Sixteen teams remain undefeated through the opening four weeks of play in the 2025 San Diego Section tackle football season.
The lone East County team is Steele Canyon after the Cougars topped host Rancho Christian, 42-14, last Friday in Temecula.
The perfect start has allowed Steele Canyon to jump up the early season rankings to No. 24 from No. 28 last week, which would place the Rancho San Diego team in the middle of the Division II tier if the playoffs started today.
The Cougars continue to trail Granite Hills in the section rankings. The Eagles dropped to No. 6 from No. 5 after coming up short, 31-21, last Friday at Mission Hills. Granite Hills, which saw its perfect 3-0 start end, would be the No. 2-seeded team in the Division I playoff tier. Mission Hills (4-0) moves into the No. 1 ranking among Division I teams.
Lincoln, which suffered its first loss to the season, 34-24, to Mission Viejo last Friday at home, remains No. 1 in the section rankings ahead of No. 2 Cathedral Catholic (3-0), No. 3 La Costa Canyon (4-0) and No. 4 Carlsbad (4-0).
Those top four-ranked teams would constitute the section’s Open Division playoff tier at present.
But there’s still a long way to go until the playoffs start. Seeding will not be accomplished under the final regular season game is in the books.
“Had too many mistakes on the offensive side of the ball,” Granite Hills head coach Kellan Cobbs said. “Need to clean things up moving forward. Special teams units need to be better as well. Have two more tough teams to play before we get to league play. When we put together the schedule, we knew this would be a hard stretch. Good early tests in the season for us.”
The Eagles aren’t the only team waiting to take flight.
Mt. Miguel climbed up to No. 9 in the section poll after topping the visiting Torrey Pines Falcons, 14-10, last Friday in Spring Valley. The Matadors would join Granite Hills in the Division 1 playoff tier alongside Helix Charter, which currently occupies the No. 15 spot.
Mt. Miguel improved to 3-1 on the season while Helix saw its record dip to 1-3 following a 41- 14 non-league loss at Oceanside (1-3).
Granite Hills takes its show on the road to undefeated Los Alamitos (4-0) this Friday as non-league play continues.
Helix hosts Cathedral Catholic in a behemoth matchup while Mt. Miguel travels to No. 10 Poway (2-2).
STILL THE ONES
Of the section’s 16 unbeaten teams, 10 sport 4-0 records: No. 3 La Costa Canyon, No. 4 Carlsbad, No. 5 Mission Hills, No. 20 Central Union, No. 22 Imperial, No. 24 Steele Canyon, No. 26 Santa Fe Christian, No. 29 Mission Bay, No. 39 Olympian and No. 46 Army-Navy Academy.
The leaves six teams with 3-0 marks: No. 2 Cathedral Catholic, No. 12 Rancho Bernardo, No. 14 Point Loma, No. 25 Bishop’s, No. 33 San Diego and No. 35 Mira Mesa.
COUGAR COUNTRY
Steele Canyon employed a total team effort to subdue the Eagles, including two rushing touchdowns from junior Abel Lopez and one passing touchdown from junior quarterback Gavin Caha.
It’s the best start for the Cougars since going 9-0 to start the 2019 season. The team has already matched last season’s total of four wins (4-7 record). There are six regular season games, including four Grossmont Hills League games, remaining on this year’s schedule.
Steele Canyon rolled up 294 yards in total offense, including 185 rushing yards.
Junior Marcus Hunt keyed the Cougars with 97 all-purpose yards (70 rushing, 27 receiving) while Lopez was credited with 92 all-purpose yards (69 rushing, 23 receiving).
Caha completed seven of 11 attempts fort 109 yards spread around to six receivers. Junior Trevor Zenno had one catch for 19 yards while senior Josiah Stocker had one catch for 17 yards and senior Jacob Henton had one catch for 12 yards.
Henton finished the game with 58 total yards by adding 46 rushing yards.
Junior Gunner Minich turned in a monster defensive game with two interceptions, including one for a touchdown, and a fumble recovery.
Senior Vincent Pryor paced the visitors with nine tackles, including seven unassisted stops, while junior Luke Rode chalked up six tackles.
Steele Canyon scored six touchdowns with senior Ace Woolf successfully converting all six point-after-touchdown attempts. The 42 points were a high mark so far this season.
Rancho Christian dropped to 1-3.
The Cougars travel to neighborhood rival Valhalla for Friday’s Jamacha Helmet rivalry game. Kick-off is 7 p.m.
Steele Canyon won last year’s helmet game by a score of 45-14.
EAGLES NEST
Granite Hills’ vaunted passing game was done in by a pair of interception returns for touchdowns that proved the difference in a 10-point loss at Mission Hills.
Junior Xavier St. John scored on a 24-yard pick-six early in the game and senior John Garcia iced the game with an 82-yard pick-six late in the contest.
Between those key defensive plays, Eagles junior signal-caller Zac Benitez passed for 294 yards while connecting on 28 of 42 attempts with three touchdowns to offset the two interception returns.
He hit seven receivers — eight times to senior Noah Walker for 79 yards with one touchdown, six times to senior Tristan Diaz for 54 yards, five times to senior Rocket Demery for 52 yards and one touchdown, four times to junior Zhedan Smith for 38 yards, three times to senior D.J. Wilkins for 52 yards, once to junior Davion Williams for 11 yards and once to senior Emilio Vera for eight yards and one touchdown.
Granite Hills won last year’s Division I championship while Mission Hills qualified as the No. 4 and final seed in the Open Division bracket, dropping a 13- 7 overtime decision to eventual champion Lincoln.
