High school football teams kicked off official fall practices on Monday, July 31. All teams will be looking forward to the new season and a chance to make a name for themselves.
Granite Hills High School is coming off its most successful season in school history after winning Grossmont Hills League, San Diego Section Division II, Southern California regional and Division 2-A state championships.
The Eagles finished 13-2 overall with nine consecutive wins to conclude their memorable monster season.
Granite Hills kicks off the highly anticipated 2023 season with an Aug. 11 scrimmage against 2022 Open Division champion Lincoln before hosting Mission Hills on Aug. 18 in a non-league game in its season opener.
The Eagles play St. Augustine on Sept. 1 (neutral site), Eastlake on Sept. 8 (home), Central Union on Sept. 14 (away) and Madison on Sept. 22 (home) in a string of non-league encounters before kicking off league play in a realigned Grossmont Hills League following the addition of Santana and West Hills.
Granite Hills travels to Santana on Sept. 29 then hosts West Hills on Oct. 6. The Eagles play at Steele Canyon on Oct. 13 and host Helix Charter on Oct. 20. Granite Hills closes out regular season play with a league match-up at Grossmont on Oct. 26.
With the expansion of the GHL to six teams, each team will play five league games as opposed to just three league games in recent seasons. Thus, the 2023 league season will be more challenging for all teams concerned.
Steele Canyon kicks off its season Aug. 18 with a nonleague road match at Heritage, followed by a non-league home game Aug. 25 against Madison. The Cougars host neighborhood rival Valhalla in a non-league game on Sept. 15 before hosting Grossmont in its league opener on Sept. 29.
This year’s five-team Grossmont Valley League lineup includes Mount Miguel, El Capitan, El Cajon Valley, Monte Vista and Valhalla. Each team will play four league games and six non-league games.
El Capitan kicks off its season with non-league road games Aug. 18 at Valley Center and Aug. 25 at Canyon Hills before hosting La Jolla on Sept. 1. The Vaqueros’ league opener is Sept. 29 against visiting Monte Vista.
Games are once again being played on Thursday, Friday and Saturday this season throughout the section.
Girls flag football makes its debut as a section sport this fall. First games are scheduled Aug. 12 with final regular season games scheduled Oct. 31 prior to playoff competition.
San Diego State University’s football team has followed suit with the opening of training camp with less than a month to prepare for its season opener.
“We’re excited to start fall camp,” SDSU head coach Brady Hoke said. “It’s been a really good summer. We have to do a great job to finish our development. That’s one thing I think this football team has done a really good job of, is developing during. the summer and here in the spring, but we’ve got some more to do before we play Ohio University on Aug, 26.”
“As coaches, the most important things and responsibilities are fostering and developing our players. Not just as football players and individuals, but as men. We’re constantly putting the pressure on to develop our players, and our team has worked hard. We came off another bowl season, which was great, but we were disappointed with the finish of the season. Obviously, we want to win championships, and we haven’t done that since 2016, so we have a lot of work to do but I’m excited about what’s ahead of us.”
The Aztecs host the first three games of the upcoming 2023 season at Snapdragon Stadium: Aug. 26 against the Ohio Bobcats (4 p.m. start), Sept. 2 against Idaho State (7:30 p.m. start) and Sept. 9 against UCLA (4:30 p.m. start).
SDSU makes a quick road trip to Oregon State on Sept. 16 (12:30 p.m. start) before returning to Mission Valley to host Boise State (7:30 p.m. start) in its Mountain West Conference opener.
The Aztecs’ final eight games comprise the team’s MW schedule. Home games include Nevada on Oct. 21 (TBA start), Utah State on Nov. 4 (TBA start) and Fresno State on Nov. 25 (TBA start). Road games include Air Force Academy on Sept. 30 (5 p.m. PT start), Hawaii on Oct. 14 (8 p.m. PT start), Colorado State on Nov. 11 (4 p.m. PT start) and San Jose State on Nov. 18 (7:30 p.m. start).
SDSU is fourth in the conference preseason rankings behind No. 1 Boise State, No. 2 Air Force and No. 3 Fresno State. Rounding out the 12-team conference rankings are No. 5 San Jose State, No. 6 Wyoming, No. 7. Wyoming, No. 8 Utah State, No. 9 UNLV, No. 10 Hawaii, No. 11 Nevada and No. 12 New Mexico.
The Aztecs finished 7-6 last season and have put together a streak of 13 consecutive seasons without a losing campaign.
On a positive note, West Hills alumnus Jack Browning has been named the MW preseason Special Teams player of the year.
