San Diego Section championships in boys and girls basketball and boys and girls soccer will be awarded this weekend across six competition tiers.
Championship games are scheduled across the county on Friday and Saturday.
But due to the availability of playing venues and the glut of participating teams, the Division III boys basketball final is scheduled Thursday at Montgomery High School.
The top-seeded San Ysidro Cougars (23-8) reserved a berth in Thursday’s championship game after defeating the fifth-seeded Granite Hills Eagles, 85-60, in Tuesday’s semifinals.
The Cougars are scheduled to take the court at 7:30 p.m. for the division title against the second-seeded Coronado Islanders (21-9) after eliminating the third-seeded Eastlake Titans, 60-46, in Tuesday’s other semifinal.
Eastlake ended its season 17-14.
Freshman Mikey Williams got the scoring started by sinking a three-point shot but fellow frosh Jurian Dixon led San Ysidro on the scoreboard with 33 points. Senior Kailen Rains dropped in 21 points while Williams had 14 points.
Dixon led the team with 11 rebounds while senior Jason Martinez had 10 boards.
After winning the Grossmont Valley League title and posting a school-record 14-game winning streak, the season ended with a final 17-10 record for Granite Hills.
For those following this year’s playoff brackets, the postseason has been filled with bracket busting, starting with top-seeded Bonita Vista’s sudden ouster by 16th-seeded Point Loma in the opening round of the Division II field.
It’s been ongoing. Seven of this year’s 12 divisional hoops finals will not feature a No. 1 versus No. 2 seed matchup.
Granite Hills defeated 13th-seeded Hoover, 49-48, in last Friday’s quarterfinal playoffs on a three-point shot by Caleb Erickson at the buzzer. It was Erickson’s first and only basket of the game.
Senior guard McKay Roberts, the GVL Player of the Year, led the Eagles with 19 points.
San Ysidro defeated sixth-seeded Brawley, 105-42, in last Friday’s quarterfinals as Williams slammed home 27 points, Dixon added 24 points, Rains dropped in 20 points and senior Philix Kilbourne had 15 points.
Dixon led the Cougars with 13 rebounds and 15 assists.
Entering Thursday’s championship game, San Ysidro was led in scoring by its two freshmen stars: Williams with a 30.8 average and Dixon with a 24.6 average.
Mar Vista, seeded second among Division V boys team, had its proposed trip to Thursday’s CIF final at Carlsbad High School nixed following Tuesday’s 60-45 semifinal loss to third-seeded Calvin Christian.
The season ended with an overall 19-11 record for the Mariners, who topped High Tech High Chula Vista, 70-51, in last Friday’s quarterfinals.
Senior Gabe Schiazza poured in 22 points in the win over High Tech-CV while freshman Josiah Scott dropped in 21 points.
Fifth-seeded San Ysidro ended its season in Tuesday’s Division V girls semifinals with a 60-47 loss at top-seeded Hoover.
The Lady Cougars (12-19) finished the season with two playoff wins — 52-22 over 12th-seeded Victory Christian Academy in the first round and 54-33 over fourth-seeded O’Farrell Charter in the quarterfinals.
Bonita Vista (21-9) came up short, 48-46, to La Jolla Country Day, the second-ranked girls team in the nation, in Wednesday’s Open Division semifinals while Castle Park (16-12) bowed out with a 42-27 loss at top-seeded San Diego (19-8) in Wednesday’s Division V girls semifinals.
LJCD improved to 29-1.
Mesa League champion Eastlake (19-6-1) tasted a bitter 1-0 defeat in Tuesday’s Open Division girls soccer semifinals as top-seeded Cathedral Catholic (21-2-3) scored on a deflection goal.
Hilltop and Castle Park had a potential Division III boys soccer championship pairing negated when both teams lost semifinal games on Tuesday following intrepid quarterfinal wins last Friday.
Third-seeded Castle Park (10-7-3) came up short in a 1-0 loss to second-seeded Patrick Henry (16-3-5) while fourth-seeded Hilltop (20-5-4) came up short 4-3, in a high scoring matchup at top-seeded Escondido (18-3-5).
Castle Park defeated sixth-seeded Grossmont, 3-1, last Friday while Hilltop shut out 12th-seeded Monte Vista 2-0.
Hilltop High School to host CIF Division II, Division IV, Division V soccer championship games
South County high school soccer fans can enjoy a slate of six CIF championship games this weekend as Hilltop High School will host finals in three divisions.
The action kicks off Friday with top-seeded Kearny (11-5-3) meeting third-seeded High Tech High North County (9-6-2) in the Division V boys championship game at 5 p.m.
Kearny defeated fourth-seeded Escondido Charter, 4-1, in Tuesday’s semifinals while HTH North County outlasted seventh-seeded Foothills Christian, 6-5, in the other semifinal.
Friday’s Division V girls championship game follows at 7:30 p.m. and will pit fifth-seeded Kearny (15-5-6) against second-seeded Foothills Christian (16-8-2).
Four championship games are scheduled on Saturday.
The action kicks off at 11 a.m. with a Division IV girls matchup between top-seeded Rancho Buena Vista (8-7-4) and third-seeded Escondido (12-7-4).
Top-seeded Mater Dei Catholic (17-3-1) will test second-seeded Francis Parker (15-3-2) in the Division IV boys championship game at 1:30 p.m.
The Crusaders, who are riding a six-game winning streak, defeated fifth-seeded Gompers Prep, 1-0, in Tuesday’s semifinals.
Francis Parker advanced with a forfeit win over third-seeded Clairemont (17-4-2).
The Division II girls championship game follows at 4:30 p.m. with 12th-seeded Francis Parker (11-8-2) taking on seventh-seeded Mt. Carmel (15-6-6).
The Division II boys final closes out the day under the lights as top-seeded West Hills (15-3-7) meets second-seeded Helix (12-3-4) at 7 p.m. in a matchup of Grossmont Hills League co-champions.
West Hills edged fourth-seeded San Dieguito Academy, 2-1, in Tuesday’s semifinals while Helix battered third-seeded San Diego by a score of 3-0.
In the Division III girls championship match scheduled for 11 a.m. at Mission Bay High School on Saturday, eighth-seeded Otay Ranch (13-5-3) will duel against sixth-seeded La Jolla Country Day (11-7-3) after the Lady Mustangs pulled off a 2-0 upset win at fourth-seeded Coronado (15-6-1) on Wednesday.
