The Hilltop High School football team displayed some real resilience in going the other way after falling behind the visiting Valhalla Norsemen in last Friday’s season opener for both teams.

In fact, it was Valhalla that went the other way first in taking a startling 7-0 lead when it appeared the host team was driving for the game’s first touchdown.

But as Lancer quarterback Jorge Garcia went to the turf, the ball was ruled to have come loose from his grasp and junior Trevor Dawood from the Norsemen picked up the ball and went 70 yards untouched into the end zone.

Luckily for Hilltop, the team’s defense was up to the task in holding Valhalla to one offensive touchdown the rest of the night while the team’s offense produced four offensive scores of its own to eventually pull away.

“We won the first game — it’s been a while since we’ve done that,” Lancer head coach Bryan Wagner said. “It wasn’t one person; the whole team did it. We still won the game with three turnovers. Not many teams can do that.”

A 39-yard completion from Garcia to junior Isaac Meza helped set up Hilltop’s first touchdown of the game to tie the score, 7-7, as senior Subastian Calara scored on a seven-yard run with 50 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Garcia scored on a short keeper to put the hosts ahead, 14-7, midway through the second quarter before Valhalla junior Dominic Silva tied the game, 14-14, on a rushing play 2:08 before halftime.

The Lancers did all the scoring after that.

Hilltop countered the Norsemen’s game-tying touchdown on a short scoring run by senior Tyeron Washington just 32 seconds before the break.

Garcia doubled the Lancer lead to 28-14 on another quarterback keeper in the fourth quarter.

Calara iced the victory with an interception with 16 seconds to play. “It was a great feeling, it was nice to win the opening game,” Calara said.

Garcia led the hosts with 201 total yards. He did most of the damage with his feet by rushing 16 times for 118 yards and two touchdowns while completing four of 11 passes for 83 yards.

He also punted once for 35 yards.

Washington had eight carries for 66 yards while Calara had 11 carries for 43 yards,

Meza caught all four of Garcia’s aerials.

Manny Pablos supplied the extra-point conversion on all four Hilltop touchdowns.

Not all was perfect. The Lancers fumbled three times, losing two. Pablos also missed a field goal attempt.

“It wasn’t as smooth as we wanted but we’ll take the opening win,” Garcia said.

The Lancers should face a tougher opponent this Friday as the El Capitan Vaqueros visit for a 7 p.m. non-league clash. The Vaqs opened their season last Friday with a 37-6 home win over Canyon Hills.

 

Crusaders fall, 28-14, to Dons in match-up of state champions, but season still has plenty of thrills left

Saturday’s sold-out match-up between defending 1-AA state champion Cathedral Catholic defending 2-AA state champion Mater Dei Catholic was obviously for the No. 1 ranking in the San Diego Section.

Friday’s game between the Carlsbad Lancers and host Mater Dei Catholic field appears to be for the No. 2 ranking this week in the wake on the Dons’ 28-14 non-league win over the Crusaders.

Mater Dei Catholic’s defense was stingy by holding Cathedral Catholic to 231 yards in total offense. But the Crusaders could not match up with the Dons in the physicality department, especially when 2021 CIF Defensive Player of the Year Tre Edwards had to leave the game with an injury with the hosts already missing running back Nico Mosley from an injury the previous week.

But head coach John Joyner’s team did not go down without a fight. Anthony McMillian tied the score, 7-7, on an eight-yard run early in the second quarter. Chris Snyder brought the hosts to within one touchdown at 21-14 when he scored on  an eight-yard run to start the fourth quarter.

The Dons added an insurance touchdown when Madden Faraimo intercepted a pass to set up Sean Kagen;s 11-yard run early in the final quarter.

Cathedral Catholic scored on a blocked punt late in the opening quarter with Taylor Diaz falling on the ball in the end zone.

Chula Vistan Marcus Ratcliffe upped the lead to 14-7 for the Dons when he caught a 38-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter.

Will Bond made the score 21-7 for the visitors on a seven-yard run midway through the third quarter.

Cathedral Catholic took over the section’s No. 1 ranking — dropping Mater Dei Catholic to No. 2 — with 164 rushing yards and 67 passing yards.

The Dons compensated defensively with 82 tackles, three sacks and two interceptions (both by Faraimo) and one fumble recovery.

 

San Diego Section Football Rankings

Top 10: 1. Cathedral Catholic, 2. Mater Dei Catholic, 3, Carlsbad, 4. Lincoln, 5. Helix, 6. Madison, 7. Mission Hills, 8. Poway, 9. Brawley, 10. Patrick Henry

 

Eagles score 21-0 shutout win in turnabout from 0-7 season

The outlook is definitely looking positive after the Olympian Eagles spread their wings and soared in last Friday’s 21-0 season opening win at Westview.

“The defense showed up in a big way for us keeping pressure on the Westview quarterback all night en route to a shutout,” head coach Jimmy Clark III said. “We had six quarterback sacks and one Interception.”

Luke Mena led the OHS defense with 15 tackles, including two tackles for a loss and two sacks while Jace Watson had six tackles (two for a loss) and three sacks. Ethan Roberts made the Interception.

As a team, the Eagles amassed 10 sacks by six players. Ethan Mallon added two sacks while senior Kapule Academia, junior Matthew Lattimer and Davian Brewer each recorded one sack. Brewer and Academia both caused one fumble.

Brandon Loe had four punts, averaging 37.3 yards with a long of 45 yards. He deposited two punts inside the Wolverines 20-yard line.

Offensively, sophomore Kristian Noriega threw for 144 yards with one touchdown and a two-point conversion.

Mallon had two rushing touchdowns and 76 yards in receiving/rushing yards while senior Gavin Dominguez had three receptions 47 yards and one touchdown. Mallon rushed 10 times for 40 yards and had one catch for 37 yards.

Josue Vargas rushed four times for 38 yards while Javon Jordan had three carries for 25 yards. Junior Shay Harrison had two catches for 25 yards.

Olympian returns to the road for Friday’s non-league game at San Pasqual High School. The Golden Eagles are also 1-0 while coming off a commanding 50-14 non-league victory against neighborhood rival Orange Glen.

Clark said the Eagles need to continue to play defense at a high level and clean-up the offensive penalties in order to keep improving.

 

Raiders pick up first varsity win in two seasons

The Southwest Raiders returned to the win column at the varsity level with a 20-18 non-league victory against visiting Tri-City Christian on Saturday. But it wasn’t without some late drama.

“We had to stop a two-point conversion at the end of the game to prevent a tie,” Southwest head coach Domonic Cruz said.

Sebastian Plascencia rushed 15 times for 100 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Raiders (1-0) while Rafael Teran added seven carries for 91 yards.

Southwest will next venture to Mountain Empire High School to take on the likewise undefeated Red Hawks (1-0) in another non-league game.

Mountain Empire held off host Hoover, 20-14, last Friday as junior quarterback Corey Vann threw three touchdowns passes — one each to senior David Lothspeich, senior Hunter Morgan and Peanut Lindholm. Lothspeich’s TD reception went for 53 yards as he repeatedly dodged defenders toward the goal line.

Both teams are vying for Division V playoff berths, so the game is doubly important. So far, seven teams in the division won their season openers last weekend.

“We need to figure out how to start playing for each other for us to be successful going forward,” Cruz said.

 

Kearny 35, San Ysidro 30
Sophomore quarterback Brodie Stump scored the game-winning touchdown on a six-yard run with just six seconds remaining in regulation play to leap past the host San Ysidro Cougars in last Friday’s non-league opener for both teams.

“It was one of those games that felt it was going to come down to execution in the last minutes, and it did,” San Ysidro head coach Keith Aguon said. “We felt confident with our defensive scheme, but their quarterback did a great job scrambling for yards.

“That was the difference in the end. We intercepted the ball four times and another on a conversion but again we couldn’t account for his scrambling ability.”

The Cougars (0-1) led 34-20 entering the final quarter of play before the Komets zipped ahead with a 15-6 scoring edge in the final frame.

Stump completed 25 of 33 passes for 312 yards with three touchdowns while rushing eight times for 81 yards to finish the game with 393 total yards.

Senior Isaiah Sutton led Kearny with 201 receiving yards.

San Ysidro senior quarterback Ja’Marcus Jiles rang up 261 yards in total offense with 208 passing yards and 53 rushing yards. Senior Angel “Cowboy” Garcia rushed 19 times for 161 yards with three touchdowns, including a 60-yard sprint, as the Cougars amassed 206 rushing yards and 414 total offensive yards in the game.

Junior Johnny Castro had seven catches for 155 yards.

“Offensively we weren’t good enough on third downs, and even though we won the turnover battle, we coughed it up at the most opportune times.” Aguon said. “Special teams was missing that big time play that seemed to spark us last season. But we give Kearny a ton of credit, they made less mistakes than us, and you can tell their staff has improved that program over there. They will make noise this season for sure.”

San Ysidro’s defense chalked up five interceptions, seven tackles for a loss and three sacks in the loss.

Garcia finished the game with four touchdowns for the Raiders after returning an intercepted pass for a touchdown. He led the team defensively with three picks and one fumble recovery.

The Cougars next host Tri-City Christian (0-1) in a non-league game Friday at Olympian High School. Kick-off is 6:30 p.m.

 

Apple Valley 42, Eastlake 7
Southern Section powerhouse Apple Valley showcased a big, fast and very physical team in grounding the host Titans last Friday. Eastlake had only 87 yards in total offense and saw both quarterbacks— Shawn Pomatto in the third quarter and Charles Caiazzo in the fourth quarter — leave the game with concussions following hits to the head.

Caiazzo (four-for-10, 57 yards) passed seven yards to Tyler Bourke for the Titans’ lone touchdown in the non-league game. Will Schmitz had nine carries for 11 yards.

A.J. Rodriguez paced Eastlake defensively with 16 tackles and one interception while Bourke added 14 tackles and blocked a field goal attempt. Fabian Gerbella also contributed with 12 tackles.

Friday’s match-up — the Clash of the Titans — pits host Eastlake against eighth-ranked Poway. Kick-off is 7 p.m.

 

Morse 40, Bonita Vista 0
Senior quarterback Juan Gomez had 95 yards (73 pass, 22 rush) of the Barons’ 137 total yards in the loss. Sophomore Marcus Pena had 63 receiving yards for Bonita Vista.

“Morse was a good team and won every phase of the game,” BVHS head coach Tyler Arciaga conceded. “Our kids didn’t quit and it showed some glaring weaknesses that we need to address in practice. Starting with me, I feel I need to create more competition in practice.

“Offensively, we need to take advantage of good field possession and be able to put the ball in the end zone when we are in the red zone. Defensively, we need to tackle and play more downhill. I believe this will be a good learning experience for our kids and we can move forward with our early bye week then travel up to San Francisco to play Sequoia High School (Redwood City) in Week 3.”

 

In other games:

Madison 47, Otay Ranch 7: The game was tied 7-7 early on after a 66-yard scoring pass from Makai Corpuz.

Coronado 13, Montgomery 6: Diego Villanueva (169 passing yards) scored the lone TD for the Aztecs.

Crawford 35, Mar Vista 21: Aleks Wojcik passed for 258 yards and three touchdowns (all to Elijah Clark, 127 receiving yards).

Mt. Miguel 42, Sweetwater 0: The Red Devils committed turnovers on their opening three series to fall behind 21-0. Zaryan Crews led SuHi with 54 rushing yards.

LJCD 30, Chula Vista 27: Quarterback Jacob Pedroza passed for 94 yards and rushed for 131 yards.

Rancho Buena Vista 53, Castle Park 0: The Trojans accumulated just 80 yards in total offense.

 

Prep Football Week 2

Thursday, Aug. 25
Calexico at Castle Park

Friday, Aug. 26
Coronado at Sweetwater, 6:30 p.m.
San Ysidro vs. Tri-City Christian at Olympian, 6:30 p.m.
Carlsbad at Mater Dei Catholic, 7 p.m.
Mt. Miguel at Chula Vista, 7 p.m.
El Capitan at Hilltop, 7 p.m.
Poway at Eastlake, 7 p.m.
Santana at Montgomery, 7 p.m.
Otay Ranch at Helix, 7 p.m.
Olympian at San Pasqual, 7 p.m.
Southwest at Mountain Empire, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 27
Mar Vista vs. Mission Bay at Montgomery, 5 p.m.

 

Matadors top turnover-plagued Red Devils, 42-0, in opener

Mt. Miguel head coach Troy Starr described his team’s 42-0 season-opening victory against the visiting Sweetwater Red Devils on Aug. 18 as “not too high, not too low.”

It was somewhere in the middle and a good jumping off point for the rest of the regular season.

“We’re a Division IV team, we have a small team,” Starr said. “We capitalized on the turnovers they gave us. That was good stuff but there’s a ton of things we need to get better at.”

The Matadors (1-0) didn’t have to employ much offense in taking a lethal 21-0 lead with a lot of time left in the opening quarter in the non-league contest.

Senior Chris Akridge recovered a fumbled snap on the Sweetwater 21-yard line just seconds into the game. Junior quarterback Matthew Barton later connected with Akridge on a 19-yard scoring pass on fourth down to score Mt. Miguel’s opening touchdown of the season and a lightning-quick 7-0 Matadors lead.

The hosts were back in the end zone almost immediately after junior Hector Armenta recovered another SuHi fumble at the six-yard line after sophomore quarterback Zaryan Crews’s arm was hit and he lost the ball.

Barton wasted little time by hitting junior Jeremiah Castillo in the corner of the end zone. Senior Saul Salgado tacked on his second PAT in succession to put Mt. Miguel ahead 14-0.
The Matadors only had to go 27 yards on their opening two scores. They went 15 yards to score their third touchdown when a bad snap on a Sweetwater punt was downed by junior Aaron Carter at the 15-yard line. Barton gobbled up all 15 yards on one play with a second scoring pass to Castillo.

Crews later made a 30-yard run to the Mt. Miguel nine-yard line near the end of the first quarter. But the Devils were stopped on fourth down when the teams switched ends at the quarter.

Barton hit a 50-yard punt to get the Matadors out of the face of their own end zone
On Mt. Miguel’s next offensive series, Castillo made a leaping 35-yard catch to set up a 10-yard touchdown run by senior Antrell Burbidge to hike the Matador lead to 28-0 following yet another extra-point conversion by Salgado.

Sweetwater turned the ball over again on a low snap on a punt. The hosts recovered on the 19-yard line with 1:56 left in the first half. Armenta caught a seven-yard scoring pass with 0:55 left. Salgado’s PAT made the score 35-0.

The Red Devils fumbled again but recovered the ball to mercifully end the first half.
Castillo completed his touchdown hat trick after hauling in a 10-yard pass from Barton in the back of the end zone on a fourth-down play late in the third quarter.

Sweetwater played better in the second half but by then the game’s outcome had been decided.

“We turned the ball over on our first three possession, we were down 21 points early,” Devils head coach Ervin Hernandez said. “We’ve got to get things together. We shot ourselves in the foot a lot.”

Barton completed 15 of 23 passing attempts for 161 yards with five touchdowns and a 125.2 quarterback rating.

Much of the Matadors’ damage on the scoreboard came courtesy of Castillo, who caught six passes for 92 yards with three touchdowns. Akridge had five catches for 30 yards and one touchdown while Armenta caught two passes for 11 yards and one touchdown.

Burbidge logged 10 carries for 37 yards and one touchdown. Junior Davian McGowan had nine carries for 36 yards.

Castillo led the hosts with 107 all-purpose yards while tacking on 15 kick return yards; Barton led all players on the field with 178 total yards while adding 17 rushing yards to his stat total.

Defensively, senior Jesse Murguia had one sack while Akridge and Armenta both had fumble recoveries.

Barton punted twice for 86 yards while Salgado amassed six kicking points.

Zaryan Crews completed one of three passing attempts for minus-two yards. He fared much better with his legs by rushing 21 times for 54 yards.

Overall, the visitors rushed 29 times for 105 yards for an average of 3.6 yards per carry.
Junior Xzavier Crews had two carries for 17 yards, an average if 8.5 yards per carry, while Julian Ramos had four carries for 29 yards, an average of 7.3 yards per carry.

Senior Cesar Guerra had two carries for five yards while making a team-high seven tackles. Xzavier Crews chipped in with six tackles and one pass deflection on defense, including one for a loss, while Miguel Mireles and Carlos David Delgado both were credited with five stops.

But the inability to hold onto the ball proved costly.

Sweetwater will attempt to regroup with a home game Friday against Coronado (1-0). The Islanders won their season opener last Friday, 13-6, at Montgomery.

Mt. Miguel will attempt to remain undefeated on the season when the Matadors travel to Chula Vista High School for a non-league game on Friday. The host Spartans are coming off a 30-27 non-league loss to La Jolla Country Day in their opener on Saturday.

“On to the next week, that’s all I’m going to say,” Armenta said.

Monarchs roar
Monte Vista (0-10 in 2021) will not go winless in 2022 after steamrollering visiting Maranatha Christian, 42-21, last Friday. Senior Uziel Avalon scored two touchdowns to go with 153 rushing yards while junior Daniel Renteria also scored twice. Sophomore Alex Villanueva scored on an interception return.

 

Highlanders, Cougars score big wins to kick off prep football season

The Helix Charter High School football team showed why it commands attention near the top of the San Diego Section rankings after scoring a 41-21 non-league win at Mira Mesa High School last Friday. Senior receiver Quincy Herron also showed why he commands respect at this position in the county by grabbing seven balls for 133 yards and four touchdowns.

Herron hooked up with Highlander junior quarterback Ryland Jessee for the four scores as Jessee completed 13 of 21 passes for 206 yards. The pair’s longest touchdown on the night traveled 50 yards.

The visiting Scotties rolled up 339 total yards in the victory. Jessee finished the night with a 134.1 quarterback rating.

Junior Kevin Allen III rushed 13 times for 111 yards and one touchdown while making two catches for 26 yards.

Helix led 27-0 at halftime.

 

Steele Canyon 41, Heritage 30
Senior Major Givens rushed for 232 yards and three touchdowns to lead the host Cougars past the visitors from Menifee. Junior Michael Lindley rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns while making two catches for 73 yards.

Givens finished the game with 253 all-purpose yards, including 21 kick-return yards. He broke loose on scoring runs of 56 and 73 yards.

Steele Canyon racked up 486 yards in total offense to go with seven touchdowns. The Cougars rushed for 373 yards while sophomore quarterback Joshua Herber passed for 113 yards with one touchdown to junior Michael Dodds.

Senior Keanu Pettiford keyed the Steele Canyon defense with eight tackles while senior Enzo D’Augusta had two sacks. Matt Thornton added five kicking points.

West Hills 24, Grossmont 6
The visiting Wolf Pack received rushing touchdowns from junior Diego Calderon, senior Collin Dill and junior Nathan Stevens and a 30-yard field goal from senior Tyler Hayley in the cross-divisional win.

Stevens scored on a 34-yard run while Calderon and Dill both scored on short bursts.

Nolan Kelly was the top receiver for Grossmont with eight catches for 63 yards, including a touchdown from junior quarterback Hudson Herber, a transfer from Coronado High School, in the final minute of play.

El Capitan 37, Canyon Hills 6
Sophomore Brandt Barker and senior Bruce Newland III combined for 260 passing yards and three touchdowns to lead the host Vaqueros. Newland passed for 109 yards and two touchdowns while Barker passed for 151 yards and one touchdown.

Senior Angel Diaz had 56 of the team’s 95 rushing yards while junior Julian May had a big night on the receiving end with four catches for 149 yards, two touchdowns, and one punt return for 28 yards.

Sophomore Chance LaChappa and senior Michael Segovia each had one fumble recovery while Segovia had one interception return for 29 yards. Senior Austin Cordeiro led El Capitan with two interceptions for 31 yards. Junior Ryder Lynn led the team with seven tackles.

LaChappa also had four catches for 72 yards while senior Lailia Rodriguez collected five kicking points in the victory.

Mountain Empire 20, Hoover 14
Corey Vann completed three touchdown passes to lead the Red Hawks to the season-opening non-league win. David Lothspeich caught a 53-yard touchdown pass. Hunter Morgan and Shiattea Lindholm also caught TD passes.