The on-going incredible saga of Liberty Charter High School senior Micah Sanchez continued at last Saturday’s California state cross country championship meet in Fresno by winning the Division V boys individual championship. Sanchez (15:13.8) won in commanding fashion with an 11-second margin over Menlo senior Justin Petre (15:24.6).
Sanchez traded in his first place finish at the Division V section finals on Nov. 12 at Morley Field for a first-place medal at the state meet two weeks later to continue his amazing season.
He had hoped to break the 15-minute barrier as one of the favorites in the race.
The Liberty Charter runner was one of two San Diego runners to place among the top seven individuals in the race, joining Francis Parker junior York Bourgeois (seventh, 15:39.5).
Sanchez previously had finished eight seconds ahead of Bourgeois at the section finals. Sanchez pulled away on the course’s lone hill with about a mile to go in the race to claim victory without a challenge.
Section champion Liberty Charter placed seventh among the 24 scoring teams at the state championship meet with 240 points. Francis Parker was eighth with 287 points.
Liberty Charter finished 44 points ahead of Francis Parker at the section finals.
Calvin Christian, the third San Diego team to qualify for the state meet, finished 17th in Fresno with 399 points.
The Alpine-based Lions placed three runners in the top third of the 204-deep field. Senior Gabriel Gastelum finished 64th in 17:16.1 while junior Joel Bray was 67th in 17:16.3 to join Sanchez at the front of Liberty Charter’s five scorers. Sophomore Aiden Burr placed 197th in 20:39.8 while classmate Nathan Banks was 201st in 21:01.0.
Crystal Springs Uplands won this year’s Division V boys title with 73 points while Menlo was second with 77 points. Yosemite finished third with 120 points.
Pigskin pride
The San Diego Section football playoffs wrapped up last weekend on a particularly auspicious note as Granite Hills High School won its first CIF championship in school history by defeating the Ramona Bulldogs, 48-12, to claim the Division II title.
Granite Hills had previously advanced to Class 3A championship game in 1979 but finished runner-up to the Morse Tigers.
It’s been 43 years since Granite Hills managed to make a return to a CIF championship game, and the top-seeded Eagles (11-2) made that long awaited return stand up.
Granite Hills scored first on a 46-yard run by senior Zak Darling to take the early advantage on the scoreboard.
But the Bulldogs (8-5) responded with two scores to take a one score lead. Junior Dillon Day scored a rushing touchdown to narrow the score to 7-6 while senior Jonny Cohen intercepted a pass from Eagle senior signal-caller Nico Tomasello and raced 56 yards for a pick-six touchdown.
12-7 Ramona.
The rest of the scoring belonged to Granite Hills on this historic night.
Sophomore Maxwell Turner scored on a six-yard run set up a 54-yard breakaway by Darling to put the Eagles back in front 13-12 on the scoreboard while sophomore Isaiah Jackson followed with a two-yard scoring run to up the score to 20-12.
Maxwell scored on an 18-yard run to push the Grossmont Hills League champions to a 27-12 halftime lead. Granite Hills shut out Ramona 21-0 in the second half.
Tomasello made up for his earlier miscue with a 50-yard pass downfield to senior Easton Peterson. Senior Parlan Sanders later took the ball into the end zone on a 38-yard run while senior Joaquin Thomas Jr. iced the Granite Hills victory with a 28-yard pick six of his own.
Darling close out scoring with his second rushing touchdown of the night on a 10-yard run.
At the conclusion of the game, which ended with a running clock, the Eagles celebrated en masse at the center of the field.
The long wait was finally over.
Darling and Turner both finished the game with a pair of touchdowns while junior Robert Petrich finished the contest with six extra-point conversions.
Peterson and Ramona quarterback Colin Lester represented their respective teams as the game’s sportsmanship award winners.
The Eagles’ flight is not over as they will host Etiwanda (9-5) in a Division 2-A Southern California regional playoff game on Saturday, Dec. 3. Kick-off is 6 p.m.
State bowl championship games are slated Dec. 9-10 at sites across the state.
