In April 2019, El Capitan High School was seeking a new var¬sity boys basketball coach. West Hills High School alumnus Elias Totah took over the reins as a young 23-year-old coach tasked with the challenge of leading the Vaqueros program.
It proved to be a timely move as Totah and his staff helped lead El Capitan to a runner-up finish in the San Diego Section Division IV championship game this past Feb. 28.
But this journey to the CIF fi¬nals was a long and sometimes convoluted one.
“El Capitan had just gone through five head coaches in five seasons,” Totah explained. “It was quite remarkable, to say the least. I was intrigued with the situation. There was a lot of talent that needed to be honed and fine-tuned. The administra¬tion welcomed me with open arms, and I was confident in what I could bring to the table.
“The first practice of the sea¬son, I told our guys that I was focused on one thing — to win a CIF championship. They had not won a championship in the entire school history.”
The Vaqueros had finished 6-19 in 2016-17 and 8-19 the fol¬lowing season, showing there was room to grow following a 15-14 finish in 2018-19 with a quarterfinal-round appearance in the Division IV playoffs.
Totah wanted to take the Vaqs to the next level. Senior forward Jake Pfitzner averaged 22.5 points and 7.4 re¬bounds per game on 49 percent shooting from the field to lead El Cap to an 11-14 regular season record
“He had an impeccable work ethic, always wanting to grow as a shooter and expand his game,” Totah said of Pfitzner. “He was arguably the most physically imposing player on the bas¬ketball floor in every game we played. He will move on and play great basketball wherever he lands at the collegiate level.”
After opening Grossmont Val¬ley League play with four losses by a total of five points, fortunes began to turn around for the Lakeside team.
“Our players grew in that stretch,” Totah said. “We had great senior leadership all sea¬son in Pfitzner as well as forward Blaize Saiz and point guard Har¬rison Morton, both seniors, who understood the moment and what needed to be done to fight through this adversity.”
The Vaqueros qualified for the CIF playoffs as the No. 6 seed in the Division IV bracket and defeated 11th-seeded San Pasqual, the 2019 Division V champion, by a hard-fought 15-point margin (58-43).
El Capitan played from be¬hind in winning its next two playoff games.
Totah said the team’s 58-48 quarterfinal-round win at third-seeded High Tech High San Diego provided the Vaqs with their “first test of playing in a true hostile environment.”
The East County visitors trailed by six points at halftime but made some key adjustments in the second half to counteract High Tech’s front court pres¬ence.
“Freshman big man Micah Odell contributed mightily for us,” Totah noted. “He rebounded, blocked, and altered shots for us and helped us win by 10 points in a game where High Tech hosted its first-ever CIF playoff game.”
The semifinal game against second-seeded O’Farrell Char¬ter, a team with an imposing 25- 4 record and riding a 17-game winning streak, presented more of a challenge.
“We were down as many as 13 points in the first half,” the El Capitan coach recounted. “We cut the lead to eight points at the half and stormed all the way back.”
Saiz, who had a season high 23 points and made the game winning basket with seven seconds to go, led the dramatic comeback.
“It was a game to remember as we prevailed with a three-point victory (58-55) to punch our ticket to the CIF championship game,” Totah said.
El Capitan met the top-seeded Calexico Bulldogs in the cham¬pionship game, with the Bull¬dogs boasting a 27-3 record and a non-league win over the Vaque¬ros earlier in the season. Totah’s crew gave it their best shot, but Calexico prevailed, 70-57, to end the Lakeside team’s season.
“We did not execute the way we wanted to,” Totah said. “We started the game slow and le¬thargic. We could not dig our-selves out of a hole. It was a learning experience for all of us. It still stings, but it does not discredit what we had accom-plished all season long.
“We gained experience and I was truly proud of our players and staff for the incredible sea¬son that we had.”
Totah noted his team has seven players returning for next season. Notable players include sophomore guards Daisean Desinor, R.J. Lugtu and Jordan Bonilla, freshman and sopho¬more big men Odell and Trevor Moklestad and two junior big men Jacob Bergherm and Jacob Howard.
“A multitude of bright young talent that we are excited about that will lead us into next sea¬son,” Totah said. “The future is bright and there will be plenty more monumental seasons that are ahead for El Capitan boys basketball.”
