In the waning minutes of last Friday’s 29-7 quarterfinal-round playoff victory against the visiting Oceanside Pirates, fired-up Eastlake High School fans began chanting “We want Helix! We want Helix!”
The reference, of course, was to the Helix Highlanders, the team that has perhaps the most mystique (along with Oceanside) among San Diego Section programs over the the past few decades.
The second-seeded Titans will indeed host the third-seeded Highlanders in Friday’s key semifinal playoff showdown. But it’s unclear just what Eastlake fans will be chanting at the conclusion of that game.
Helix (7-4) enters Friday’s semifinal clash after posting a monstrous 68-7 quarterfinal victory against the 11th-seeded Grossmont Foothillers.
Does anyone really want to play Helix right now?
The Titans (10-1) apparently do.
“I’ve been waiting for this game all year,” Eastlake senior defensive standout Josh McCurty told a media member after last Friday’s conquest of the seventh-seeded Pirates (6-6).
Titan head coach John McFadden also historically relishes these types of challenging match-ups.
He compared the Division I semifinals to Open Division playoff match-ups.
He’s not far off the mark.
This season the Open Division playoffs were reduced from eight teams to four, leaving teams like La Costa Canyon, Eastlake, Helix and St. Augustine — teams that would have made the previous top eight cut — relegated to the top of the Division I playoffs.
Eastlake, Helix and fourth-seeded St. Augustine (8-3) remain standing entering the Division I semifinals while top-seeded La Costa Canyon was upset, 20-13, by ninth-seeded Mission Hills in last Friday’s quarterfinals.
St. Augustine will host Mission Hills (5-6) in Friday’s semifinals. The winner of that game will meet the Eastlake-Helix winner in the Division I championship game Nov. 24 at Southwestern College.
The Titans are riding the crest of a 10-game winning streak. McFadden has to hope the team continues to surf the waves rather than wash up on shore.
“We’re going to go after it,” McFadden said. “They’re definitely a powerful team. I think it’s going to be a great game.”
McFadden had to like his team’s gutsy showing in last Friday’s win.
Eastlake defeated Oceanside, a longtime nemesis, for the first time officially last Friday. The Titans topped the Pirates in a 2006 non-league game but later had to forfeit the contest. Eastlake had been unable to beat Oceanside until last Friday’s quarterfinal match-up.
The Titans had several players step up due to injuries both prior to the game as well as during the game.
Running back Roman Coe left the game in the first half while receiver A.J. Hernandez left the game in the second half. A pair of linemen also were unable to play.
Mateo La and Claidale Jackson both filled in admirably on the offensive side of the ball. La rushed 14 times for 105 yards while Jackson (three carries, 47 yards) broke off a 34-yard scoring run in the dying moments of the game.
Darius De Los Reyes scored the opening two touchdowns for the hosts: the first on a two-yard run late in the opening quarter and the second on the receiving end of a 69-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Richard Colmenero III in the second quarter.
Still, the Titans had to play catch-up after the Pirates scored first when Eric Russell recovered a fumbled punt attempt in the end zone very early in the contest.
The visitors later advanced the ball to the Eastlake seven-yard line but a sack by Trevor Trussell and a fumbled snap on a field goal attempt left the game tied 7-7.
Colmenero then hit De Los Reyes on the big pass play to change momentum in the game.
A fumble recovered by Alfonso Alvarado III set up a three-yard touchdown run by Hernandez with 2:18 remaining in the second quarter to extend the Titan lead to 21-7 at halftime.
Eastlake recorded a safety to make the score 23-7. The Pirates later drove to the Titan seven-yard line but missed another field goal attempt.
Jackson’s run capped the Eastlake rout.
Colmenero finished six-of-six in the passing department for 105 yards with one touchdown for a 177.1 quarterback rating.
The statistic that stands out the most: The Titans finished with 368 total yards to just 122 for Oceanside. Eastlake amassed 263 rushing yards to negative 55 for the Pirates.
Kyrin Beacham completed 14 of 26 passes for 177 yards and a 75.3 QB rating. Beacham had 11 carries for negative 36 yards while big threat running back Kavika Tua was held to just nine rushing yards on six carries.
The hosts racked up nine sacks, including four by Trussell and two by McCurty, who led the EHS defensive effort with 12 tackles.
McCurty, Talon Lazio and Herman Ramirez each registered two tackles for a loss in the game.
Helix can bring it both ways. Elelyon Noa rushed 13 times for 340 yards and scored five touchdowns in last week’s win over Grossmont (4-8). The one-time Eastlake Panther has rushed for 1,887 yards and 20 touchdowns on the season.
Delshawn Traylor (three carries, 81 yards) and Joshua Shields (10 carries, 42 yards) each scored two rushing touchdowns for the Highlanders.
Former Eastlake quarterback Daniel Amon completed three of four passing attempts for 114 yards and one touchdown. He finished the game with a 156.3 QB rating.
On the season, Amon has passed for 838 yards with five touchdowns and four interceptions.
Helix recorded four picks and one fumble recovery in last week’s win. The Highlanders led the Foothillers 34-7 at the end of the first quarter.
Open Division Final
Top-seeded Torrey Pines (10-0) will meet second-seeded Cathedral Catholic (10-1) in Saturday’s Open Division championship game. Kick-off is 7:30 p.m. at Southwestern College.
The game pits the top two teams in the San Diego Section this year. CIF officials are anticipating a crowd of 8,000 to attend the game. Ticket sales start on site at 3 p.m. Gates open at 5 p.m.
The game will air live on 97.3 The Fan radio.
The winner advances to the state regional playoffs on Nov. 30-Dec. 1.
Sultans end Mariners season in CIF quarterfinals
The Mar Vista High School football team’s season came to an end following last Friday’s 23-6 Division IV quarterfinal-round playoff setback to the visiting Santana Sultans.
The fourth-seeded Mariners ended the season with a 7-4 overall record while the fifth-seeded Sultans (7-5) advance to meet the top-seeded San Diego Cavers (8-2) in Friday’s semifinals.
The winner of Friday’s semifinal match-up advances to the Division IV championship game scheduled Nov. 23 at Southwestern College.
Last Friday’s loss came after Mar Vista had previously defeated Santana, 27-13, in a non-league game on Sept. 21.
“It’s always tough to beat a team twice in a season,” Mar Vista head coach Tyler Arciaga said. “Santana and us always have close games. We have been playing them the last six years. They had their quarterback (Nathan Temple) back this game, and our defense did a solid job holding them. We gave up a punt return and gave them the ball on the 10-yard line, which contributed to 14 of their 23 points.
“We didn’t do a good enough job sustaining drives and taking advantage of good field position. It was not for a lack of effort, but we just didn’t execute as well as we could have.”
The Sultans led, 7-6, at the end of the first quarter and 14-6 at halftime. Santana tacked on nine more points in the second half on a field goal and touchdown.
Temple, who passed for a school record 532 yards and seven touchdowns in Santana’s wild 76-55 first-round playoff win over La Jolla Country Day, was held to 140 passing by the Mar Vista defense. He did not throw a touchdown pass nor was he intercepted. Temple was recovering from a broken collarbone when the teams first met in late September.
The Mariners rolled up 320 rushing yards as seven players took turns running the ball but tallied only 27 passing yards in the game.
Jacob Galeana had 15 carries for 137 yards and one touchdown. He finished the game with 159 total yards. Hasan Spruill had 12 carries for 87 yards. Marcus Ramirez had one catch for 22 yards.
Galeana opened scoring in the game on a three-yard run to put the home team up 6-0 on the scoreboard.
Santana racked up 271 total yards in the win, scoring points in every quarter. Brooks Moutaw scored on a seven-yard run to push the visitors ahead by a point at the first break.
Chaz Baker increased the Sultans’ lead to 14-6 when he scored on a 57-yard punt return in the second quarter. Colton Snipes split the uprights on a 34-yard field goal in the third quarter to make the score 17-6.
Temple scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak with just 10 seconds left in the game to complete scoring and put an end to the Mariners’ season.
The yards didn’t come easy for the winners. Moutaw gained 77 yards on 23 carries while Temple gained 44 yards on 11 carries. Randy Smith, who recorded a school record 335 receiving yards and five TDs in the rout over LJCD, did turn in a good night with five catches for 120 yards in last Friday’s game.
Defensively for Mar Vista, Damon Thomas had seven tackles (three tackles for a loss) and one sack, Diego Garza had 10 tackles and Demterius Smith had two sacks.
Snipes led Santana with 11 tackles while Jared Forster notched one pass interception.
For the season, Galeana rushed for 1,190 yards and 12 touchdowns while Spruill rushed for 984 yards and 10 touchdowns. Garza led the team with 84 tackles while Thomas recorded 15 sacks and 28 tackles for a loss.
Galeana also had three interceptions on defense. He led the team with 14 touchdowns overall, adding two scores on kick-off returns.
SAN DIEGO SECTION FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
Division IV
San Diego 27, Chula Vista 0
The ninth-seeded Spartans ended their season at 3-9 after bowing to the top-seeded Cavers in last Friday’s quarterfinals.
Offense was once again a problem for Chula Vista, which managed just 93 total yards in the loss to San Diego, which accumulated 278 yards in improving to 8-2 on the season.
The Spartans rushed 29 times for 65 yards and tacked on 28 passing yards. Carlos Jimenez rushed 14 times for 36 yards while Andre Stewart had 12 carries for 26 yards. Dylan Sallee had one catch for 13 yards while Alex Guzman had three catches for 15 yards.
The Cavers, who recorded a runner-up finish in last year’s division championship game, received 214 rushing yards and 64 passing yards in last Friday’s win. Raiden Hunter (14 carries, 110 yards) and Jayden Wickware (12 carries, 62 yards) each scored one rushing touchdown while quarterback Quinn O’Connor completed one touchdown pass to Charles Johnson (two catches, 24 yards).
San Diego led by scores of 7-0 and 14-0 at the end of the opening two quarters. The third quarter was scoreless before Daniel Thomas returned an intercepted pass 37 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to end scoring in the game.
Chula Vista was shut out after scoring 31 points in the previous week’s quarterfinal-round win over the eighth-seeded Coronado Islanders.
Division V
Francis Parker 41, Southwest 15
Ryan Sanborn passed for 210 yards and three touchdowns (all to receiver Jonathan Gordon) to lead the third-seeded Lancers (10-1) past the 11th-seeded Raiders (5-7). Gordon finished the game with 199 receiving yards on three receptions – one each for 63 yards, 74 yards and 62 yards.
Francis Parker running back Sam Camposeco (13 carries, 115 yards) scored two rushing touchdowns. Sanborn also scored a defensive touchdown on a 20-yard interception return.
The Raiders, who won their first playoff game in 29 years and recorded their first five-win season in eight years, received a pair of touchdowns from junior Jovahn Young — one on a long pass reception from senior quarterback Aaron Hidalgo and another on a long run.
Francis Parker advances to play at second-seeded Tri-City Christian (9-2) in Friday’s semifinals. The game is a rematch of the teams’ Pacific League encounter on Oct. 12 in which Tri-City Christian handed the Lancers their lone loss of the season thus far by a score of 27-12.
The winner of Friday’s semifinal match contest will meet either top-seeded Orange Glen (7-3) or fourth-seeded Holtville (9-2) in the Division V championship game Nov. 23 at Otay Ranch High School.
