The San Diego Section is sending six teams to this weekend’s Southern California regional playoffs, all with a chance to land in the following weekend’s state championship games.
The Granite Hills Eagles and Mt. Miguel Matadors will represent East County. Both reigning section division champions will open their state title quest on the road.
Granite Hills (12-0) will play at Mission Viejo (11-3) on Friday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. The winner will play either Clovis North (13-0) or De la Salle (10-2) for the state Division 1-AA championship.
Mt. Miguel (12-1) will play at Mayfair (11-3) on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 6 p.m. The winner will play either Oakland McClymonds (8-2) or Marin Catholic (12-1) for the state Division 3-A championship.
Other regional qualifiers include Division I section champion St. Augustine (10-4), Division II champion Del Norte (11-2), Division III champion La Jolla Country Day (11-3) and Division V champion Sweetwater (7-6).
St. Augustine will host St. Bonaventure (10-4) on Saturday, with the winner advancing to meet either Pittsburg (13-0) or Folsom (11-2) for the state Division 1-A title.
Del Norte will host Birmingham (11-2) on Friday, with the winner advancing to meet either Escalon (12- 1) or Acalanes (9-4) for the State 3-AA championship.
La Jolla Country Day will open at Banning (8-6) on Saturday, with the winner advancing to meet either Woodland Christian (13-0) or Orland (11-1) for the state Division 5-A banner.
Sweetwater will host St. Monica (11-3) on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 6 p.m. The winner will play either Colusa (12-0) or South San Francisco (12-1) for the state Division 6-A title.
Six of the eight San Diego Section divisional champions (Open Division through Division V) qualified for the regional playoffs. Third-seeded Granite Hills out-lasted top-seeded Lincoln, 27-26, in the section’s Open Division title game Nov. 18 at Snapdragon Stadium.
Top-seeded Del Norte out-pointed third-seeded La Jolla (10-3) by a score of 31-15 in Saturday night’s Division II tilt at Southwestern College.
Sixth-seeded La Jolla Country Day bombarded fourth-seeded Grossmont (7-6) by a score of 73-34 behind a superlative 10-touchdown performance by senior quarterback Jaden Mangini (six passing, four rushing) in Saturday’s afternoon finals match. Mangini, who is bound for the Naval Academy, collected 542 of his team’s 584 total yards.
Top-seeded Mt. Miguel defeated second-seeded Chula Vista, 35-14, last Friday in the Division IV championship game at Southwestern College.
The victory by the Matadors was memorable in that the last time the Spring Valley school won at CIF football title was at the Class 1A level in 1960. It’s been an extraordinarily long 63-year wait.
“It feels amazing,” Mt. Miguel head coach Verlain Betofe said. “The kids worked so hard to get here. I’m so proud of them. It’s amazing for the community and the school. We want to be the best team in San Diego and the best team in California. We’re going to keep working toward that.” The Matadors defeated Vista, 40-13, to claim their first CIF championship in 1960. The outcome of this year’s second CIF title also wasn’t in doubt as the Matadors built a 28-0 halftime lead and led 35-0 midway through the third quarter.
Senior quarterback Matthew Barton completed 18 of 28 passes for 214 yards and five touchdowns with one interception. He also rushed five times for 30 yards to finish the contest with 243 total yards. Barton threw a pair of scoring passes each to senior Jeremiah Castillo (four catches, 88 yards) and sophomore Parris Vernon (seven catches, 76 yards).
The Matador signal-caller also completed two passes for 21 yards to senior Johnny Castro and two passes for 18 yards to junior Braylon Cardwell. Barton’s five TD passes set a school post-season record. Mt. Miguel carries an eightgame winning streak into Saturday’s regional playoff game. Second-seeded Sweetwater took down top-seeded Vincent Memorial Catholic (9-4) by a score of 46-37 with a secondhalf comeback in the Division V final Nov. 17 at Escondido High School. The Red Devils rushed for 433 yards and seven touchdowns.
Granite Hills carries the state’s longest current winning streak — 21 games — into this weekend’s regional playoffs. The Eagles scored the final 14 points in the Open Division title game and recovered a gameending fumble to capture their second consecutive CIF division championship (after winning last year’s Division II banner).
Junior Parker Vance, normally a defensive back, made his first offensive play of the season count when he scored on a 54-yard catch and carry on a pass from running back Pablo Jackson to help ignite the potent second-half comeback against the Hornets (11-1). “I saw the end zone, that was my goal,” Vance said. I felt amazing. That was our goal the whole year — and it happened.” “It was a great game, back and forth,” GHHS head coach Kellan Cobbs said. “We had pulled off a number of upsets throughout the year and we needed another one.
“Our defense made plays when it needed to. We were aggressive (on offense), so why not go for it on fourth down? It helps to have an All-CIF nose guard returning. By the end of the game, we were dead-tired.” Freshman signal-caller Zachary Benitez passed for 224 yards, completing 12 of 24 attempts, with two touchdowns, while Jackson had one touchdown pass for 54 yards. Junior Max Turner led the Eagles on the ground with 92 rushing yards on 17 attempts while Jackson gained 51 yards on 14 carries. Senior Josh Zander led the receiving corps with four catches for 116 yards.
