State football championship bowl games are scheduled this weekend, Friday-Saturday, Dec. 8-9, at three locations: El Camino College, Pasadena City College and Saddleback College.
Of the six San Diego Section qualifiers for last weekend’s Southern California regional championships, only one – Sweetwater High School in Division 6-A – pushed through to a state bowl game.
East County was represented in two regional championship games: Open Division section champion Granite Hills in Division 1-AA and Division IV section champion Mt. Miguel in Division 3-A.
Granite Hills (12-1) built an early 14-0 lead but succumbed, 49-21, on the strength of 49 unanswered points by host Mission Viejo (12-3) last Friday while Mt. Miguel (12-2) scored early but fell short, 52-21, against the host Mayfair Monsoons on Saturday.
Division I section champion St. Augustine (10-5) ended its season with a 21-20 loss to visiting St. Bonaventure (12- 3) on Saturday in the Division 1-A SoCal final while Division II section champion Del Norte (11-3) was eclipsed on the final play by a score of 30-28 to Lake Balboa Birmingham (12-2) in last Friday’s Division 3-AA So- Cal final.
Division III section champion La Jolla Country Day (11-4) lost 41-21 at Banning (9-6) in Saturday’s Division 5-A SoCal final.
Sweetwater, the Division V section champion, will meet undefeated Colusa (13-0) for the Division 6-A state title after topping visiting Santa Monica St. Monica (11-4) by a score of 47-27 in Saturday’s regional. The Red Devils are riding a current five-game winning streak and rank among the state rushing leaders with 375.2 yards per game (nearly triple the national average).
Colusa, the Sacramento Valley League champion, won the NorCal regional championship with a 42-6 win over South San Francisco (12-2) on Saturday. Saturday’s Division 6-A state bowl game kicks off at 11 a.m. at El Camino College in Torrance.
Granite Hills saw its 21-game winning streak end despite taking a two-touchdown lead on a five-yard scoring run by junior Max Turner and a one-yard wildcat run by junior Pablo Jackson. But the host Diablos did not buckle. Instead, Mission Viejo reeled off seven unanswered touchdowns to advance to Friday’s state bowl championship game against Concord De La Salle (11-2) at 8 p.m. at Saddleback College.
Seven-time state champion De La Salle defeated Clovis North, 41-0, to win the Northern California regional.
Senior Josh Zander hauled in a 45-yard halfback pass from Jackson on the game’s first play and Eagles frosh quarterback Zachary Benitez later hit junior Brendan Lewis on a 32-yard pass to set up the game’s opening touchdown to finish off an 85-yard drive.
Jackson broke loose for a 35-yard gain to get Granite Hills’ second scoring drive started, a 62-yard field march. Mission Viejo ended the first half with touchdowns on three consecutive drives to take a 21- 14 halftime lead.
The hosts capped a 65-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown run by junior Hinnesward Lilomaiava. Mission Viejo sophomore quarterback Luke Fahey connected with classmate Vance Spafford on a 32-yard touchdown pass before Lilomaiava finished off a 70-yard drive with a two-yard scoring run.
A 46-yard interception return by sophomore Jeron Jones and a fumble recovery deep in Granite Hills territory that led to a five yard scoring run by sophomore Phillip Bell essentially put the game away as the Diablos took a 35-14 lead on the scoreboard.
Fahey later scored on a 15-yard run and tossed a three yard score to junior Grant Nichols that was set up by an interception by senior Travis Anderson. The visitors closed out scoring in the game on a four-yard TD pass from Benitez to Lewis.
Benitez passed for 146 yards, completing 13 of 28 attempts, with one touchdown and two interceptions while rushing for negative-seven yards for a dreary 32.7 quarterback efficiency rating.
Jackson rushed 12 times for 56 yards while Turner rushed 15 times for 43 yards while completing one pass for 45 yards to finish the game with 101 total yards.
Zander has seven catches for 79 yards while senor Nokoi Maddox had two catches for 48 yards, Lewis had two catches for 36 yards.
Mission Viejo out-gained Granite Hills 406-283 in total yards.
Fahey passed for 208 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Lilomaiava gained 81 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns while Fahey rushed for 79 yards on seven attempts with one touchdown. Spafford had three catches for 81 yards and one TD while Bell had eight catches for 68 yards.
Junior Dijon Lee Jr. had three catches for 46 yards. Lee keyed the Diablos with 116 allpurpose yards by tacking on 70 yards on kick returns. Fahey led all players on the field with 287 total yards (79 rushing, 208 passing). Defensively, the hosts recorded three sacks, two interceptions and one fumble recovery. Granite Hills senior Robert Petrich closed out the game with three kicking points – all on extra-point tries.
The Diablos, who defeated Servite, 34-15, to win the CIF Southern Section Division II championship, previously reached the state title game in 2015.
