The 2025 high school tackle football season has reached its midpoint for many teams and both the Steele Canyon Cougars and Mountain Empire Redhawks continue to demand respect.
At 5-0, Steele Canyon is one of 15 remaining undefeated teams in the San Diego Section. At 3-1. Mountain Empire is quickly cobbling together a season to remember after posting a 1-9 record a season ago.
The Redhawks are not in the playoffs yet, but it could happen before the season is over.
“All kudos to the players,” new head coach Cameron Keller said. “They are bought in and executing at a high level.”
Mountain Empire certainly turned heads with last Friday’s 34-0 victory against Tri- City Christian (0-4) in a Sunset League game.
The Redhawks rushed for 222 yards and scored four rushing touchdowns, including two by junior Amar Mahasin (nine carries, 76 yards) and junior Chance Ross (eight carries, 61 yards).
Ross also completed a touchdown pass to senior Jason Landman for eight yards. Landman also had an interception return for 23 yards while adding a sack.
Keller pointed to several other players who have helped the team this season: sophomores Elisha Lashone Robinson and Charles Crow, seniors Junior Ponce and Max Anderson, and junior Spencer Alvarez.
“We have a young O-line — all juniors, sophomores and freshman — that has helped in the team’s success this year,” the coach said. “Our goal is to always win the next game. At the start of every week, I tell the guys we’re 0-0 and our goal is to be 1-0 every week. We also want a league championship as well as a CIF championship.”
Men of Steele
Steele Canyon has moved up to No. 22 (from No. 24) in the tackle football rankings, which would place the Cougars in the top half of the Division II playoff tier. Granite Hills (3-2) remains the top-ranked East County team at No. 6 among the 87 section squads.
The Eagles dropped a highly competitive 49-42 non-league matchup at Los Alamitos last Friday. Granite Hills continues its rugged pre-league schedule this Friday at No. 2 Cathedral Catholic, which shut out host Helix Charter, 49-0, last Friday. If the playoffs started today, Granite Hills would be the No. 2-seeded team in the Division I tier while Steele Canyon would be the No. 6-seeded team in the Division II bracket.
The Eagles have lost two games in a row since engineering a 3-0 start to the season. But not to worry, according to Granite Hills head coach Kellan Cobbs.
“The goal remains the same — try and win our fourth straight CIF championship,” Cobbs said. “A lot will start with the second phase of our season when we get into league after this week. I still believe it’s important for us to come out and win a league championship and continue to show everybody that we are still the best team in East County.
“The goal with playing these tough out-of-town teams and tough regular season schedule is hopefully have us prepped and ready for the playoffs.” One of the Eagles’ upcoming opponents in Grossmont Hills League play: the Steele Canyon Cougars.
That should be a good one.
Steele Canyon walloped the host Valhalla Norsemen, 58-6, last Friday as the teams renewed their Jamacha Helmet rivalry trophy game series. The Cougars retained possession of the two-faced trophy with their commanding win. One half of the football helmet trophy, colored in dark blue, is labelled with the Steele Canyon logo while the other half, colored in orange, is emblazoned with the Valhalla logo.
The Cougars out-gained the Norsemen 357-105 in total offensive yards — 200-70 in passing yards and 126-35 in rushing yards — in posting the runaway victory.
The visitors amassed three rushing touchdowns, three passing touchdowns and one touchdown on a kickoff return for a total of seven touchdowns in the non-league game.
Junior Gavin Caha completed 12 of 15 passing attempts for 200 yards with two touchdowns for a superb 177.1 quarterback efficiency rating. Senior Jacob Henton scored two touchdowns — one rushing (one carry, seven yards) and one passing (one catch, 31 yards).
Senior Martin Rinaldo completed one touchdown pass for 31 yards. Senior Josiah Stocker keyed Steele Canyon with 118 al-purpose yards (10 rushing, nine receiving and 99 on kick returns). He scored on a 10-yard run and a 99-yard kickoff return.
Overall, the Cougars received 456 all-purpose yards spread among 13 players who touched the ball. Junior Abel Lopez (three carries, 16 yards) scored one rushing touchdown. Junior Morgan Myers scored on a 10-yard pass reception while junior Trevor Zenno (four catches 70 yards) scored one receiving touchdown.
The passing yardage was spread around. Junior Malcolm Ballard had one catch for 47 yards while junior Marcus Hunt had one catch for 19 yards. Rinaldo had two catches for 24 yards while rushing for 19 yards on four carries. Junior Michael Oritguero had three carries for 39 yards while senior Marcell Hill broke loose for one gain of 26 yards. S
enior Anderson Turner scored on a 72-yard breakaway pass from senior QB Jackson Newman (two completions in eight attempts for 70 yards).
Senior Ahmed Husaini led the Norsemen on the ground with 19 carries for 42 yards. On defense, junior Sebastian Castellon (four tackles) recorded one sack for Steele Canyon while Hill and junior Matthew O’Campo each recorded interceptions.
Junior Luke Rode had three kicking points.
The Cougars host Dorsey (2- 2) in a non-league game this Friday in a bid to stay unbeaten on the season. Steele Canyon hosts El Capitan in their league opener on Oct. 3.
