Three weeks into the 2024 high school football season, there is a sudden glut of eight East County teams with winning records. Six of those teams recorded their second victories of the season — against one loss — last weekend while the Mt. Miguel Matadors earned kudos as the region’s lone unbeaten team.
The Granite Hills Eagles tasted defeat for the first time via a 39-21 loss to the Perry Pumas from Gilbert, Ariz., in a spotlight Honor Bowl game Saturday at Cathedral Catholic High School. Senior Max Turner rushed for 195 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to propel the East County’s top-ranked team past the Pumas, who are ranked 10th in Arizona.
The Eagles, ranked No. 5 among section teams, host Eastlake in a non-league battle Friday at 7 p.m.
Turner has rushed for 591 yards and scored nine touchdowns in three games.
In a spotlight pairing of two of last year’s San Diego Section champions — Division III (La Jolla Country Day) and Division IV (Mt. Miguel) — the Matadors prevailed by a score of 35-21 in a game full of highlights last Friday in La Jolla.
The Matadors, now with a perfect 3-0 record, stand as East County’s lone undefeated prep football team. Mt. Miguel continues to climb the CalPreps rankings, entering Week 3 at No. 12 among the section’s 87-ranked 11-man teams.
Matadors head coach Verlain Betofe believes his squad can climb even higher.
“We won 35-21 but it shouldn’t have even been that close,” he said. “We just have to keep working out the kinks. We will be better this week just have to play with more attention to detail.”
The Matadors return to the gridiron this Friday against the 17th-ranked Bishop’s Knights (1-1) in La Jolla. Kick-off is 7 p.m.
Junior quarterback A.J. Stowers completed 17 of 23 passing attempts for 203 yards and two touchdowns and tacked on four carries for 45 yards and one rushing touchdown to help power last Friday’s win.
Junior Parris Vernon had two rushes for 40 yards and one touchdown and four catches for 96 yards while junior Brandon Arrington had one carry for a two-yard score.
Junior A.J. Logan had seven receptions for 68 yards and one touchdown while junior K.J. Shields had one touchdown catch for 19 yards.
The Grossmont Foothillers, Steele Canyon Cougars, Santana Sultans, Valhalla Norsemen and Christian Patriots at the 11-person level and Foothills Christian at the eight-person level all currently sport 2-1 non-league records.
Not to be overlooked, the Helix Highlanders, West Hills Wolf Pack and Monte Vista Monarchs each recorded their first wins of the season last weekend.
Of East County’s 14 prep pigskin squads, 13 now have scored at least one victory this season.
Grossmont won its second consecutive outing by topping host Mira Mesa, 32-28, last Friday. ss quarterback Thomas Donovan remained hot with four more touchdown passes to give him 16 TD passes in three games.
Senior Parker Vanderburgh (eight catches, 128 yards) and junior Noah Walker (six catches, 137 yards) each caught two scoring passes for the Foothillers.
Donovan has passed for 1,237 yards with a 115.7 QB rating.
Senior John Weaver IV helped drive Steele Canyon’s 49-13 non-league win over visiting Morse last Friday with 99 rushing yards and three touchdowns and a fourth touchdown in the game on a pass reception.
Santana returned to the win column by topping visiting Hilltop, 37-14, last Friday as senior Kaedyn Hallman rushed for 210 yards and scored three touchdowns (six on the season).
Junior Jackson Newman passed for 193 yards and touchdown strikes to junior Lorenzo Matos (15 yards) and freshman Paul Sako (28 yards) while senior Marcus Mikhail rushed for one touchdown to help lift host Valhalla past San Ysidro, 21-14.
Junior Jadon Williams passed for 210 yards and three touchdowns while senior Jacob Morones rushed for 130 yards and two scores to lead the visiting Christian Patriots past Mission Bay, 48-7, last Friday.