Oceanside CA— After last nights CIF San Diego Section Quarterfinals, one thing is certain, in two weeks, a team from Oceanside will be in the Championship game at Southwestern College. Which team it is will be determined next Friday when the number 1 seed, El Camino Wildcats host the 5 seed Pirates.
At El Camino, the Wildcats came back from a four point deficit to defeat the Olympian Eagles, 29-21. El Camino got on the board first when Jaden Casey hit Demarcus Griffin for a 27-yard touchdown.
On first down, after the touchback on the kick-off, the Eagles Isaiah Williams took the ball 80 yards down the right sideline for the score but the PAT failed and the Olympians trailed by one.
The Wildcats would extend their lead when Casey hit Malachi Russell for a 44 yard TD but the Eagles came right back. The Wildcats gave up big runs throughout the first half and two long rushes by David Tirey helping set up a quarterback sneak by Nico Mendoza followed by Mendoza hitting TE, Jaden Guerrero for the two point conversion to tie the game at 14.
El Camino took a 3 point lead on a Kevin Perez 15 yard field goal, 17-14 with 1:00 left in the half.
“We’ve been giving up big plays all throughout the half,” said El Camino Head Coach, Michael Hobbs at the break. “It’s not like our defense is allowing them to drive down the field. We are just missing on some tackles and their runners are breaking free for 30, 40 yards. Our offense is out of sync and we are just missing on our passes. We need to be relentless in the second half.”
Things didn’t quite work the way the coach had hoped to start the second half. The Eagles Rashaun Brown busted a run of 44 yards but was stripped of the ball and Sua Tuitasi recovered. El Camino was unable to take advantage of the turnover and the Eagles would take the lead when Mendoza hit Brown in the flat and he went in from 7 yards out giving Olympian a 21-17 advantage.
The Wildcats offense eventually did find their rhythm and got the lead back when Jaden Casey hit Wayne Steward for a 11 yard touchdown but the PAT failed, 21-23 El Camino. The Wildcats would extend their lead late in the game. El Camino lined up for the field goal try but the snap was low getting away from the holder, Brock Manber. Manber scrambled for the loose ball, scooped it up and fired a 25 yard pass to Wayne Steward in the endzone. Again, the PAT was missed but that was all the scoring the Wildcats would need. Steward would seal the deal on defense when he picked off a tipped ball ending any scoring threat by the Eagles. A face mask and an offside penalty would give the Wildcats enough yardage to run the victory formation and run out the clock.
“We pulled it off. I said at half time we had to execute and our defense had to step it up,” said Coach Hobbs after the game. “They did in that last drive. They had some big stops. That’s what we needed and that’s what they did. On offense, we started clicking. We started moving the ball and getting the ball down field. They did everything we needed to do. I commend the boys for never giving up and continuing to fight even when we were down. It’s that relentless effort I was talking about at the half. It’s not a matter of what happened, it’s how you react and that’s exactly what these kids are starting to buy into. We’ve got Oceanside next and it’s up to us to take it to ’em.”
After struggling during the regular season, Oceanside(6-6, 1-5) is peaking at the right time and riding a three game winning streak that began with their only league win over El Camino the last game of the season, 27-24. Friday night the Pirates traveled to Point Loma(6-5, 3-1) upsetting the #4 seed Pointers, 51-35. The Wildcats(6-5, 2-4) defeated Point Loma the first game of the season, 34-12.
On the other side of the Division I bracket, third seed Carlsbad(6-5, 1-5) hosted Cathedral Catholic(5-7, 1-3) and beat the Dons 38-28. Carlsbad will travel to the #2 seed, Eastlake(9-2, 3-1). The Titans defeated Rancho Bernardo 21-16.
Open Division
By David A. Willauer-Contributing Writer
Mission Hills pulled a rabbit out of the hat with key plays from Grizzlies QB, Jeff Tuttle, defeating the Grossmont Foothillers (7-4) by a 52-42 score. The Utah bound QB went 17 completions of 35 for 328 yards and 4 TD’s including of 82 and 8 to Chris Olave, 7 receptions for 193 (scored on a 60 yard punt return), 1 pass of 7 yards to Chris Jones 4 receptions for 93 yards and running of Damon Wigand carried the ball 17 times for 66 yards as he contributed as he ran 5 yards for a touchdown, Isaac Anderson scored on a 1 yard run, on the defensive side Chris Calhoun scored on a 10 yard interception for a score as they
For the Foothillers of Grossmont High School, Shevill Sterling carried the ball 24 times for 172 yards. Sophomore Jamie Odom was 12 of 36 for 121 yards and 2 touchdown passes. One for 8 yards to teammate Josh Moala (4 receptions for 22 yard). Grizzly turnovers led to scores by Erik Shanks scored on a 34 yard interception and a 32 yard fumble return by Julien Sanderlin plus Chris Callahan 10 yard interception.
I expected to win tonight as we watched the films on Mission Hills in last years quarterfinal loss at our school as you saw the score tonight our defense played lights out football. We battled the number one team in the county for 2 years in a row. I couldn’t be prouder of these kids for their performance on the field tonight.” said Tom Carlo Head Football Coach at Grossmont. “For these kids there were sad faces but as the head coach I couldn’t be prouder of what they did. My running back, Sheveil Sterling played like a warrior and our offensive line played well for him. These kids care about each other. My quarterback, Jamie Odom is a sophomore so we have underclassmen returning for us next season.”
The Grizzles out gained Grossmont on total offensive yards 427 to 401 yards.
The Grizzlies next game will be against a familiar opponent when they host the Falcons of Torrey Pines, a 40-0 winner over LaCosta Canyon.
On the other side of the bracket, San Marcos defeated St. Augustine 41-21 and will face Helix a 19-11 winner over Madison.
In Division III Rancho Buena Vista’s season came to an end when they fell to San Pasqual, 27-25. San Pasqual will face Santa Fe Christian in one semifinal and Southwest EC will face Hilltop in the other semifinal.
In Division V, Tri-City Christian fell to Crawford, 38-20.
2017 CIF SAN DIEGO SECTION FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS OPEN
2017 CIF SAN DIEGO SECTION FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS DIVISION I
2017 CIF SAN DIEGO SECTION FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS DIVISION II
2017 CIF SAN DIEGO SECTION FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS DIVISION III
2017 CIF SAN DIEGO SECTION FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS DIVISION IV
2017 CIF SAN DIEGO SECTION FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS DIVISION V