By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, Nov. 6, 2001 -- Marian Catholic and Bonita Vista both wrapped up at least a tie for their respective league titles with high-scoring victories last week and will be out to secure outright possession of their league crowns with wins on Friday, Nov. 9.

The Crusaders cruised to a 9-0 record with their 55-31 victory against visiting Hilltop to forge a 3-0 South Bay League mark with their final regular season contest against Mar Vista remaining on the schedule. Bonita Vista ran its Mesa League record to 3-0 after defeating Montgomery, 54-7, with Friday's game at Chula Vista left to determine whether the Barons win the league title outright or share it with Sweetwater, which finished league play 3-1 following last Friday's key 25-20 homecoming decision against the visiting Spartans.

Chula Vista will be looking to play the spoiler's role in front of a large homecoming crowd.

Marian Catholic, ranked second among the San Diego Section's Division III teams, fell behind the upset-minded Lancers by margins of 16-0 and 19-7 before responding with six unanswered touchdowns to build a 48-19 lead. Patrick Gates led the Crusaders with 174 rushing yards and three touchdowns while teammate Mario Ledesma passed for two touchdowns and running for two additional scores. Marian Catholic's Eugene Alaniz totaled 138 rushing yards. Stanley Daniels (35 yards) and Marco Contreras (32 yards) each caught touchdown passes for the Crusaders, who also received a 22-yard interception from Justin Yates.

Gates leads Marian Catholic with 1,280 yards and 20 touchdowns while Alaniz is right behind in the touchdown count with 16 and 1,072 yards. Jesse Maldonado leads the San Diego section in kick-scoring with 60 points.

Mar Vista fell to 4-5 overall, 0-3 in South Bay League play, following last Friday's 50-6 loss to visiting Castle Park. The Mariners were limited to two field goals in the game in which the Trojans built a 30-6 halftime lead and outscored the hosts 20-0 in the second half of play.

Bonita Vista, meanwhile, was buoyed once again by its passing game as Alex Palacio threw for 354 yards and six touchdowns -- both single-game school records. Palacio also holds the school record for most touchdowns scored in one season with 27. The Barons built a 27-0 lead on the Aztecs and closed the game with 27 unanswered points.

Palacio leads the section's 11-man football teams with 1,925 passing yards and 27 touchdowns. On the ground, Bonita Vista is led by Ivan Salzedo (1,138 yards, 11 touchdowns). The receiving corps is paced by Al Ghebrasalassie (621 yards, 10 touchdowns), Detron Johnson (585 yards, 8 touchdowns) and E.J. Stoike (526 yards, 6 touchdowns).

The Spartans won the statistical battle against Sweetwater, outgaining the host Red Devils 381-348 in total yards, but came up short on the scoreboard, 25-20, as SuHi's Rudy Gonzalez passed to Ozzie Simental for a game-winning 12-yard touchdown with less than 30 seconds remaining in the contest.

Chula Vista racked up a decided advantage in rushing yards against Sweetwater, compiling 371 yards on 49 attempts to the Devils' 174 yards on 35 rushes. However, the scales were tipped in the opposite direction in the passing department as SuHi amassed 174 yards, completing 8 of 17 attempts, to the Spartans' total of 10 yards on one pass completion.

Chula Vista led 20-6 at halftime but suffered four turnovers to Sweetwater's one -- the difference in the outcome.

Kevin Davies, as he has just about all season, led the Spartans with 257 total yards from scrimmage, rushing for 203 yards 23 attempts while scoring two touchdowns. His longest run of the game was 55 yards. He has rushed for 944 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season. Romero Crawford gained 86 yards on 10 rushes and scored one touchdown against Sweetwater.

John Hill and Pat Narvaez each led Chula Vista with 10 tackles while Carl Payne recorded one quarterback sack and Romero Crawford made one interception.

The host Titans are coming off a 54-0 victory against winless Southwest. Mark Whaley and Ryan Bartsch both paced Eastlake with 170 rushing yards and three touchdowns. The Titans led 42-0 at halftime before playing the second half with a running clock. A victory would help Eastlake's playoff positioning while the Lancers are not out of the playoff hunt, either.

Whaley leads the conference with 1,335 yards and has scored 16 touchdowns; Bartsch has rushed for 1,046 yards and scored 14 touchdowns.

Sylas Sandoval had a hand in three touchdowns for Hilltop in its 55-31 setback to South Bay League leader Marian Catholic last Friday. Sandoval rushed for two scores, including a 60-yard score, and passed 60 yards for an aerial touchdown.

The Aztecs lost 54-7 last week to Mesa League leader Bonita Vista while the Raiders suffered the program's San Diego Section-record 36th consecutive loss after falling 54-0 to Eastlake. Ian Pizarro keys the Montgomery offense with 1,397 passing yards and 11 touchdowns while Kenyatta Williams has 617 receiving yards and five touchdowns to his credit.

This one is for pride -- as well as crucial playoff positioning. The Trojans should rank as one of the higher Division II seeds while the Red Devil could use another win to firm up their entry status in the Division I field.

Defense once again reared its head in Castle Park's latest win, 50-6, last week at Mar Vista. The Trojans limited the Mariners to less than 50 yards in total offense in the game, including negative yardage in the second half. The offense took care of itself with quarterback Chase McGuire passing for three touchdowns to Freddy Dunkle. Anthony Jacques got the Trojans rolling with a four-yard run to jump-start scoring in the game.

Robert Bell leads Castle Park with 968 yards and has scored seven touchdowns.

Sweetwater's up-and-down season continued on a high note with last week's thrilling 25-20 come-from-behind homecoming victory against arch rival Chula Vista. The Red Devils buckled down defensively and outscored the Spartans 19-0 in the second half of play to erase a 20-6 halftime deficit. Evin Groves led SuHi with two touchdowns while quarterback Rudy Gonzalez threw three touchdown passes in the game --one each to Groves, Hector Goldbaum and Ozzie Simental. The Devils finished the night with 174 passing yards and 174 rushing yards.