SD Prep Sports:

2006 Grossmont Conference

Prep Football Week 3 Report

Four East County teams remain unbeaten

After three weeks of play, the San Diego Section high school football rankings are starting to take shape in earnest. The El Capitan Vaqueros, West Hills Wolf Pack and Christian Patriots all appear to be on the rise, while the Valhalla Norsemen, Helix Highlanders and Grossmont Foothillers shouldn’t be discounted too early in the race for league and/or division titles.

The Granite Hills Eagles? Well, at 2-0, the El Cajon team has already equaled half its win total of last season and definitely appears to be a team to be reckoned with this season.

Entering this week, there were 18 undefeated 11-man teams in the section, including four in East County: El Capitan (3-0), West Hills (3-0), Christian (3-0) and Granite Hills (2-0). The number of unbeaten teams was significantly pared down from the previous week when 31 teams took unbeaten record onto the gridiron.

El Capitan 46, Poway 28
Was this victory a breakthrough moment for the Vaqueros? Definitely. And it came on live regional television as Channel 4 San Diego’s Thursday Night High School Football Game of the Week to make it even sweeter for the Lakeside team.

Quarterback Ryan Lindley completed 26 passes for a school record 417 yards and three touchdowns and Ben Wilkins scored three rushing touchdowns to ignite the El Capitan offense in the showdown contest between top 10-rated teams. The Titans entered the Sept. 14 non-league contest ranked in a tie for fourth in the section in the weekly San Diego Sportscasters/Broadcasters Association poll while the Vaqueros were ranked eighth.

Ben Noy caught two scoring passes in the marquee matchup, finishing the memorable night with nine receptions for 166 yards. Noy had touchdown catches for 60 yards (to put the hosts up 6-0) and six yards (to give the East County squad an imposing 26-0 lead).

Lindley, who also scored on a one-yard run, threw a 20-yard touchdown passes to Michael Holz to give El Capitan a 32-14 lead after the visitors had responded with a pair of unanswered scores.

Wilkins scored on runs of five, two and 59 yards to finish the high-scoring contest with 102 yards seven carries. Anthony Lybarger helped set up the Vaqueros’ second touchdown on a 46-yard gallop through the Titan defense.

El Capitan’s defense was just as ferocious as its offense, with Tommy Towns leading the way with 14 tackles and a fumble recovery.

Poway quarterback Donnie McKillop threw three second-half touchdowns and ran for another to account for the Titans’ comeback effort but the closest the Titans ever got in the late going was 12 points.

The Vaqueros, who rolled up a staggering 656 yards in total offense and sport a 3-0 record for the first time since 1987, entered the game riding the momentum of 42-14 and 30-14 home field victories against Serra and Ramona, respectively, to kick off the season.

Lindley tossed a school-record five touchdown passes, including two each to Noy and Holz, to lead the rout against Serra while A.J. Conti (six catches, 128 yards) added a touchdown reception and five extra-point conversions. Lindley finished the game with 24 completions for 366 yards.

Lindley hit Noy (nine receptions, 165 yards) for two late touchdown passes and Conti kicked a 26-yard field goal, scored on a one-yard run and added three extra-point conversions as the Vaqueros snapped an early 7-7 tie with 23 unanswered points.

In the Vaqueros’ perfect start, Lindley has thrown for 1,088 yards and 10 touchdowns as perhaps the section’s premier signal-caller thus far.

El Capitan will have a chance to score even more prestige points when it hosts Grossmont South League giant Valhalla on Sept. 22. The Norsemen, who opened the season with 66-0 and 20-13 non-league wins against visiting San Ysidro and Chula Vista, respectively, fell 33-7 at Mission Hills on Sept. 15.

Spencer Myers keys Valhalla with 398 rushing yards through three games while signal-caller Tomas Karagianes has thrown for 314 yards and four touchdowns. Karagianes threw two touchdown passes in the loss to the Grizzlies — a 39-yarder to Jonathan Murray and a 72-yarder to Kevin Kriebel — while Myers kicked a 34-yard field goal and tacked on both extra-point tries.

West Hills 41, Castle Park 13
Grossmont North League rival West Hills hiked its record to 3-0 with an opportunistic 41-13 non-league victory at Castle Park, also on Sept. 15. Trevor Kolocheski returned the opening kickoff 97 yards to set the pace and later caught a 30-yard pass from quarterback Eric Fiege, who finished the night with a pair of scoring passes while also scoring on a 38-yard run. Raleigh Sevier ran for two touchdowns (three and 21 yards) while also catching a 28-yard touchdown pass.

For the season, Fiege has thrown for 340 yards and five touchdowns while Sevier leads the team’s rushers with 297 yards and four scores. Kolocheski has four touchdown catches.

The Wolf Pack kicked off its 2006 season with 26-6 and 21-0 wins against Coronado and Steele Canyon, respectively.

Fiege passed for 142 yards and one touchdown while Sevier scored two rushing touchdowns and Andrew Delgadillo added another rushing score in the season opening win against the Islanders, who gave up 26 unanswered points.

In the win against Steele Canyon, Kolocheski scored twice and Fiege added a one-yard run as the host Wolf Pack racked up a quick 21-0 first quarter advantage.

West Hills will get prime time exposure on Sept. 21 when Monte Vista visits for a Thursday Night High School Game of the Week telecast. Kick-off is 7:05 p.m.

Chrisitan 35, Holtville 8
Christian topped Holtville, 35-8, to stand as one of five undefeated Division V teams. The Patriots, who totaled 415 offensive yards against the Vikings, received two rushing touchdowns from Lawrence Walker (going for 76 and 15 yards) while Scot Allen (21 yards), Jordan Graves (13-yard pass from Danny Mitchell) and Kyler Dwyer (three yards) also added touchdowns. Dwyer kicked all five extra-point conversions for Christian, which built a 21-0 halftime lead.

Christian kicked off its season with a 42-0 win against Vincent Memorial as Allen rushed for three touchdowns and Walker scored twice. Dwyer had one touchdown run while kicking six point-after-touchdown conversions.

Walker scored two touchdowns, including one on a 55-yard kickoff return, to lead the Patriots against the Sultans. Dwyer had a big night with a 31-yard field goal, three-yard scoring run, a 73-yard kickoff return to set up another score, a team-high 124 rushing yards and four extra-point kicks as the Patriots jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead and then held off a 29-point second-half scoring barrage by Santana (1-1) to win 31-29.

In the loss for the Sultans, Collin Taylor passed for 191 yards and one touchdown and ran for another while Tyler Aubrey scored two touchdowns.

In three games, Walker has rushed for 386 yards and five touchdowns while Dwyer has accounted for 36 points on three touchdowns, 13 of 14 extra-point tries and two field goals (out of two attempts).

Granite Hills 38, San Diego 0
Granite Hills defeated visiting San Diego, 38-0, to improve to 2-0. The Eagles exuded compete domination in the non-league contest as junior Landon Turley amassed six-and-half sacks and senior Josh Stewart collected three-and-a-half sacks while also recovering two fumbles, including one in the end zone for a touchdown to live every lineman’s dream.

Quarterback Chris Misensol threw a pair of touchdown passes — a 34-yarder to Brandon Carter and a 20-yard pass to Justin Montgomery — and Cody Swanson tossed a 34-yard scoring strike to Chase Ketchum to help key the Eagles’ total offensive output of 354 yards.

Granite Hills also received a one-yard rushing touchdown from Aaron Harris and a 43-yard field goal from Collin Cresap besides Stewart’s fumble recovery in the end zone.

In two games, Sutherland has rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns to lead the ground game while Misensol has thrown for 215 yards and four touchdowns.

The Eagles, who play at winless Chula Vista (0-3) on Sept. 22, kicked off the season with a 33-12 non-league win against visiting Clairemont as Joey Sutherland scored three times and Misensol threw scoring passes to Ketchum and Montgomery.

East County roundup
In other games on Sept. 15, Helix showed why it deserves a crack at another top 10 section ranking (the Highlanders opened the season at the No. 7 spot) with a last-minute 27-21 non-league win at No. 10 Eastlake while Grossmont handed defending Grossmont South League champion Steele Canyon a 14-10 loss to match the Scotties with a 2-1 start.

Eric Forney scored three touchdowns and Travon Van tacked on the game-winner as Helix overcame an initial 21-6 deficit with the last 21 points of the contest, all in the second half. Van’s game-clinching score came from 19 yards out with 40 seconds left on the score clock while Forney scored on runs of two, one and 21 yards.

Grossmont also rallied from an early deficit, this time after being down 10-0 as Augie Williams scored on a two-yard run in the third quarter and Khalid Waters bolted in on another two-yard effort in the fourth quarter. The Cougars (1-2) had taken their lead on a 97-yard kickoff return by Jamie Dale and a 25-yard field goal by Eric Carrillo.

The Foothillers host Helix in a high-profile matchup on Sept. 22 that could have ramifications in the top 10 section rankings.

El Cajon Valley (2-1) rebounded from its 42-14 loss to visiting Montgomery with a 48-13 non-league win against visiting Kearny on Sept. 15 as Kianie Brooks (384 passing yards, 419 total yards) threw six touchdown passes and Neiko Alexis returned an intercepted pass 39 yards for a seventh touchdown. Justin Pangalian caught two of Brooks’ TD passes while Kevin Kelly (83 yards), Brandon Gettridge (30 yards), James Joyner (six yards) and Jon Sablan (60 yards) each snagged one scoring catch.

In three games, Brooks has thrown for 777 yards and 10 touchdowns . The Braves have a go at visiting Patrick Henry on Sept. 22.

Who’s on top?
After Torrey Pines’ 34-21 defeat of seventh-ranked Mira Mesa, the Falcons — 2005 Division I finalists, 2004 Division I co-champions and 2003 Division I champions — appear to be in a league of their own.

But is Torrey Pines the best? The Falcons will play at No. 1-ranked Oceanside on Oct. 6 in what could be the most-hyped game of the entire 2006 regular season.
Joining those three heavyweights among the early-season section elite are defending Division III champion St. Augustine and defending Division I champion Carlsbad.

San Diego Section: The Undefeated
(Through Sept. 16)

Division I
Torrey Pines (3-0-0)
Granite Hills (2-0-0)
Carlsbad (1-0-0)

Division II
Oceanside (3-0-0)
Hoover (3-0-0)
West Hills (3-0-0)
Scripps Ranch (2-0-0)
Mt. Carmel (2-0-0)

Division III
El Capitan (3-0-0)
St. Augustine (2-0-0)
Brawley (2-0-0)

Division IV
Mission Bay (3-0-0)
Crawford (1-0-0)

Division V
Christian (3-0-0)
Francis Parker (3-0-0)
Imperial (3-0-0)
Bishop’s (2-0-0)
La Jolla Country Day (2-0-0)

Eight-Man
Warner Springs (2-0-0)
Escondido Charter (2-0-0)
Borrego Springs (2-0-0)
San Pasqual Academy (1-0-0)