SD Prep Sports:

2006 Metro Conference

Prep Football Week 3 Report

Baron pigskinners are winners in more than just the victory column
CHULA VISTA, Sept. 21, 2006 -- Bonita Vista defeated Mt. Miguel, 14-4, in a non-league football game last Friday at Southwestern College. Here are the pertinent facts:

Nick Schaeffer passed three yards to Beto Padilla and Wesley Roche scored the game-clinching touchdown on a three-yard run in the fourth quarter.

With the win, Bonita Vista improved to 2-1 and began knocking on the San Diego Section top 10 weekly rankings. The Barons are one of only two of the 12 Metro Conference teams with a winning record three weeks into the 2006 high school season.

Terry Love helped set up both Bonita Vista’s touchdowns in the game with clutch plays. Love completed a halfback option pass to Padilla to the Matador 11-yard line to help set up the Barons’ opening touchdown in the second quarter to erase a 2-0 lead by Mt. Miguel. Schaeffer’s scoring pass to Padilla followed.

In the final quarter with the hosts still clinging to their 7-2 lead, Love made an acrobatic reception on a 31-yard pass, landing at the Mt. Miguel three-yard line. Roche took the ball into the end zone from there.

The Matadors recorded two safeties in the game to account for their scoring. Mt. Miguel recorded its second safety of the game in the fourth quarter by blocking a punt out of the end zone.

Josh Boyd kicked both extra point conversions for the winners, who finished the night with four interceptions on defense. Love had one of those picks to finish with a memorable performance.

The defending Mesa League champions will attempt to string together two wins in a row for the first time this season when they play at Vista on Sept. 29. The Panthers are another team waiting to crack the section’s top 10 rankings.

In the meantime, Bonita Vista’s players and their supporters can catch their breath with this weekend’s bye after a heady start to the season that has seen the team travel to Washington, D.C., to kick off its season and then host the Katrina Classic on regional television against a team from Bogalusa, La.

The trip to the nation’s capital served as part athletic and part academic field trip. The Barons defeated Grand Prairie, a team from Alberta, Canada, by a 43-0 score on Sept. 1 in a driving rainstorm as the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto passed through the region. Student-athletes also toured Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., as well as historical sites in the nation’s capital.

The cross-country trek back to Chula Vista featured another hurricane-related football game, but one with much more meaning for all involved.

The Sept. 7 interstate contest at Southwestern College against the Bogalusa Lumberjacks attracted a crowd that filled between one-third and one-half the 7,000-seat complex. The purpose of that game was to help raise funds for the Louisiana high school to help repair athletic fields destroyed by the wrath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Besides ticket donations, the Bogalusa team was also presented with a $500 check at halftime from players from Salisbury High School in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada. The football team that had just finished playing a junior varsity game on the Bonita Vista campus located across the street.

The Salisbury High School contingent, waving the maple leaf-emblazoned red and white Canadian flag, rooted for the Louisiana team on the visitors side of the stadium.

The game against Bogalusa came about after former BVHS teacher Dan Hodges watched a television broadcast depicting the path of destruction wrought by the killer hurricane. Bogalusa was among the many communities hardest hit. Its football team, which had either contended for or won state titles in the past, was spotlighted on the program.

Hodges contacted the San Diego Section and the Sweetwater district about the feasibility of playing an interstate football game between Bogalusa and Bonita Vista and the Katrina Classic was eventually born out of those inquiries. CRM Financial in National City helped bring the Louisiana team to California, said Hodges, who now heads Sports Classics International that also played a major role in arranging the contest.

While in the area, the team visited SeaWorld and attended a Padres game while also enjoying rides at a nearby water park. Many of Bogalusa’s players had never been out of their immediate area and some had never been on an airplane before.
“It was a great week for them,” Hodges said.

Bogalusa also provided television viewers of Channel 4 San Diego’s second installment of its Thursday Night High School Football Game of the Week with an exciting finish as quarterback Antione Temple scored on a goal line keeper to help the Louisiana team record a 19-14 come-from-behind victory.

The mayor of Bogalusa, the honorable James McGehee, flew into San Diego the day of the game and presented a plaque of appreciation to Bonita Vista principal Bettina Batista and district area superintendent Ramon Leyba during on-field halftime ceremonies.

“It’s a great experience for the kids to live and socialize with kids from another part of the country they would normally not have the opportunity to do so,” Leyba said.

“I couldn’t think of a better way to kick off the season and to hear firsthand about the devastation from Katrina,” Batista said.
Before the season is over, Bonita Vista’s football team could cut a devastating path of its own.

Metro Scorecard
Friday, Sept. 15
•Hilltop 49, Sweetwater 30
•Marian Catholic 17, Valley Center 10
•Bonita Vista 14, Mt. Miguel 4
•Helix 27, Eastlake 21
•RBV 22, Otay Ranch 21
•West Hills 41, Castle Park 13
•Hoover 28, Montgomery 23
•Carlsbad 48, Chula Vista 7
•Madison 30, Southwest 22
•Francis Parker 34, Mar Vista 14
•Vista Murrieta 38, San Ysidro 0

Friday, Sept. 22
Castle Park at Morse, 3 p.m.
Marian Catholic at Eastlake, 7 p.m.
Santana at Sweetwater, 7 p.m.
Granite Hills at Chula Vista, 7 p.m.
Point Loma at Otay Ranch, 7 p.m.
Kearny at Montgomery, 7 p.m.
San Ysidro at Southwest, 7 p.m.
Mar Vista at Scripps Ranch, 7 p.m.

Lancers earn first gridiron win, 49-30
CHULA VISTA, Sept. 15, 2006 -- Craig Rassmussen passed for four touchdowns and Jose Duran ran for three more as Hilltop defeated Sweetwater, 49-30, in a high-scoring non-league football encounter at Robert Dodds Stadium.
The win was the first for the Lancers (2-1) while the Red Devils (0-3) remained winless.

Rasmussen passed for 175 yards as Hilltop rang up a 28-14 first-quarter lead and opened up a 42-22 halftime edge.
Kyle Howard caught two of Rasmussen’s scoring passes while Chris Prather and Carlos Ugarte also finished with touchdown receptions. Prather caught a 45-yard aerial (after the Lancers recovered an onside kick) while Ugarte’s TD catch went for 22 yards. Howard’s scoring receptions were five and 15 yards.

The Lancers opened up a 14-0 lead. Duran, who bulled ahead for 155 yards in the contest, scored Hilltop’s first of seven touchdowns of the night on a six-yard run. He later scored on a pair of three-yard runs.

Billy Loss kicked seven point-after touchdown conversions.

Sweetwater received two touchdowns from Martin Inurriaga, who scored on runs of three and 63 yards. Ruben Enriquez also broke off a long scoring run, entering the end zone from 78 yards, while Michael Sumabat completed scoring in the 79-point contest with a five-yard touchdown pass to Michael Gleason.

Rasmussen has passed for 356 yards and rushed for 166 yards while Duran has rushed for 304 yards to lead the Lancers. Howard has 282 receiving yards to his credit while Bryce Robison leads Hilltop with 29 tackles and three sacks. Javier Martinez and Ruben Morales each have recorded two sacks. Morales ranks second on the team with 21 tackles, followed by Martinez with 20 tackles.

The Lancers next host defending Grossmont South League champion Steele Canyon on Friday, Sept. 29, after a bye this week.
Sweetwater will attempt to get into the win column for the first time when it hosts Santana (1-1) in a non-league game on Friday, Sept. 22. The Sultans kicked off the season with a 35-21 win against Patrick Henry before dropping a 31-29 decision to Christian the following week.

Jonathan Tippin leads Santana with 15 catches for 212 yards and four touchdowns. Sultans QB Collin Taylor is averaging 194.5 passing yards per game.

In other non-league games on Sept. 15:

Marian Catholic 17, Valley Center 10
The Crusaders made amends for their 36-14 season opening loss to No. 2-ranked St. Augustine with a dramatic last-minute victory against the defending Division IV Jaguars as quarterback Michael Fajardo bowled in from one yard out. Valley Center (0-2) had led 10-3 at halftime.

Fajardo also scored on a 28-yard run to help tie the game in the third quarter after Marian Catholic got on the scoreboard via a 23-yard field goal in the second quarter.

Roman Owens helped set up the game-winning touchdown on a 17-yard run as the Crusaders mounted a time-consuming 12-play drive.

After opening the game with a 27-yard field goal, the Jaguars later broke a 3-3 standoff on a 23-yard scoring run by Tyler Bernard.

The Crusaders (1-1) will seek to go over the .500 mark when they take on Eastlake (1-2) in a non-league road game on Friday, Sept. 22.

Hoover 28, Montgomery 23
Make no mistake, the 2006 Aztecs are for real despite dropping the home contest to the Cardinals in an early season battle of unbeaten teams. The Aztecs scored first on a 22-yard run by Juan Moriel and bounced back after two consecutive scores by Hoover receiver Todd Doxey to trail 14-10 at halftime. Montgomery (2-1) took a 16-14 lead in the third quarter on a 27-yard field goal by Jonathan Alcala and a 33-yard scoring run by Moriel before the Cardinals (3-0) rallied on an 11-yard pass from Corey Trisby to Doxey and a five-yard run by Trisby to go up 28-16. Quarterback Chris Pizarro lofted a 24-yard scoring pass to Moriel in the fourth quarter but the Aztecs could not get any closer.

Montgomery hosts winless Kearny (0-2) on Friday, Sept. 22, with a chance to surpass last season’s entire victory count of two with a win.

Pizarro has passed for 350 yards and four touchdowns.

Helix 27, Eastlake 21
The 10th-ranked Titans stunned the visiting Highlanders on a 78-yard halfback option pass from Will Duka to Sal Adame to jump-start the high profile South County-East County encounter, but Helix, which entered the season ranked seventh in the section, responded with the game’s final 21 points to steal the victory.

Eastlake built a 21-6 advantage in the contest as Jeremiah Andujo scored on a nine-yard pass from Derek Witte and Duka later returned an interception nine yards for a touchdown. But the Highlanders held the Titans scoreless over the last three quarters and ended the game in their favor on an interception after taking the lead in the final minute of play.
Eric Forney scored three touchdowns and Travon Van tacked on the game-winner with 40 seconds left on the score clock. Forney scored on runs of two, one and 21 yards.

Heading into Friday’s game against visiting Marian Catholic, Witte has thrown for 221 yards while Flynn Anderson has rushed for 169 yards and Andujo has 161 receiving yards while also contributing 159 rushing yards.

RBV 22, Otay Ranch 21
The Mustangs dropped out of the ranks of the undefeated in dramatic fashion as Trevor Whiddon kicked an 18-yard field goal with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to erase a 21-19 Otay Ranch lead. Marcus Vasquez figured in the scoring on all three Mustang touchdowns, scoring on a 60-yard run while throwing a pair of scoring passes. Edgar Valles caught the first touchdown pass to cap a scoring play of 50-plus yards.

Otay Ranch led 14-0 after the first quarter and 21-13 at halftime but was kept off the scoreboard in the second half by the Longhorns, who punched in a 46-yard run by Kyler Haupu to position themselves for Whiddon’s winning field goal. The Mustangs had a chance to win the game on a last-minute 57-yard field goal attempt but the kick was blocked by RBV’s Noah Jackson.

Otay Ranch continues its high profile early season schedule when it hosts 10-ranked Point Loma (2-1) on Friday, Sept. 22. The Pointers, who are led by Lucas Shaw’s 300 passing yards and Lester Arnold’s 411 rushing yards, have racked up 97 points in three games.

West Hills 41, Castle Park 13
The host Trojans lost their second game in a row, with turnovers and unlucky bounces once again playing a decisive factor in the outcome. A fumble and tipped pass (into the arms of a Wolf Pack receiver) led to two touchdowns and an early 21-3 lead. Julian Sesma kicked a pair of field goals for the Trojans (35 and 32 yards) and Joey Valencia scored on a 21-yard pass from Russell McGuire in the final quarter, but West Hills (3-0) responded with two unanswered scores to end the game, including a 38-yard scamper through the CP defense by Wolf Pack quarterback Eric Fiege that upped the visitors’ lead to 34-13.
Trevor Kolocheski returned the opening kickoff 97 yards to set the contest’s tone and later caught a 30-yard pass from Fiege, who finished the night with a pair of scoring passes. Raleigh Sevier ran for two touchdowns while also catching a 28-yard touchdown pass.

Castle Park will attempt to get back to the .500 mark with a 3 p.m. game at Morse (0-3) on Friday, Sept. 22. The Tigers are coming off a 36-6 drubbing administered by Brawley on Sept. 16.

McGuire has thrown for 427 yards and two touchdowns in three games while Martin Bayless Jr. has seven receptions for 122 yards and one score.

Madison 30, Southwest 22
The Raiders, who fell to 0-3, initially held a 16-0 first quarter lead on the visiting Warhawks before surrendering 23 unanswered points. Adrian Jones keyed Southwest with a pair of touchdowns, including one on a 45-yard pass from Ruben Nunez and another on a 55-yard scoring run that brought the score to 23-22 in Madison’s favor in the third quarter.

John Edwards scored on a nine-yard touchdown run to hike the Raiders’ early lead to 16-0. Southwest also recorded a two-point safety when the Warhawks punter was tackled in the end zone.

Madison received two passing scores from quarterback Danny Moreno (287 yards) in the win.

The Raiders host San Ysdiro (1-2) in a border town clash on Friday, Sept. 22. The Cougars are coming off a 38-0 loss to visiting Vista Murrieta.

Francis Parker 34, Mar Vista 14
Maurice Williams gave the host Mariners an early 6-0 lead but the Lancers remained undefeated on the season at 3-0 by rolling up the game’s next 27 unanswered points. Gino Gordon (28 rushes for 224 yards and four catches for 78 yards) finished the game with four touchdowns for Francis Parker.

The Mariners next play at Scripps Ranch (2-0) on Friday, Sept. 22. Eric Lopez keys the MV passing attack with 431 yards and three touchdowns through two games.

Carlsbad 48, Chula Vista 7
The Spartans fell to 0-3 after the lopsided loss to the defending Division I champion Lancers. Through three games, quarterback Josh Goldilla has thrown for 425 yards and three touchdowns.

Chula Vista hosts undefeated Granite Hills (2-0) on Friday, Sept. 22. The Eagles are keyed by signal-caller Chris Misensol, who has thrown for 215 yards in two games.

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)