the high school scoreboard

The top-ranked Helix Highlanders scored all of their points in a span of twenty-two seconds late, late in the fourth quarter of their San Diego CIF Open Division semifi­nal against visiting St. Augustine on Friday night, advancing to the section title game with a 12-7 victory over the fourth-seeded Saints at Benton Hart Stadium.

Senior Sammy Stewart, already an es­tablished solid player for the Highlander varsity basketball team, may end up being remembered in Helix football lore after his 28-yard interception return with 2:01 remaining, actually giving Helix all of its points in a matter of those 22 split-seconds after being shutout for most of the game.

It was a far contrast from a regular-season meeting with Saints at Mesa College when Helix won, 44-38. The Highlanders needed to overcome a seven-turnover night in order to win this one.

The Scotties will now face the third-seed­ed Carlsbad Lancers, the Avocado League champs who defeated second-seeded Ca­thedral Catholic, 21-20, behind three touch­downs from senior receiver Cole Wright, one of the county’s top players this season. The game will be played at Southwestern College’s DeVore Stadium on Saturday at 7. Both teams are 10-1 this season.

Highlander junior Jerry Riggens blocked a punt that was recovered by junior team­mate Jaiden Brown at the St. Augustine 12-yard line with under five minutes to play in the semifinal game.

Despite needing seven plays, Helix senior Keionte Scott caught a toss for a sweep that resulted in a 10-yard score to bring Helix within an extra-point from tying the game. However, the Highlanders were called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which created a 35-yard PAT, which was subse­quently no good.

On St. Augustine’s ensuing possession, Stewart stepped in front of a third-and-12 pass from the Saint 18-yard line and returned his pick into the end zone.

Already without record-set­ting senior running back Ele­lyon Noa, who was lost for the season to a left foot injury in the sixth game, Helix may be forced to shore up its possibly even-more depleted offensive backfield for the section final against the Lancers with a com­bination of Army-bound senior Delshawn Traylor and Scott.

Helix senior Jeremiah Fletch­er had a sack and the Highland­er defense held Saints to just 120 yards, including just five yards total on the ground. Scott added an interception.

The Highlanders have won just one of three meetings against Carlsbad – coming in the last meeting between the two schools, a 35-14 decision in 2008.

For the Scotties, the trip to the finals is their sixth-straight title-game berth, including a fifth Open Division appearance. Helix is going for a tenth San Diego Section championship.

(4) ORANGE GLEN (7-4) vs. (1) SANTANA (10-1) – At El Capitan High, the Sultans will have their San Diego CIF Divi­sion IV semifinal game against red-hot visitor Orange Glen at the Vaqueros’ stadium on Friday night at 7.

Awkwardly, the Sultans’ field at Santee Community Stadium is undergoing renovations start­ing this week.

Sultan senior quarterback Nathan Temple passed for 185 yards and two touchdowns and senior running back Brooks Moutaw rushed for 108 yards and two scores in a 40-28 quarterfinal win over visiting Escon­dido last Friday night, which suddenly ended up being the final home game for the senior-laden club.

Moutaw had a 24-yard touch­down run and Temple had an 11-yard touchdown pass to soph­omore Ethan Wright but the game was tied at 14-all after one.

After Jayce Lynch had a sack and recovered a forced fumble for the Sultans, Moutaw added a 26-yard touchdown in the sec­ond to give Santana a 21-7 half­time lead.

Temple connected with se­nior Randall Smith on a 7-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Smith has a Santana-record 33 career touchdowns.

Senior Nathan Hughes had a 48-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter to give Santana a 33-14 lead.

Senior Dawud Saddler rushed for 36 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown in the fourth quar­ter, and blocked an extra-point attempt after the Cougars’ first score of the game. He also had nine tackles for Santana.

Junior Jared Forster had seven receptions for 117 yards for San­tana. Forster is third in Santana history with 130 receptions.

Sultan senior Michael Rich­ter continued his torrid pace for sacks, wrapping up two more in the victory, giving him a 14 1/2 on the season. He also had 10 tackles in the win.

Orange Glen is led by senior Cael Patterson, who is current­ly fifth on the all-time section career rushing list with 5,508 yards. He is also in the section’s top ten all-time with 63 career rushing touchdowns and 73 overall career touchdowns. He also ranks near the top five in the section in all-time points scored in a career.

The Sultans and Patriots will meet for the third time, with the previous two meetings coming in 1967-68, including a 7-6 San­tana win in a game played at Monte Vista High.

Santana is playing in its sixth section division semifinal and is aiming for its third title-game appearance and a first-ever sec­tion division championship.

The winner of Friday night’s game will advance to meet the winner of another semifinal between second-seeded Serra (9-2) and sixth-seeded La Jolla Coun­try Day (9-3) in the Division IV championship game at DeVore Stadium on Friday, Nov. 29 at 1 p.m.

The Sultans already own a 31- 14 win over the Conquistadors at Serra back in Week 2. Santana also won a memorable postsea­son game against the Torreys, 76-55, in a firstround matchup last season. This year’s LJCD squad is averaging nearly 47 points per game.

Elsewhere, ninth-seeded Oceanside (8-4) erased a 19-0 Steele Canyon lead to upset the Division I top-seeded Cougars, 26-19, in overtime last Friday. Senior Chance Johnson surely is the special teams player of the year in the county after he returned his fifth kick for a touchdown this season in the contest, a 72-yard punt return. The Cougs finished 9-2.

Fourth-seeded Madison (7-4) eliminated fifth-seeded Gross­mont (8-4) behind senior rush­ing star Ke’ontae Springs’s 400-plus yards of total offense and five touchdowns. Grossmont senior back Robert Tucker was nearly as impressive in the fin­est performance of his career, gaining 228 total yards and scor­ing four touchdowns, including three in the first half. Foothiller senior quarterback Jaime Odom finished his illustrious career with nearly 8,800 yards of total offense to finish in the top ten all-time in section history.

In Division II, sixth-seeded Christian was knocked out by third-seeded Vista, 35-14, in a quarterfinal game last Friday. Patriot junior quarterback Gabe Krug scored a pair of touchdowns, including his second af­ter unknowingly breaking his collarbone on the first play of the scoring drive, which includ­ed a couple of passes.

In Division III, the West Hills Wolf Pack (7-5) stunned the county’s stingiest defense with a game-opening touchdown drive on a pass from senior Kole Klingerman to senior Steven Cristiini, but the undefeated, top-seeded Scripps Ranch Fal­cons (11-0) took advantage of a pair of rare Pack turnovers and turned them into scores in the first half of a 42-7 win.