The high school football season will finally come to an end this weekend with state bowl championship games.
Title contests will be played throughout the state in 13 sub-divisions.
The six San Diego Section divisional champions qualified for the regional playoffs. Four have survived in the quest to crown themselves state champions.
- The Helix Highlanders (13-1)will play the Folsom Bulldogs (15-0) in the Division 1-AA championship game Friday, Dec. 15, at Sacramento State University’s Hornet Stadium. Kick-off is 8 p.m.
- The Steele Canyon Cougars (11-4) will host the Half Moon Bay Cougars (14-0) in the 3-A state championship game Saturday, Dec. 16. Kick-off is 6 p.m. at Southwestern College.
- The Southwest El Centro Eagles (14-0) will host Milpitas (13-1) in the Division 4-A state championship game Saturday, Dec. 16. Kick-off is 6 p.m.
- The Vincent Memorial Scots (12-2) will host San Francisco Gallileo (10-2) in the Division 6-A state championship game Saturday, Dec. 16. Kick-off is 6 p.m. at Calexico High School.
Cougar country
Steele Canyon (11-4) finished regular season play with a 6-4 record after placing third in the Grossmont Hills League standings with a 3-2 league record.
The Cougars received the seventh seed in the section’s Division II playoffs and defeated 10th-seeded Mira Mesa, 36-22, in the opening round. From there, Steele Canyon has recorded upset victories in its next four elimination contests.
The Cougars upset the second-seeded (and previously undefeated) Bishop’s Knights, 61-52, in a quarterfinal-round matchup. Steele Canyon then slipped past the sixth-seeded Granite Hills Eagles, 28-27, in an all East County semifinal game.
The Cougars pulled off the biggest shocker in this year’s section finals by defeating the top-seeded (and previously undefeated) Ramona Bulldogs, 33-29, in the Division II final Dec. 2 at Southwestern College.
Steele Canyon defeated host El Modena, 28-26, in last Saturday’s Southern California regional playoff game.
The Cougars enter Saturday’s state championship game riding the momentum of a seven-game winning streak.
Steele Canyon will have the opportunity to topple yet another undefeated team when they tangle with Half Moon Bay, which sports a 14-0 record.
Half Moon Bay topped Sutter, 28-7, in last Saturday’s corresponding Northern California regional playoff game.
Touchdown runs by Perry Steele and DeOnte McKinney staked the San Diego Section champions to a 14-6 halftime lead over El Modena. Steele Canyon upped its lead to 21-12 on a 12-yard scoring pass from quarterback Thomas Fishburne to Jordan Anderson in the third quarter.
Kenneth Watson scored on a one-yard run in the fourth quarter to put the Rancho San Diego team ahead 28-19.
Fishburne rushed for 102 yards and passed for 116 yards.
Half Moon Bay senior quarterback Gavin Tomberlin has thrown for 1,744 yards with 21 touchdowns and zero interceptions, while senior running back Chase Hoffman has rushed for 1,212 yards and 36 touchdowns.
Senior Hayden von Almen (32 catches, 587 yards) has caught eight touchdown passes while senior Dylan Williams (21 catches, 412 yards) has caught six touchdown passes.
Hoffman leads Half Moon Bay with 1,605 all-purpose yards.
Fishburne has racked up more than 2,600 total yards and 36 touchdowns, passing and rushing combined. Darin Walton keys Steele Canyon defensively with 20 sacks.
Beast in the East
Three East County teams captured section titles: Helix (Open Division), Steele Canyon (Division II) and Monte Vista (Division IV). That’s half of the six championship games played at SWC’s DeVore Stadium.
Two of those three teams will play for state titles.
Helix will meet a formidable opponent in Folsom, which won state championships in 2010 and 2014. The 2014 team finished ranked fourth in the nation. But the Highlanders have proved to be a formidable foe themselves.
Elelyon Noa rushed for 188 yards to lead Helix to its 12th consecutive win this season. Noa scored on a 61-yard run to provide the insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Carson Baker rushed for one touchdown and passed for another while Rashaad Scott scored on a 27-yard interception return to lead the San Diego Section Open Division champions.
The Scotties are a scoring machine.
Baker has thrown for 2,410 yards with 33 touchdowns and three interceptions this season while Noa has rushed for 1,652 yards and scored 15 touchdowns. Isaiah Wooden has collected 1,622 all-purpose yards in receiving and kick returns.
Noa has 889 rushing yards and eight TDs in four playoff games.
Scott has eight interceptions on defense while teammate Isaac Taylor-Stuart has five picks.
Folsom quarterback Kaiden Bennett is a one-man scoring machine with 4,109 passing yards, 53 touchdowns and 11 interceptions to go with 1,079 rushing yards. He has accumulated 1,693 passing yards with 20 touchdowns in five playoff games. Joe Ngata has 76 catches for 1,681 yards and 25 TDs on the season.
The Bulldogs are averaging 48 points per game and have scored 70 points once this season.
Monarch Nation
Monte Vista saw its season end in an unkind way after surrendering a 28-point lead to fall short, 36-35, to host Anaheim Katella.
The Monarchs (8-6) built a 35-7 lead as Jahmon McClendon scored four touchdowns — three rushing and one on a 93-yard interception return — and Elshadai Levi scored on a 60-yard touchdown run.
But it wasn’t enough as the Knights (14-1) scored the final four touchdowns in the game and tacked on a successful two-point conversion run to spirit away the win.
McClendon, who set a section playoff record with eight touchdowns in Monte Vista’s 71-48 win over San Diego in the Division IV title game, finished the regional playoff contest with 139 yards on 27 carries.
Bowl bound
Southwest El Centro defeated San Joaquin Memorial, 31-28, last Saturday as Sergio Ruiz kicked a 24-yard field goal with three seconds to play to snap a 28-28 tie.
Southwest El Centro rallied from an early 14-0 deficit as Tyler Saikhon scored three touchdowns for the host Eagles, gaining 133 yards.
Vincent Memorial, braced by seven interceptions on defense, defeated Los Angeles Section Division II champion Huntington Park, 40-18, last Saturday.
Ramiro Cuevas led the Scots with four picks. Huntington Park opened the game with five turnovers.
Vincent Memorial quarterback Jorge Valenzuela passed for three touchdowns. The Scots piled up 718 all-purpose yards in routing Crawford, 45-3, in the Division V championship game Nov. 25 at Southwestern College.
El Camino, which defeated Eastlake, 20-10, to win the San Diego Section Division I championship on Dec. 1, dropped a 13-10 regional contest to Crenshaw in a Division 4-AA playoff game.
Games will be streamed live online via NFHS Network.
