senior Gilberto Sarabia) and three sacks (one each by Wright and senior Ricardo Mascardo III and a half-sack each by Delgado and junior Gabriel Lizarraga).
In other section finals:
Third-seeded Granite Hills out-lasted top-seeded Lincoln, 27-26, in the section’s Open Division title game Nov. 18 at Snapdragon Stadium.
The Grossmont Hills League champions rallied to score the game’s final two touchdowns and secured a game-ending goal-line fumble by the Hornets (11-1) to secure the climactic victory,
Fifth-seeded St. Augustine shut out second-seeded Mission Hills (9-4) by a score of 13-0 in last Friday’s Division I final at Southwestern College while top-seeded Del Norte recorded a 31-15 win over La Jolla (10-3) in Saturday night’s Division II tilt at SWC.
Sixth-seeded La Jolla Country Day bombarded fourth-seeded Grossmont (7-6) by a score of 73-34 behind a superlative 10-touchdown performance by senior quarterback Jaden Mangini (six passing, four rushing) in Saturday’s afternoon finals match.
Top-seeded Mt. Miguel (12-1) defeated second-seeded Chula Vista (10-3) by a score of 35-14 last Friday in the Division IV championship game at Southwestern College.
The victory by the Matadors (12-1) was memorable in that the last time the Spring Valley school won at CIF football title was at the Class 1A level in 1960.
It’s been an extraordinarily long 63-year wait.
“It feels amazing,” Mt. Miguel head coach Verlain Betofe said. “The kids worked so hard to get here. I’m so proud of them. It’s amazing for the community and the school. We want to be the best team in San Diego and the best team in California. We’re going to keep working toward that.”
Chula Vista, meanwhile, was making its first CIF finals appearance since 1998 when it recorded a runner-up finish to Helix.
The Matadors defeated Vista, 40-13, to claim their first CIF championship in 1960. The outcome of this year’s second CIF title also wasn’t in doubt as the Matadors built a 28-0 halftime lead and led 35-0 midway through the third quarter.
Senior quarterback Matthew Barton completed 18 of 28 passes for 214 yards and five touchdowns with one interception. He also rushed five times for 30 yards to finish the contest with 243 total yards.
Barton threw a pair of scoring passes each to senior Jeremiah Castillo (four catches, 88 yards) and sophomore Parris Vernon (seven catches, 76 yards). The Matador signal-caller also completed two passes for 21 yards to senior Johnny Castro and two passes for 18 yards to junior Braylon Cardwell.
Barton’s five TD passes set a school post-season record.
The Matadors gained 90 rushing yards on 17 carries. Senior Christian Lopez gained 29 yards on four carries while sophomore Zane Rottier gained 27 yards one four rushes.
Mt. Miguel out-gained Chula Vista 304-234 in total yards.
Castillo staked the Matadors to a relatively quick 14-0 lead on touchdown catches of 22 ns 11 yards. Vernon continued the scoring in the second quarter with TD receptions of 22 and 19 yards.
Barton completed the aerial fireworks with a 46-yard scoring bomb to Castillo with 7:14 remaining in the third quarter.
The Matadors recorded three interceptions on defense — one each by Castillo, sophomore Vincent Proyor and freshman Dominic Lopez.
Mt. Miguel previously defeated Chula Vista, the two-time defending Metro-Pacific League champions, by a score of 49-0 in a non-league match-up in Week 2 of the regular season. The Spartans (10-3) would not be shut out in the rematch as junior quarterback Izaac Baca hit junior receiver Elijah Gillespie on a nine-yard pass play with 7:51 to play in the fourth quarter and junior La’Darrione Perkins broke loose for a 36-yard scoring run very late in the game.
Gillespie caught a two-point conversion pass to close out game scoring.
Baca was limited to 65 passing yards with three picks. Chula Vista had more success on the ground with 169 rushing yards on 28 carries. Perkins had 15 carries for 114 yards while junior Paul Alvarez had 11 carries for 48 yards.
Gillespie had six catches for 41 yards.
The loss to the Matadors snapped a six-game winning streak by the Spartans.
“We gave all that we had,” CVHS head coach Howard Bannister III said. “Hats off to them. They made some big plays.”
Mt. Miguel, which is enjoying its best season since 1987, carries an eight-game winning streak into Saturday’s regional playoff game.
The Matadors won this year’s Grossmont Valley League championship with a 4-0 record while the Spartans won the Metro-Pacific League title also with a 4-0 record.
San Diego Section|
2023 Football Champions
Open Division: (3) Granite Hills 27, (1) Lincoln 26
Division I: (5) St. Augustine 13, (2) Mission Hills 0
Division II: (1) Del Norte 31, (3) La Jolla 15
Division III: (6) La Jolla Country Day 73, (4) Grossmont 34
Division IV: (1) Mt. Miguel 35, (2) Chula Vista 14
Division V: (2) Sweetwater 46, (1) Vincent Memorial Catholic 37
Division V-AA: (1) Holtville 27, (2) Army-Navy 21
Division VI (eight person): (1) Foothills Christian 31, (2) St. Joseph Academy 26
