It’s called the second season and entry into this year’s San Diego Section football playoffs will ring true for a bounty of 12 East County high school teams.
The Granite Hills Eagles and Mt. Miguel Matadors lead the way with berths in the Division I field. Grossmont Hills League champion Granite Hills is seeded No. 2 while Grossmont Hills League runner-up Mt. Miguel is seeded No. 3. Both teams are 7-3 and have byes in the opening round that kicks off Friday, Nov. 7.
Three East County teams are entered in the Division II field: No. 2 Steele Canyon (7-3), No. 7 Helix Charter (4-6) and No. 9 Grossmont (9-1). Steele has a first-round bye and will face either Helix Charter or No. 10 San Pasqual (7-3) in the division quarterfinals.
The Grossmont Valley League champion Grossmont Foothillers have a road assignment at No. 8 St. Augustine (4-6) in Friday’s opening round. The winner faces No. 1 Santa Fe Christian (10-0) in the quarterfinals.
Christian (3-7) received the No. 6 seed in the Division III field and will host No 11 Brawley (2-8) in Friday’s opening round. The winner meets No. 3 Ramona (5-5) in the quarterfinals on Nov. 14.
El Capitan has the rare chance to win back-to-back Division IV championships after receiving the No. 2 seed. The Vaqueros (4-6) will host either No. 7 Coronado (6-3) or No. 10 La Jolla Country Day (4-6) in the division quarterfinals.
West Hills (4-6) received the No. 12 seed and will play at No. 5 Eastlake (4-6) in Friday’s opening round.
The Division V bracket boasts three East County teams: No. 3 Monte Vista (5-5), No 7 Santana (5-5) and No. 11 Valhalla (3-7).
Sunset League runner-up Mountain Empire (8-2) received the No. 3 seed in the six-team Division 5-AA bracket and will host No. 6 Victory Christian Academy (5-5) in the quarterfinals on Nov. 8.
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Granite Hills (7-3) will host Friday’s winner between No. 7 Rancho Bernardo (8-2) and No. 10 Del Norte (4-6).
Should both Granite Hills and Mt. Miguel win their quarterfinal games, they would pair up in the division semifinals on Nov. 14. Granite Hills edged visiting Mt. Miguel, 26-16, in a Grossmont Hills League contest on Oct. 10.
Both the Eagles and Matadors enter post-season play with momentum on their side.
The Eagles defeated host Steele Canyon, 35-10, on Oct. 30 to wrap up an undefeated Grossmont Hills League season at 4-0 in league play. It’s the El Cajon team’s fourth consecutive league title.
“It is great to win another league championship,” Granite Hills head coach Kellan Cobbs said. “It’s our fifth in the last six years and our coaches and players are very proud of that. We will have a first-round bye then take on the winner of Rancho Bernardo and Del Norte. If we win, we will have with Mount Miguel, Holtville or Oceanside. Somehow Lincoln fell to Division I, so if we can get that far it should be a great game for both of us.”
The Eagles topped the Hornets, 27-26, on the last play of the game two years ago in the Open Division final. Granite Hills defeated San Marcos, 42- 25, to win last year’s Division I championship.
Junior quarterback Zac Benitez passed for 197 yards with four touchdowns and one interception while junior Seth Rodriguez rushed nine times for 58 yards and one touchdown. Senior Isaiah Rodriguez had two catches for 39 yards and two touchdowns while senior Noah Walker (four catches, 57 yards) and senior Rocket Demery (two catches, 38 yards) each caught one scoring pass.
Granite Hills out-gained Steele Canyon 351-257 in total offensive yards, including 157- 60 in rushing yards.
Junior Gage Spalding rushed six times for 62 yards while junior Davion Williams rushed five times for 22 yards. Junior Zhedan Smith had three catches for 44 yards.
Benitez led the team with 210 total yards by tacking on 13 rushing yards.
The Granite defense was like a rock with one fumble recovery and 8.5 sacks, including 1.5 by senior Kyler Oberg and one each by freshman Jamir Alvarez, junior Cayden Phillips, senor Landon Hart, senior Wyatt McLeod, senor Hunter Hamilton and senior Braydon Wells. Seniors A.J. Lytle-Oleson and Keaton Boyce shared on sack.
Hart had the fumble recovery while junior Jacob Nunez logged five kicking points.
In 10 games, Benitez has passed for 2,969 yards with 30 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He’s also rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns to finish the regular season with a 113.9 quarterback efficiency rating.
Rushing leaders include Williams with 451 yards and two touchdowns, Spalding with 146 yards and two touchdowns, junior Anthony Mattar with 135 yards and two touchdowns and Rodriguez with 125 yards and two touchdowns.
Receiving leaders include Walker with913 yards and 11 touchdowns, senior D.J. Wilkins with 481 yards and four touchdowns, Smith with 467 yards and three touchdowns, senior Tristan Diaz with 453 yards and one TD and Demery with 41Sizrt4 yards and five touchdowns.
Overall, 11 players have caught at least one pass and eight have caught at least one touchdown. Sixteen players have had at least one carry and seven have scored at least one touchdown.
Steele Canyon, meanwhile, enters postseason play riding a three-game losing streak following a 7-0 season start. Still, the Cougars are in prime position to make a run at a CIF championship.
In the loss to Granite Hills, junior Gavin Caha passed for 197 yards but no touchdowns or interceptions. Sophomore Dreyvione Lewis rushed 12 times for 56 yards and one touchdown. Senior Jacob Henton had six catches for 109 yards in the loss.
On defense, senior Vincent Pryor had one interception for the Cougars wile junior Luke Rode had one fumble recovery.
In 10 games, Caha has passed for 1,828 yards with 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions for a 177.1 quarterback rating. Junior Abel Lopez has rushed for 345 yards and four touchdowns. Senior Nico Jara has four receiving touchdowns to his credit while Henton and junior Josiah Stocker have each caught three TD passes. Senior Noah De Arcos and junior Trevor Zenno each have two touchdown grabs.
Defensively, junior Gunner Minich leads the team with 46 tackles and two interceptions while senior Tyree Zarkaryan has four sacks and Pryor has two fumble recoveries.
El Capitan defeated Westview in a close game last year to win the Division IV championship. The Vaqueros finished 0-4 in Grossmont Hills League play, so the overall record is somewhat deceiving.
El Cap entered league play on a four-game winning streak and was 4-2 against non-league opponents. In wrapping up regular season play against Mt. Miguel, a 42-10 loss, the Vaqueros received a rushing touchdown from sophomore Michael Castillo and a field goal and PAT by junior Ryder Powers.
Sophomore Hayden Passanisi passed for 127 yards as the hosts were out-gained 443-207 in yardage and trailed 28-0 at halftime. Hassanisi has passed for 963 yards and six touchdowns while Castillo has rushed for 522 yards and four touchdowns.
Senior Brody Copp has scored three rushing touchdowns while senior Logan Dulyea has nabbed three receiving TD. What the Lakeside team may lack in offense, the team makes up for in defense.
Senior Spencer Chastang, who has rolled up 525 all-purpose yards with two scores, ranks second on the team defensively with 65 tackles and first with two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
Senior Brewin Ford tops the Vaqs with 70 tackles, including 14.5 stops for a loss to go with seven sacks.
Mountain Empire and Victory Christian Academy are not strangers as they met in Sunset League play on Sept. 26 with the Redhawks pulling off a tantalizing 36-35 victory.
Mountain Empire is coming off a 54-12 victory against Foothills Christian on Halloween as junior Chance Ross completed 10 of 13 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns and sophomore Elisha Lashone- Robinson rushed for 228 yards with three TD.
