With the El Capitan Vaqueros moving to the Grossmont Hills League this season, there will be a new football champion in the Grossmont Valley League in 2025.
Who will it be?
The Monte Vista Monarchs? The Grossmont Foothillers? The West Hills Wolf Pack? The Santana Sultans? The Valhalla Norsemen? The El Cajon Valley Braves?
It could be any of them but the Monarchs and Foothillers have to be considered among the favorites based on last season’s finishes.
Monte Vista finished in a tie with West Hills for runnerup honors in last year’s GVL standings with 3-2 league records. Following in order were Valhalla and Santana, both with 2-3 league showings, and El Cajon Valley at 0-5. The Monarchs had the best finish among the bunch.
Monte Vista finished the 2024 prep pigskin season in elite company with a second-place finish in the Division 6-A State championship game. The Monarchs rode a late season sixgame winning streak to meet the Summerville Bears in Fullerton for the state championship, though they came up short in a 38-21 loss to end a special season with a final 10-6 record.
Grossmont, meanwhile, jumps leagues after engineering a run of its own to last year’s Division IV semifinal playoffs — a 35-14 loss to second-seeded El Capitan preventing the third-seeded Foothillers from advancing to the CIF championship game (won 17-14 by the Vaqueros over fifth-seeded Westview).
Like Monte Vista, El Capitan capped its season with a runner- up finish in the state bowl round following a loss to Carmel in the Division 5-AA state championship game.
Overall, it was a magical 2024 season for Monte Vista, star running back Alex Villanueva and head coach Ron Hamamoto.
Villanueva set a new singleseason section mark with 3,006 career rushing yards while Hamamoto retired after the season as a coaching legend with 246 career wins, third-best all-time in the section.
Page Culver succeeds Hamamoto as field general this season. It’s the third time in his long career at the Spring Valley school that Culver has served as head coach of the Monarchs following prior stints in 2000 and 2004-11.
The 2004 Monarch team finished 11-1.
The 2025 Monte Vista team kicks off a new coaching era Aug. 22 with a home game against the Crawford Colts.
“Anytime a new coach takes over, even if he was on staff with the previous coach there are going to be some growing pains,” Culver explained. “Players and coaches have to adjust to their new roles and ideas the new staff may have. New ideas and opportunities can also bring excitement and hope.
“We have six returning starters on offense but replacing Alex Villanueva will be difficult. I expect us to be more efficient this season with a returning quarterback Derrick Taylor and all- league wide receiver Rahshaun Florence. With only one returning offensive lineman, it may take some time to gel.
“On defense we have eight returning starters on defense. I believe the defense will have to carry us early in the season. With eight returners we should be able to hit the ground running.” But last year was an uphill climb as well. The Monarchs started the season somewhat innocuous with a pair of non-league losses (21-0 to Vincent Memorial and 41-35 to Kearny) but gained confidence by Castle Park (35- 19) and Coastal Academy (34- 31) to even their early season non-league record at 2-2.
But ensuing losses to Grossmont (54-33) and El Capitan (36-21) called for a gut-check with a 2-4 record just past midseason.
A 38-21 Halloween night victory at Valhalla jump-started greater things to come. The Monarchs finished regular season play 5-5 and received a big break by securing the final berth in the section’s Division V playoff field. No. 12 Monte Vista promptly proved its worth with a pair of thrill-seeking wins to kick off postseason play — 34- 33 at No. 5 Fallbrook and 47-45 at No. 4 Hoover.
The Monarchs received a semifinal game against No. 1 Vista and prevailed 38-21 to nail down a berth in the division championship game against the No.2 Bonita Vista Barons. Riding the strong legs of star running back Alex Villanueva, the Monarchs won the section title with a commanding 38-21 victory.
The win followed on the legacy of Monte Vista’s 2017 CIF Division IV championship over the San Diego Cavers in which Jahmon McClendon set a new section record with eight touchdowns. The Monarchs weren’t done, as it turned out, by doubling up visiting Pasadena 42- 21, in the Southern California regional championship tilt to nail down a spot in the state bowl game.
The SoCal champions made their presence felt in the season finale after trailing the host Bears 17-14 at halftime. Who will challenge the Monarchs in 2025? West Hills matched Monte Vista’s 3-2 league record of a season ago while posting a 6-6 overall finish.
Top returners include senior kicker/ punter Christian Slojkowski, a third-year starter. And 2024 GVL Kicker of the Year, senior slot Anthony Rosolino, a 2024 GVL honorable mention and senior running back Jacob Romeo, a returning starter.
Impact newcomers include linebackers E.J. Lee and Scott Miller, lineman Cameron Kirkpatrick and quarterback Evin Dill.
“We will be very young with just a few returning starters on each side of the ball,” Wolf Pack coach Casey Ash said. “We had one of our better JV teams last year (8-2, with loses to Lincoln and Imperial), and many of those players will man key positions for us. We should improve over the course of the season and be competitive in our league.”
