The Castle Park Trojans lived up to their preseason billing —and more — after defeating the visiting Montgomery Aztecs, 49-7, to capture Friday’s Warrior Bowl rivalry game and, in the process, sole possession of this year’s Metro-Pacific League championship.
The Trojans also secured a berth in the San Diego Section Division IV championship playoffs by virtue of their league title and look to continue their season as the No. 4 seed in the division.
It was the first league title for Castle Park since 2008.
The Trojans will host the winner of next Friday’s opening round elimination game between fifth-seeded University City (6-4) and 12th-seeded Calexico (2-8) in next Friday’s division quarterfinals.
“We’re league champs and we can savor that for a while but it’s a new season for us now,” CPHS head coach Hans Graham said.
The mood was understandably upbeat among the victorious Trojans, whose players kissed the game trophy and lofted it high in the air in celebration.
Castle Park (7-3 on the season, 3-0 in league) was dominant from the opening whistle. After forcing the Aztecs (3-7, 2-1) to punt on their first possession, the Trojans ran just three plays before scoring their first touchdown. Luc Barcoo broke off a 55-yard run, Elijza Johnson moved the ball ahead on a short rushing gain before quarterback Jordan Danielson hit receiver Adrian Tolbert on a 27-yard scoring pass with 7:13 left in the opening quarter.
The point-after conversion failed, but the Trojans led 6-0.
The hosts reeled off two defensive scores to hike their lead to 21-0 by the end of the first quarter.
Angelo Trujillo scored on a 45-yard fumble return while Marvin Cirignano returned an intercepted pass 55 yards for a touchdown.
The Castle Park lead would grow to 35-0 at halftime on two touchdowns by Mylik Steen. The versatile Steen scored on a 50-yard run and then returned a fumble 70 yards for a score.
The Trojans would lead 42-0 when Tolbert caught a 62-yard touchdown pass from Danielson.
Montgomery averted the shutout loss on a one-yard score by quarterback Anthony Parra with 30 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Daniel Arana scored the game’s final touchdown with 1:38 remaining on a 21-yard run. Johnson set up Castle Park’s seventh touchdown of the game on a strip return.
San Ysidro defeated visiting Southwest, 46-14, last Friday to finish regular season play 1-2 in league, 3-7 overall. Southwest finished 0-3 in league, 1-9 on the season.
The Trojans were the only team from the Metro-Pacific League to qualify for the playoffs.
Stat attack
Danielson completed two of three passing attempts for 109 yards and two touchdowns in the Warrior Bowl. He has now thrown for 1,391 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season.
Steen had two carries for 86 yards to give him 441 rushing yards on the season while Tolbert now has 28 catches for 738 yards and seven touchdowns.
Titans top Mustangs 35-21; earn No. 5 Open Division playoff seed
Eastlake’s Michael Kohler returned an intercepted pass 26 yards for a touchdown in the final minute of play to add an exclamation point to the Titans’ 35-21 Metro-Mesa League victory against visiting Otay Ranch on Friday.
The win nailed down a berth in this year’s Open Division playoffs for Eastlake as the No. 5 seed while Otay Ranch received the No. 10 seed in the Division II playoffs.
Eastlake (7-3, 4-0 in league play) will kick off the Open Division playoffs at No. 4 seed Mission Hills (6-2) on Friday, Nov. 21, while Otay Ranch (5-5, 1-3 in league play) will play at No. 7 seed Lincoln (5-5), next Friday. Both games feature a 7 p.m. start time.
EHS head coach Lee Price termed the gridiron battle against the Mustangs “a hard fought game.”
“The coaches at Otay know our team very well and are great at what they do,” Price said. “We pulled it out and are thrilled to be the Metro-Mesa League champs. Now, we put all our efforts and time into beating an extremely talented Mission Hills team.
“We will have our work cut out for us. The entire Open Division is brutal and the winner will truly be the best team in the county.”
Eastlake, which repeated as Metro-Mesa League champions, had its hands full with Otay Ranch. The Titans led, 14-7, at halftime in the match-up of budding east side rivals. However, the game was tied twice in the second half: 14-14 and 21-21.
Oscar Limon tossed a 13-yard scoring pass to Adrian Rodriguez to knot the teams up 21-all. It was the second TD of the night from Limon to Rodriguez, the Mustangs’ danger man with 788 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on the season.
Isaiah Strayhorn scored three touchdowns to lead the Titans, who broke the 21-21 standoff with the final two touchdowns of the game. Izzack Morales rushed one yard for a score to put the hosts ahead 28-21 before Kohler’s game-sealing pick six.
Jensen Peterson scored on a one-yard run to tie the game, 7-all, for Otay Ranch in the first quarter.
The Otay Ranch-Lincoln winner advances to meet second-seeded San Marcos (9-1) in the division quarterfinals.
Oceanside (10-0) received the No. 1 seed in the Open Division while El Capitan (10-0) received the No. 1 seed in Division II.
Strayhorn has rushed for 1,445 yards and scored 13 touchdowns to lead Eastlake, which is averaging 290 rushing yards per game. Nate Sweat tops the Titans defensively with 19 sacks while Josh Olave has snagged four interceptions. As a team, Eastlake has collected 45 sacks, 14 picks and 10 fumble recoveries.
Playoff-bound
Bonita Vista secured second place in the Metro-Mesa League standings after posting a 40-0 shutout win over Olympian in a game played Friday at Southwestern College.
Chris Boguille scored two rushing touchdowns (32 and two yards), Atoa Fox returned a punt 56 yards for a touchdown, Chris Powell returned a fumble seven yards for a touchdown, Barrington Miller rushed for a 58-yard score and Anthony Posada threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jake Rozar to lead the Barons on the scoreboard.
The Barons finished regular season play 5-5, 3-1 in league, while Olympian dropped to 4-6, 2-2 in league.
Bonita Vista received the No. 6 seed in the Division III field and will play No. 11 Morse (4-6) next Friday at Southwestern College. The winner advances to meet No. 3 seed Sweetwater (10-0) the following week in the division quarterfinals.
Olympian received the No. 11 seed in the Division I field and opens this year’s playoffs with a road match-up next Friday at No. 6 seed Vista (5-5). The winner advances to meet No. 3 seed St. Augustine (5-5) in the quarterfinals.
La Costa Canyon (5-5) received the No. 1 seed in Division I.
Individual leaders
On the season, BV’s Posada has passed for 1,291 yards and 10 touchdowns while Boguille has rushed for 470 yards and four scores. Bouguille leads the Barons with 810 all-purpose yards.
Olympian quarterback Gary Cannon has thrown for 743 yards on the season with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s also rushed for 704 yards and four TDs. Also for Olympian, Ed Galloway has rushed for 554 yards and Noah Lacsina has rushed for 523 yards to buttress the Eagles’ rushing attack. Galloway also has 313 receiving yards and leads the team with six touchdowns, including four receiving scores.
Red Devils (10-0) reign in Metro-South Bay League
The Sweetwater Red Devils concluded a perfect 10-0 regular season campaign after downing host Mater Dei Catholic, 23-7, on Friday to lay claim to undisputed rights to this year’s league championship. It is the second league championship in as many years for the Devils, won last year’s Metro-Pacific League title before moving to the Metro-South Bay League this season.
Raven Middleton scored all three SuHi touchdowns — all in the second quarter as the visitors took a 21-0 halftime lead.
Middleton scored on runs of four, one and 38 yards. Sweetwater tacked on a two-point safety in the fourth quarter.
Mater Dei Catholic, which avoided being shut out on a 35-yard pass reception by Kyle Moses, finished regular season play 2-1 in league, 5-5 overall.
Sweetwater received the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Division III playoffs while Mater Dei Catholic received the No. 2 seed in Division IV. Both teams received byes to the quarterfinals on Nov. 21.
The Devils will host the winner of Friday’s opening-round game pitting No. 6 seed Bonita Vista (5-5) and No. 11 seed Morse (4-6) while the Crusaders will host either No. 7 seed Clairemont (4-6) or No. 10 seed Southwest El Centro (4-6).
“We are excited to receive the two seed in Division IV,” MDCHS coach John Joyner said. “We played a tough schedule and are playing well heading into the playoffs. Division IV is going to be very competitive and we are excited to have a bye and a home game to start off.”
Sweetwater finished with two 1,000-yard rushers this year: Middleton (1,006 yards, 17 rushing TDs) and Antonio Garcia (1,154 yards, nine rushing TDs).
Out of the running
Mar Vista closed out regular season play with a 28-7 victory at Hilltop to raise its record to 6-4 but surprisingly did not earn a Division III playoff berth.
Khalil Spruill (18 carries, 103 yards) scored on a six-yard run and a two-yard run to push the Mariners up 14-0 in the game. Hilltop narrowed the score to 14-7 on a 17-yard touchdown run by Angel Pineda. But the visitors struck back with a 40-yard fourth quarter touchdown from Ben Munoz (185 passing yards) to Nijal Collins (five catches, 122 yards) to secure the win. Spruill had three TDs in the win.
Hilltop finished the season 0-3 in league play, 2-8 overall, while dropping its last five games of the season.
Mariners miss playoff cut despite posting 6-4 record
San Diego Section Commissioner Jerry Schniepp acknowledged there were still a few bugs in the section’s new football playoff format last year, and expected improvement this season.
The system still isn’t perfected yet.
While 64 high school football teams earned the right to compete in this year’s post-season field across six playoff divisions, one team is noticeably absent: the Mar Vista Mariners.
The Mariners finished 6-4 this fall. In virtually every other year, that record would have made Mar Vista one of the higher-seeded teams in its division.
But the Mariners’ present this season is watching the CIF playoffs from the sideline.
“The new system isn’t perfect as it is made by humans, and we are far from perfect,” MVHS head coach Tyler Arciaga said. “I believe we are the only team with a .500 record or better that did not make it in the playoffs.
“Our schedule was not as difficult as some other teams, but keep in mind that we graduated 30 guys from last year’s team that had three scholarship players and only returned eight kids. Our JV was not that strong last season, so we depended on a lot of unproven guys to step up this year.
“It was disappointing to hear the news that we did not make the playoffs, but I feel that our team had started to gel and got better the last couple of games. I think the prospects look bright for Mar Vista, but the Metro-South Bay League will always be competitive as long as Sweetwater, Mater Dei and Hilltop remain.
Arciaga said one thing he feels the section playoff selection committee needs to take into consideration is the weighting of forfeits. Mar Vista received one forfeit win from Southwest this season.
“With safety and coaching liability becoming more of an issue, teams without a lot of depth may take that route as some teams have this season,” said Arciaga, who noted that Francis Parker ceded a forfeit win to Morse this season when excessive injuries depleted the Lancers’ roster.
“With Parker being a .500 team in Division III, that forfeit win for Morse carries the same amount of power ranking points as beating a Division I team like Valhalla or Olympian and it was their biggest gainer for power points along with their win against Patrick Henry.
“I just think some thought needs to be placed in the value of a forfeit win — maybe take that game out of the equation so you take your power-point average out of nine games and just use the forfeit win as a tiebreaker for the number of wins.”
Patrick Henry (5-5) received the No. 12 seed in this year’s Division III field while Morse (4-6) received the No. 11 seed.
Metro Conference Football Standings
Metro-Mesa League
(Final Regular Season)
•Eastlake Titans 4-0, 7-3
•Bonita Vista Barons 3-1, 5-5
•Olympian Eagles 2-2, 4-6
•Otay Ranch Mustangs 1-3, 5-5
•Chula Vista Spartans 0-4, 2-8
Metro-South Bay League
•Sweetwater Red Devils 3-0, 10-0
•Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders 2-1, 5-5
•Mar Vista Mariners 1-2, 6-4
•Hilltop Lancers 0-3, 2-8
Metro-Pacific League
•Castle Park Trojans 3-0, 7-3
•Montgomery Aztecs 2-1, 3-7
•San Ysidro Cougars 1-2, 3-7
•Southwest Raiders 0-3, 1-9
San Diego Section
Ten-and-Oh Club
•Oceanside Pirates 10-0 (Open Division)
•El Capitan Vaqueros 10-0 (Division II)
•Christian Patriots 10-0 (Division III)
•Sweetwater Red Devils 10-0 (Division III)
•Bishop’s Knights 10-0 (Division IV)
8-Man Championship
Southern Conference
Friday, Nov. 7
Borrego Springs 46, Ocean View Christian Academy 21
Note: Borrego Springs finishes 10-0; Ocean View Christian Academy finishes 6-3
