Four Metro-Mesa League football teams began last Friday’s quarterfinals in contention for the San Diego Section Division II championship: three remain in contention entering Friday’s key semifinal-round games.
Bonita Vista, seeded 11th but playing its best football of the season, routed host El Capitan, seeded third, by a score of 41-6 last Friday to become the first Sweetwater district team to advance to the third round of the section playoffs. The Barons (5-7) will draw a rematch with league champion Mater Dei Catholic after the second-seeded Crusaders (10-1) eliminated seventh-seeded Otay Ranch (4-8) by a lopsided score of 34-7.
Fourth-seeded Olympian (7-4) held off a late charge from Grossmont Valley League champion Granite Hills (7-5) in last Friday’s hotly contested quarterfinal contest to post a 40-26 victory and move on to take on top-seeded Poway (10-1) in Friday’s semifinals.
Mater Dei Catholic will host Bonita Vista while Olympian will play at Poway, with the winners of each game advancing to the Division II championship game Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. at Southwestern College.
Friday’s semifinal games kick off at 7 p.m.
The Metro-Mesa is guaranteed representation in this year’s Division II title contest, with either Mater Dei Catholic or Bonita Vista, due to their head-to-head match-up, guaranteed a berth in the division final.
Bonita Vista won last year’s Division III CIF championship while Mater Dei Catholic won last year’s Division IV title.
Both teams advanced to state bowl games, with the Crusaders winning a state title and the Barons settling for a runner-up finish in a rain-soaked quagmire in Northern California.
This will be the second meeting of the year between Bonita Vista and Mater Dei Catholic. The teams met in league play on Oct. 21, with the Crusaders recording a dominating 42-14victory.
The Barons have won four games since then; Mater Dei Catholic is riding an eight-game winning streak.
However, Bonita Vista appears to be playing its best football of the year after throttling sixth-seeded West Hills by a score of 27-10 in the opening round on Nov. 11 and then tacking on a 35-point win last Friday at El Capitan.
The Barons started the season 0-5 but are 5-2 in their last seven games.
On a crusade
Mater Dei Catholic quarterback Chris Jones, faking a hand-off, scored on a touchdown run to get the Crusader juggernaut rolling. C.J. Verdell made it 14-0 with a touchdown run and an interception by Jovan Bayless set up the hosts’ third score as Jones hit Verdell on a TD pass.
Jones ended the half with his second touchdown throw of the game – this one to Quentin Frazier.
Ahead 28-0 at halftime, Andres Septien opened the second-half scoring with a 23-yard field goal to push the host Crusaders further ahead 31-0. With 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter he added a 32-yard field goal to place Mater Dei Catholic ahead 34-0.
Otay Ranch scored its lone touchdown of the game on a 14-yard run by Gus Espiritu with about three minutes to play in the game.
Verdell finished the game with two touchdowns to up his count to 30 for the season.
The teams had played to a one-point game – 21-20 in the Crusaders’ favor in a Metro-Mesa League opener on Oct. 7.
“We came out with a different mentality (in this game),” Verdell told a KUSI-TV news crew on site after the playoff win. “We didn’t come out and play our best game (then); we did today.”
Verdell has scored 30 touchdowns on the season.
Bruising Barons
Quarterback Anthony Posada passed for three touchdowns and ran for another while Josh Godfrey returned a punt for a touchdown and also scored a rushing touchdown to enable Bonita Vista to zip past the Vaqueros (4-7). Keenan Ellis caught two scoring passes while Jake Rozar grabbed another.
The Barons led 27-0 at halftime and were up 41-0 entering the final quarter in securing their playoff rout.
“We have finally started to play complimentary football,” BVHS head coach Chris Thompson said. “The offense, defense and special teams all made big plays to dominate El Cap in the second round playoff game. It’s going to take ‘all hands’ on deck this week against Mater Dei. The boys are excited for the re-match.”
Posada threw a six-yard scoring pass to Ellis for the game’s opening touchdown and hit Ellis for an 82-yard TD strike with about a minute to play in the first quarter. The visitors missed the point-after-touchdown conversion to lead 13-0.
Posada scored on a five-yard run with two minutes to play in the second quarter to boost the Bonita Vista lead to 20-0 following a successful extra-point conversion.
With under a minute to play in the quarter, Godfrey scored on a 65-yard punt return to hand the Barons their fourth touchdown of the opening half.
27-0 Bonita Vista.
With nine minutes to play in the third quarter, the Barons upped their lead to 34-0 when Posada hit Rozar on a 43-yard scoring pass. The scoring drive began with a pass interception at the BV five-yard line.
Godfrey scored on a 10-yard run with less than two minutes to play in the quarter to make the score 41-0 following Sebastian Ulloa’s fifth PAT conversion of the game.
El Capitan scored its lone touchdown of the game with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter when Wick Hauser connected with Kevin Von Yokes on a 19-yard pass completion.
Bonita Vista’s second touchdown was set up by a fumble recovery.
“We played really great on both sides of the ball – offense and defensively,” explained Posada, who threw for 225 passing yards in the game to eclipse the 2,000-yard barrier this year. “I believe we played as a team and will be ready for net week,” Posada told a KUSI-TV new crew on site after the game.
Comeback kids
After falling behind early 3-0, the Olympian Eagles got their motor running early and never really let their feet (er, talons) off the pedal in a match-up against the Granite Hills Eagles.
After trailing 10-6, Olympian closed out the first quarter with a 20-10 lead and led 34-10 at the end of the third quarter.
A pass completion for a touchdown narrowed the score to 34-18 following a successful two-point conversion.
The teams then traded touchdowns late in the fourth quarter as the Eagles soared to a 40-26 advantage.
Noah Lacsina and Trey Curry combined to rush for more than 300 yards to lead Olympian to the playoff win. Curry rushed for a career best 208 yards while Lacsina rushed for 115 yards.
Lacsina scored on an 11-yard touchdown run to open scoring in the contest. Granite Hills came back on a Jake Siegfried to William Burton touchdown pass. But Olympian quarterback Nico Mendoza promptly passes 66 yards to Mikael Tyler for the go-ahead touchdown.
Lacsina scored on a three-yard run following an interception by teammate Camryn Griffin to cap scoring in the first half as the host Eagles took a 10-point lead.
Lacsina made the score 34-10 on the strength of a 75-yard breakaway touchdown run midway through the third quarter. Curry then sealed the victory with a 53-yard rushing score.
Lacsina rushed for three touchdowns in the game while Curry rushed for two touchdowns.
Olympian’s semifinal date with Poway is a rematch of a Sept. 9 non-league game in which the Titans edged the visiting Eagles 17-10.
Olympian head coach Paul Van Nostrand said at the time he felt his team could have won that game. His team will get another chance – on a much bigger stage – to finish the job.
Mar Vista, Hilltop endure season-ending playoff losses
Fourth-seeded Mar Vista (8-3) lost 62-33 to fifth-seeded La Jolla Country Day (9-3) and record-setting Torreys quarterback Braxton Burmeister to drop out of the San Diego Section Division IV playoffs.
Meanwhile, ninth-seeded Hilltop (7-5) fell to top-seeded Christian (11-0) by a score of 50-28 to suffer elimination in the Division III playoff field.
Burmeister entered the game against Mar Vista as the section’s all-time passing leader and promptly showed why as the visitors pummeled the Mariners on the scoreboard with repeated scoring punches.
At the onset, it appeared which might had the last might win before the Torreys began to pull away in the second half.
Caleb Petry scored on a two-yard run to put the visitors ahead 7-6 following an early rushing Mar Vista touchdown.
Khalil Spruill put the hosts up 13-7 on the strength of a 30-yard rushing touchdown and the fireworks were set to go off.
Still in the second quarter, Burmeister passed 50 yards to teammate Jaden Dir to put the Torreys ahead 14-13. Spruill promptly countered with a 60-yard rushing touchdown to put the Mariners back in froon a five-yard scoring pass to give LJCD a 21-20 lead.
Two minutes later, the Torreys extended their lead to 28-20 when Burmeister threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to teammate Carson Greene.
Petry scored on a 22-yard rushing touchdown to kick off scoring in the third quarter to enable the visitors to go ahead 35-20.
Burmeister scored on a four-yard run with four minutes to play in the quarter to hike the visitors’ lead to 42-20.
Mar Vista final broke the long LJCD scoring run on a 39-yard touchdown run with under a minute to play in the quarter to make the score 42-27.
But the Torreys – and Burmeister – were far from finished.
Burmeister hit Goring on a 60-yard touchdown pass to increase the LJCD lead to 49-27 as the third quarter came to a close.
Burmeister then connected with teammate David Wylie on a 12-yard touchdown pass with about five minutes to play in the game. At this point, the Torreys led 56-27.
But the Mariners refused to roll over and die. Noah Berry caught a 55-yard scoring pass to trim the score to 56-33.
But the visitors once again had an answer as Petry scored on a two-yard run with two minutes to play.
Burmeister passed for five touchdowns, rushed for another, while Petry scored on three touchdown runs.
La Jolla Country Day finished the game with nine total touchdowns.
LJCD advances to play top-seeded Southwest El Centro (9-2) in the semifinals while second-seeded Monte Vista (7-4) will host third-seeded Santana (7-4) after both East County teams captured quarterfinal-round contests.
Monte Vista defeated 10th-seeded Serra, 39-12, in last Friday’s quarterfinals while Santana blasted six-seeded Coronado 44-0.
The last chapter
Hilltop, riding a modest two-game winning streak, piled up some impressive statistics in its playoff loss to the Patriots.
Quarterback Alex Tejeda passed for 337 yards and one touchdown while signal-called Stephen Rasmussen tossed a 30-yard touchdown pass on his only aerial attempt in the game.
Domonic Esparza rushed 13 times for 54 yards and one touchdown while Angel Pineda rushed 14 times for 53 yards and one touchdown.
Gus Ferreira had 19 receptions for 287 yards and caught both Lancer TD passes.
San Diego Section Semifinals
Friday, Nov. 25
Open Division
(1) Cathedral Catholic 44, (5) Mission Hills 21
(2) Helix 28, (3) Rancho Bernardo 10
Championship game: (1) Cathedral Catholic (12-0) vs. (2) Hleix (10-2) – Saturday, Dec. 3 at Southwestern College, 7 p.m.
Division I
(1) Madison 41, (4) San Marcos 7
(2) St. Augustine 28, (3) La Costa Canyon 17
Championship game: (1) Madison (10-2) vs. (2) St. Augustine (10-2) – Friday, Dec. 2 at Southwestern College, 7 p.m.
Division II
(4) Olympian 27, (1) Poway 19
(2) Mater Dei Catholic 42, (11) Bonita Vista 10
Championship game: (2) Mater Dei Catholic (11-1) vs. (4) Olympian (8-4) – Saturday, Dec. 3 at Southwestern College, 3 p.m.
Mater Dei Catholic notables: C.J. Verdell rushes for five touchdowns and 310 yards; Chris Jones passes for touchdown to Eli Shelton
Olympian notables: Noah Lacsina rushed for 10-yard touchdown, Trey Curry rushes for 72-yard touchdown, Nico Mendoza throws 24-yard scoring passes to isaiah Williams and Rashaun Brown
Division III
(1) Christian 35, . (4) Lincoln 34
(2) Bishop’s35, (3) Valley Center 19
Championship game: (1) Christian (12-0) vs. Bishop’s (12-0) – Saturday, Dec. 3 at Southwestern College, 11 a.m.
Division IV
(5) La Jolla Country Day 21, (1) El Centro Southwest 14
(3) Santana 35, (2) Monte Vista 32
Championship game: (3) Santana (8-4) vs. (5) La Jolla Country Day (10-3) – Friday, Dec. 2 at Southwestern College, 3 p.m.
Division V
Chsmpionship game
Saturday, Nov. 26 @ Southwestern College
(3) Tri-City Christian (10-2) vs. (4) Horizon Christian Academy (6-6), 7 p.m.
Result: Horizon Christian 40, Tri-City Christian 18
