Vaqueros ready for championship game

By Ramon Scott
Updated: October 25, 2021

El Capitan junior Daisean Desinor scores a touchdown on Friday. / Rob Riingen

2021 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

EL CAPITAN 41, MONTE VISTA 20

EastCountySports.com staff report

LAKESIDE – The Monte Vista Monarchs led 6-0 and 14-7 in the first half before host El Capitan scored five consecutive touchdowns en route to a 41-20 Grossmont Valley League victory on Senior Night.

The win sets up El Capitan (8-1, 5-0 GVL), winners of six straight games, with a championship showdown game next Friday night at league co-leader West Hills.

The teams also meet annually for the right to possess the Tony Burner Memorial Trophy, which was won by the Vaqueros in the spring, 27-14, in Lakeside.

El Capitan senior Savigon Yokley, on the shortlist for the county’s Player of the Year, accounted for 355 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, while unheralded senior Daisean Desinor scored three touchdowns for the Vaqueros in knocking off winless Monte Vista (0-9, 0-5 GVL).

“We knew that we had to come out here and work hard and get another league game win,” Yokley said.

Aiden Robey, who has made the most of his senior season despite the Monarchs’ rough season, busted off a 62-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage to stun the hosts with a 6-0 lead. Robey had a monster night on the ground, rushing for over 250 yards. He scored a second touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“Coach Ham (Ron Hamamoto) kept feeding me the ball all game and my O-line made it easy,” Robey said.

After El Capitan’s Xavier Peace scored on a 7-yard touchdown run a little more than four minutes after the opening score, Monte Vista regained the lead.

Monte Vista senior quarterback Jayden Richardson threw a 15-yard touchdown to sophomore Matthew Felix.

“We just couldn’t stop them on third-and-long,” Richardson said. “We were shutting them down and then we’d give up a big play. I told my guys, ‘I don’t care what the record says you have to come to play.’

“We could’ve pulled out the victory if we fixed a couple of mistakes. Other than that, I’m really proud of my guys.”

Robey rushed in the conversion for a seven-point advantage just about two minutes into the second quarter.

“They couldn’t stop (Robey),” Richardson said.

Desinor scored his first touchdown of the game on a 52-yard pass hookup from Yokley just a couple of minutes later.

Then, Yokley displayed his long-distance scoring ability once again, scoring on an 80-yard run with 4:37 to go before halftime, giving El Cap a 21-14 advantage.

Desinor scored his second touchdown of the quarter on a 2-yard run with just 13.7 seconds left in the first half.

Just one minute into the third period, Yokley passed for a 29-yard score to Desinor.

“It was a great win tonight,” Desinor said. “We trust each other out there on that field.”

Finally, the Brothers Yokley did indeed connect for a touchdown pass and it was another long one. The pair produced six on a 79-yard pass from Savi to Antwone.

“Our middle backer and captain broke his wrist,” El Capitan head coach Ron Burner said, although it was not known which player the skipper was referring to.

El Capitan two-way leader Alex Fa’aea may be ready for the playoffs as he is attempting to return from a couple of injuries, according to the coach.

The Vaqueros will head to west Santee next week with the Grossmont Valley League championship on the line when they face the West Hills Wolf Pack, which has an 11-game winning streak dating back to last season.

The last loss for the Wolf Pack came to the Vaqueros back on April 2.

Many of the top players in the spring game will be on display in the championship, including the Yokley brothers and Desinor.

“Now we are focusing on next week and going to work 10 times harder,” Savigon Yokley said. “We’re going to work hard and come out and give them hell.”