Though no South County high school football team advanced as far as this year’s San Diego Section championship round, several South County and East County players were a part of Cathedral Catholic’s Open Division championship celebration last Saturday at Southwestern College’s DeVore Stadium.
Playing in front of an estimated 8,000 fans, the second-seeded Dons overcame an early 14-0 deficit against the top-seeded Torrey Pines Falcons to post a 28-17 victory to collect their 12th section championship in their history and second Open Division title in the last three years.
Cathedral Catholic advances to the Southern California regional playoffs the weekend of Nov. 30-Dec. 1.
The Dons will take an 11-1 record and 11-game winning streak into the state playoffs.
The Falcons, one of only two teams in the section to post an undefeated regular season record, saw their perfect season end at 10-1.
Imperial Valley League champion Central Union carries an unblemished 12-0 record into Saturday’s Division III championship game. Kick-off is 1 p.m. at Southwestern College.
Last Saturday’s Open Division championship game pitted what is considered to be the top two teams in the section. Both teams were big and fast, and the game was hard-hitting. It did not disappoint fans for lack of either drama or excitement.
“It was a tough win,” underscored Cathedral Catholic senior middle linebacker Nikulas Otineru. “They have a great running back. But our coaches prepared us. It feels good to get it.”
Dons sophomore guard Ross Ulugalu-Masseuli called his team’s comeback victory “amazing.”
“We battled all through the game; we worked for this,” he said.
Otineru resides in Jamul; Ulugalu-Masseuli resides in Spring Valley.
Both were playing close to home in the championship game.
Former Otay Ranch Bronco youth football player Tano Letuli was playing even closer to home.
A member of the Broncos Blue team’s 12U Q-Bowl championship team in 2016, Letuli earned recognition as the MVP of this year’s Cathedral Catholic freshman team. He was pulled up to the varsity for a look-see in the playoffs.
He is obviously excited about the future, especially about where he might fit into the Dons lineup.
“It makes me want to do more work — I want to make it my turn,” he said.
Letuli, who scored a touchdown in the Broncos’ 40-12 Q-Bowl win over El Cajon, was among several South County players on this year’s Dons team. Cathedral Catholic lists 35 seniors in the lineup this season.
Shawn Poma is among that graduating group. The five-foot-seven senior running back is among the nominees for KUSI-TV’s Silver Pigskin award, emblematic of the San Diego Section Player of the Year.
Poma finished the championship game with 178 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns. He broke off a 65-yard touchdown run with 53 seconds elapsed in the second quarter to put the Dons on the scoreboard.
Cathedral quarterback D.J. Ralph tossed a three-yard scoring pass to Zion Sorani in the back corner of the end zone jto draw the Dons to within 17-14 on the scoreboard just before halftime.
The Dons outscored the Falcons 14-0 in a grinding, gritty second half.
Poma scored his second TD of the game with 2:07 left in the third quarter to put Cathedral on top 21-17. He caught a 38-yard scoring pass with 5:56 left in the game to effectively seal the win for the Dons.
“We made some adjustments at halftime,” said Poma, who entered the title game with 1,235 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns on the season. “We weren’t worried. We had been in similar situations before, so we knew we could come back.”
Despite Cathedral being seeded second to Torrey Pines, many observers felt the Dons were actually favored to win. Thus, when the Falcons took what seemed to be a dominating early two-touchdown lead, an upset of sorts appeared to be brewing.
Torrey Pines senior running back Mac Bingham, who is headed to USC on a baseball scholarship, scored both touchdowns for the Falcons. He capped an initial 80-yard scoring drive with a 39-yard breakaway run with 7:27 left in the first quarter.
After the Dons turned the ball over on downs at the 50-yard line, he capped Torrey Pines’ next series with a two-yard run on the first play of the second quarter.
The Falcons then took a 17-7 lead on a 36-yard field goal by Ted Merrifield with 4:53 to play in the quarter.
Bingham finished the game with 127 rushing yards, but only had 16 rushing yards in the second half.
The Cathedral defense really made an impact in the second half; the Dons recorded three sacks to thwart Torrey Pines’ final drive of the game.
Otineru entered the championship game with a six-yard rushing touchdown to his credit in the school’s annual Holy Bowl game against St. Augustine; he also had logged 60 tackles on defense.
Ulugalu-Masseuli was among the prime movers on the offensive line in the Dons’ 213-yard rushing attack in the final.
The Division 1-AA state bowl championship game is scheduled Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. at Cerritos College while the Division 1-A state bowl championship game is scheduled Dec. 15 at Cerritos College, also at 8 p.m.
Due to wildfires creating havoc in the northern half of the state, the Nor Cal regional playoffs will not be played until Dec. 7-8.
The Division 2-AA state bowl championship game is scheduled Dec. 14 at 4 p.m. at Cerritos College while the Division 2-A state bowl championship game is scheduled Dec. 15 at Cerritos College, also at 4 p.m.
The remainder of the state bowl championship games – from Division 3-AA to Division 7-AA – will be played at host sites on Dec. 15 at 6 p.m.
Highlanders top Titans, advance to Division I final
The Helix Highlanders will represent East County in Saturday’s San Diego Section Division I championship game after defeating the host Eastlake Titans, 42-26, last Friday in the division semifinals.
The third-seeded Highlanders (8-4) will be making their fifth consecutive trip to the CIF finals. They will meet the fourth-seeded St. Augustine Saints (9-3) in this year’s championship game.
Kick-off is 7 p.m. at Southwestern College.
The Division I playoffs have been filled with upsets. Ninth-seeded Mission Hills eliminated top-seed La Costa Canyon, 14-0, in the quarterfinals. Helix toppled second-seeded Eastlake in the semifinals.
A missed field goal in the waning seconds last Friday prevented Mission Hills from taking St. Augustine into overtime as the Saints held on for a 16-13 semifinal win to advance to meet the Scotties.
Saturday’s CIF final is a rematch of a Sept. 14 non-league game in which Helix defeated St. Augustine 35-14.
The Highlanders are undefeated in two playoff games following a 22-21 upset loss to Steele Canyon in the teams’ final regular season game.
The Scotties bounced back to eliminated league rival Grossmont, 68-7, in the quarterfinals as they racked up 586 yards in total offense while nabbing four interceptions and one fumble recovery on defense.
Helix head coach Robbie Owens said his team is in “a groove” right now.
“We had 60 guys who played in last year’s state championship game and we graduated 30 of those 60,” Owens said. “We lost a lot of guys last year. We had a tough schedule to start the season, and we struggled. We’ve turned it on late.”
Junior running back Elelyon Noa, whom Owens called a “special, unique talent,” spearheaded the win over Eastlake by rushing 25 times for 293 yards and four touchdowns.
Noa staked the Scotties to a quick 14-0 lead on breakaway runs of 50 and 63 yards against an Eastlake team that entered last Friday’s high profile contest riding the crest of a 10-game winning streak.
But the Highlanders looked more like a tsunami in beaching the Titans.
Helix rolled up 456 total offensive yards in the win over Eastlake (10-2).
Delshawn Traylor (11 carries, 84 yards) scored one rushing touchdown while Michael Shawcroft (one catch, 25 yards) had one receiving touchdown.
Daniel Amon, who transferred to Helix prior to the start of this season, completed five of 12 passing attempts for 75 yards and one touchdown without an interception.
With 381 rushing yards, the Highlanders did not need to rely on their passing game against Eastlake.
After Noa’s early heroics, Traylor scored on a two-yard quarterback keeper and Amon hit Shawcroft on a TD catch to boost the visitors to a 28-0 lead.
Eastlake finally stopped the Highlanders’ offensive onslaught when sophomore signal-caller Richard Colmenero III connected with Kevin Bateman on a 24-yard scoring pass to narrow the score to 28-7 at halftime.
But Noa tacked on fourth quarter touchdown runs of seven and 62 yards to ring up more points for the visitors.
The Titans did engineer a late comeback bid by scoring 19 points in the final quarter. But the rally fell well short.
A highlight of the late Eastlake scoring rush included defensive standout Josh McCurty scoring on a 20-yard touchdown pass reception to cap his senior season.
Iyani Gaines provided another electrifying moment for Titan fans when he bounced off several bodies and raced to the end zone on a 91-yard kick-off return to make the score 35-13.
Darius De Los Reyes later scored on a 34-yard catch before McCurty closed out scoring for the Titans.
Eastlake recorded an interception and fumble recovery. However, the Helix defense swarmed Colmenero a number times in the backfield for sacks. The Highlander run defense also proved stout throughout the contest.
In a social media post to the extended Titan family, EHS head coach John McFadden focused on the positive aspects of this season, of which there were many.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of our team, parents and fans,” McFadden said in the video message. “There was no quit all year long. Helix did a great job. They came to play. They did a better job than we did. That said, I take responsibility for that. Thanks to the kids for allowing us to have a great season, a league championship.”
Championship weekend
In CIF finals on Friday at Southwestern College:
Division IV: (1) San Diego Cavers (9-2) vs. (2) Kearny Komets (11-1) at 1 p.m.
Division II: (5) Lincoln Hornets (9-4) vs. (7) Mira Mesa Marauders (10-2) at 7 p.m.
The Cavers eliminated fourth-seeded Santana (7-6) by a score of 41-20 in last Friday’s semifinals while the Komets eliminated sixth-seeded Serra (9-4) by a score of 49-20.
San Diego defeated Kearny, 21-13, in a City League game on Oct. 19.
The Hornets upset top-seeded Granite Hills (10-2) by a score of 34-20 in last Friday’s semifinals while the Marauders dispatched second-seeded Valley Center (8-4) by a score of 35-32.
Second-seeded Central Union (12-0) will tackle fifth-seeded Morse (9-4) in Saturday’s Division III championship game after topping sxith-seeded Santa Fe Christian (8-4) by a score of 28-16 in last Friday’s semifinals. Morse upset top-seeded Christian (10-2) by a score of 34-6 last Friday.
Top-seeded Orange Glen (8-3) will meet third-seeded Francis Parker (11-1) in Friday’s Division V title game at Otay Ranch High School. Kick-off is 7 p.m.
Top-seeded teams were eliminated in three of the six divisional playoff rounds while three second-seeded teams fell victim to upset losses.
The top two-seeded teams will meet each other in just two of the six divisional finals this season in a show of playoff parity.
Francis Parker upset second-seeded Tri-City Christian, 28-20, in last Friday’s semifinals to continue the trend.
The City Conference flooded the field with seven of the 12 finalists: Morse, Lincoln, Mira Mesa, Kearny, San Diego, all from the San Diego Unified School District, plus St. Augustine and Cathedral Catholic. Francis Parker is from the Pacific League while Orange Glen plays in the Coastal League. The five schools from the San Diego Unified district set a record for finals participation.
Helix shared a rare Grossmont Hills League tri-championship with Granite Hills and Steele Canyon this season. All three teams finished with 4-1 league records.
CIF FOOTBALL FINALS/Southwestern College
Friday, Nov. 23:
Division IV: (1) San Diego (9-2) vs. (2) Kearny (11-1), 1 p.m.
Division II: (5) Lincoln (9-4) vs. (7) Mira Mesa (10-2), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 24:
Division III: (2) Central Union (12-0) vs. (5) Morse (9-4), 1 p.m.
Division I: (3) Helix (8-4) vs. (4) St. Augustine (9-3), 7 p.m.
2018 San Diego Section
Open Division Championship Game
Photo Gallery by Jon Bigornia
Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents
