Victory Christian Academy boys basketball coach and athletic director Jonathan Ramirez summed up the Knights’ Division III San Diego Section championship season in one self-explanatory sentence.
“It’s been one heck of a year,” he said.
Victory Christian, the newest member of the Metro-South Bay League, earned the No. 1 seed in the Division III playoffs and ran the table with four consecutive wins to hang another CIF championship banner on the school’s gymnasium wall to join the girls volleyball and football teams.
It started with an 82-54 win over 16th-seeded Fallbrook in the opening round on Feb. 14 and continued with an 84-53 win over eighth-seeded Mission Vista in the quarterfinals on Feb. 17 and an 82-46 win over fourth-seeded Rancho Buena Vista in the semifinals on Feb. 21.
The Knights (25-8, 10-2 in league play) toppled third-seeded Ramona, 72-67, in the division championship game Feb. 23 at Mira Mesa High School.
“Their hard work, their dedication, their devotion to each other was incredible to witness as a coach. I don’t see many teams waking up for 6 a.m. practices in high school basketball.”
Freshman Jayden Gray keyed VCA with 27 points in the championship game while junior Derek Edmond dropped in 23 points. Freshman Isaiah Owens had 10 points and seven rebounds. Senior Quinton Richardson tacked on six points, four assists and three steals.
The South Bay League champions bolted out to a 31-14 first quarter lead and forced the Bulldogs (22-10) to play catch-up, which they did with a passion in the second half with a 44-37 scoring edge.
“It was a challenge to compete for both a South Bay League title and CIF Division III title being a school of 150 students,” Ramirez said. “We had the David versus Goliath mentality to face every giant and get the job done.
“The CIF Division III championship game was a tough and great test. Ramona High school is extremely well coached, talented it was a tough game that we were fortunate to win. It was a test that we needed to face to take the journey to the state tournament.”
The Knights continued their season of excellence as the No. 6 seed in the Southern California state regional playoffs with a first-round meeting against 11th-seeded Long Beach Wilson Tuesday night. Victory Christian continued its journey with a 71-64 win over the visiting Bruins to advance to Thursday’s game at third-seeded St. Bonaventure (24-9).
Gray led the Knights with 24 points while Edmond had 21 points and eight rebounds.
“Victory Christian Academy has worked hard in all facets of our program to shoot for excellence,” VCA executive director Scott R. Dufresne said. “Athletics is certainly an important program and it has grown its wings over time in achieving success. This championship is just one more way of letting our community know Victory Christian is here to stay.
“Great coaching, teaching and mentorship is key in growing all of our programs for success now and in the future.”
Mater Dei Catholic boys and girls, Montgomery engineer lofty CIF finishes
The Metro Conference was loaded with an array of good basketball teams this season, both on the boys and girls side.
And they certainly made an impact as both Mater Dei Catholic and Montgomery high schools landed both gender teams in the playoffs.
The Mater Dei Catholic boys team (21-9 overall, 8-4 in Mesa League) earned the No. 8 seed in the Open Division playoffs, dropping an 88-62 quarterfinal game to top-seeded St. Augustine, but still had its season continue in the state regional playoffs.
Top scorers on the season included senior Kristian Gonzalez (20.4 points per game) and junior Josiah Jefferson (12.6 ppg), junior Sebastin Wiles (9.3 ppg) and sophomore Mayseo Elliott (8.4 ppg).
Gonzalez poured in 25 points in the Open Division loss to the Saints.
The Lady Crusaders (21-10 overall, 5-3 in Mesa League) did even better by winning the Division I girls championship as the No. 1 seed in their bracket with a 58-43 victory against second-seeded Imperial Friday at St. Augustine High School.
Three players scored in double figures in the title game for the winners: seniors Sonangelei Akridge (18 points), Kaylee Muckerman (13 points) and Elissa St. Julien (12 points).
Senior Kailani Gary had 11 rebounds while St. Julien had 10 rebounds in helping lead the defensive effort.
The Lady Crusaders made a statement with a 63-31 semifinal win over fifth-seeded Cathedral Catholic on Feb. 21. Akridge totaled 18 points in the game while Gary had 15 rebounds.
Mater Dei Catholic tipped off the playoff with a 56-27 victory against eight-seeded San Marcos on Feb. 18. Akridge poured in 20 points while Gary pulled down 12 rebounds.
Akridge averaged 20.3 points per game on the season while Gary averaged 10.1 rebounds per game
“Both teams have overcome adversity this year to prove they are each top programs in the county,” Mater Dei Catholic athletic director Jared Izidoro said. “It all starts with coaching and both staffs have done a phenomenal job at getting their teams to buy in and maximize their effort each night.”
Aztec territory
Montgomery entered its Mesa League championship boys team as the No. 3 seed in the Open Division playoffs.
The Aztecs (25-7 overall, 11-1 in league play) shaded sixth-seeded Santa Fe Christian (24-6) in the opening quarterfinals on Feb. 17 before engaging second-seeded Carlsbad (24-7) in the semifinals on Feb. 22.
The Otay Mesa squad defeated both North County teams — 69-60 over SFC and 56-48 over Carlsbad.
The Aztecs showed they could kick it into high gear in the scoring column as well as slow it down defensively when needed, as against Carlsbad.
But they were in for a different animal in tangling with the Saints, the highest-seeded section team in the SoCal regionals and the first San Diego team to win back-to-back Open Division championships.
Montgomery led 3-0 briefly in Saturday’s championship game at Cathedral Catholic High School before St. Augustine (27-4, 10-0 in City Western League) put on runs of 9-0 and 11-0 to lead by 17 points at halftime. The Saints were equally strong on the defensive boards with a 39-17 edge in rebounding.
The Mesa League landed three teams in this year’s Open Division playoffs with the league runner-up San Ysidro Cougars (18-13, 10-2 in Mesa League) earning the No. 4 seed.
Open Division champion St. Augustine eliminated all three Metro Conference qualifiers in order: Mater Dei Catholic in the quarterfinals, San Ysidro (83-67) in the semifinals and Montgomery in the championship game.
San Ysidro eliminated fifth-seeded La Costa Canyon (16-13) by a 79-73 score in the quarterfinals as senior Mikey Williams dumped in 20 points and senior J.J. Taylor tacked on 18 points.
“We’ve had good coaching for a while down here and now the talent is there,” Montgomery boys coach Ed Martin said. “There’s a lot of good players.”
That seems to be an understatement given this year’s runaway success.
Sophomore Xair Mendez led the Aztecs with 19 points in the section final while sophomore J.J. Sanchez added 15 points. Junior David Soto had 10 points.
Sanchez averaged 19.3 points per game on the season.
