Yeah, baby! The Barons and Crusaders are heading to San Diego Section championship games this weekend at Southwestern College.
It’s a rich reward for a season of superlatives as the right teams found the winning formula at the right time of the season.
The second-seeded Bonita Vista Barons (7-5) and second-seeded Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders (9-3) both captured semifinal victories last Friday to play another week and, in doing so, have the special opportunity to crown themselves section champions – the Crusaders in Division II and the Barons in Division V.
Mater Dei Catholic will face the fourth-seeded Poway Titans (5-7) in Friday’s prime time championship contest at 7:30 p.m. while riding a nine-game winning streak. Bonita Vista will return to the gridiron Saturday at noon against the 12th-seeded Monte Vista Monarchs (8-5).
Both the Barons and Crusaders are revisiting familiar territory.
Mater Dei Catholic has won three state titles: 2015, 2021 and 2022. The Crusaders were the first San Diego Section team, in fact, to win back-to-back state championships.
In order to get that far, the Crusaders first had to a win section championship.
Bonita Vista captured the Division III section championship in 2015 while Monte Vista won the 2017 Division IV section title.
Poway won its first CIF title in 2007 and repeated the feat in 2011.
Overall, three Metro Conference teams advanced to last Friday’s division semifinals.
The eighth-seeded Montgomery Aztecs, 2024 Metro-South Bay League champions, met the fifth-seeded Westview Wolverines in a Division IV match-up, ending their season with a 19-14 setback to finish 9-4 overall.
Photo by Andy Bartotto
Crusader Nation
Mater Dei Catholic had to overcome a rugged third-seeded Helix Highlanders team in the division semifinals. It was rough going with Helix taking a 14-10 lead before the hosts regained the lead on a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to emerge with a final 17-14 victory.
Helix had an apparent touchdown negated by a penalty that could have significantly changed the outcome of which team advanced to the championship round. But the play was called back and it’s water under the bridge now.
The Scotties were also impacted by in-game injuries to standout senior running back Pablo Jackson and senior quarterback Jett Gottlieb.
The Crusaders struck first on a one-yard pass from senor Kartell Purvis to senior Matt Carr (four catches, 20 yards) to snap a scoreless deadlock.
Down 7-0 at halftime, Helix tied the game, 7-7, on a short run by junior Jordan Lindley.
The hosts went back in front, 10-7, on a 29-yard field goal by junior Angel Mendoza in the third quarter before the East County visitors went in front, 14-10, on a 64-yard bomb from junior backup quarterback Jerome Stevens to freshman Jeremy Robinson. Senior kicker Aubrey Laue supplied both extra-point conversions.
Photos by Jon Bigornia
Game-winning touchdown catch
Purvis finished the game with 141 passing yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He found junior Larell Parker (three catches, 24 yards) on a six-yard strike into the end zone for the game-winning points with 2;22 to play in regulation.
Senior Gael Aguilar led the team with 32 rushing yards while Purvis tacked on 31 yards.
Senior Isaiah Cook keyed the aerial game with five catches for 89 yards while junior Noah Cook recorded a fumble recovery on defense.
“The semifinal game was a great matchup with Helix,” Mater Dei Catholic head coach Rashard Cook said. “They are well coached and have a rich tradition of winning. We missed a few opportunities to score more points and gave up a couple of scores on blown assignments. However, we made the plays when we needed them the most on offense. Defensively we were able to close the door on the game with a big stop.”
Poway set a school record for most points scored in one game with last Friday’s 62-27 drubbing of top-seeded University City.
Mater Dei Catholic opened this season 0-3 but has since turned it around in major fashion with nine consecutive wins.
The Crusaders will face a streaking Poway team that finished 3-7 in regular season play but will be looking to even its record with a championship game victory.
The Division II section champion advances to the Southern California regional playoffs with an opportunity to win a state championship title. In order to do so, the Crusaders will need to run their current win streak to 10 — and beyond.
Can they do it? Cook would like to think his team has all the answers for the upcoming challenge.
“The finals should be a great game,” Cook acknowledged. “Poway is playing at a high level, and we need to clean up our mistakes and play Mater Dei Catholic football. Poway has a talented roster that can score points running or passing. Mater Dei Catholic needs to continue its winning ways. We have now won nine straight, but this is the most important one.”
All the right moves
Bonita Vista eliminated the third-seeded Crawford Colts, 27-12, in a hard-hitting contest that saw the Colts take an unexpected 6-0 lead on a 90-yard interception return by senior Trevon Blanks.
But 27 unanswered points – 20 of them coming after standout rusher Kenneth Jordan left the game for a second week in a row with an injury — allowed the Metro-South Bay League runners-up to rebound with a stout defensive stand and timely offense.
Jordan rushed for 80 yards in the game before leaving the field. He scored on a one-yard run with 2:37 to play in the opening quarter as the hosts took a 7-6 lead.
A 43-yard field goal by senior Richie Rojas extended the BV lead to 10-6 with 5:34 left in the second quarter.
Rojas was back on the field to kick a point-after touchdown following a one-yard scoring run by junior Kenneth Watson with 41.6 seconds to play before halftime.
17-6 Barons.
There was still time remaining for a 52-yard field goal on a free kick. The hosts forced a punt. A fair catch with 20 seconds to go set up a free kick off a tee that Rojas drilled through the uprights.
20-6 BVHS at the half.
Senior Abel Meza added an insurance touchdown on a four-yard run with 7:12 to play in the third quarter for a 21-point lead.
Crawford senior quarterback Philip Huynh scored on a four-yard run with 7:57 left to make the final 27-12.
The small framed Huynh was kept on the run most of the game when he wasn’t being planted into the ground or flipped head over heels by the BV defense.
Are the Barons overachievers under first-year head coach Jeramie Hernandez? Luck certainly wasn’t involved in the win over the Colts. It was earned.
“We just had to get back on the playing field and pick it up — we knew it was going to be a long game,” Hernandez said.
Photos by Phillip Brents
Bonita Vista’s current four-game winning streak began following a 14-9 homecoming loss to Montgomery on Oct. 18.
“After the Montgomery game I had a vision for this team of what we can do,” Hernandez said. “Hopefully, we can win this next game and go on a state run.”
The Barons will be challenged all the way around by a Monte Vista team firing on all cylinders after a runner-up finish in the Grossmont Valley League standings and three consecutive playoff wins.
The Monarchs, who take a four-game winning streak overall into Saturday’s division final, have, in order, scored playoff upsets over fifth-seeded Fallbrook (34-33, first round), fourth-seeded Hoover (47-46, quarterfinals) and top-seeded Vista (34-14, semifinals).
The catalyst for the electrifying postseason run has been senior running back Alex Villanueva, the section’s leading rusher with 2,718 yards.
Villanueva rushed for 242 yards and one touchdown in the win at Fallbrook and tacked on 365 yards and six touchdowns in eliminating the Cardinals the following week. He rushed for 240 yards and five touchdowns in last Friday’s semifinal road victory.
Villanueva has been outspoken all season that this team has not received the proper recognition it is due. Monte Vista will have no excuses to make on Saturday.
There’s already a lot of talk about Monte Vista’s return to the finals after the Monarchs won the 2017 Division IV championship behind an eight-touchdown effort from Jahmon McClendon.
“I don’t know if this is true or not, but a lot of people are telling me we are the first 12-seed to make the finals,” veteran Monte Vista coach Ron Hamamoto said. “We have really improved since the beginning of the season. Alex Villanueva is having a great season and is currently the leading rusher in San Diego County. We are a little beat up after playing 13 games, going on 14. I am very proud of this team.”
Missed it by that much
Montgomery upset the top-seeded Ramona Bulldogs in the quarterfinals to earn a trip to the semifinals. The Aztecs were in contention until the Wolverines (6-7) managed to pull out a late victory to advance to meet the second-seeded El Capitan Vaqueros (9-3) in Friday’s division final at 3:30 p.m. at SWC.
Freshman Qassim Williams (12 carries, 66 yards) and junior Mikey Silva (11 carries, 41 yards) each scored one rushing touchdown for Montgomery while frosh QB Isaiah Mena-Malajin passed for 232 yards with one interception.
The Grossmont Valley League champion Vaqueros are on a roll at the right time of the season while riding the crest of an eight-game winning streak that began with a 14-6 non-league win at Montgomery on Sept. 20.
The St. Augustine Saints, 0-10 during the regular season, have a chance to salvage their season with a Division III championship game victory against fourth-seeded San Pasqual (7-5) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Saints (3-10) powered to their third consecutive playoff win, 20-16, at third-seeded San Diego (8-4) in the semifinals.
