South County high school sports teams will be out to celebrate San Diego Section divisional championships in soccer and basketball this weekend. It’s starting to follow a familiar script.
It seems when the temperature dips below 40 degrees in mid-February, Metro teams start to get hot.
That’s been the story so far in the San Diego Section’s winter sports playoffs.
In girls wrestling, Olympian won the Division I title while Mater Dei Catholic won the Division IV banner.
Entering the week, eight local teams were still in contention for coveted CIF championship trophies: two in girls basketball, one in boys basketball and five in boys soccer.
Basketball teams still battling on the court included Montgomery (girls Division I semifinals as the No, 7 seed), Southwest (girls Division IV semifinals as the No. 14 seed) and Victory Christian Academy (boys Open Division semifinals as the No. 2 seed).
Soccer teams still patrolling the pitch included Hilltop (boys Division I semifinals as the No. 5 seed), Otay Ranch (boys Division II as the No. 12 seed), Bonita Vista (boys Division II semifinals as the No. 2 seed), Olympian (boys Division III semifinals as the No. 4 seed) and Montgomery (boys Division IV semifinals as the No. 2 seed).
The plethora of lower-seeded teams still in the mix attested to the resiliency and determination exhibited by their players and coaching staffs.
Final conflict
Four Metro Conference boys soccer teams find themselves in the mix for CIF titles, plus two more smaller area schools, for a total of six South County teams hoping to reap championship medals.
One boys basketball team remains alive — second-seeded Victory Christian Academy in the Open Division. The Knights (26-4) will play fifth-seeded Francis Parker (21-9) in Saturday’s grand finale at 5 p.m. at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside. Parker upset top-seeded Santa Fe Christian (26-4) by a score of 71-52 in Wednesday’s semifinals while VCA out-lasted No. 3 San Marcos (23-7) in overtime by a score of 73-68.
One girls hoops team remained in contention — National City’s San Diego Academy (14-8) as the No. 2 seed versus No. 4 Calipatria (8-14) for the Division V-AA crown. The teams were scheduled to pair up Thursday at MiraCosta College. San Diego eliminated No. 3 Foothills Christian (13-11) by a score of 44-34 in Tuesday’s semifinals after trouncing No. 7 Ocean View Christian Academy (7-13) by a score of 56-4,in the quarterfinals on Feb. 19. Caiipatria proved it was a worthy opponent with a 54-19 semifinal win over No. 1 Liberty Charter (19-2).
That’s a horde of eight South County teams in this year’s CIF winter sports finals.
Getting their kicks
Chula Vista Learning Community Charter, seeded second among Division V-AA teams, kicks off this weekend’s soccer wars with a game Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Montgomery High School against fourth-seeded High Tech High North County.
The Cobras defeated No. 3 seed Ocean View Christian Academy, 5-0, in Tuesday’s Division V semifinals to advance to Thursday’s championship game. CVLCC previously defeated No. 10 seed West Shores, 8-0, in the quarterfinals on Feb. 19.
The Cobras carry a 19-2-4 record into Thursday’s CIF final.
HTH-NC (13-13-1) upset top-seeded Foothills Christian, 3-2, in the semifinals. The playoff loss was the first of the season for Foothills (17-1-1), this year’s Ocean League champion.
CVLCC finished 8-1-1 in Frontier-Summit League play as co-champions with Gompers Prep (13-5-3 overall).
Thursday’s championship schedule also spotlights No. 2 Bayfront Charter (16-9-4) against No. 5 Lincoln (12-7-5) in the Division 5 finals at 4:30 p.m. at Grossmont High School.
Bayfront Charter defeated No. 6 High Tech High Chula Vista (13-9-2) by a 3-1 score in the semifinals while Lincoln upset top-seeded Mt. Miguel (11-12-2) by a score of 2-1 in the semifinals.
Lincoln doubled up fourth-seeded Mountain Empire, 6-3, in the quarterfinals.
Friday’s championship game schedule features No. 4 Olympian (12-8-5) versus No. 2 Mt. Carmel (13-2-6) at 4:30 p.m. at Escondido High School. The Eagles advanced with a 2-1 overtime win over No. 9 Gompers Prep in Wednesday’s semifinal.
Senior John Brady scored the dramatic game-winner on a bending free kick in the sudden-victory OT period. Senior Dylan Loe scored the Eagles’ goal in regulation.
Olympian defeated No. 13 Brawley, 3-1, in the opening round and took care of business with a 1-0 overtime win over No. 12 Sweetwater (12-10-5) in the quarterfinals.
Gompers Prep had eliminated No. 1 Grossmont (18-2-1) by a 3-2 score in the quarterfinals. The Foothillers had finished 10-0 in Grossmont Valley League play.
Saturday’s slate features two more games with local connections.
No. 5 Hilltop (7-11-7) will play No. 10 Point Loma (4-8-7) in the Division I championship game at 4 p.m. at Monte Vista High School. Hilltop topped visiting Monte Vista, 3-1, in Wednesday’s semifinals while Pt. Loma did it on the road at No. 6 Calexico with another 3-1 victory.
Monte Vista entered the semifinals breathing fire after knocking off No. 8 Oceanside (6-6-7) and then No. 1 Southwest (10-7-4) in successive playoff rounds. The Monarchs edged Oceanside, 3-2, in the opening round and nailed shut the Raiders’ season with a 5-1 win in the quarterfinals.
Hilltop received goals from seniors Reyden Brenes, Jorge Lopez Figueroa and Jair Mariscal in Wednesday’s contest. Monte Vista halved the score to 2-1 on a second-half goal from Miguel Castillo. But the Lancers scored a rare open-net goal with four minutes to play after catching the Monarchs pushed up field while attempting to net the equalizer.
The Lancers kicked off the playoffs with a 1-0 win over No. 12 Pacific Ridge (7-8-4) in the first round and posted a comeback 3-2 win at No. 4 Westview (7-9-3) in the quarterfinals.
“The season started extremely slowly for us with injuries and ineligibilities,” Hilltop coach Jesus Acevedo said. “We played a lot of Division I and Open Division teams in the beginning. Then in league play, the ball did not bounce our way. We finished the season with seven ties. In the playoffs, we finally managed to put everything together.”
Mariscal had two goals in the quarterfinal win at Westview while Lopez Figueroa scored once. Lopez Figueroa had the game-winner in the playoff opening win.
Point Loma defeated No. 10 Rancho Buena Vista (5-12-5) in a kicks-from-the mark tiebreaker following a scoreless stalemate in the opening round then upset No. 3 Mission Hills (8-12-3) by a score of 3-1 on the road in the quarterfinals.
Two Metro teams will meet in the Division II championship game: No. 2 Bonita Vista (14-4-2) and No. 12 Otay Ranch (14-4-7). The title tilt is scheduled Saturday at 4 p.m. at Montgomery High School.
Metro-Mesa League runner-up Bonita Vista opened the playoffs with a 3-2 home field overtime win over No. 15 Escondido (10-6-5) in the first round, then defeated No. 7 La Jolla Country Day (13-6-2) by a 2-1 overtime score in the quarterfinals. The Barons had to tip-toe past year another opponent by a one-goal margin by shading No. 3 University City (13-6-3) by a 4-3 score in Wednesday’s semifinals.
Senior Karlos Flores scored the golden goal against Escondido while junior Christian Cuevas netted the golden goal against LJCD. Senior Jacob Piles notched the game-winning goal in the semifinals.
Otay Ranch entered the playoffs as the Metro-South Bay League champion (3-0-3). The Mustangs kicked off postseason play with a 3-2 kicks-from-the-mark win at No. 5 Mission Bay (10-4-4) in the first round and followed that with a 2-1 win at No. 4 San Marcos (19-4-2) in the quarterfinals.
The postseason odyssey took Otay Ranch next to No 1 Central Union where the Mustangs eliminated the Spartans (26-1-3) by a score of 5-4.
Seniors Joshua Contreras and Diego Mosqueda scored goals against San Marcos while senior Elvis Villalva recorded a hat trick in the win over previously undefeated Central. Contreras and Mosqueda also scored goals in the highlight win over the No. 1 Spartans.
Contreras, Mosqueda and Villalva tied for the team scoring lead with 17 points.
Metro-Pacific League champion Montgomery (13-4-3) was denied a place in the finals after falling to No. 3 La Jolla (11-2-5) by a 1-0 score in Tuesday’s Division 4 semifinals. The second-seeded Aztecs had previously defeated No. 15 Holtville (5-14-2) by a score of 3-1 and No. 7 Ramona (11-13-1) by a score of 1-0 to kick-start the playoffs.
Metro Conference 2025-26 Winter Sports League Champions
Girls Soccer
Metro-Mesa League: Mater Dei Catholic
Metro-South Bay League: Hilltop
Metro-Pacific League: San Ysidro
Boys Soccer
Metro-Mesa League: Eastlake
Metro-South Bay League: Otay Ranch
Metro-Pacific League: Montgomery
Girls Basketball
Metro-Mesa League: Mater Dei Catholic
Metro-South Bay League: Eastlake
Metro-Pacific League: Chula Vista
Boys Basketball
Metro-Mesa League: Victory Christian Academy
Metro-South Bay League: Mater Dei Catholic
Metro-Pacific League: Mar Vista
Girls Wrestling
Metro-Mesa League: Olympian
Metro-South Bay League: Sweetwater
Boys Wrestling
Metro-Mesa League: Bonita Vista
Metro-South Bay League: San Ysidro
Co-ed Roller Hockey
Metro-Mesa League: Eastlake
Metro-South Bay League: Hilltop
Girls Water Polo
Metro-Mesa League: Eastlake
Metro-South Bay League: Olympian
Metro-Pacific League: Hilltop
