Eastlake and Bonita Vista high schools have been battling for the size 13.5 boot trophy since 1992. The Barons won the opening three games in the neighborhood rivalry series (the first 52-0, the second 37-17 and the third 23-17), but the maturing Titans have since taken command.
Eastlake extended its latest win streak between the schools to eight games following last Friday’s 34-6 non-league victory on the EHS campus.
The host Titans got a lot of players into the scoring column.
Junior quarterback Tyler Balko passed for 216 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Balko’s scoring passes went to senior Zivan Carranza (two catches, 44 yards), junior Rasheed Demery Jr. (three catches, 42 yards) and senior Dylan Ferma (one catch, 27 yards).
Junior Isaiah Rodriguez also scored on a 10-yard rushing play.
Demery racked up 142 all-purpose yards by tacking on 100 years in punt returns, including a 65-yard return for a touchdown.
Balko collected 244 total yards by tacking on 28 rushing yards.
Twenty players recorded at least one tackle, led by senior Nate Rodriguez’s eight stops. Senior Kingston Schaaf had one sack while senior Jonathon Skewes had one interception. Senior Landon Albano had two fumble recoveries.
“We play at Capistrano Valley this Friday and they are coming off a 33-23 win against Moanalua, Hawaii,” EHS coach Jose Mendoza said. “They are a very talented team with several offensive and defensive returners and a QB back for his senior season.”
Big plays punctuated last Friday’s season opener for the Titans.
Senior Barron Cardona had one catch for 41 yards while junior Hamza Hatahet had one catch for 39 yards.
Senior Carlos Amaro rushed six times for 41 yards while senior William Schmitz gained 36 yards on nine carries. Rodriguez had one catch for 14 yards.
Junior Jacob Naiman converted four of five extra-point tries.
As a team, Eastlake rolled up 343 yards in total offense — 216 rushing and 127 passing.
BATTLE FOR THE BOOT
2024: Eastlake 34, Bonita Vista 6
2023: Eastlake 30, Bonita Vista 17
2022: Eastlake 28, Bonita Vista 0
2021 (fall): Eastlake 33, Bonita Vista 7
2021 (spring): Eastlake 55, Bonita Vista 3
2019: Eastlake 20, Bonita Vista 0
2018: Eastlake 49, Bonita Vista 7
2017: Eastlake 55, Bonita Vista 0
2016: Bonita Vista 20, Eastlake 12
South County Football Log
Non-League
Thursday, Aug. 22
Mt. Carmel 34, Otay Ranch 13
Friday, Aug, 23
Eastlake 34, Bonita Vista 6
Castle Park 14, Victory Christian Academy 13
Hilltop 22, Coronado 14
Sweetwater 31, Morse 6
Mar Vista 43, O’Farrell Charter 7
Westview 16, Olympian 14
Cathedral Catholic 56, Mater Dei Catholic 28
La Jolla Country Day 35, Chula Vista 6
Hoover 58, Southwest 35
Maranatha Christian 20, San Ysidro 14
San Diego 20, Montgomery 2
CalPreps Top 25 RANKINGS
- Lincoln (0-1), 2. Granite Hills (1-0), 3. Mission Hills (0-1), 4. Cathedral Catholic (1-0), 5. El Camino (1-0), 6. Carlsbad (0-1), 7. Helix (0-1), 8. La Costa Canyon (1-0), 9. San Marcos (1-0), 10. La Jolla (1-0), 11. St. Augustine (0-1), 12. Del Norte (1-0), 13. Mater Dei Catholic (0-1), 14. Torrey Pines (0-1), 15. Mt. Miguel (1-0), 16. Madison (0-1), 17. Bishop’s (0-1), 18. Central Union (1-0), 19. Rancho Bernardo (1-0), 20. La Jolla Country Day (1-0), 21. Santa Fe Christian (1-0), 22. Oceanside (0-1), 23. Brawley (1-0), 24. Pt. Loma (0-1), 25. Poway (0-1). Others: 32. Eastlake (1-0), 39. Chula Vista (0-1), 42. Sweetwater (1-0), 47. Otay Ranch (0-1)
FINAL: Sweetwater 31, Morse 6
Sweetwater top performers:
•Zaryan Crews – 69 passing yards, one TD, 161 rushing yards
•Christian Corpus – 54 rushing yards, 2 TD
•Jacob Gonsalves – 28 rushing yards, 1 TD
•Juan Alvarez – 37 receiving yards, 1 TD
Coaches corner: “We played a tough game. Morse had a really good rushing attack and our defense knew they had to be locked in and prepared. Our defense played well and that’s a huge part of the success we were able to have in Week 1.”
— Brandon Burris, Sweetwater
Traveling Trojans start season 1-0 with gritty 14-13 win over Victory Christian Academy to deny upset bid
Victory Christian Academy will utilize Bonita Vista High School’s football stadium as its home field as the small private school tucked in the Rancho Del Rey community returns to 11-person play this season.
The Knights hosted the Castle Park Trojans — a team without a home field this season due to stadium modernization — in last Friday’s season opener for both teams.
The Trojans held onto a 7-0 lead in a closely contested first half, then held onto a 14-13 victory on a last-minute clutch defensive play.
In the process, Airrien Smith picked up a win in his first game as Castle Park’s new head coach.
“The bottom line is that we’re 1-0,” Smith told his team after the game’s exciting finish.
“We had to deal with penalties and mistakes on our part, so I would call it a learning experience for our guys.”
Last Friday’s opener featured ups and downs for both teams and huge momentum swings.
Leading 14-0 on a 40-yard touchdown grab by freshman Aiddien Smith early in the opening quarter from senior quarterback Dillon Villarreal and a 59-yard scoring jaunt by senior Christian Hayes to open the second half, the host Knights nearly erased all that — and more.
Junior Gabriel Aguirre (58 rushing yards, one touchdown) scored on a 37-yard run with 4.7 seconds left in the third quarter to halve the Trojan lead to 14-7. After Castle Park failed to put the game away on a fumble through the end zone, Victory Christian Academy used some very late heroics to elicit cheers from their fans.
Junior signal-caller Austin Dill (79 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception) completed a 28-yard touchdown pass to junior Max Gardner (35 receiving yards, one touchdown) with 1:25 to play in regulation. Rather than kick an extra point to tie the game, the Knights went for a two-point conversion to win the game outright.
Dill initially veered to his right, then changed course to his left before aiming the ball toward the end zone. Players from each team converged on the pass, which fell just short of the goal line as they fought furiously for possession of the ball.
Castle Park wound up with it.
VCA coach Earl Benson found a lot of positives in his team’s opening foray into a new division. The Knights made their share of untimely penalties and self-inflicted mistakes but were not necessarily overpowered.
“Our guys battled to the end,” Benson said “The best football you’ll see from us will be in the future.”
Junior Alejandro Rodriguez led VCA with 12 unassisted tackles, including three tackles for a loss, while junior Micah Gerdes had one sack. Junior Jayden Gray logged one interception while senior Jake Messervy had one fumble recovery. Gerdes caused two fumbles.
The Knights will be searching for their first win of the season this Friday at O’Farrell Charter (0-1) in a 4:15 p.m. start.
Meanwhile, the Trojans will host Calexico (1-0) at Otay Ranch High School at 6:30 p.m.
Hilltop 22, Coronado 14
Lancer senior quarterback Kneko Vasquez was involved in all three touchdowns — the first on a 22-yard run, then on passes of 79 and 38 yards with senior Mason Vaquero and sophomore Bryson Grant, respectively.
Vasquez opened scoring in the game on a 22-yard run and junior Manuel Pablos tracked on the extra-point conversion for a 7-0 lead. The visitors took a 13-0 halftime lead on a 79-yard pass play involving Vasquez and senior Mason Vaquero.
Coronado scored first in the second half on a 10-yard run by senior Jaiden Sherman and a PAT conversion by senior Landon Sutherland to reduce the Hilltop lead to 13-7.
With 11 minutes to play in the game, the Lancers recorded a two-point safety to extend their lead to 15-7. Not long afterward, Vasquez connected with sophomore Bryson Grant for a 38-yard touchdown. Pablos supplied the successful PAT conversion and the visitors led 22-7
Sutherland lit up Coronado’s hopes with a defensive touchdown on a 27-yard interception return and his extra-point made the score 22-14.
The Lancers recovered an attempted onside kick and, with one minute to play, an interception by senior John Ruiz allowed Hilltop to run out the clock for the season-opening victory.
“It was a solid team win for us,” Lancer head coach Bryan Wagner said. “We played well in all aspects of the game. The defense was very good and held Coronado to one offensive score. Our young team is getting better each and every day, so there is a lot of potential. We play Temescal Canyon this week, which is a tough matchup.”
Temescal Canyon (1-0) is coming off a 28-14 win at Paloma Canyon last week.
Westview 16, Olympian 14
A last-ditch effort by the visiting Eagles came up short as a pass to the end zone fell incomplete to give the host Wolverines the non-league win in the season opener for both teams.
Junior Jaylon Fuentes passed for 194 yards with one touchdown to key Olympian while senior Ryan Claybon tacked on a rushing touchdown. Senior Jayden Sandoval had three catches for 69 yards and one receiving touchdown.
The Eagles out-gained the Wolverines 277-168 in total offensive yards despite finishing on the losing end.
Claybon led the team with nine tackles, including two for losses.
Wally Ignacio received credit for a blocked field goal on defense. Sophomore Josiah Rivera scored on a two-point conversion.
“We had too many penalties and special team errors made the difference in the game,” OHS coach Brad Carter said.
The Eagles will host the Grossmont Foothillers (0-1) this Friday. The Foothillers are still smarting from a 77-48 loss to visiting Patrick Henry last week.
Mt. Carmel 31, Otay Ranch 13
The host Mustangs started off well by marching down the field and scoring on a running play by junior quarterback A.J. Lopez. But the visiting Sundevils came back on two trick plays and Otay Ranch had a long kickoff return called back because of a penalty that eventually contributed to the season-opening setback.
Mt. Carmel led 13-7 at halftime and 27-7 through three quarters.
Defensive leaders included junior linebacker David Smith with 10 tackles, including two for losses, and senior defensive lineman Diego Martinez, who had one sack and added eight tackles.
Offensive leaders for the Mustangs included senior running back Prince Dumaran, senior wide receiver Jonnie Welbourne and Lopez (122 yards on 13 carries, five-of-10 passing for 40 yards).
The Sundevils countered with 338 passing yards and five touchdowns.
Otay Ranch (0-1) will bid for its first win this Friday at Pt. Loma (0-1). Game time is 7 p.m.
Hoover 58, Southwest 35
The visiting Raiders received some big performances in their season opener: 318 passing yards and four touchdowns from sophomore quarterback Leo Holguin, 68 yards and one touchdown run from senior Nery Gomez and 140 receiving yards and two touchdowns from senior Jordan Cretain.
NEXT UP: Granite Hills at Mater Dei Catholic
Granite Hills, ranked second among section teams by CalPreps, plays at No. 13 Mater Dei Catholic on Friday, Aug. 30. Kick-off is7 p.m.
The host Crusaders (0-1) are coming off a 56-28 non-league setback to No. 4 Cathedral Catholic last Friday. Senior Kartell Purvis passed for 220 yards and three touchdowns while senior Isaiah Cook had four catches for 90 yards to lead Mater Dei Catholic. Senior Matt Carr tacked on 120 yards in kick returns.
Cook had 147 yards in total offense (90 receiving, 57 rushing) and led the hosts with 16 tackles, including nine solo stops. Carr had two sacks while senior Moses Castillo had one fumble recovery.
Granite’s Max Turner gained 203 yards and scored three rushing touchdowns last week in a 28-17 win at No. 3 Mission Hills.
The reigning Open Division champions racked up 442 total offensive yards in the non-league contest — 234 passing yards and 208 rushing yards.
“It was a good team win,” Granite Hills head coach Kellan Cobbs said. “We had to rotate a lot of guys in our front six between the defensive line and linebackers. They are a good team, so it was good to get out with a win. On offense, we moved the ball well; we just had too many turnovers.”
Turner scored on touchdown runs of three, 36 and 18 yards.
Sophomore quarterback Zac Benitez passed for 237 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Senior Brendan Lewis had eight catches for 98 yards while senior Lathan Fry had five catches for 46 yards and one touchdown.
Junior Tristan Diaz had six catches for 37 yards while Turner added five catches for 27 yards.
Seniors Parker Vance and Trevor Smith supported the GH win with key interceptions in the fourth quarter.
Smith killed a Mission Hills drive with his pick while Vance intercepted a pass in the end zone.
Senior Giovanni Harte rushed for 140 yards for Mission Hills while senior Ryder Tinoisamoa had four catches for 53 yards. Defensively for the Grizzlies, senior Daniel De La Cruz had a fumble recovery while junior Quinn Chavez and sophomore Xavier St. John each had interceptions.
Girls Flag Football Update
The San Ysidro Lady Cougars are off to a 2-3 start to the new 2024-25 season.
“We knew our first half of the season would be tough with our tough non-league schedule,” SYHS coach Giantoni Canale said. “We had tough losses to Imperial (19-7 loss), Mira Mesa (18-0 loss) and Mission Bay (32-8 loss) but beat Torrey Pines in four overtimes (6-0 win) and Olympian (19-12 win) on a walk-off interception return for a touchdown.”
Junior Kristine Fadriquela has three touchdowns on offense and three Interceptions on the season.
Junior Isabella Guzman has four Interceptions so far this season.
Senior Jacqueline Gonzalez has three interceptions as well, including a game winning pick 6 against Olympian.
Up next: The Lady Cougars host the Central Union Spartans on Sept. 3 and then travel to Cathedral Catholic on Sept. 10.
