It’s called the Battle for the Boot and the Bonita Vista-Eastlake football game rivalry trophy has been in the possession of Eastlake since 2006. But it could change hands on Friday when the teams collide in a high impact game at Southwestern College.
Kick-off for the teams’ highly anticipated Metro-Mesa League opener is 7 p.m.
“The game against Bonita will be a very big game for both teams,” Eastlake head coach Lee Price underscored. “I believe Bonita has a great chance to win the Division III championship and is a very good team. Our league this year is very talented and will not be easy to win for any team but playing the schedule that we have may have hopefully given us an advantage as we play these difficult games.”
Difficult may be an understatement for what both the Eastlake Titans and Bonita Vista Barons have endured over the first half of the season.
The Barons enter Friday’s spotlight encounter with a 3-2 record while the Titans are 2-4. Not great by any means but heroic considering the competition both teams have faced so far.
Eastlake may have dialed in one of the San Diego Section’s toughest schedules this season, with Bonita Vista not far behind.
The Titans are coming off a pair of lopsided losses — 46-9 to third-ranked St. Augustine two weeks ago and 35-19 to 10th-ranked Cathedral Catholic last Friday.
Eastlake rallied to beat then sixth-ranked Madison, 37-36, in overtime on Sept. 18 after suffering a brutal 56-7 loss at second-ranked Helix the previous week.
Bonita Vista dropped a 29-28 decision at Madison on Sept. 11 and lost, 38-7, last Friday to visiting Helix.
On paper, it would seem that this year’s Barons-Titans pairing might be a toss-up.
Certainly, there’s much incentive on the part of Bonita Vista to renew the rivalry by ending the lengthy losing streak to Eastlake. The Barons are fielding one of their better teams in several years.
A win for either team on Friday will set the tone for the rest of the Metro-Mesa League season.
BVHS head coach Chris Thompson said he feels his team is up for the challenge.
“We finished up a tough non-league schedule right where I thought we would be,” explained Thompson, whose team reeled off impressive 12-0 and 54-6 wins over Vista and Imperial, respectively, to kick of the season. “We are still on track to achieve our goal of winning league and playing for a Division III title.
“As for Eastlake, they have played as tough of a schedule as anyone, so don’t let their 2-4 record fool you. They are a dangerous and well-coached team. Bottom line, it’s time to make it a rivalry.”
The chase for the Metro-Mesa League championship thus appears on.
Bonita Vista trailed Helix, 28-0, at halftime but did get some breaks in the second half while being outscored just 10-7 by the visiting Highlanders (3-1).
Michael Austin passed for 207 yards and three touchdowns — one each to Scott Young, Ezekiel Noa and Mekhi Stevenson — while Nathen Stinson rushed for 98 yards and scored twice.
Young (53 yards) and Stevenson (58 yards) both caught breakaway passes. Stinson finished the game with 150 all-purpose yards after tacking on one catch for 12 yards and 40 yards in kick returns.
Austin was named Helix’s player of the game by the Highlanders coaching staff.
The Scotties’ defense might have made even more of a statement than the offense did. Bonita Vista seemed to go backward more than it went forward after receiving the ball on each series.
The Barons collected just 79 rushing yards and only 35 passing yards in last Friday’s loss. BVHS quarterback Anthony Posada completed six of 10 passing attempts for a 66.7 quarterback rating. He rushed 11 times for negative 25 yards to offset the 103 yards gained by senior Greg Bell.
Bell, a transfer from Eastlake, scored the Barons’ lone touchdown in the game in the fourth quarter. The TD was his 10th of the season (ninth rushing) to go with 670 rushing yards on 93 carries. He’s averaging 134 rushing yards per game.
Bell also had a 54-yard in kick-off return to finish the game with 152 all-purpose yards. Senior Atoa Fox averaged 28.3 yards on three kick-off returns.
Chris Boguille and Daniel Kemp both had four tackles to lead the hosts while Dennis Rosario and Will Kuheleloa each had fumble recoveries.
Boguille tops the Barons’ defensive chart with 18 unassisted tackles, followed by Tristin Schultz, Fox and Aaron Diehl each with 14 solo stops. Gabe Melhorn has three of his team’s eight sacks.
A standout two-way player, Boguille has rushed 38 times for 245 yards and three touchdowns.
Posada has accumulated 454 passing yards in five games but has thrown just one touchdown pass against three interceptions.
Junior Jake Rozar had two catches for 29 yards in his last outing. He leads the team with 147 receiving yards on seven catches.
Eastlake put up somewhat decent numbers in the loss to Helix — 95 passing yards and 111 rushing yards. The Titans even scored first on a 40-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Izzack Morales to receiver Josh Olave.
But there were few highlights after that as the Highlanders scored 56 unanswered points. Helix led 28-7 at halftime and outscored the visitors 28-0 in the second half.
Traylon Reed, the team’s leading rusher, was held to just 22 yards on eight carries. Nick Klugh had 32 yards on seven carries.
Greg Raby and Nate Sweat led the Titans with five tackles while Buzz Akerlund had one caused fumble and Manny Velarde had one fumble recovery.
Reed did not play in Eastlake’s last two games due to an injury.
The Titans still managed to compile 192 rushing yards in the loss to St. Augustine, with 10 players chipping in with carries. Olave led the team with four carries for 71 yards, including one breakaway 64-yard run. Klugh had seven carries for 62 yards, including one he ripped off for 40 yards.
Morales completed just three of nine passing attempts for 40 yards with one interception.
Akerlund and Jae Vitin each made 11 tackles in the loss to the Saints while Akerlund and Micah Mendillo each had one sack.
Senior Elijah Preston led St. Augustine with 198 rushing yards and two touchdowns while junior Rodney Thompson threw three touchdown passes – one each to Jordan Brooks, Francoise Sims II and Jacob Baker.
Sims also rushed for one touchdown, as did Thompson (eight carries, 110 yards).
Defensively, Andrew Alves led the Saints with two sacks.
In last Friday’s non-league match-up at Cathedral Catholic, Eastlake built a 13-0 lead only to have the Dons (3-3) storm back with a 35-6 scoring edge. The Titans compiled 147 passing yards but only 68 rushing yards for a 2.4 yards-per-carry average.
Nate Sweat (10 carries, 35 yards) and Kaleb Dueitt (six carries, 20 yards) gained the bulk of the rushing yards for the visitors, with each player scoring one touchdown, while Morales connected with receiver Milton Earls (two catches, 18 yards) on a touchdown pass.
Sweat caught two passes for 58 yards to finish the game with 93 all-purpose yards.
Akerlund and Vitin each made 13 tackles to lead the Titans on defense. Akerlund and Declan Fernandez each had one sack while Chris Olave made one interception. Eastlake did make three fumble recoveries — one each by Sweat, Micah Pietila-Wiggs and Greg Raby.
Pietila-Wiggs also averaged 31.3 yards on six punts while Josh Olave amassed 50 yards on two punt returns.
Tate Haynes and Hogan Irwin each scored two rushing touchdowns to lead Cathedral Catholic. The Dons recorded three sacks against the Titans.
Reed leads Eastlake on the season with 412 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Dueitt and Sweat are next with 173 and 172 rushing yards, respectively, and two touchdowns each.
The Titans are averaging 214 rushing yards per game; the Barons are averaging 205 rushing yards per game.
Morales has passed for 415 yards with four TDs and four picks. Chis Olave has caught nine passes for 139 yards and one score; Josh Olave has three catches for 74 yards and two TDs.
Defensive leaders include Akerlund with 56 total tackles, including 41 solo stops, while Sweat has 55 total tackles. Fernandez has three of his team’s 11 sacks while Mendillo, Raby and Akerlund each have two sacks.
As a team, Eastlake has four interceptions and seven fumble recoveries.
Price indicated Reed may be well enough to play on Friday, but that was still uncertain earlier in the week.
