Foothillers burn Wildcats for big win

By Ramon Scott
Updated: August 28, 2021

2021 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

GROSSMONT 35, EL CAMINO 22

EastCountySports.com staff report

LA MESA – The Grossmont Foothillers may have made the biggest noise in the county on Friday night.

The reverberations from the Hillers’ 35-22 home upset of fifth-ranked were at least felt throughout the rest of the Grossmont Hills League.

The Foothillers didn’t just stun the fifth-ranked El Camino Wildcats, they handled them with the look of a champion.

Grossmont’s win was impressive enough to consider them once again contenders for that elusive league title.

Senior quarterback Trenton Giles shook off a couple of interceptions and threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as the Foothillers won after the Wildcats took a 22-21 lead in the third quarter.

Gio Burns, a senior, caught two of the touchdown passes, and he also recorded an interception on defense, as Grossmont looked like a top ten team in the county on both sides of the ball.

El Camino’s defense was tough on Grossmont early, but Grossmont’s defense was pretty good, too.

The game was scoreless through the first half of the first quarter.

Grossmont broke through on a 10-yard rushing score for Giles.

The quarterback hit senior receiver Ryan Rodieck for key gains three times on the scoring drive.

Grossmont’s Daniel Flores had an interception, but the Wildcats got the ball back and had a scoring drive which ended in a quarterback sneak and two-point conversion for an 8-7 El Camino lead.

The Wildcats’ Tate Reid returned one of Giles’ miscues back for a touchdown to extend the visitors’ lead in the second quarter to 15-7.

Giles fired back, however, with a pass to Burns along the left side that resulted in a 64-yard touchdown to cut the lead back to one point.

Grossmont’s defense turned in a couple of big plays when senior Cristian Espino had a hard hit on a tackle-for-loss and senior Ryan Odom intercepted a pass.

Burns gave Grossmont a 21-15 halftime lead with a 50/50 catch against his defender for a 16-yard score from Giles just inside the left front corner of the end zone.

The diminutive receiver celebrated with a head-tapping gesture of his helmet, possibly a reference to the vertical advantage his opponent had as the players timed their leap simultaneously in an attempt at the ball.

“They were a very good team but this was a team win for us,” Burns said. “Espino, Odom (Thomas) Warsaw, Rodieck, (Jacob) Benevente, Giles, we all executed well.”

El Camino took the lead in the third quarter on a touchdown reception by Marquis Bell for 35 yards.

However, the Hillers’ go-ahead score came after completions to senior Elijah Williams and Rodieck.

Rodieck was finally rewarded for his reception work the entire game when Giles completed a 4-yard touchdown to him for a 28-22 lead with two minutes and change left in the third quarter

Following a Grossmont stop in the fourth, Thomas Warsaw rushed for a 30-yard touchdown, giving the Foothillers the final margin of victory, as Joe Garcia made good on all of his PATs.

Grossmont senior Brennan Sanders intercepted an El Camino pass for good measure.

The Foothillers make a rare out-of-section trip next week to take on Warren (2-0), of Downey, The Bears have outscored their first two opponents 105-3.