The Mountain West Conference’s football roster will change significantly for the 2026 season when five teams will leave the fold to become full-time members of the rebuilding Pac-12 Conference.
Teams slated to make the move besides San Diego State University include Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State and Fresno State.
All five teams will play one more season of MW games before officially joining the Pac-12 on July 1, 2026.
Any bowl eligible teams from the group will have the opportunity to play both the 2024 and 2025 seasons as MW members in post-season competition.
They look to leave their mark.
Boise State, the 2024 MW champion, has qualified as the No. 3 seed in the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff field. The 12-1 Broncos, who defeated UNLV, 21-7, in the MW title game on Dec. 6, will play either No. 11 seed SMU (11-2, 8-0-0 ACC) or No. 6 Penn State (11-2, 8-1 Big Ten) in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31.
Overall, a total of five MW teams qualified for the 2024 bowl season.
Colorado State (8-4, 6-1 MW) will play Miami of Ohio (8-5, 7-1 MAC) in the Arizona Bowl on Dec. 28 while Fresno State (6-6, 4-3 MW) will meet Northern Illinois (7-5, 4-4 MAC) in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on Dec. 23. San Jose State (7-5, 3-4 MW) will play South Florida (6-6, 4-4 AAC) in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24 while UNLV (10-3, 6-1 MW) will meet the Cal Bears (6-6, 2-6 ACC) in the LA Bowl on Dec. 18.
Including the five bowl teams this season, the MW has earned 133 bowl bids since 1999 and holds a 69-56 (0.552) all-time record.
Locals abound on the MW’s bowl-bound teams, including former Granite Hills defensive lineman Damarrion White on Fresno State’s roster and Bonita Vista alumnus Dante Scott (defensive back) on Colorado State’s roster.
Boise State is represented by Torrey Pines alums Matt Lauter (tight end) and Marco Notaraini (linebacker) and edge Jayden Virgin-Morgan (Mt. Carmel) while Lincoln alum Corey Thompson Jr. (receiver) is on UNLV’s roster.
Fresno State’s roster also includes Oceanside’s Kamron Beachem (tight end), Mira Mesa’s Makei Thompson (nickel), Lincoln’s Nathan Acevedo (receiver) and Poway’s Ezra Christensen (defensive lineman).
San Jose State’s roster includes San Marcos’ Emmett Brown (quarterback), Jalen Bainer (cornerback) and Zavion Reese (defensive back), St. Augustine’s Justin Stearns (defensive lineman) and Scripps Ranch’s Grant Norberg (tight end).
Also on Colorado State’s roster are Madison’s Chris Jackson (defensive back) and San Marcos’ Dane Olson (receiver).
Mountain West Football Standings
Conference/Overall
Boise State 7-0 12-1
UNLV 6-1 10-3
Colorado State 6-1 8-4
Fresno State 4-3 6-6
San Jose State 3-4 7-5
New Mexico 3-4 5-7
Hawaii 3-4 5-7
Utah State 3-4 4-8
Air Force 3-4 5-7
SDSU 2-5 3-9
Wyoming 2-5 3-9
Nevada 0-7 3-10
Lincoln Hornets prove ultimate road warriors with second state title in three years
The Lincoln Hornets earned the unanimous distinction as the San Diego Section’s No. 1 football team during the 2024 season and did so while playing all their games on the road and attending off-campus practices.
The Hornets lived up to their billing by winning this year’s Division I-AA state championship title in their 14th road game of the season after defeating Pittsburg, 28-26, last Friday night at Saddleback College.
Lincoln, which finished the season 12-2, proved the ultimate road warriors and made the coaching staff, headed by David Dunn, extremely proud of the determined effort.
That grit and determination went right down to the wire with UC Davis-bound senior Aden Jackson (1,462 rushing yards, 20 touchdowns) out with an ankle injury. In stepped senior Donald Reed II, who rushed for 127 yards in last Friday’s state final.
The Hornets never trailed but the Pirates kept it close, twice tying the game (7-7 and 14-all) and moving the score to 21-20 before missing a two-point conversion that could have sent the high-profile contest into overtime.
Sophomore Courtney Miller-Thompson (four catches, 30 yards), senior Ty Olsen (two catches, 41 yards) and senior Isaiah Grant (two catches, 119 yards) all recorded touchdown catches while Oregon-bound senior quarterback Akili Smith Jr. scored on a seven-yard run. Smith passed for 172 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 40 yards and one TD.
Washington State-bound Jamar Searcy (196 rushing yards, 67 receiving yards) scored all four Pittsburg touchdowns as the game’s dominant player.
Three section teams qualified for last weekend’s state bowl games. Division IV champion El Capitan ended its season with an 11-4 record following a 48-7 loss to undefeated Carmel (15-0) in the Division 5-AA game while Division V champion Monte Vista (10-6) came up short, 38-21, to Toulumnne Summerville (14-1) in the Division 6-A championship game.
Monarchs, Vaqueros fall in state football championship games
It didn’t exactly go the way that El Capitan High School head coach Ron Burner and Monte Vista head coach Ron Hamamoto would have liked, but the El Capitan Vaqueros and Monte Vista Monarchs remain champions nonetheless in the eyes of their fans.
And with good reason.
El Capitan emerged as this year’s Grossmont Valley League champion with a spotless 5-0 record before going on to claim the San Diego Section Division IV championship with a 17-14 win over the Westview Wolverines Nov. 29 at Southwestern College.
The Vaqueros then defeated Victorville Silverado, 33-19, to capture the Southern California regional championship in Lakeside on Dec. 6.
As for the Grossmont Valley League runner-up Monarchs, they won the Division V section title with a 38-20 victory over second-seeded Bonita Vista Nov. 30 at Southwestern College before continuing their magical postseason run with a 41-21 win over visiting Pasadena on Dec. 7 to secure a Southern California regional championship.
The SoCal regional titles qualified both Grossmont Conference teams to play for state championships.
El Capitan finished runner-up in the Division 4-AA state final by a score of 48-7 against undefeated Carmel (15-0) in a game played last Friday at the Fullerton Union High School District Stadium to snap a marathon 10-game winning streak while Monte Vista saw its six-game winning streak end in a 38-21 loss to Toulumne Summerville (14-1) in the Division 6-A state championship game at the same site on Saturday.
The Vaqueros, seeded second in the Division IV section playoffs, ended their season 11-4.
The Monarchs, the No. 12 seed in the Division V section playoffs, ended their season 10-6.
“I’m very proud of our 2024 team, as we were the 12 seed,” Hamamoto said. “The last team in the playoffs is usually out quickly. We not only won the CIF title but also won the Southern California Regional championship.
“We ran out of gas, as our legs looked very tired in the state championship game. High school players usually don’t play 16 games in a season, so we are very proud that they lasted this long.”
“It was a great run by a great group of hard-fighting and hard-working young men,” Burner said. “They played to win and played their hearts out. It was too bad they placed us against a team that was ranked 130 points higher than us and should have been a division or two higher. We fought hard and in the end that just wasn’t enough.
“I am beyond proud of the way we played all season long and for their second-ever CIF title and second-ever ever Southern California Championship. They have set the tone again for years to come.
“My last words to my team after the loss were “’Don’t be sad — you lost but be sad you are done playing football for the year and with this set of teammates.’”
Names of the game
The Monarchs were done in by junior Bryce Leveroos, son of coach Sean Leveroos, who rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 159 yards and a 75-yard catch-and-run to junior Luke Larson.
The Bears totaled 411 yards in total offense, including 252 rushing yards.
By comparison, Monte Vista recorded just 84 rushing yards, led by senior Alex Villanueva, who had 14 carries for 76 yards to finish the season with the section single-season rushing record of 3,227 yards.
While Summerville’s game plan was to stop Villanuenva, and it worked, the Monarchs had to open up the passing game and that worked, too. Junior Derrick Taylor and senior Dayon Bean combined to pass for 224 yards.
Villanueva had three catches for 36 yards.
The Bears opened up a 10-point lead to start the game on a one-yard scoring run by Bryce Leveroos and a 22-yard field goal by junior Bryson Benites following a fumble recovery on defense.
Villanueva scored Monte Vista’s first touchdown on a two-yard run to make the score 10-7.
But Summerville capitalized on the 75-yard pass completion to Larson to move ahead 17-7.
Once again, the Monarchs displayed some grit by engineering a 63-yard drive capped b y a nine-yard scoring run by Taylor.
17-14 Bears at halftime.
Summerville advanced the score to 38-17 with three unanswered touchdowns to start the second half, including two by Leveroos, before Bean scored on a three-yard run to punctuate a lengthy 70-yard drive with 49 seconds to play.
Junior Rahshawn Florence hooked up for 101 receiving yards to help pace the Spring Valley team.
It was the first state title for the Bears. Gold Country finished with two state champions as Sonora won the Division 4-A title with a 52-34 victory over Southern California champion St. Pius X-St. Matthias in a game played concurrently in Long Beach.
El Capitan answered the Padres’ opening score with one of their own — a two-yard scoring run by junior Brody Copp (four carries, 57 yards) — to tie the game, 7-7.
But NorCal champion Carmel reeled off 41 unanswered points to win in a rout.
Carmel has won 25 of its last 26 games over the past two seasons.
The Padres finished the 2024 state championship game with 539 yards, including 309 passing yards.
Senior Ashton Rees led Carmel with four touchdowns (two rushing, two receiving) while senior Brooklyn Ashe caught two scoring passes. Senior quarterback Hudson Rutherford completed four touchdown passes while scoring once via the ground.
El Cap signal-caller Brandt Parker was harassed most of the game, completing 10 of 26 attempts for 113 yards with four interceptions. The Vaqueros rushed for 70 yards.
Next up
Eleven East County teams qualified for the section’s tackle football playoffs. Ten advanced to the division quarterfinals and six to the semifinals.
Three East County teams won division titles and two went on to win regional championships.
So, what does the 2025 season hold at first glance? It could be just as successful for many teams that kicked off the 2024 season.
“Almost everyone on defense will return next season,” Hamamoto said. “We lose Alex Villanueva and most of our offensive linemen, but our quarterback Derrick Taylor and leading wide receiver Rahshawn Florence return. We also have some very talented sophomores and freshmen from our JV team. I think the future looks good here at Monte Vista High School.”
“We are most likely moving up to the Hills League, so we get to play Granite, Helix, Steele and Mount Miguel as our reward,” Burner offered.
