The high school football season is swiftly heading to a close in advance of the upcoming San Diego Section playoffs.
Not every team will qualify for postseason play but, with three weeks left in the regular season, an impressive list of 11 East County teams remain in contention.
League champions are automatic qualifiers, with the remainder of the brackets to be filled in with at-large teams.
Granite Hills and Helix Charter, both with lofty 7-0 records, remain on a collision course for this year’s Grossmont Hills League title with an Oct. 20 game at Granite Hills likely crowning this year’s league champion.
Helix entered Thursday’s homecoming game against Santana ranked third among the section’s Division I teams – trailing No. 1 Lincoln (8-0) and No. 2 Carlsbad (7-0). Grossmont Hills League co-leader Granite Hills (7-0) is ranked fourth, followed by No. 5 Mission Hills (3-3), No. 6 Torrey Pines (5-2), No. 7 El Camino (5-2), No. 8 La Costa Canyon (5-2), No. 9 Cathedral Catholic (2-6) and No. 10 St. Augustine (4-3).
The top four Division I teams qualify for the Open Division playoffs.
Twelve teams in Division I, Division II, Division III and Division IV advance to the playoffs while eight teams in Division V and four teams in the new Division V-AA tier also do so.
Mt. Miguel (6-1) and Santana (4-3) are ranked first and second, respectively, among Division IV teams while El Cajon Valley (4-3) and Valhalla (2-6) ranked third and fourth, respectively, among Division V teams.
West Hills (4-3) is ranked third among Division III teams while El Capitan (5-3) is ranked eighth and Grossmont (4-3) is ranked 10th.
Teams on the edge include Steele Canyon, ranked 12th in Division II, and Monte Vista (2- 6), which is ranked eighth in Division V.
Soaring Eagles
Granite Hills remained on a collision course with Helix after rolling past the visiting West Hills Wolf Pack, 52-0, last Friday for homecoming.
Junior Max Turner carried the ball seven times for 96 yards and two touchdowns, including a 50-yard score, while junior Vance Weider had seven carries for 64 yards, including a 32-yard score.
Senior Maddox Peterson scored on a three-yard run to put a running clock in motion late in the first half.
Freshman quarterback Zachary Benitez completed four passes in six passing attempts for 74 yards and one touchdown while also scoring a rushing touchdown.
Benitez passed 30 yards to sophomore Tristin Diaz for a touchdown while senior Josh Zander had three catches for 43 yards.
The Eagles didn’t need too much offense as the team’s defense limited the Wolf Pack to 21 total offensive yards – 34 passing yards and negative 13 rushing yards.
Junior Jerzel Ramirez racked up 38 yards on an interception return for a touchdown.
The Eagles’ royal court included homecoming king Devin Wells and homecoming queen Delaney Fry.
Granite Hills plays at Steele Canyon on Friday.
Cougar country
Steele Canyon evened its Grossmont Hills League record at 1-1 by defeating host Santana last Friday. The Cougars led 34-6 at halftime.
Statistical leaders included junior quarterback Joshua Herber with two passing touchdowns while senior Johnathan Sablan rushed for 230 yards and scored three touchdowns. Senior Javier Trujano caught a 50-yard scoring pass while senior Aaron Gray scored on a 27-yard aerial.
El Capitan improved to 2-0 in Grossmont Valley League play after rolling past Valhalla, 35-9, in a special Thursday night game on Oct. 5 behind three passing touchdowns from junior Brandt Barker, 102 receiving yards and two touchdown catches by senior Chane Lachappa and 128 rushing yards and one touchdown from junior Brady Joralemon.
El Capitan was scheduled to play at Mt. Miguel on Thursday for sole possession of the league lead.
