SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Football

Defending league champion Titans, Barons square off in Week 3

By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, Calif., Sept. 20, 2001 -- It’s become one of the jewel contests in South County high school football: Eastlake vs. Bonita Vista. It’s taken a few years to get the competitive edge in gear but the annual clash of eastside schools now ranks up there in terms of prestige value alongside the classic Sweetwater vs. Chula Vista rivalry.

This year is no different as both the South Bay League Titans and Mesa League Barons are defending championship titles in their respective leagues. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at Stan Canaris Stadium on the campus of Eastlake High.

Both teams are also coming off impressive victories last week to make amends for less than stellar outings in their season openers.

Eastlake defeated Montgomery, 32-21, as Julio DeUnamuno rushed for 166 yards on 22 carries and scored two touchdowns and Mark Whaley totaled 156 yards on the ground on 26 carries and scored three touchdowns, including one on a 55-yard interception return.

DeUnamuno scored on runs of 12 and 46 yards, the latter score putting the game out of reach after the host Aztecs (1-1) had narrowed the score to 26-21 on a five-yard scoring pass from quarterback Ian Pizzaro. Whaley assumed the No. 1 position in the backfield with an injury to Ryan Bartsch and responded by helping the Titans (1-1) take a 14-0 first-quarter lead by scoring on a 12-yard touchdown run and then adding the interception return.

Montgomery returned the favor with a 61-yard pickoff return to account for the lone points of the second period as Eastlake took a 14-6 halftime lead. The teams then traded touchdowns with the Titans going up by margins of 20-6 and 26-14 on scores by DeUnamuno and Whaley, who tacked on a one-yard run.

Pizarro led the Aztecs in the passing department with 239 yards, completing 11 of 21 passes, while Kenyatta Williams — one of Montgomery’s heroes in its season-opening victory against Mt. Miguel with four touchdowns — grabbed seven passes for 169 yards, including one scoring catch for 83 yards.

The Aztecs host Hilltop tonight. The Lancers are also 1-1 following their 39-7 victory last Friday against Southwest.

Bonita Vista defeated Las Vegas Silverado, 42-14, as Ivan Salzedo (238 yards, 24 carries) scored three touchdowns and Detron Johnson (5 receptions, 118 yards) added two scores. The Barons led 21-0 and added 21 unanswered points after the Nevada visitors finally got on the scoreboard. Salzedo opened scoring on a 33-yard run and added another score from 27 yards out following an 18-yard pass play from BV signal-caller Alex Palacio to Johnson. Salzedo added a one-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter while Travis Shockley scored from 54 yards out to cap the scoring by the hosts. Kevin Shields booted all six point-after touchdown conver-sion attempts for the winners.

The individual matchups?

Whaley leads all Metro ground-gainers with 326 yards and a 163.0 yards per game average with three touchdowns to his credit while Salzedo owns 280 yards in two games, a 140.0 game rushing average and three scores. Bartsch, who may see action, rushed for 125 yards and two TDs in Eastlake’s season-opening loss to 10th-ranked Ramona. DeUnamuno has rushed for 212 yards and the two scores in two games for the Titans.

The Barons have been more active through the air, with Palacio having passed for 476 yards in two games. Johnson has been the primary receiving target with nine catches for 143 yards and two TDs.

Westside rivalry rekindled

Chula Vista (1-1) rekindles another rivalry tonight when the Spartans invade Swift Stadium for a 7 p.m. engagement against Castle Park. The host Trojans are off to a 0-2 start but both losses have come by a total of three points. Castle Park came up short on the score-board for the second week in a row by a 19-18 margin last Friday at La Costa Canyon. The Trojans, who fell 9-7 to visiting Torrey Pines in the season opener on a late field goal, surrendered an 18-13 lead on a 99-yard kickoff return by the host Mavericks.

Anthony Jacques led Castle Park with two touchdowns, scoring on plays of 60 and 52 yards, while Chase McGuire tossed an 18-yard scoring pass to Freddie Dunkle. The Trojans, who began a snake-bitten 2000 campaign 0-3, led 12-7 at halftime.

"Last year, the first game was a lot of mental mistakes and the second game, against La Costa, we committed seven turnovers. We haven’t had a turnover so far this year. We’re just not getting it done at the end," said Castle Park coach Paul Van Nostrand

The Spartans are also coming off a loss, 15-10, at West Hills that in-cluded two touchdowns called back on the visitors’ part that could easily have produced a victory. Julian Smith returned a kickoff 68 yards for Chula Vista’s first score and Kevin Davies later booted a 46-yard field goal to give the visitors a 10-7 lead. However, one Spartan TD was nullified by an officials call when it was determined that West Hills’ Tashuma Nashiwawa crossed the goal line before fumbling the football (which Davies subsequently picked up in the endzone and raced 104 yards for an apparent score) while Davies had a 64-yard score in the final period erased on a clipping call.

"I’m very pleased with the effort. We really improved over the first week. We were more aggressive than the first week. We still made some key mistakes and Castle Park is too good of a team to make mistakes against," explained Spartan coach Rex Johnson.

Fullback Carl Payne led Chula Vista with 40 yards on eight carries while quarterback Travis Crawford rushed 13 times for 37 yards while completing seven of 13 passes for 127 yards. Smith had three catches for 36 yards while Davies had two receptions for 78 yards. As a team, the Spartans totaled 257 yards in offense while allowing 296 yards in total offense to the victorious Wolf Pack (84 rushing, 212 passing).

Eric Williams keyed Chula Vista defensively with nine tackles, followed on the chart by Payne and John Bell with eight tackles apiece. Payne also had one quarterback sack while Bell caused one fumble. Pat Narvaez recovered and caused one fumble while Romero Crawford made one interception and one fumble recovery. John Hill also added one sack.

Jacques leads Castle Park in rushing, followed by Robert Bell.

"We’ve worked hard in practice to correct our mistakes. Our kids are excited about playing Chula Vista," Van Nostrand said. "Our kids know their kids. They’ve grown up together playing Pop Warner."

Mariner defense rests

The big question of the week: Can Mar Vista post a third consecutive win to start the season?

The Mariners, who host winless Southwest tonight, earned instant prestige points in the Metro Conference following last Friday’s gritty 7-0 victory against visiting Sweetwater. The win was the first by a Mar Vista team against a Red Devil squad in 34 years and marked the first time since 1996 that the Mariners had started off a season 2-0.

Senior Fedarin Johnson returned an intercepted pass 47 yards with less than a minute remaining in the first half for what turned out to be the only points of the game, which featured strong defensive efforts on both sides. Mar Vista held a young Sweetwater team to 124 total yards while the Devils put up two defensive stands inside their own 20-yard line to thwart potential scores by the hosts.

Southwest, Mar Vista’s opponent tonight, has been outscored 73-13 in two games and is in the midst of a 29-game losing streak. The Mariners, relying on their defense, have outscored opponents by a slender 13-3 margin in two games.

Opposites attract

Sweetwater, also 0-2 on the season, hopes to get back on track against an undefeated Marian Catholic squad tonight at Gail Devers Stadium.

Patrick Gates leads the Crusaders, who have outscored their two season opponents 107-6, with 290 rushing yards through two weeks of play, scoring twice, while Eugene Alaniz follows on the Marian rushing ledger with 275 yards and four TDs and Marco Contreras with 221 yards and three TDs. Quarterback Mario Ledes-ma has thrown for 227 yards and three scores for the Crusaders, the San Diego Section’s third-ranked Division III team.

In other games:

Hilltop at Montgomery: The Lancers helped erase the unpleasant memory of a 34-0 season-opening loss to San Diego with 39 unanswered points. Brandon Grant led Hilltop with three touchdowns while Jason Rowe scored twice, including once on a 58-yard pickoff return. Mike Yaomoto tossed one TD pass and one two-point conversion while Tyler Bospflug added seven points on a 31-yard field goal and four PAT conversions.

Pacific Christian at Midway Baptist: The 2-0 Patriots will play host in this Saturday contest. Ryan Webb has thrown for 203 yards and two touchdowns.

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