SD Prep Sports:

2006 Metro Conference

Prep Football Week 8 Report

A rivalry for the ages

Chula Vista tops Sweetwater, 42-0, in 60th anniversary game

NATIONAL CITY, Oct. 19, 2006 -- The oldest continuous high school football rivalry game in San Diego County now has a trophy behind it. The official name for the massive trophy fashioned around a 1940-era globe helmet is the Legacy of Pride. The Chula Vista Spartans opened a new era in their 60-year-old rivalry against Sweetwater by recording a 42-0 win Oct. 19 at Gail Devers Stadium.

Perhaps appropriately, the rest of the county was privy to the milestone meeting between the schools courtesy of a regional telecast as part of Channel 4 San Diego’s Thursday Night High School Football Game of the Week.

The game also served as the homecoming affair for Sweetwater as Abraham Alem and Jessica Ramos earned honors as this year’s BMOC and homecoming queen.

Certainly, the game’s 60th anniversary status conjured up a lot of history.

The original Metro Conference in 1947 — the date when the first game in the long-running series between Chula Vista and Sweetwater began — was comprised of Chula Vista, Sweetwater, Coronado, San Diego, Grossmont and Escondido high schools. The spread in distances reflected the county’s low population density 60 years ago.

Chula Vista High School was also not located at its present location on the city’s urban west side but at Brown Field.
Despite this year’s win by the Spartans, Sweetwater still leads the series 36-21-3. The teams battled to a 10-10 standoff last year.

Chula Vista’s victory made amends for a 27-10 loss the previous Friday against visiting Otay Ranch — a game in which the Spartans seemingly had control, as well as a 10-7 lead, until the final two minutes of the contest when the Mustangs rallied for three lightning-quick touchdowns.

“To be a good football team, you have to put teams away,” CV head coach Judd Rachow said. “Otay Ranch is a good team. They hung around and they came back. There was a lot of motivation for us, especially with this being the 60th year of the rivalry. The best way to forget a loss is to get a win. Now we’ve got a big game against Eastlake this week.”

Matt Stacy got the scoring under way with a 43-yard touchdown run. Goldilla then passed 30 yards to Brandon Taylor for another score and Taimi Tutogi rumbled in from 19 yards to give the Spartans a commanding 21-0 first quarter advantage. The first half ended 28-0 in favor of Chula Vista after Taylor Julio grabbed a 14-yard touchdown pass from Goldilla.

The Spartans added two third-quarter touchdowns — a 23-yard pass from Goldilla to Anthony Cazares and a one-yard plunge by Goldilla — to complete the game’s scoring. A 59-yard run by Stacy (12 rushes, 121 yards) helped set up the visitors’ final touchdown.

The victory hiked Chula Vista’s overall record to 3-4 and evened the Spartans’ league record at 1-1. The loss was the seventh consecutive to start the season for Sweetwater, which has now been outscored 329-36 and suffered five defeats by shutout.
The Spartans forced four turnovers in the contest and made 13 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

The fourth quarter was played with a running clock.

But the game was not necessarily about playoff races. It was about pride. Long after the game was over, Spartan players continued to pose for photographs with the new trophy.

The legacy thus endures.

‘Battle of the Burbs’ goes to Titans in 1st game

CHULA VISTA, Oct. 20, 2006 -- To put it mildly, a genuine rivalry has been born. For lack of a better name, call it “The Battle of the Burbs.” A trophy should eventually follow.

“It’s big with all the fans,” Eastlake’s Will Duka said after last Friday’s first-ever meeting against neighboring Otay Ranch. “We knew coming in that it would be intense We just had to do our job.”

The host Titans walked off the field with a 25-20 Mesa League victory. The visiting Mustangs had to walk away feeling that they at least had earned some respect.

That is to say for a first-time meeting, the teams held nothing back.

But then, the combatants on the field were playing for 18 feet of party sub courtesy of Subway as part of KUSI-TV’s Prep Pigskin Report Game of the Week.

Duka, who has stepped admirably into the shoes of sidelined running back Flynn Anderson, rushed for 207 yards on 28 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead Eastlake (2-0 in league play, 5-2 overall). As a team, the Titans rushed for 359 yards on 53 carries and added 135 passing yards on the arm of junior quarterback Derek Witte for a total of 494 offensive yards.

Both teams combined for more than 700 offensive yards in the contest that featured near non-stop cheering from Otay Ranch fans.

The matchup also featured a plethora of turnovers — significantly on the part of the Mustangs.

In a game that seemed to dictate ball control, Otay Ranch came up short in that department … and, perhaps not surprisingly, also on the scoreboard.

The tone was set on the game’s opening play as the Mustangs fumbled the ball, placing the Titans at the Otay Ranch 29-yard line. A pass from Witte to Duka promptly repositioned the ball at the Mustang 18-yard line. To the visitors’ credit, they dug down deep in the trenches, forcing the hosts to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Chris Navarro and a 3-0 lead.

But Otay Ranch followed with three consecutive fumbles on its second series, eventually coughing up the ball to Eastlake on the last one. Duka made the Mustangs pay for their mistakes by eventually scoring on a two-yard run to hike the score to 10-0 with 2:21 left in the opening quarter.

Otay Ranch then decided to play — and what a game it turned into.

Mustang quarterback Marcus Vasquez tossed a 30-yard scoring pass to Ezra Rubio to quiet the partisan Eastlake crowd. The TD brought the score to 10-7. Otay Ranch then recovered a fumble at the Titan 42-yard line and drove as far as the 15-yard line before Vasquez was sacked to force a field goal attempt. The 40-yard kick by Brian Lewis was not the prettiest to look at but appeared headed for the uprights before hitting midway up the left and bouncing away.

What could have been a 10-10 tie later turned into a 16-7 Eastlake lead as Witte threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Michael Kelly. The extra point failed, however, leaving the Titans with a nine-point lead.

Eastlake’s lead later dwindled to just two points when Vasquez electrified the crowd with a 54-yard scoring pass to Edgar Valles with 3:50 remaining in the first half of play.

Things then got even more interesting when the Mustangs recovered a fumble at the Eastlake 35-yard line with 2:29 left in the second quarter. But the seventh fumble of the first half quickly ensued to hand the ball back to the Titans at their own 25-yard line with 1:31 left.

The second half was played nearly error-free and featured 15 more points on the scoreboard — nine by Eastlake on a 24-yard run by Duka and a 22-yard field goal by Navarro.

Navarro’s kick gave the Titans a 25-14 lead with 3:04 left in the third quarter. However, one got the feeling that the 11-point lead was never safe with both the running and passing ability of Vasquez.

The Mustangs converted two fourth-down plays to keep a scoring drive alive that eventually culminated with a one-yard touchdown run by Jared Jordan. Vasquez had been shaken up on the previous play and backup QB Jeff Smith provided the hand-off to Jordan, who managed to get into the end zone on fourth-and-goal.

The two-point conversion play failed (the game’s eighth fumble) to leave the hosts with a five-point lead.

The Titan defense came up huge thereafter to protect that lead as John Arnold ended the Mustangs’ next two drives with interceptions. Arnold’s last pick came with nine seconds left in the game with Otay Ranch lined up in Titan territory.

“I just wanted to score,” Arnold said afterward. “With all the turnovers in the game, we came out with a lot of heart.”

A pick by Otay Ranch’s Niko Salazar had set one Mustang drive in motion before Arnold returned the favor with 4:00 left in the game.

“In the future, it’s Otay Ranch that will be our biggest rival,” said Arnold, who leads the Titans with three interceptions this season. “I’ve been waiting for this game for a while. It feels good to play them. That was fun.”

Even in the loss, the Mustangs would likely agree with those sentiments.

Otay Ranch will now prepare for its next eastside rival: defending Mesa League champion Bonita Vista. The Mustangs (1-1, 4-3) will host the Barons (2-0, 5-2) on Friday, Oct. 27, with the chance to put a wrinkle into the league standings.

If Otay Ranch can record a history-making win against Bonita Vista and the Barons can upset the Titans in their final regular season game, the Mesa League standings could feature three teams tied for the top spot. It’s a big “what if” at this point, especially with Eastlake traveling to upset-minded Chula Vista (1-1, 3-4) on Oct. 27.

Bonita Vista is coming off a 35-3 homecoming victory against San Ysidro at Southwestern College. Terry Love scored on passes of 28 and 37 yards from Ace Morales, Christian Mua recovered a fumble in the end zone, Clayton Lopez returned an intercepted pass 60 yards for a touchdown, D.J. Shields returned a fumble 12 yards for a score and Josh Boyd tacked on five extra-point conversions for the Barons, who led 28-0 at halftime.

Love has caught 25 passes for 589 yards and seven touchdowns while Morales has thrown for 767 yards and seven scores. Ramses Ramirez keys Bonita Vista on the ground with 709 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.

Vasquez has rushed for 686 yards and 10 touchdowns and passed for 647 yards and thrown eight scoring passes to lead the Mustangs. Valles has 14 receptions for 329 yards and four touchdowns.

Chula Vista is coming off a 42-0 victory at Sweetwater on Oct. 19 to spoil the Red Devils’ homecoming. The Spartans received touchdowns from six players, with quarterback Josh Goldilla throwing three scoring passes.

Goldilla has thrown for 861 yards and 12 touchdowns to rank among the Metro Conference’s passing leaders.

Eastlake is led by Duka with 526 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, followed by Jeremiah Andujo with 405 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Witte has passed for 841 yards and six touchdowns (against two interceptions). Andujo leads the Titans with 368 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 21 catches. Michael Holt has caught seven passes for 97 yards.

As for play selection, Eastlake has rushed the ball 278 times and passed the ball 93 times (with 54 completions).

Trojans, Crusaders remain on South Bay League collision course
CHULA VISTA, Oct. 20, 2006 -- The Castle Park Trojans and Marian Catholic Crusaders appear to be on a collision course for the South Bay League title. Both rivals upped their league records to 2-0 with dominating victories last Friday in advance of their Nov. 9 showdown on the Crusaders’ home field.

Castle Park 41, Southwest 6
Boogie Blossom established a new single-game rushing record for Castle Park by running for 283 yards on 17 attempts. He finished the game with three touchdowns — two on runs of two, 15 and 60 yards -- while tossing a half-back option pass to Martin Bayless Jr. for a 12-yard score. Bob McCurdy, currently an assistant coach at Otay Ranch High School, set Castle Park's old school record in 1973. He was complimentary of Blossom's record-breaking effort. "Thirty-three years -- that's a while," said McCurdy, who related that offense's weren't as sophisticated back in the 1970s, with one running back often receiving the majority of work in a game.

John Edwards opened the game with an 83-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to give the host Raiders an early lead on homecoming night but the fireworks on the field started thereafter courtesy of the visiting Trojans, who led 28-6 at halftime..

Blossom leads Castle Park with 670 yards and six rushing touchdowns while quarterback Russell McGuire has thrown for 977 yards and a Metro Conference co-leading 12 touchdowns. McGuire threw a pair of touchdown strikes to Joey Valencia in the game against the Raiders

The Trojans (2-0, 4-3) have another chance to launch fireworks at this Friday’s homecoming game against Montgomery in a rematch of last year’s San Diego Section Division II playoff game that went to Castle Park 48-18.

The Aztecs (0-1-1, 3-3-1) are coming off a 35-35 tie at Montgomery and now face must-win situations in their remaining three regular season contests in order to qualify for the upcoming playoffs.

Marian Catholic 62, Mar Vista 34
The visiting Crusaders amassed 579 total offensive yards — 544 of them on the ground — in raising their league record to 2-0 and their overall record to 3-4. Roman Owens rushed for 208 yards on 16 carries and scored three touchdowns (runs of 45, 16 and 58 yards). Marian Catholic quarterback Michael Fajardo rushed for 111 yards on six attempts, scoring on runs of 40 and 35 yards.

The game was close after the first quarter with the Crusaders holding a 14-7 edge. But as the Marian Catholic offensive line began to dominate the game, the points started to come in a flurry with the visitors racking up 21 points in the second quarter for a 35-14 halftime lead and adding 20 points in the third quarter for a 45-20 advantage.

Mar Vista actually got on the scoreboard first via a 35-yard run by Michael Davis. But the Crusaders ran off four unanswered touchdowns to take control of the game.

DeShon Bruner added two touchdowns for Marian Catholic, which hosts Southwest (1-1, 2-5) this Friday.

Owens leads the Crusaders with 1,049 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns through seven games.

Maurice Williams scored three touchdowns for Mar Vista (0-2, 1-6). The Mariners, who are scheduled to battle at Hilltop in Thursday night’s regionally televised game, will play at Southwest on Nov. 3.

Montgomery 35, Hilltop 35
The host Lancers rallied to tie the game to keep alive their playoff hopes while putting a kink into postseason plans by the Aztecs.

Quarterback Craig Rasmussen passed for 381 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 89 yards and two touchdowns to key Hilltop’s comeback from an early sizable 21-7 deficit. Jose Duran rushed for 101 yards and scored one touchdown in the game while Kyle Howard had 10 catches for 132 yards and one score.

Brian Pike caught eight passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns, including one score on a scramble by Rasmussen that was nominated for "Play of the Week" honors on KUSI-TV's Prep Pigskin Report. Rasmussen completed 23 of 41 passes and made 13 rushing attempts to etch his name in the legendary-style comeback.

The Lancers won the ensuing overtime tiebreaker for playoff seeding purposes.

Rasmussen, last year’s South Bay League Offensive Player of the Year, increased his season passing yard count to 978 yards with eight touchdowns while Duran had rushed for 739 yards and six touchdowns. Howard enters Thursday’s game against Mar Vista with 45 catches for 686 yards and four touchdowns.

Defensively against Montgomery, Adam Baldivez keyed Hilltop with one interception and nine tackles while Austin Cunningham had one sack and nine tackles. Princeton Sialega paced the Lancers overall with 14 tackles in the high-scoring game.

Aztec quarterback Chris Pizarro entered last Friday’s game with 626 passing yards and nine touchdowns while standout utilityman Juan Moriel had rushed for 369 yards and notched 303 receiving yards to go with a team-leading 54 points.

Montgomery opened scoring on a 60-yard run by Brandon Meredith and following a 10-yard pass from Rasmussen to Rivas, the Aztecs tacked on two unanswered scores: a 15-yard pass from Pizarro to Onil Vallecillo and a 25-yard touchdowns run by Moriel.

The first half ended 28-21 in Montgomery's favor. Duran drew the Lancers within a touchdown on a two-yard scoring run while Meredith scored his second touchdown of the game on a three-yard run and Pike hauled in a 38-yard aerial from Rasmussen.

Hilltop, which will play at defending league champion Castle Park on Nov. 3, outscored the Aztecs 14-7 in the second half as Meredith scored this third TD of the game for Montgomery on a two-yard run to put the visitors ahead 35-21 and Rasmussen answered back with toucdown strikes of 26 and 28 yards to Howard and Pike, respectively.

Billy Loss then added the game-tying extra point conversions to place an exclamation point on the 70-point thriller.

Metro Conference
2006 Standings

Mesa League
League Overall
School W-L-T W-L-T
Bonita Vista 2-0-0 5-2-0
Eastlake 2-0-0 5-2-0
Otay Ranch 1-1-0 4-3-0
Chula Vista 1-1-0 3-4-0
San Ysidro 0-2-0 2-5-0
Sweetwater 0-2-0 0-7-0

Friday, Oct. 13
Bonita Vista 35, Sweetwater 0
Eastlake 42, San Ysidro 0
Otay Ranch 27, Chula Vista 10

Thursday, Oct. 19
Chula Vista 42, Sweetwater 0

Friday, Oct. 20
Eastlake 25, Otay Ranch 20
Bonita Vista 35, San Ysidro 3

South Bay League
League Overall
School W-L-T W-L-T
Castle Park 2-0-0 4-3-0
Marian Catholic 2-0-0 3-4-0
Montgomery 0-1-1 3-3-1
Hilltop 0-1-1 1-5-1
Southwest 1-1-0 2-5-0
Mar Vista 0-2-0 1-6-0

Friday, Oct. 13
Marian Catholic 52, Hilltop 14
Castle Park 52, Mar Vista 7
Southwest 9, Montgomery 7

Friday, Oct. 20
arian Catholic 62, Mar Vista 34
Hilltop 35, Montgomery 35 (Hilltop wins tiebreaker)
Castle Park 41, Southwest 6

Thursday, Oct. 26
Mar Vista at Hilltop, 7 p.m.

Thursday Night Game of the Week
All games 7:05 p.m.
Channel 4 San Diego
Regular Season Schedule
August
31: Oceanside 27, Helix 0
September
7: Bogalusa (Louisiana) 19, Bonita Vista 14
14: El Capitan 46, Poway 28
21: West Hill 31, Monte Vista 3
28: Mission Hills 21, Valley Center 7
October
5: Escondido 38, Ramona 19
12: Steele Canyon 31, Valhalla 7
19: Chula Vista 42, Sweetwater 0
26: Mar Vista at Hilltop
November
2: Carlsbad at Rancho Buena Vista
9: Cathedral Catholic vs. St. Augustine

San Diego Section Rankings
SD Sportscasters/Broadcasters Poll
(Oct. 16)
(Records throiugh Oct. 14)
1. Torry Pines (6-0-0)
2. El Capitan (7-0-0)
3. Carlsbad (4-0-1)
4. Oceanside (3-2-0)
5. La Costa Canyon (3-2-1)
6. Helix (4-2-0)
7. Mission Hills (5-1-0)
8. Escondido (5-2-0)
9. Poway (4-2-0)
10. Mission Bay (5-1-0)

Others (in order of votes): El Camino (5-2), Hoover (6-1), Santa Fe Chrisitan (4-2), Point Loma (5-1), St. Augustine (3-3), Steele Canyon (4-2), Brawley (5-1), Scripps Ranch (5-1).

San Diego Section: The Undefeated
(Through Oct. 14)

Division I
Torrey Pines (6-0-0)
Carlsbad (4-0-1)

Division III
El Capitan (7-0-0)

Eight-Man
Borrego Springs (5-0-0)
Warner Springs (5-0-0)
San Pasqual Academy (5-0-0)

Measuring up

Metro Conference
Non-League Standings
(Through Oct. 7)
Team Record
Bonita Vista 3-2-0
Eastlake 3-2-0
Montgomery 3-2-0
Otay Ranch 3-2-0
Castle Park 2-3-0
Chula Vista 2-3-0
San Ysidro 2-3-0
Hilltop 1-4-0
Mar Vista 1-4-0
Marian Catholic 1-4-0
Southwest 1-4-0
Sweetwater 0-5-0

Metro Tracker
Non-conference opponents
Metro Conference: 13-31 (.295)

Metro Conference Schedule/Results
Friday, Oct. 6
Chula Vista 47, Hilltop 7
Santa Fe Christian 35, Marian Catholic 14
San Ysidro 22, Mar Vista 21
Bonita Vista 27, RBV 14
Granite Hills 52, Sweetwater 6
Otay Ranch 48, Sultana (Hesperia) 3

Friday, Sept. 29
Eastlake 28, Castle Park 19
Otay Ranch 35, Marian Catholic 20
Steele Canyon 33, Hilltop 17
Orange Glen 20, Montgomery 10
Vista 28, Bonita Vista 3
Coronado 19, Mar Vista 7
Hoover 34, Southwest 7

Friday, Sept. 22
Castle Park 38, Morse 6
Eastlake 32, Marian Catholic 14
Chula Vista 45, Granite Hills 7
Montgomery 42, Kearny 0
Southwest 17, San Ysidro 0
Point Loma 20, Otay Ranch 11
Santana 56, Sweetwater 0
Scripps Ranch 42, Mar Vista 0