The Olympian Eagles and Mar Vista Mariners secured their presence in this year’s San Diego Section playoffs by each wrapping up championship titles in their respective leagues in regular season finales last Friday.
Olympian (3-0 in league play, 9-1 overall) clubbed visiting Sweetwater, 52-7, to win the inaugural Metro-Pacific League title. Meanwhile, Mar Vista (3-0 in league play, 7-3 overall) zipped past visiting Southwest, 56-0, to not only capture the teams’ long-standing rivalry trophy — the bell — but also officially clinch the Metro-South Bay League championship.
The league title is the first for the Mariners since 1987 and the second consecutive for the Eagles after Olympian captured sole rights to last year’s South Bay League championship.
The Eagles received the No. 2 seed in the Division IV playoffs and have a bye to the quarterfinals on Nov. 26. Olympian will host the winner of Friday’s first round match-up between La Jolla (2-8) and Imperial Valley League co-champion Brawley (8-2).
Mar Vista, which earned the No. 7 seed in the Division III playoffs, will host Western League runner-up Point Loma (7-3) in a first round playoff game on Friday. Kick-off is 7 p.m.
Olympian 52, Sweetwater 7
The host Eagles rushed for 404 yards and quarterback Cobrin Humphrey tacked on 106 passing yards to nail down their eighth consecutive victory. Humphrey completed one touchdown pass — 15 yards to Steve Exum — and Olympian let their fleet feet do the rest of the talking in snapping an early 7-7 standoff with 45 unanswered points.
Rickey Standard rushed for 147 yards and scored on runs of 62 and 39 yards while Dre Gibson rushed for 138 yards and scored three TDs (nine, four and 13 yards). Akeem Foxworth also got in the scoring column on a 21-yard run while Jovan Gonzalez booted a 47-yard field goal.
Foxworth caught two passes for 55 yards and rushed four times for 34 yards. Defensively, Randy Jones had two picks while Devon Flores and Jacob Samuel each made on interception.
SuHi’s Adam Aguon passed for 252 yards in the loss.
Mar Vista 56, Southwest 0
Ruben Gonzales rushed for 192 yards on 14 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead the Mariners in their Battle for the Bell rivalry game. Gonzales ripped off one 65-yard scoring run and also scored on runs of two and 18 yards. Justin Peoples rushed for 170 yards and scored on runs of two and 35 yards while Demarcus Henderson added 112 rushing yards and two touchdowns (35 and 38 yards).
As a team, Mar Vista rushed for 550 yards and amassed 610 yards in total offense against the Raiders as quarterback Jordan Lertique completed his only pass of the game (to Gaston Garza) for 60 yards and also tacked on 58 rushing yards. Peoples and Justin Hays each had one sack while Max Uribe made one interception.
Hilltop 43, San Ysidro 36
The host Lancers secured the final Division II playoff berth in a must-win victory over the Cougars in the Metro-South Bay League finale for both teams. Hilltop (2-1 in league play, 5-5 overall) received 226 passing yards and 81 rushing yards from quarterback Omar Hernandez and 200 rushing yards on 21 carries by Trey Ventura, who scored twice. Mark McGuire had five catches for 112 yards and three touchdowns.
Leonel Anguiano and Hernandez each made an interception as the Lancers finished in sole possession of second place in the league standings.
San Ysidro’s David Vega passed for 370 yards and four touchdowns in the loss. Chandler Tarrant had 13 catches for 275 yards and three TDs for the Cougars (0-3, 1-9).
