Bonita Vista High School is celebrating its 50th year, and its football team couldn’t have given the school a better birthday present: the 2015 Metro-Mesa League championship.
The Barons defeated the Otay Ranch Mustangs, 20-7, last Friday night before a large homecoming crowd at Southwestern College to claim undisputed rights to this year’s league title — the first outright for the school since 2005.
But it wasn’t easy: anyone participating on the field or watching from the stands will provide witness to that. Otay Ranch, needing a win to forge a three-way tie for the league title with Bonita Vista and Eastlake, held a 7-6 lead well into the fourth quarter.
Moreover, the Barons were forced to play with their back-up quarterback for most of the first half after starter Anthony Posada was sidelined with an injury.
But senior running back Greg Bell put his team on his shoulders by scoring two touchdowns, including what proved to be the game-winner on fourth-and-goal, and Posada made a triumphant return in the second half.
“I felt confident that we were going to beat them,” explained Posada, whose team improved to 4-0 in league play, 8-2 overall, to secure the No. 1 seed in the Division III playoffs. “There were a few bumps on the road. I thought our defense played well. They helped us out absolutely, This (league championship) was great — it was something that Bonita hadn’t done in 10 or 15 years.”
Bell, who carried the ball on 39 of his team’s 43 running plays on the night, scored on a two-yard run in the opening minutes of the game to stake the hosts to a 6-0 lead when the extra-point conversion attempt hit the upright and bounced away.
Defense — played astutely by both sides — took over from there as the teams settled into an exchange of punts. The Barons did work the ball to the Otay Ranch seven-yard line on one occasion, but penalties and strong defense pushed the hosts backward and the drive ended with a turnover on downs.
The Mustangs (3-1 in league play, 5-5 overall) popped one big play on the night that instantly got them back in the game — and gave them a one-point lead. Quarterback Oscar Limon hit receiver Adrian Rodriguez on a 77-yard catch-and-carry with 2:59 left in the opening half.
The PAT conversion split the uprights and Otay Ranch led, 7-6. Bonita Vista had a chance to counter when Atoa Fox ran the ensuing kick-off into Mustang territory but the Barons were called for a penalty and the ball came back to the 20-yard line.
Otay Ranch then mounted a drive into Baron territory on the subsequent punt exchange but the drive fizzled out of field goal range.
With Posada back under center in the second half, the Barons seemed more confident, or at least able to convert key situations.
Bell did most of the legwork after Posada hit Ethan Williams (three catches, 90 yards) on a long rainbow pass down to the Mustang five-yard line.
It took Bonita Vista four tries to get the ball over the goal line, with Bell finally scoring on a two-yard carry on fourth-and-goal with about five minutes to play in the game.
Otay Ranch gave up those yards begrudgingly.
“I knew we had to score, I just followed my O-line and ran as hard as I could,” said Bell, who finished the game with 139 rushing yards while making two pass grabs for 20 more yards.
The touchdown was the 20th rushing score (and 21st touchdown overall) for Bell on the season. He enters post-season play with 1,526 rushing yards, averaging 157.6 yards per game and 7.9 yards per carry.
The BV defense, braced throughout the game by four fumble recoveries and one interception (by Williams), stiffened on the Mustangs’ next series and got the ball back for its offense. A series of runs by Bell methodically moved the ball down to the Otay Ranch five-yard line. A loss on a running play and a halfback option pass by Bell that was nearly intercepted left the ball at the nine-yard line on third down.
But Posada cashed in on the next play when he hit teammate Willy Kuheleloa on a scoring pass just inside the near pylon with 3:21 remaining.
Bonita Vista scored on the ensuing two-point conversion play on a pass from Posada to Abraham Kinghorn and, after trailing for most of the game, all of a sudden had a 20-7 lead.
The Mustangs quickly advanced the ball down the field before stalling on a fourth-down play in the shadow of the Barons’ goal posts.
Posada took one final kneel-down with 17 seconds to play, and the league title was Bonita Vista’s.
BVHS head coach Chris Thompson heaped praise on Posada’s performance under difficult circumstances. Posada completed 12 of 16 passing attempts for 178 yards for a 131.8 quarterback rating.
“He had some numbness and we wanted to make sure he was safe and secure to go,” Thompson explained. “He came in the second half and, between him and Greg Bell carrying the ball, they helped back us. Our offensive line came out again to do battle. They’re getting better. Our defense came up big and allowed us to win out in the fourth quarter.
“Anthony is absolutely one of the toughest players I’ve coached.”
The Barons, riding a five-game winning streak, will host the winner of Friday’s first-round contest between eighth-seeded La Jolla (3-7) and ninth-seeded Patrick Henry (4-6) in quarterfinal-round action Nov. 20 at Southwestern College.
The Mustangs, who were bidding for a top four playoff seed with a victory over Bonita Vista, earned the No. 6 seed in the Division II playoffs and will host 11th-seeded Brawley (6-4) in Friday’s opening round. The winner advances to meet third-seeded Granite Hills (9-1) in the division quarterfinals on Nov. 20.
Otay Ranch senior wide receiver/free safety Victor Lopez said the lead his team maintained for most of the game provided a definite confidence boost.
“We worked hard this week,” explained Lopez, a member of last spring’s Mustang Metro-Mesa League co-championship baseball team. “We were coming off a great win over Olympian — it was the first time we had beaten them. We practiced hard. We worked out in the rain.
“We knew it was going to be a hard-fought battle. In the second half we came out with a lot of energy and confidence. Things just didn’t go our way.”
Otay Ranch head coach Lance Christensen likes how his team is playing at this point of the season, especially the momemtum of the win over Olympian that his team took into the game against the Barons.
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“We lost a hard-fought game to a very good Bonita Vista team,” the Mustang coach explained. “We feel good about our chances in the upcoming Division II playoffs. We play a very tough Brawley team in the first round, but we have played a very strong schedule and I feel this will prepare us well for tough games like this.”
