The time has finally arrived for the San Diego Section’s championship football games and three East County teams have punched their ticket to this weekend’s slate at Southwestern College.
The third-seeded Granite Hills Eagles (Division I), second-seeded El Capitan Vaqueros (Division IV) and 12th-seeded Monte Vista Monarchs (Division V) all captured semifinal victories last Friday to play another week and, in doing so, have the special opportunity to crown themselves section champions and, if successful, get the chance to play for an even rarer state championship.
It’s a rich reward for a season of superlatives as the right teams found the winning formula at the right time of the season.
Granite Hills (10-2) will face the top-seeded San Marcos Knights (11-1) in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. prime time clash in Chula Vista. El Capitan (9-3) will meet the fifth-seeded Westview Wolverines (6-7) in Friday’s early game at 3:30 p.m. while Monte Vista (8-5) will meet the second-seeded Bonita Vista Barons (7-5) at noon on Saturday to kick off a championship triple-header.
The Eagles defeated host Carlsbad in last year’s Open Division semifinals and managed to repeat the feat in this year’s Division I semifinals. The end result in both cases was a berth in the division championship game.
Last Friday’s game in North County was back-and-forth between the teams with the visitors eventually winding on top of the final score.
“We’re excited to be playing another week,” Granite Hills head coach Kellan Cobbs said.
Again, it took an all-around team effort for the Eagles to advance.
Granite Hills managed to punch three touchdowns across the goal line. Sophomore Gage Spalding scored on the ground (five carries, 53 yards) while also snaring a touchdown pass through the air (two catches, 31 yards).
Sophomore quarterback Zac Benitez (189 passing yards) completed two touchdown passes in the game while also firing a score also to junior Tristan Diaz (two catches, 13 yards).
Senior Max Turner had 10 carries for 16 yards as the second-seeded Lancers (8-4) strove to shut down the Eagles’ vaunted running attack. However, Turner proved himself to be a versatile weapon by making five catches for 124 yards, including a 77-yard catch and carry to set up a touchdown.
On defense, senior Parker Vance led Granite Hills with 12 tackles while senior Trevor Smith had 11 defensive stops and junior Jayden Proctor had 10 tackles.
Vance made a game-saving interception late in the high impact contest.
“Carlsbad is a great team and did a good job of keeping our offense off the field,” Cobbs said. “Our defense got critical turnovers in big moments of the game.
“The play of the game was when senior defensive lineman Kuba Polock ran down their quarterback from behind and poked the ball out right in front of their own end zone. It ended up being a 15-point swing for us as we scored right before halftime.
“Zach Benitez completed 78 percent of his throws on the night and did a great job of distributing the ball. Sophomore running back Gabe Spalding had two big plays for us for touchdowns.”
The list of high achievers doesn’t stop there. Senior Gavin Taylor and junior Hunter Hamilton each recorded a sack while senior Jerzel Ramirez and sophomore Eurojah Schutza share a sack.
Taylor and Smith were each credited with fumble recoveries.
Turner finished the game with 140 total yards. On the season, he has rushed for 1,686 yards and scored 28 touchdowns (24 rushing, four receiving).
“San Marcos looks to be a very explosive team,” Cobbs assessed. “They do a great job on defense with their man-coverage and do a great job of pressing on the edges. Offensively, their quarterback is very accurate and does a good job of getting rid of the football to his athletes. They have a few Division I receivers, so that can present some challenges. Overall, we need to go out and attack and not allow them to play finesse football.”
Five East County teams overall advanced to last Friday’s semifinals.
The third-seeded Helix Highlanders (Division II) and the third-seeded Grossmont Foothillers (Division IV) both came up short in semifinal games to end their seasons.
Helix (5-7) dropped a 17-14 match-up at second-seeded Mater Dei Catholic (9-3) last Friday after rallying from a 7-0 halftime deficit to lead 14-10 in the second half.
Grossmont (5-7) lost a 35-14 shootout at El Capitan in an all- East County semifinal match-up.