With four San Diego Section teams playing in state bowl championship games last weekend, not all the talented senior players in the section were available to compete in Saturday’s 29th annual Alex Spanos All-Star Classic at San Diego Mesa College.
But the talented players who were available put on a good show in their final gridiron performance in front of hometown fans.
This year’s game between the designated North and South teams highlighted defense, in particular, as the North won by a score of 14-7 to collect its fourth consecutive win in the series.
The North now leads 14-11 in its current format. The game is the longest-running high school all-star football game in the state.
Steele Canyon coach Scott Longerbone served as the South team’s head coach.
South County offensive standouts named to play in the game included Otay Ranch quarterback Puka Stewart, Eastlake receiver Kevin Bateman and Mar Vista running back Hasan Spruill.
Defensive standouts included linebackers Jared Desmond (Olympian) and Josh McCurty (Eastlake), free safety/cornerback Luciano Estopier (Sweetwater), cornerback McKinley Egland-Young (Eastlake) and free safety Damarian Thornton (Olympian).
Linemen included Talon Lazio (Eastlake), Michel Touchette (Otay Ranch) and Fama Merideth (Montgomery).
The South took a 7-0 lead when Stewart connected with University City’s Casey Granfors for a 52-yard touchdown strike.
A fumble just before halftime set up a 30-yard field goal by San Marcos’s Caleb Mancini to trim the South lead to 7-3.
An interception by La Costa Canyon’s Luke Kay late in the third quarter set up Mancini for a 44-yard field goal that closed the gap to 7-6.
Torrey Pines’ Evan Galluzzi scored the game-winning points on a fourth quarter touchdown run.
Stewart and Steele Canyon signal-caller Nathan Barnett combined for 100 passing yards. The South duo was sacked six times, including three times by North MVP Leo Speidel from Torrey Pines.
Not surprisingly in a game in which defense prevailed, McCurty was named the South MVP.
The South defense held the North offense to 91 rushing yards and 127 passing yards. However, the North defense otherwise dominated by holding the South to just 49 rushing yards.
Horse power
Stewart accounted for 2,209 yards in total offense in leading the Mustangs to a 6-5 record and a berth in the San Diego Section Division I playoffs. He passed for 1,314 yards with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions while carrying the ball 104 times for 715 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
He earned first team all-league honors at the quarterback position on the 2018 All-Mesa League football team.
“It took hard work and help from my offensive line to get that,” Stewart offered.
If it wasn’t for a quirk ending to the season, Stewart and his Mustang teammates might have progressed farther along in the Division I playoffs.
Stewart had Otay Ranch poised to go for the go-ahead touchdown in the waning moments of the team’s opening-round playoff game at Oceanside before a 99-yard interception return cemented the Pirates’ 27-15 win.
Stewart had driven the Mustangs to the Oceanside five-yard line with Otay Ranch trailing in the game 20-15. But Stewart’s pass was intercepted just short of the goal line and returned for the game-clinching score to eliminate the Mustangs from the CIF playoffs.
“It finished at the five-yard line,” Stewart said in reflecting on the team’s 2018 playoff run.
Stewart, who has remained undecided on where he will play college football, said his mobility and dual-threat mode are his biggest assets as a quarterback.
“I like running more because in youth football (Otay Ranch Broncos) I was a running back,” he said.
Spruill racked up 1,059 all-purpose yards for the Mariners this season, including 984 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. He also made 54 tackles on defense, including four tackles for a loss.
McCurty registered 193 tackles for the Division I semifinalist Titans, including eight tackles for a loss and nine sacks.
Desmond made 156 tackles for the Eagles, including 15 tackles for a loss and two sacks.
Bateman finished the season with 547 receiving yards and four touchdowns while Egland-Young had three interceptions, including one for a touchdown return.
Thornton also had three picks for Olympian while Estopier was an offensive force for the Red Devils with 1,141 rushing yards.
State champions
All six San Diego Section divisional football champions qualified for this year’s state playoffs. Four of the six won regional championships to advance to last weekend’s state championship contests.
The San Diego Cavers emerged as the section’s lone state champion after rallying to defeat host Colfax, 21-10, in Saturday’s Division 5-A contest played in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada amid temperatures hovering in the mid-40s. It is the first state title for the Cavers, who ended the season with 12 consecutive wins.
San Diego defeated Kearny, 42-14, to win the Division IV section title Nov. 23 at Southwestern College.
The Cavers finish the season 12-2; Colfax, which entered Saturday’s game undefeated, finished its season 13-1.
Mo Jackson scored two second-half touchdowns for the Cavers. Raiden Hunter, who made a spectacular 23-yard touchdown catch to end the first half, set up Jackson’s second touchdown on a 60-yard interception return.
Colfax led early by a score of 10-0 before the San Diego visitors ended the game with 21 unanswered points.
Cathedral Catholic, the section’s reigning Open Division champion, dropped a gritty 21-14 overtime Division 1-AA contest last Friday to Folsom, ranked seventh in the nation. The state title is the second consecutive for Folsom, which defeated Helix, 49-42, last year.
Cathedral Catholic previously won state titles in 2008 and 2016. Shawn Poma, the section’s offensive player of the year, rushed for 151 yards in this year’s state title game loss.
The Lincoln Hornets, the 2018 Division II section champions, dropped a 21-7 decision to Menlo-Atherton in Saturday’s Division 3-AA state championship game to finish the season 11-5.
Meanwhile, Division V section champion Orange Glen lost, 24-13, to San Francisco Lincoln in the Division 6-A state bowl game, also on Saturday in Northern California.
Orange Glen (10-4) made a major turnaround from its 1-9 season a year ago.
San Diego defeated visiting Linfield Christian from Temecula, 42-31, to win the Southern California regional title on Dec. 1. That same night, Orange Glen topped Los Angeles Locke, 22-14, to advance.
In So Cal finals on Nov. 30, Cathedral Catholic topped visiting Narbonne, 24-21, while Lincoln won a high-scoring game in Culver City, 54-42.
