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Mythical Metro championship game: Try Marian Catholic vs. Bonita Vista

By Phillip Brents

The unbeaten Crusaders and once-beaten Barons pair up for the mythical Metro Conference championship game Oct. 26 at Southwestern College. The leader in the South Bay League, Marian Catholic (7-0), defeated Castle Park, 22-14, last Friday to pass its first two major hurdles toward claiming this year’s league title. The leader in the Mesa League, Bonita Vista, is riding a six-game winning streak and will likely use the prestige value of this game to gear up for an upcoming pivotal league battle against Chula Vista.

Kick-off is 7 p.m.

Marian Catholic defeated the Trojans for the first time since 1981 behind a solid offensive and defensive effort that saw the team recover from 7-3 and 14-10 deficits. The Crusaders were led by two touchdowns from sophomore Patrick Gates, who scored on runs of 5 and 44 yards, a 20-yard touchdown scramble by quarterback Mario Ledesma and a 26-yard field goal by Jesse Maldonado. For the San Diego Section’s highest-scoring team, it was defense that helped set up the offense this time around for Marian Catholic as Mickey Pimentel and Alex Ballesteros both made first-half interceptions and Stanley Daniels recovered a fumble. Joey Olvera made a game-saving interception in the final seven seconds to thwart one final Castle Park drive. The Crusaders forced six Trojan turnovers.

"We’re quite pleased with our progress this year. The defense played tremendous against Castle Park. Everybody did a great job," said Crusader coach Mike David. "It’s been the entire group. The defensive line has been tremendous. The linebackers and defensive backs have played well."

Marian Catholic, a Division IV enrollment school, received permission earlier in the week from the section to compete in the Division III playoffs for a second straight season. Of the Crusaders’ 10 regular season opponents, four are participating at the Division I and four are participating at the Division II levels. Another opponent, Bishop Manogue, completes at Nevada’s highest school enrollment level.

"We went to Division III last year. We thought we had the team to do that," David said.

This year, it appears that David has the team to do it.

Gates rushed for 83 yards to lead Marian Catholic against the Trojans while Ledesma gained 62 yards on the ground from his signal-calling position. The Crusaders were twice stopped on goal-line stands as Eugene Alaniz and then Gates were prevented from crossing over from the one-yard line in the first half.

For the season, Gates paces Marian Catholic with 970 yards. He and Alaniz (812 yards) both have a team-leading 13 touchdowns. Maldonado leads the section in kick-scoring with 46 points on 40 extra point attempts and two field goals.

"Patrick has had a tremendous year. He’s only going to get better — he’s only a sophomore," the Crusaders helmsman noted.

Despite the aura surrounding it, David said his team is not approaching tonight’s game as any out-of-the-ordinary game. "To be honest, we haven’t thought about it. Right now, we aren’t thinking about the playoffs or even clinching the league title," he said.

Bonita Vista improved to 6-1 on the season following its 48-0 Mesa League victory last Friday against winless Southwest. Ivan Salzedo rushed for three short-yardage touchdowns to lead the Barons, who also received scores from Kevin Shields on a 32-yard interception return and a 36-yard touchdown reception by Al Ghabrasalassie in building a 34-0 lead. Bonita Vista led 20-7 at halftime after putting together a 20-point second period.

Salzedo leads the Barons with 1,014 rushing yards and has scored nine touchdowns while Palacio has thrown for 1,231 yards and 16 touchdowns. Ghabrasalassie and Detron Johnson have both snared six scoring passes apiece.

The Spartans are coming off a 40-14 non-league victory at Hilltop in which they outgained the Lancers 315-135 in total offensive yards. Chula Vista rushed 60 times for 290 yards and limited Hilltop to 12 yards on 12 rushing attempts. Kevin Davies led the victorious Spartans with 156 yards on 22 carries while tacking on 23 receiving yards. He scored twice from the ground while adding a 70-yard kick return for a touchdown. Carl Payne (18 rushes, 108 yards) finished the game with two touchdowns. Defensively, Chula Vista recorded seven takeaways — five interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Eduardo Jaimes led the Spartans with two pickoffs while Carlos Santamaria, Tyrell Williams and Julio Torres also made interceptions. Romero Crawford had one caused fumble while John Hill had one quarterback sack. John Bell led CV with five quarterback hurries. Thomas Klein and Mitch Noell both had fumble recoveries.

Montgomery, which is looking to snap a three-game losing streak, is led by quarterback Ian Pizarro, who has passed for 969 yards and completed seven touchdowns. Kenyatta Williams owns 433 receiving yards and four touchdowns.

The Red Devils, after a 0-4 start, have won two of their last three ball games. Evin Groves led SuHi with two touchdowns in last Friday’s 24-7 Mesa League victory at Montgomery while quarterback Rudy Gonzalez completed 11 of 29 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns — one each to Alfonso Hernandez and Joe Wynn. Sweetwater’s defense contributed as well by forcing five first-half turnovers (four fumbles and one interception).

Robert Monosmith scored Montgomery’s lone touchdown in the game to cut the Aztecs’ deficit on the scoreboard to 12-7 in the second quarter. However, the visiting Devils responded with two unanswered touchdowns to cap the scoring in the contest. After opening scoring on a 15-yard run, Groves closed out scoring on an eight-yard carry in the final period. Hernandez caught a 41-yard scoring pass while Wynn’s scoring catch was for 30 yards.

The Raiders have lost a section record 34 consecutive games and have been outscored 304-38.

Last year, this matchup stood as the defining game to the South Bay League championship. This year, the winner gets the upper hand should front-runner Marian Catholic falter in its final two league games against Mar Vista and Hilltop. The Titans got back on the winning track last week with a 24-7 victory against Mar Vista as Ryan Bartsch (16 rushes, 168 yards) scored three touchdowns and Rene Montes kicked a 35-yard field goal. Bartsch’s longest TD run came from 38 yards out. Though held off the scoring column, Mark Whaley added 152 rushing yards on 14 attempts for Eastlake.

Whaley leads the Titans with 1,045 yards and 10 touchdowns while Bartsch has rushed for 713 yards and nine touchdowns.

Castle Park saw its four-game winning streak snapped last Friday by undefeated Marian Catholic. Robert Bell led the Trojans in an otherwise defensive slugfest with 88 rushing yards and one touchdown, scoring on a 32-yard run. Teammate Anthony Jacques helped give his team an early 7-0 lead by scoring from three yards out. Leading 14-10, Castle Park surrendered the final two touchdowns of the game to the Crusaders.

Bell is having a solid year in the backfield with 825 yards and seven touchdowns. Despite last week’s setback, Castle Park still ranks as the conference’s top defensive team.

Fedarin Johnson had the Mariners’ lone score in last Friday’s 24-7 setback to Eastlake. The Lancers, meanwhile, are regrouping from their fifth straight defeat, 40-14, in a non-league contest against westside rival Chula Vista.