A total of 10 East County teams qualified for this year’s San Diego Section 11-person football playoffs, another for the section’s eight-person field, and yet another four for the section’s four-divisional girls flag football playoffs.
That’s a total of 15 football teams no matter how one spins it.
The race is now on for those coveted CIF championship banners, some which rate to be the first in school history for their respective programs.
Nine of the 10 teams in the boys brackets are still in contention, including the No. 3 Granite Hills Eagles and No. 5 Mt. Miguel Matadors in Division I, No. 3 Helix and No. 8 Christian Patriots in Division II, No. 2 El Capitan Vaqueros and No. 3 Grossmont Foothillers in Division IV, No. 6 West Hills Wolf Pack, No. 7 Santana Sultans and No. 12 Monte Vista Monarchs in Division V, and No. 2 Foothills Christian in the Division VI (eight-person) field.
Mt. Miguel, Christian, West Hills, Santana and Monte Vista are already battle-tested after emerging with key victories in last Friday’s opening round while Granite Hills. Helix, El Capitan, Grossmont and Foothills Christian all have a week’s rest after receiving byes to the quarterfinals.
Steele Canyon (No. 11 in Division III) was the lone East County team to drop out of the playoff brackets following a hotly contested 57-53 loss last Friday at No. 6 Escondido.
Granite Hills (8-2) is set to host No. 6 Torrey Pines (5-6) on Friday with the winner meeting the winner between No. 2 Carlsbad (7-3) and No. 7 Rancho Bernardo (9-2) in the semifinals while Mt. Miguel (9-2) travels to No. 4 seed El Camino (5-5) with the winner to face the survivor between No. 1 San Marcos (9-1) and No. 9 Del Norte (7-4) in the next round.
Torrey Pines topped No. 11 Scripps Ranch, 26-15, in first-round action last Friday while Del Norte pulled off a 42-25 upset of No. 8 Oceanside (7-4).
Mt. Miguel has already snatched playoff momentum with a commanding 62-34 win over 12th-seeded Santa Fe Christian (9-2).
Helix (4-6) will host No. 6 La Jolla (7-4) in Friday’s quarterfinals. The winner advances to meet the winner between No. 2 Mater Dei Catholic (7-3) and No. 7 Bishop’s (7-3). La Jolla dispensed with No. 11 Madison (4-7) by a score of 27-15 in last Friday’s division opener while Bishop’s eliminated No. 10 Mt. Carmel (6-5) by a 49-20 score.
City League champion Christian (9-2) edged No. 9 Imperial (9-2) by a score of 28-26 to advance to meet No. 1 University City (9-1) in Friday’s quarterfinals. The winner gets the quarterfinal winner between No. 4 Poway (3-7) and No. 5 Point Loma (6-5).
Point Loma eliminated No. 12 Valley Center (7-4) by a score of 28-7 while Poway had a bye in the first round.
East County is well represented in the upper reaches of the Division IV bracket with No. 2 El Capitan (7-3) and No. 3 Grossmont (4-6) both as possible finalists.
Grossmont Valley League champion El Capitan will host No. 7 Chula Vista (5-6) in Friday’s quarterfinals while Grossmont will host No. 6 Mira Mesa (1-10).
The El Capitan-Chula Vista winner gets the Grossmont-Mira Mesa winner in the semifinals.
Chula Vista upset host El Capitan, 35-21, in the third game of the season. Friday’s rematch will be the last game of the season for one of those teams.
Mira Mesa is coming off its first win of the season — 41-21 over No. 11 Sweetwater — after going 0-10 in regular season play.
West Hills (6-5) will travel to No. 3 Crawford (5-5) in a bid to remain in contention for the Division V title while Santana (7- 4) will play at No. 2 Bonita Vista (5-5) in Friday’s quarterfinals. Monte Vista (6-5) will take its act to No. 4 Hoover (6-4).
Monte Vista may have scored the biggest upset in the first round by taking down No. 5 Fallbrook, 34-33, to hand the Warriors a rare 0-11 season.
The last time the Monarchs made the playoffs was in 2017 when they won the Division IV section championship.
“Hoover is very talented, and we have a tough one,” Monte Vista coach Ron Hamamoto said. “Two leading rushers in the county are going against each other (Monte Vista senior Alex Villanueva and Hoover senior Sir Autry). It should be fun to watch.”
Foothills Christian (6-3) will host No. 3 Calvin Christian (6-3) in Friday’s Division VI semifinals. The winner will face the winner between No. 1 St. Joseph Academy (8-1) and No. 4 Horizon Prep (6-2) in the championship game on Nov. 22 at Palomar College.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Granite Hills is unbeaten in its last three games, including a record-setting performance in its final regular season contest against the visiting Grossmont Foothillers when the teams combined for 136 points — 90 points by the Grossmont Hills League champion Eagles (single game record).
Team leaders include sophomore quarterback Zac Benitez (1,765 passing yards, 22 touchdowns) and senior ball-carrier Max Turner (1,550 rushing yards, 23 touchdowns).
Mt. Miguel won last year’s Division IV championship but has moved all the way up to Division I under the new playoff seeding formula. It’s based on success on the field but the Matadors rate to see much tougher competition this year in postseason play.
“I’m not a fan of the new format but our goal is to win a championship,” Mt. Miguel head coach Verlain Betofe said frankly. “That has always been the goal no matter what format it is. We just need to continue starting fast and playing Matador football. We are jumping up three divisions from Division IV, but we are definitely ready for the challenge.”
Quarterbacks will be on display in the guise of El Capitan senior Brandt Barker (1,733 yards, 18 TD) and Grossmont senior Thomas Donovan (3,596 yards, 47 TD).
Top receivers include Grossmont junior Noah Walker (1,237 yards, 22 TD) and Grossmont senior Parker Vanderbergh (1,141 yards, 13 TD).
Villanueva leads the section with 2,104 rushing yards (191.3 yards per game) while Autry has rushed for 1,621 yards with 23 touchdowns.