The Granite Hills High School football team is entering the meat of its 2026 schedule. The No. 5-ranked Eagles (3-1) host No. 4-ranked Cathedral Catholic (2-2) this Friday in a non-league game then jump right into Grossmont Hills League play with home games against the Grossmont Foothillers (Oct. 2) and Steele Canyon Cougars (Oct. 9).
Granite Hills closes out regular season play with three road games: at Mt. Miguel (Oct. 16), at San Jacinto (Oct. 23) and at Helix (Oct. 30).
The San Diego Section playoffs follow, plus the state playoffs.
Grossmont reached the season midpoint 4-1 following last Friday’s 54-45 non-league win over the visiting Otay Ranch Mustangs. Steele Canyon returned to the win column with a 35-0 homecoming win over El Capitan last Friday.
Helix is 3-2 after dropping a 24-19 thriller to visiting Cathedral Catholic.
There appears to be a lot more parity this season than in other years, so anything is possible on any given day.
For now, Granite Hills remains four-time defending league and CIF champions. There’s a lot of established tradition there.
“We still have a ways to go, two good wins these past two weeks, we have to build on that this week against Cathedral and continue to get better and ready for the playoffs,” said Granite Hills head coach Kellan Cobbs in the wake of last Friday’s 35-7 non-league win against visiting Los Alamitos. “The second half of the season is typically where we hit our stride. We have a great challenge this week with probably the best team in San Diego.”
Last Friday’s non-league clash against Los Alamitos was not a runaway until the second half. The Eagles led 14-0 at halftime but put the game away with a 21-0 run in the third quarter.
Senior quarterback Zac Benitez completed 14 of 24 passing attempts for 177 yards with three touchdowns while senior Gage Spalding rushed nine times for 105 yards and scored two touchdowns.
Senior Courtney Miller- Thompson (five catches, 106 yards), senior Jesse Wilhite (two catches, 15 yards) and sophomore Manny Walker (two catches, nine yards) each caught one scoring pass.
Junior Jonah Hamilton had three catches for 44 yards while senior Brody Vicars had one catch for 19 yards.
Granite Hills racked up 346 yards in total offense as freshman Jeriah Searcy tacked on 38 yards on three pass completions.
Benitez logged 187 total yards while Miller-Thompson had 113 total yards.
Senior Cayden Phillips and Eurijah Schutza keyed the defense with 10 tackles each. The hosts turned in four sacks and eight tackles for losses, including three by senior Travin Shabazz. Phillips, senior Jaylen Smith, Schutza and junior Silas Miller each recorded one sack.
The Eagles added interceptions by junior Ty Spencer and Wilhite and one fumble recovery by senior Gabe Luera to ground the Griffins (0-5).
Benitez has passed for 920 yards and 11 touchdowns this season while Miller-Thompson has 32 catches for 478 yards and eight touchdowns. Spalding has rushed for 304 yards and four scores.
Redhawks notch homecoming win
The Mountain Empire High School football team eased into the half way point of the 2026 football season with a 3-2 record following last Friday’s 50-6 non-league win against the visiting San Ysidro Cougars.
The game was not close. The Redhawks led 22-0 after the first quarter and 30-6 at halftime.
“The boys played really well and deserved a homecoming win after a good hard week of practice,” Mountain Empire head coach Cameron Keller said. “Gotta get back to work against another good team VCA (Victory Christian Academy, away game this Friday).”
Junior Elisha Robinson led the Redhawks with 186 rushing on 22 carries with three touchdowns while senior Chance Ross rushed for 60 yards with one touchdown and a pair of two-point conversion runs.
Junior Angel Avila (19 yards) and senior Amar Mahasin (14 rushing yards) each scored one touchdown on the ground.
Ross passed for 75 yards and one of two two-point conversions. Mahasin had three catches for 67 yards while junior Nic Santos caught an eight-yard touchdown pass.