The Olympian High School football team soared about as high as it could last season by recording a runner-up finish in the San Diego Section Division II championship playoffs.
The Eagles came up short in the title game by a score of 35-20 to the Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders.
Olympian head coach Paul Van Nostrand, who has been with the program since 2008, believes his team will be knocking on the door again this season.
“We expect to compete for the league title and obtain a high seed in the playoffs,” he said.
The Eagles finished 8-5 overall last season, including 3-1 in Metro-Mesa League play. Two of Olympian’s losses last season were to Mater Dei Catholic.
The Eagles appear to be loaded with top returners this season, highlighted by six all-league selections.
All-league returners include senior receiver Isaiah Williams, senior defensive back/receiver Mikael Tyler, senior defensive back/running back D.J. Tirey, senior quarterback Nico Mendoza, senior defensive/offensive lineman Julyan Taylor and senior linebacker Rock Gonzalez.
Mendoza passed for 1,414 yards with 20 touchdowns against six interceptions last season.
Williams caught 32 passes for 446 yards and seven touchdowns while also rushing for three touchdowns and scoring once on a kick-off return for a team-leading 11 TDs.
Tyler had 16 catches for 419 yards and three touchdowns.
Gonzalez is the team’s top returning defender after making 108 tackles to rank third on the team last year. He led the Eagles with 11 sacks and three fumble recoveries.
Other top returners, according to Van Nostrand, include senior running backs Rashaun Brown and Trevion Davies, senior offensive linemen Nick Manzo and Michael Covarrubias, senior tight end/defensive lineman Jaden Guerrero, senior offensive/defensive lineman Dante Pressley, senior receiver Chris Osgood and senior long snapper Chris Domingo.
Brown is the team’s top returning rusher with 558 yards and five rushing touchdowns last season while also catching two TD passes for a total of 779 all-purpose yards. Tirey had two rushing touchdowns to his credit.
Impact newcomers include junior running back/defensive back Arnold Escano, junior receiver/defensive back Damarian Thornton and junior linebacker/offensive lineman Jared Desmond.
“We will be very athletic with quite a few starters returning, which is good,” Van Nostrand assessed. “We have as good skilled athletes as anybody, so we expect good things and big things from our offense.
“We have to replace a few senior linemen who graduated, which will be the thing.”
Eastlake Titans seek renewed fortunes as new season kicks off
The pendulum could be swinging back around for the Eastlake Titans after last year’s disappointing 2-9 season.
“Eastlake’s goal is to win league this season and perform well in the CIF playoffs,” second-year Titan head coach Dean Tropp said.
Eastlake’s gridiron warriors were close to making it happen last season with three losses in Metro-Mesa League play by margins of three, 13 and eight points. The Titans lost, 22-20, in a “heart-breaker,” according to Tropp, at Mt. Carmel in the opening round of last year’s San Diego Section Division I playoffs.
Top returners include seniors William Dunkle, Micah Pietila-Wiggs, Jalen Graham and Jalyn Jackson along with junior Josh McCurty.
A first team all-league outside tackle, Dunkle (6-5, 340) has already received multiple offers from Division I NCAA football programs
Pietila-Wiggs, a second team all-league returner from last year, looks to be a two-way starter at defensive back and receiver this season. Tropp called him an “excellent all-around athlete.”
Pietila-Wiggs averaged 18.4 yards per catch last year and ranked second on the team with four touchdowns, including two receiving score, one punt return for a touchdown and one kick-off return for a touchdown. He also had made two interceptions on defense.
Jackson, a track and field standout who earned the silver medal in the triple jump and a sixth-place medal in the long jump at June’s California state championship meet, is a returning starter with speed who, Tropp said, looks to be a two-way starter at defensive back and receiver.
Jackson earned honors as the San Diego Section Field Athlete of the Year in 2017 after winning three events at the Mesa League championship meet and then going to win both the triple and long jump events at the San Diego Section championships.
On the football field, Jackson averaged 16.3 yards per catch last season with three touchdowns.
Topp said Graham, a three-year starter, contributed “a lot” to last year’s team as a defensive lineman. McCurty, a starter at inside linebacker last year, also will play a major role on defense this year.
McCurty recorded 89 tackles last season — tops among returners — while Graham had 75 tackles (second among returners).
Tropp list three impact newcomers: senior transfer Marcus Houtchens, junior Jordan Walker and sophomore Darius Delos Reyes.
Houtchens looks to make an impact at linebacker while Walker, coming up from the junior varsity team, looks to contribute to the team’s offense at receiver. “He’s 6-3 with good hands,” Tropp noted of Walker.
The EHS head coach said Delos Reyes, who is coming up from last year’s freshman team, is fast and strong for a 10th grader and will help bolster the team’s offensive backfield.
Two players sharing the quarterback duties at July’s Battle of the Champions passing tournament on campus included Ryzon McCoy and Daniel Amon.
The total package looks good for the Titans in 2017. However, scoring more points than last year will be of key importance if the team is going to find success at the top of the league standings this season.
“We have a great mix of senior leadership and junior talent,” Tropp said. “Our goal is to compete in each game and come away feeling good about what we’ve done, and, of course, try to find ways to win.”
Mustangs should be in the thick of the race again
The Otay Ranch Mustangs finished 4-8 last season with a trip to the San Diego Section quarterfinal playoffs, losing to eventual Division II champion Mater Dei Catholic.
The Mustangs will be looking to improve on last year’s 1-3 Metro-Mesa League record in an effort to move up the league standings.
Fourth-year head coach Lance Christensen is optimistic about the upcoming season.
“We had a really strong junior varsity team coming up,” he said. “I think we have some good leadership in our senior class.”
Top returners include senior inside linebacker Alex King, senior linebacker Manu Ta’a, senior fullback Faufano Autele, senior outside linebacker/tight end Darrian Williams, senior receiver Zeke Cruz, defensive lineman Casemi Simon and junior strong safety Vita Hafoka.
Cruz ranked second on last season’s team with 674 all-purpose yards while King is the team’s top returning defender after posting 81 tackles last season.
Puka Stewart and Kelvin Bradley are dueling for the starting quarterback spot.
Bradley passed for 483 yards with three touchdowns and five interceptions in seven games last season.
Senior Gus Espiritu ranked second behind team star Devin Lloyd (now at the University of Utah) with seven touchdowns last season. Espiritu rushed for a team leading 1,263 yards last season, averaging 105.3 yards per game.
Senior Josh Lira will be playing a dual role at cornerback and receiver.
Barons are in major rebuilding mode under new head coach
The Bonita Vista High School football team ended decades of frustration by winning the Southern California regional championship in 2015 and advancing to the state bowl championship game.
That’s all history now. New head coach Aaron Jones hopes to write an exciting new chapter in the Barons’ history book starting this year.
“We’re hoping to shock some people this year,” explained Jones, who comes to BVHS after 11 years as an assistant coach at Madison High School.
Jones, in fact, is coming off a CIF championship with the Warhawks last season as well as two state bowl game titles and nine league champions during his time with the City Conference power house.
Jones comes on board at Bonita Vista to build a new team essentially from the ground up after a massive wave of graduation. It’s a challenge he’s enthused about.
“There’s a lot of talent down here,” he said. “This area seems to be the wing-T capital of San Diego County. I’d like to add something new to that, change things around a bit. Have more of a spread offense, more up-tempo. The kids are learning the system. They’re excited.”
The Barons return just one player with any substantial varsity starting experience: senior left tackle Diego Vasquez, a hulk of an anchor at 6 feet, 4 inches tall and 275 pounds who earned all-league first team honors in 2016. This will be his third year on the varsity squad this season.
The rest of the team, Jones said, is a “work in progress.”
Players the Barons will count on this season include senior Tahj Stewart at running back, junior Raymond Terrones Jr. at receiver/free safety, senior Vince Cruz at safety/running back and senior Franklin Forbes at quarterback.
Forbes’ name might be familiar to some as the freshman phenom quarterback at San Ysidro High School. He is now at Bonita Vista and played receiver on last year’s team.
“In our offense, he’s the perfect fit for quarterback,” Jones said.
Other players counted on in this rebuilding season include senior two-way lineman Julian Villagomez and junior receiver/defensive back Kevin Rozar.
“We’re very, very young,” Jones admitted. “We have some seniors but none with any extensive experience at the varsity speed.
“We also have the toughest schedule in the country. We play four powerhouse teams to start the season. It’s about weathering the storm and taking it game by game. But we’ll compete. The kids will be pumped. We’ll let the chips fall where they may.
“By the time league comes around, it will be a blast. A lot of teams in San Diego aren’t expecting much from us this year. Our goal is to shock some teams.”
Young Crusaders will be out to match team’s recent success
Mater Dei Catholic High School’s football team has enjoyed quite a run over the past several years.
The Crusaders finished runner-up in the 2014 San Diego Section Division IV finals, captured the Metro-South Bay League and Division IV section championships in 2015 before capping the season with a 14-1 record by defeating Reedley Immanuel, 56-21, to win the Division V-AA state football championship bowl game.
Last year, Mater Dei Catholic won Metro-Mesa League and Division II section championships en route to a runner-up finish in the Division III-AA state football championship regional playoffs.
The Crusaders finished another season of achievement 13-1.
This year might be more challenging.
“We are a young team that is replacing 17 starters,” Crusader head coach John Joyner offered. “We are very good on the offensive and defensive lines and we will do well at quarterback. We are very young at skill spots.”
Joyner said it’s a case of many good players last year playing behind many more good players.
The returning group remains a promising bunch.
Seniors Nick Del’Acqua and JoJo Nisbet, along with junior Alan Garner, will anchor the offensive/defensive lines. Seniors Shaun Jones and Nick Lopez, along with juniors Rayshawn Holscher and Simeon Speight, are penciled into the wide receiver/defensive back positions.
Seniors Andre Kell and Ryan Flores are being counted on at the running back/linebacker positions while senior Cameron Smith takes over at quarterback.
Impact newcomers include sophomore running back Aiden Calvert, junior lineman David Monjaraz and receiver/defensive back Joe Smith, a transfer from Cathedral Catholic.
Kell finished third on the team with 100 tackles last season while Jones collected five interceptions and tallied six pass deflections.
Lopez averaged 4.9 yards per carry and scored one touchdown in limited duty in 2016
Smith completed all seven passes he attempted last season in a limited back-up role for 61 yards with two touchdowns. He also rushed for two touchdowns.
Joyner said the lack of first team experience might be the only thing holding back this group to start the season.
Alumni attack
Among the Crusaders’ graduates from last season were quarterback Chris Jones and running back C.J. Verdell.
Jones threw for 2,336 yards and completed 26 touchdown passes while Verdell rushed for 2,399 yards and scored a team-leading 40 touchdowns, including 36 rushing touchdowns.
Receivers Eli Shelton (895 yards, eight touchdowns), Quentin Frazier (448 yards, five touchdowns) and Kyle Moses (420 yards, four touchdowns) led a potent receiving corps.
Verdell amassed 2,783 all-purpose yards while Shelton accumulated 1,106 all-purpose yards.
Jovan Bayless led the team with 126 tackles, followed by Matt Schwenke with 111 stops. Moses posted a team co-leading five interceptions.
Verdell is now attending college at the University of Oregon where is a high level prep recruit by the Ducks. Moses joined UNLV as a late signee in March.
Metro Conference 2017 Football Alginment
Metro-Mesa League
- Bonita Vista Barons
- Eastlake Titans
- Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders
- Olympian Eagles
- Otay Ranch Mustangs
Metro-South Bay League
- Chula Vista Spartans
- Hilltop Lancers
- Mar Vista Mariners
- Sweetwater Red Devils
Metro-Pacific League
- Castle Park Trojans
- Montgomery Aztecs
- San Ysidro Cougars
- Southwest Raiders
