Three San Diego Section teams — Oceanside (Division I), El Capitan (Division III) and Christian (Division IV) — will play in this weekend’s Southern California regional football playoffs, with an eye on advancing to State Bowl championship games to cap their seasons.
The three teams are a record for the section in one given year, and all sport unbeaten 13-0 records.
In games Friday, Dec. 12:
Christian (13-0) will meet St. Margaret’s of San Juan Capistrano (14-0) in a match-up of unbeaten teams scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Granite Hills High School. Christian defeated Hoover, 31-9, on Dec. 6 in the section Division IV championship game to earn a nod against St. Margaret’s.
Meanwhile, Oceanside (13-0) will host Fresno Edison (12-1) in a Division I clash, also at 7:30 p.m. The Pirates are the reigning San Diego Section Open Division champions after defeating Helix, 20-13, in dramatic fashion on Dec. 6.
In a game Saturday, Dec. 13:
El Capitan (13-0) will host Paso Robles (13-1) in a Division III match-up at 7:30 p.m. The Vaqueros captured this year’s San Diego Section Division II championship by defeating Rancho Bernardo, 14-7, on Dec. 6. The Vaqueros, owners of their first-ever CIF section title, qualify in the state Division III enrollment level.
Winners of this weekend’s regional playoff contests (i.e. regional championship bowls) advance to State Bowl championship games the following weekend at the StubHub Center in Carson (formerly Home Depot Center) against winners from the Northern California regionals, also scheduled this weekend.
To be eligible for the regional playoffs, teams must be section champions and receive an invitation from the playoff selection committee, which is comprised of the 10 CIF section commissioners.
Teams are selected based on won-loss record, strength of schedule, head-to-head competition and common opponents. There are a total of 51 section champions this year, 23 from Northern California and 28 from Southern California.
This year’s state bowl line-up includes the following divisions: Open Division, Division I, Division II, Division III and Division IV (small schools). Other than the Open Division, all divisions are based on enrollment levels.
All regional football championship bowl games will begin at 7:30 p.m. Divisions I and IV will play on Friday, Dec. 12 and Divisions II and III will play on Saturday, Dec. 13.
Oceanside has two state bowl championships to its credit since the format made its debut in 2006. The Pirates won the Division II title in 2007 and the Division I title in 2009.??Other San Diego Section teams with state bowl titles include Cathedral Catholic (Division II in 2008), Bishop’s (Division IV in 2010), Helix (Division II in 2011) and Madison (Division III in 2012).
Regional championship bowl schedule:
DIVISION I
North: Grant, Sacramento (14-0, 7-0) vs. Folsom (14-0, 6-0) at Sacramento State – Friday, Dec. 12, at 7:30 p.m.
South: Edison, Fresno (12-1, 4-0) vs. Oceanside (13-0, 4-0) at Oceanside HS – Friday, Dec. 12, at 7:30 p.m.
DIVISION II
North: Oakdale (13-1, 6-1) vs. Clayton Valley Charter (14-0, 5-0) at Clayton Valley Charter – Saturday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m.
South: Ridgeview, Bakersfield (12-1, 5-0) vs. Redlands East Valley (13-1, 7-0) at Citrus Valley HS (Redlands) – Saturday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m.
DIVISION III
North: Sutter (13-0, 6-0) vs. Campolindo, Moraga (14-0, 6-0) at Acalanes HS (Lafayette) – Saturday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m.
South: Paso Robles (13-1, 3-1) vs. El Capitan, Lakeside (13-0, 5-0) at El Capitan HS – Saturday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m.
DIVISION IV
North: Capital Christian, Sacramento (13-0, 6-0) vs. Central Catholic, Modesto (10-3, 5-2) at Central Catholic – Friday, Dec. 12, at 7:30 p.m.
South: St. Margaret’s, San Juan Capistrano (14-0, 4-0) vs. Christian, El Cajon (13-0, 3-0) at Granite Hills HS (El Cajon) – Friday, Dec. 12, at 7:30 p.m.
The Open Division championship has been set:
OPEN DIVISION
Centennial, Corona (12-2, 5-0) vs. De La Salle (13-0) at StubHub Center – Saturday, Dec. 20, at 8 p.m.
Patriots, Vaqueros, Pirates combine for memorable trifecta of San Diego Section football championship memories
El Capitan 14, Rancho Bernardo 7
Top-seeded El Capitan was making its first section finals appearance since 1963 while second-seeded Rancho Bernardo was making its first trip to a division finals game since 2001. The Broncos scored first in an upset bid, but the Vaqueros extended their perfect season to 13-0 by tacking on touchdowns in the second and third quarters to prevail in a gritty defensive battle.
El Capitan entered the game averaging 33.6 points per game on the season. The Vaqueros’ offense overshadowed a very good El Capitan defense, as it turned out. “Our defense is our whole team,” Vaq slotback/corerback senior Isaiah Capoocia stated. “Defense wins championships. Our offense puts points on the board but our defense comes out each week. That’s why we win.”
Capoocia excelled at both ends in the CIF title game. He caught a 24-yard scoring pass from quarterback Brad Cagle to bring El Cap into a 7-7 tie and later made an interception at the goal line to deny the Broncos a scoring opportunity to end the first half.
Cagle scored the game-winning touchdown on a six-yard keeper through a pile-up at the goal line with 1:27 remaining in the third quarter, and the Vaq’s defense took over from there. El Capitan made two defensive stands on fourth-down plays by Rancho Bernardo. The Broncos (10-3) advanced the ball as far as the El Capitan 17- and 25-yard lines in the latter stages of the game but were unable to move the ball any farther against a ferocious Vaquero defense.
“They were one of the toughest teams we played all year (but) we played our hearts out,” El Cap senior lineman Tanner Morgan noted. “We knew they were tired, and we were tired. We just tried to push through.”
Cagle, who entered the game averaging well over 200 passing yards per game, completed 10 of 23 passes against RB for 164 yards and one touchdown. He rushed seven times for 33 yards with the one rushing TD.
Cagle enters Saturday’s state playoff game with 2,650 passing yards to his credit in 13 games to go with 29 touchdowns and just five picks.
Capoocia had three catches for 56 yards and one score against the Broncos. He enters the state playoffs with 59 catches for 941 yards and 15 touchdowns.
D.J. Smith, the team’s leading rusher during the regular season, carried the ball 11 times for 48 yards against a stubborn RB defense. For the season, he has rushed for 1,195 yards and 19 TDs.
RB’s Anthony Barnum set the pace early by scoring on a one-yard run. However, Bronco quarterback Tucker Reed, harassed throughout the game by a fierce El Cap pass rush, couldn’t make the plays needed to drive his team consistently down field.
Christian clips Cardinals wings to reign as Division III CIF champs
The Patriots will take the field Friday in the state regional playoff game as two-time section champions. Christian used a big second-half showing against top-seeded Hoover to overcome a 9-8 Cardinal lead.
The turning point of the game came when Pats quarterback David Todd Jeremiah connected with Nick Sexton on a 79-yard catch-and-carry to put second-seeded Christian up 14-9.
Adrian Petty then scored on a six-yard run to up the score to 21-9 at the end of the third quarter. The Patriots added 10 more points in the final quarter: Kyle Thompson kicked a 39-yard field goal and Petty tacked on an eight-yard scoring run.
Petty rushed 26 times for 92 yards while returning two punts for 96 yards.
Jeremiah completed eight of 10 passing attempts for 132 yards. Sexton had two catches for 85 yards while Trevor Howell had three catches for 38 yards.
Defensively, Ethan Contreras had one interception while Joey Morones had one fumble recovery.
Thompson averaged 40 yards on three punts.
The first half ended 8-3 in Christian’s favor. Luis Aparicio kicked a 23-yard field goal to put the Cardinals (8-4) up 3-0 in the first quarter. But the Pats came back with a two-point safety by Brandon Hester and a 77-yard kick-off return by Petty in the second quarter.
Petty finished the game with three touchdowns — two rushing and one on the kickoff return.
Jaquille Bradford scored on a one-yard run to put Hoover back on top. However, Sexton’s breakaway score proved to be the catalyst for the Patriots in scoring the come-from-behind victory to extend their section winning streak to 20 games.
Three of the Partiots’ five South County players from last year’s CIF champoionship returned to win another division title this year: Sexton, William Hail and Christian Yaotani.
Pirates plunder Highlanders’ ship to steal Open Division victory
The Oceanside Pirates and Helix Highlanders have a special rivalry all their own, and it’s best whenever the teams meet in the division finals, which is frequent.
The teams brought their rivalry to a high point in this year’s Open Division championship game, with the top-seeded Pirates recording a remarkable 20-13 come-from-behind victory to stun the third-seeded Highlanders.
Oceanside head coach John Carroll was visibly moved by his team’s heroic win.
“I only have two words to say to you,” Carroll told his team in its post-game huddle. “Pride and respect.”
Those two words exemplified the Pirates’ dramatic second-half comeback from apparent defeat. Helix led, 13-3, in the third quarter.
“I saw a team that refused to lose,” the Oceanside coach underscored. “I saw a team that faced the challenges and willed themselves to victory.”
The game was hard-hitting, physical and intense, and would have put many four-year universities to shame. It ranks up there with the greatest games ever played in section history.
Played against a back-drop of a sold-out crowd of 7,000, with standing-room only on the Helix side, the game was simply breathtaking in scope.
Mathias Layton put the Highlanders ahead 3-0 on the strength of a 37-yard field goal with 6:33 to play in the first quarter and Nathan Stinson broke away from the line of scrimmage for a 76-yard touchdown run to increase the Scotties’ lead to 10-0 with 4:34 to play in the quarter.
Oceanside cut the Helix lead to 10-3 on a 41-yard field goal by Caleb Ramirez as timed expired in the quarter, but the Highlanders regained their 10-point advantage on the scoreboard with a 33-yard boot by Layton with 7:30 remaining in he third quarter.
That would be the last time the Scotties would score in the game.
The Pirates came back from the dead with just over a quarter to play. Josh Bernard butted heads with a pair of Helix defenders at the goal line to score on a gritty seven-yard run to make the score 13-10 with 1:18 remaining in the third quarter.
One had the feeling that the momentum was going to swing to Oceanside’s favor from that point on.
And it did. “I think the turning point in the game was the first time when we stopped them on fourth-down,” Pirate Isaia Paopao said.
Oceanside scored 10 points in the pivotal fourth quarter. Matthew Romero tossed a 40-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Arzola. The Pirate receiver went down along the sideline, reaching the ball over the pylon just before he flew out of bounds.
The score, with 11:28 left in the fourth quarter, put Oceanside up 17-13, and the energy fueled the Pirates’ ship of plunder the rest of the game.
Ramirez kicked a 31-yard field goal with 7:41 left in the quarter to boot the Oceanside lead to 20-13, and the Pirate defense took care of the rest.
The atmosphere was electrifying along the Oceanside sideline the final two minutes of the game as victory lay in sight.
“Not too many people believed in us, but we have their respect now,” Paopao said.
Carroll noted it was only the fourth time in school history that the Pirates finished with an undefeated season.It was Carroll’s 13th section title overall.
“Heart and character,” Bernard summed up as the ingredients to Oceanside’s recipe for CIF championships.
