Any story lines on the 2023- 24 winter sports season must include the 11-1 start by the Grossmont High School girls basketball team, 10-1 start by the El Capitan High School boys basketball team and 9-0-1 start by the Monte Vista High School boys soccer team.
Those story lines must also take into account the 15- match unbeaten streak (13-0-2) by the Granite Hills High School girls soccer team, 15-match (12-0-3) unbeaten streak by the Helix Charter High School boys soccer team and 10-match unbeaten streak (8-0-2) by the West Hills High School girls soccer team.
That’s a lot of winning, and it continued throughout the season.
That success, as well as that by other teams, was reflected in the seeding for this year’s divisional playoffs.
Hooping it up
Grossmont Hills League champion Grossmont (22-7) received the No. 2 seed in the Division I girls basketball field and advanced to Wednesday’s girls semifinals following wins over 15th-seeded Mt. Carmel (77-34 in the opening round) and seventh-seeded San Marcos (66-26 in the quarterfinals).
Grossmont Hills League champion Monte Vista (22-9) received the No. 3 seed in the Division III boys basketball bracket and advanced to Tuesday’s boys semifinals following wins over Granite Hills (62-43 in the opening round) and sixth- seeded Westview (63-41 in the quarterfinals)
Grossmont Hills League runner-up Mt. Miguel (21-8) received the No. 2 seed in the Division IV boys basketball field and advanced to Tuesday’s semifinal round after eliminating 15th-seeded Sweetwater (76-57 in the opening round) and seventh-seeded Clairemont (89-69 in the quarterfinals).
El Cajon Valley (15-14) received the No. 3 seed in the Division V boys basketball bracket and advanced to Tuesday’s boys semifinals after defeating 11th-seeded High Tech High Mesa, 72-66, in the quarterfinals.
Getting their kicks
Grossmont Hills League runner-up Steele Canyon (9-3-8) received the No. 9 seed in the Division I boys soccer playoffs and advanced to Wednesday’s boys semifinals in upset fashion following a 5-4 kicks from the mark victory over eighth-seeded University City in the opening round and a 1-0 win over top-seeded Cathedral Catholic in the quarterfinals.
Grossmont Hills League champion Monte Vista (19-6-3) received the No. 1 seed in the Division III boys soccer playoffs and shut out No. 9 Santana, 5-0, in last Friday’s quarterfinals to advance to Wednesday’s boys semifinals.
Granite Hills (12-11-3) received the No. 7 seed in the Division IV boys soccer field and scored a 4-3 overtime win over second-seeded Escondido Charter (17-2-5) last Friday to advance to Tuesday’s boys semifinals.
Grossmont Hills League champion Granite Hills r(15- 3-5) received the No. 2 seed in the Division II girls playoff field and shut out 10th-seeded Mission Bay, 5-0, in Saturday’s quarterfinals to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals.
El Capitan (17-2-1) received the No. 2 seed in the Division III girls bracket and defeated 10th-seeded University City, 1-0, in Saturday’s quarterfinals to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals.
Valhalla (13-5-2) received the No. 4 seed in the Division III girls soccer bracket and edged fifth-seeded Pacific Ridge, 1-0, to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals.
Lakeside’s River Valley Charter earned the No. 2 seed in the Division V-AA girls soccer bracket and shut out seventh-seeded Borrego Springs, 5-0, to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals against No. 4 Liberty Charter, which blanked fifth-seeded Vincent Memorial Catholic, 6-0, to advance to the all-East County semifinal match-up.
River Valley improved to 8-10 while Liberty Charter improved to 6-12-1 in a bid to advance to the division championship game.
By the numbers
The section’s basketball and soccer championship games are scheduled this weekend. UC San Diego will host the boys and girls Open Division finals on Saturday, Feb. 24.
Half of the basketball teams in Division I through Division IV were eliminated after the opening round.
El Capitan’s girls hoops squad came within an eye blink of advancing to this week’s semifinals – and possibly beyond.
After eliminating 11th-seeded Pacific Ridge, 62-35, in the opening round on Feb. 13, the Lakeside team traveled to Chula Vista to take on third-seeded Victory Christian Academy last Friday. The teams battled back-and-forth, with the host team holding a 39-35 lead through three quarters before the Lady Vaqueros (19-11) took a one-point lead in the dying seconds on a three-point shot.
Victory Christian (21-6) countered with a basket of its own to retake the lead. The game was tied, 47-47, with 1:12 to play in regulation before the hosts took a two-point lead with 35 seconds left.
A series of play-stoppages followed on fouls committed by the visitors. Because El Capitan was not over the limit, the stoppages did not result in foul shots but simply restarts by the Lady Knights.
The Lady Vaqs finally regained possession with less than one second remaining, but time ran out while trying to advance the ball for one final shot.
Junior Lilly Williams keyed El Capitan with 17 points in the loss while sophomore Keira Heinricy dropped in 13 points.
Williams and Heinricy paced the Lady Vaqs with 16 points each in the win over Pacific Ridge.
“The playoffs are all about survival,” Victory Christian coach Robert Luna said.
For playoff updates, visit the website at www.cifsds.org.
Playoff odyssey
Grossmont Hills League runner-up West Hills received the No. 7 seed in the elite Open Division girls soccer playoff field.
Grossmont Valley League champion Helix secured the No. 5 seed in the Division III boys soccer playoffs while El Cajon Valley earned the No. 5 seed in the Division V boys soccer bracket.