League play has finally arrived in the Metro-Mesa League and Metro-South Bay League, with three games reserved at the end of the season for member teams to determine a league champion and automatic qualifier for the upcoming San Diego Section divisional playoffs.
While there were no huge upsets, there was plenty of adrenaline flowing on the gridiron as teams battled to get that first league victory under their cleats.
The Montgomery Aztecs defeated the host Olympian Eagles, 22-0, on Oct. 13 in a Thursday night game to get the jump on the action. The Hilltop Lancers topped the host Sweetwater Red Devils, 31-6, the following night to join the Aztecs atop the Metro-South Bay League standings.
“Great team win,” Montgomery coach Freddy Dunkle underscored. “Offense, special teams and defense had a huge impact on the game. Players did a good job of stepping up.”
Outstanding performances for Montgomery (6-2 overall, 1-0 in league) in the win over the Eagles (3-5, 0-1) included senior quarterback Ignacio Mondragon, who passed for 76 yards with one touchdown and rushed for 46 yards and a touchdown, and senior receiver Jordan Benton, who had one catch for 46 yards and had a game-breaking punt return of 72 yards for a touchdown.
Senior Isaac Cervantes rushed 15 times for 83 yards.
Junior Aereck Brown had two catches for 36 yards, including a touchdown.
Leading the Montgomery defense were senior middle linebacker Gideon Baraka and defensive end Arath Leyva with six tackles apiece. Sophomore Raul Moreno had one interception.
The Eagles were limited to just 16 yards on the ground while sophomore Kristian Noriega passed for 195 yards with one interception.
Freshman Isaac Espinosa rushed 11 times for 14 yards.
Senior Javon Jordan had five catches for 75 yards while junior Jake Marcial had four catches for 63 yards.
Junior Ceejay Clavier had eight tackles, including two for a loss. Junior Christian Sevilla and senior Nathan Susana both recorded one sack. Sophomore Josue Vargas had one fumble recovery.
Senior Jorge Trejo average 35.6 yards on five punts, including a 45-yarder.
“Hats off to Montgomery, they have a tough front seven and made things difficult for us on offense most of the night,” Olympian coach Jimmy Clark III said. “I was proud of our defense. They fight; they showed outside of two explosive plays that they played a great game.”
The Aztecs host Sweetwater (3-5, 0-1) this Friday in a bid to go 2-0 in league play and clinch no worse than a co-championship.
The Eagles will be looking to get into the win column by hosting Hilltop on Friday.
“Going forward our focus is on finishing the season strong,” Clark said. “While we have improved from last year, we are nowhere near where we want to be. We will take it one week at a time starting with Hilltop and look to have a strong performance on our Senior Night. The playoffs are still a possibility, but we have to do our job and that’s win football games.”
Hilltop 31, SuHi 6
The visiting Lancers struck first on a 31-yard field goal by senior Sal Vidrios with 1:19 remaining in the first quarter for a 3-0 lead. But the hosts responded on their next possession with a 71-yard breakaway scoring run by junior Xzavier Crews to push the Red Devils ahead, 6-3, following a missed two-point conversion try.
Hilltop would do the rest of the scoring in the game.
Senior quarterback Jorge Garcia scored on a seven-yard run with 8:07 left in the second quarter as the Lancers regained the lead at 10-6.
The game turned in Hilltop’s favor when the Lancers recovered the ball on a bad snap on a punt at the Sweetwater 18-yard line. Garcia passed to junior Nick Moore to the two-yard line and senior Tyeron Washington finished the rest on a scoring run to launch the visitors to a 17-6 advantage on the scoreboard.
Garcia completed a 33-yard pass to junior Isaac Meza to set up a 10-yard touchdown catch by Washington to extend the lead to 24-6 with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter.
Hilltop closed out scoring on a 65-yard pass from Garcia to senior Angelo Zapata in the fourth quarter. Garcia had initially drifted to the home sideline but stopped and threw the ball across the field to Zapata, who got past two defenders on the visitors sideline for the breakaway score.
“It was a trick play,” Zapata admitted. “I had to get by a couple guys and, when I did, I knew I was going all the way.”
Garcia led the victors with 241 yards in total offense – 196 passing (with one touchdown) and 45 rushing (with one touchdown).
Washington had seven carries for 29 yards, one catch for 10 yards and four tackles on defense.
Meza had five catches for 79 yards while junior Adrian Mendez logged 14 tackles, including 11 unassisted tackles.
Junior Izell Wright had two sacks for Sweetwater, which lost its third consecutive game.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Lancers following losses to Escondido (38-17 on Sept. 23) and Mater Dei Catholic (51-0 on Oct. 7).
Hilltop coach Bryan Wagner called last Friday’s victory the “most complete win” by his team so far this season.
“It showed on the scoreboard …It was a whole team effort — offense, defense and special teams. That’s what it takes to win.”
The Lancers moved up to No. 9 in the section rankings while the Devils dropped to No. 14. But Wagner said he isn’t placing an emphasis on playoff qualifying just yet.
“We’re trying to continue to focus on one game at a time,” he said. “Our goal is to win one game we play each week. If we do that, we’ll be league champions. CIF is not a focus right now.”
“It’s been a challenging year and we need to do better as a staff and team,” SuHi head coach Ervin Hernandez said. “We are going to continue to compete in practice and focus on winning the day. We have a tough opponent this week and we need to be ready to compete and play all four quarters.”
Titans keep boot trophy, extend modest win streak
The Eastlake Titans are guaranteed a Division I playoff berth. The seeding didn’t look too promising with a 0-6 start but the Titans are looking to improve on that with a late rush.
Eastlake picked up its second consecutive win — first in Metro-Mesa League play — with a 28-0 verdict over the visiting Bonita Vista Barons in last Friday’s annual “Battle for the Boot” rivalry game.
The Titans retain control of the trophy for another year. The last time the Barons won it was in 2015.
Bonita Vista head coach Tyler Arciaga has an interesting perspective on the game as both a player and coach for the Barons.
“As a Baron alum, I’ve played in three of the games that were all highly contested and well attended,” he said. “These games always contain a lot of emotion for both sides and it’s important to both schools.”
Eastlake scored four rushing touchdowns in the game, including two by sophomore William Schmitz (nine carries, 118 yards) and singletons by junior Fabian Gerbella (two carries, 26 yards) and sophomore Kingston Schaaf (three carries, 19 yards).
The Titans outgained visiting Bonita Vista 369-195 in offensive yards.
Gerbella paced the Eastlake defense with 13 tackles, including 10 first hits, while senior A.J. Rodriguez had one sack. Senior Sebastian Osorio and senior Sebastian Lopez-Rodriguez each had one interception.
Junior Marco Gonzalez was successful on all four extra-point conversions.
Bonita Vista dropped to 2-6 overall, 0-1 in league play. The Barons’ playoff fortunes are less clear with a No. 16 ranking out of 17 teams in the division. Only 12 teams qualify.
Senior Juan Gomez passed for 82 yards with two interceptions while junior Caden Ada-Tannehill rushed 15 times for 84 yards to highlight the Baron offensive production. Senior Dante Scott had three catches for 40 yards.
Gomez led the team with 101 total yards by tacking on 19 rushing yards.
“The kids fought hard and battled the entire game,” Arciaga said. “Our defense did a nice job keeping us in the game until the fourth quarter. We just had too many errors during our offensive drives that prevented us from sustaining drives. We had a player carted off the field in an ambulance and both teams and fans were very respectful, and it puts everything into prospective.”
The Metro-Mesa League rates at the top of the Metro Conference’s three league alignment, and it certainly doesn’t get any easier each week.
Bonita Vista faces defending state champion Mater Dei Catholic this Friday with the Crusaders on a late season roll of their own with four consecutive shutout victories, including last Friday’s 47-0 victory against visiting Otay Ranch.
“We are up against a really good Mater Dei team,” Arciaga said. “They played one of the toughest schedules in San Diego and they have quite a few players committed to Division I schools. I think it’s important for our kids to embrace the underdog role and challenge themselves as they go up against one of the better teams in San Diego.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Eastlake, which was scheduled to play at Otay Ranch on Thursday.
In regular season finales, Eastlake hosts Mater Dei Catholic on Oct. 27 while Bonita Vista hosts Otay Ranch on Oct. 28.
Monsters of the Metro
The host Crusaders (1-0 in league, 4-4 overall) scored seven touchdowns, including three touchdown passes and one rushing touchdown from senior quarterback Dominic Nankil.
Nankil completed scoring passes to senior Rollin George (20 yards), senior Jerry McClure (80 yards) and senior Surahz Buncom (eight yards).
The hosts scored 20 points in each of the opening two quarters to lead 40-0 at halftime.
Mater Dei Catholic scored two rushing touchdowns — a 24-yard run by junior Anthony McMillian Jr. and a five-yard run by Nankil — while adding a 69-yard punt return by senior D.J. Overstreet and a 63-yard interception return by senior Anthony Lopez.
The Crusaders have outscored their last four opponents 177-0.
The Mustangs, who had their three-game winning streak snapped, had to chance to avert a shutout but missed a 34-yard field goal attempt late in the first half.
Trojans blank Cougars, 28-0, tie for Metro-Pacific lead
The Metro-Pacific League’s top spot appears to be getting a little crowded after the Castle Park Trojans defeated the San Ysidro Cougars, 28-0, on Oct. 13 in a Thursday night clash to pull alongside the Chula Vista Spartans in first place with 2-0 league records.
The Trojans scored three rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown to drop the Cougars to 1-2 in league play, 3-6 overall.
Castle Park dominated with 450 total offensive yards, including 380 rushing yards, compared to 136 total yards for San Ysidro.
“It was a full team effort, it was a game of will,” CPHS head coach Paco Silva said. “The boys played hard, started hard and finished. We’re getting better. We are having great practices, have a great staff — believe or beware.”
Senior Jeremiah Simler rushed for 130 yards on 14 carries and scored one touchdown while senior Jalen Hopkins had 10 carries for 78 yards and one touchdown.
Sophomore quarterback Dylan Villarreal passed for 70 yards (and a touchdown to senior Isaack Lucero) while rushing for 16 yards with one touchdown.
Sophomore Ladell Hampton led all CP rushers with 151 yards on 16 carries. Hopkins also had two catches for 35 yards.
Junior Johnny Castro keyed San Ysidro with 86 rushing yards.
The Trojans host Mar Vista (1-1 in league, 3-5 overall) on Friday. The Mariners defeated neighborhood rival Southwest, 43-0, last Friday behind 374 passing yards and five touchdowns from senior Aleks Wojcik, including three scoring passes to junior Elijah Clark (five catches, 243 yards).
The Mar Vista defense registered eight sacks to lay claim to the bell rivalry trophy.
San Diego Section Football Rankings
Through Games of Oct. 13-14
Division I
1. Carlsbad (7-1), 2. Madison (8-0), 3. Mission Hills (5-3), 4. Lincoln (8-1), 5. Poway (8-0), 6. El Camino (6-2), 7. Cathedral Catholic (3-5), 8. La Costa Canyon (5-3), 9. Helix Charter (6-2), 10. Mater Dei Catholic (4-4), 11. Torrey Pines (2-6), 12. St. Augustine (3-5), 13. Eastlake (2-6), 14. Rancho Bernardo (4-4), 15. Steele Canyon (1-7), 16. Scripps Ranch (2-6)
Division II
1. Granite Hills (6-2), 2. Mira Mesa (5-3), 3. Ramona (4-4), 4. San Marcos (4-4), 5. La Jolla (5-3), 6. Central Union (4-3), 7. Brawley (6-2), 8. Christian (4-4), 9. Valley Center (3-5), 10. Mt. Carmel (5-3), 11. Santa Fe Christian (7-1), 12. Otay Ranch (3-4), 13. Grossmont (0-8), 14. Oceanside (0-8), 15. San Diego (4-5), 16. Vista (0-8)
Division III
1. University City (6-2), 2. Del Norte (4-3), 3. Point Loma (6-2), 4. Imperial (6-2), 5. Bishop’s (6-2), 6. Rancho Buena Vista (5-3), 7. San Pasqual (5-3), 8. West Hills (6-2), 9. Morse (5-3), 10. El Capitan (6-2), 11. Patrick Henry (2-5), 12. Santana (3-5), 13. Escondido (3-6), 14. Canyon Hills (1-6), 15. Olympian (3-5), 16. Bonita Vista (2-6), 17. Orange Glen (0-8)
Division IV
1. Fallbrook (6-2), 2. La Jolla Country Day (6-2), 3. Palo Verde Valley (7-1), 4. Montgomery (6-2), 5. Mission Bay (6-2), 6. Calexico (6-2), 7. Coronado (5-3), 8. Francis Parker (4-4), 9. Hilltop (4-4), 10. Westview (1-7), 11. Holtville (3-5), 12. Mt. Miguel (3-6), 13. Chula Vista (4-4), 14. Sweetwater (3-5), 15. Kearny (4-4), 16. Valhalla (0-8), 17. Monte Vista (1-7)
Division V
1. Crawford (7-1), 2. Escondido Charter (6-2), 3. Classical Academy (6-2), 4. Army-Navy Academy (7-1), 5. El Cajon Valley (4-5), 6. Vincent Memorial (5-2), 7. Castle Park (3-4), 8. Mar Vista (3-5), 9. Southwest El Centro (1-7), 10. Mountain Empire (2-6), 11. San Ysidro (3-6), 12. Clairemont (3-6), 13. Hoover (4-4), 14. Maranatha Christian (3-5), 15. O’Farrell Charter (0-8), 16. Southwest San Diego (4-5), 17. Tri-City Christian (1-8), 18. Calipatria (0-7)
8-Man
1. St. Joseph Academy (6-1), 2. Victory Christian Academy (7-0), 3. Rock Academy (6-1), 4. San Pasqual Academy (3-2), 5. Coastal Academy (7-1), 6. San Diego Jewish Academy (3-2), 7. Foothills Christian (7-2), 8. Horizon Prep (3-4), 9. Calvin Christian (2-5), 10. Borrego Springs (4-3), 11. Julian (1-4), 12. Warner (2-4), 13. Ocean View Christian Academy (0-5), 14. West Shores (0-3)
Top 25 Teams
(MaxPreps through Oct. 16)
1. Carlsbad (7-1), 2. Lincoln (8-1), 3. Madison (8-0), 4. Cathedral Catholic (3-5), 5. Poway (8-0), 6. Helix (6-2), 7. El Camino (6-2), 8. Granite Hills (6-2), 9. Mater Dei Catholic (4-4), 10. La Costa Canyon (5-3), 11. Mission Hills (5-3), 12. Point Loma (6-2), 13. Mira Mesa (5-3), 14. University City (6-2), 15. Torrey Pines (2-6), 16. San Marcos (4-4), 17. St. Augustine (3-5), 18. Ramona (4-4), 19. Fallbrook (6-2), 20. Central Union (4-3), 21. Del Norte (5-3), 22. Bishop’s (6-2), 23. Palo Verde Valley (8-1), 24. Christian (4-4), 25. Santa Fe Christian (7-1)
Division I: 1. Carlsbad (7-1), 2. Lincoln (8-1), 3. Madison (8-0), 4. Cathedral Catholic (3-5), 5. Poway (8-0), 6. Helix Charter (6-2), 7. El Camino (6-2), 8. Mater Dei Catholic (4-4), 9. La Costa Canyon (5-3), 10. Mission Hills (5-3)
Division II: 1. Granite Hills (6-2), 2. Mira Mesa (5-3), 3. San Marcos (4-4), 4. Ramona (4-4), 5. Central Union (4-3), 6. Christian (4-4), 7. Santa Fe Christian (7-1), 8. Brawley (6-2), 9. Mt. Carmel (5-3), 10. Otay Ranch (3-4)
Division III: 1. Point Loma (6-2), 2. University City (6-2), 3. Del Norte (5-3), 4. Bishop’s (6-2), 5. San Pasqual (5-3), 6. Imperial (6-2), 7. Rancho Buena Vista (5-3), 8. Morse (5-3), 9. El Capitan (6-2), 10. West Hills (6-2), 11. Patrick Henry (2-5), 12. Santana (3-5), 13. Escondido (3-6), 14. Olympian (3-5), 15. Canyon Hills (1-6), 16. Bonita Vista (2-6), 17. Orange Glen (0-8)
Division IV: 1. Fallbrook (6-2), 2. Palo Verd Valley (8-1), 3. Montgomery (6-2), 4. Mission Bay (6-2), 5. Calexico (6-2), 6. La Jolla Country Day (5-2), 7. Coronado (5-3), 8. Francis Parker 4-4, 9. Mt. Miguel (3-6), 10. Hilltop (4-4), 11. Chula Vista (4-4), 12. Westview (1-7), 13. Holtville (3-5), 14. Sweetwater (3-5), 15. Kearny (4-4), 16. Valhalla (0-8), 17. Monte Vista (1-7)
Division V: 1. Escondido Charter (6-2), 2. Crawford (7-1), 3. Vincent Memorial (5-2), 4. Classical Academy (6-2), 5. Army-Navy Academy (7-1), 6. El Cajon Valley (4-5), 7. Castle Park (3-4), 8. Mar Vista (3-5), 9. Hoover (4-4), 10. San Ysidro (3-6), 11. Southwest El Centro (1-7), 12. Mountain Empire (2-5), 13. Clairemont (3-6), 14. Southwest San Diego (4-5), 15. Maranatha Christian (3-5), 16. Tri-City Christian (1-8), 17. Calipatria (0-7)
