East County Sports

Rarified Air: Eagles back-to-back champs

SHANE SWICKER carries for Granite Hills on Friday against El Cajon Valley. / photo by Ramon Scott

2016 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

GRANITE HILLS 49, EL CAJON VALLEY 8

 

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com

 

EL CAJON (11-5-16) — Granite Hills ran wild against El Cajon Valley in the Battle for the Madison Cup Friday night (Nov. 4), and dominated the Braves’ Senior Night with a 49-8 rout of the hosts.

Granite Hills, which rushed for 407 yards on 43 carries, buried the Braves 29-8 by halftime and continued the onslaught in the second half.

Granite Hills, which had clinched at least share of the title last week, has now won back-to-back league championships for the first time since the mid-1970s.

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JAKE SIEGFRIED rushes for Granite Hills against El Cajon Valley. / photo by Ramon Scott

JAKE SIEGFRIED collected 113 yards and 2 touchdowns on 10 carries for the Eagles.

Eight other Eagles contributed to the battering of the Braves, including SHANE SWECKER who churned 6 carries into 52 yards and 3 touchdowns.

“This is the first time I’ve ever scored a touchdown, let alone three in a game,” Swecker said. “We were just running jet plays. Once we got one that we saw would work, we just kept running it.”

Swecker scored on runs of 1, 5 and 8 yards for the Eagles (6-4, 4-0 GVL), who posted their fourth straight win.

Swecker scored the first’s first TD at 8:45 of the first.

DYLAN ALLISTER contributed two scoring bursts with 55 yards on 2 carries for Granite Hills resulting in a pair of touchdowns.

“We ran a lot of Zone Right, and just kept going after that side of the ball with success,” Allister said.

Granite Hills won its second straight Grossmont Valley League title.

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The Eagles’ BILLY BROOKS chases the Braves’ TYSON SMITH. / photo by Ramon Scott

Eagles coach KELLAN COBBS noted, “Our kids were focused on what the stakes were. They were aggressive in going after them – they did a great job doing that.”

El Cajon Valley scored in the first quarter as MAQUEL GARNER charged into the endzone on a 7 yard run. Versatile quarterback TYSON SMITH ran the conversion points in.

That briefly gave the Braves the lead with 4:45 left in the first quarter.

Siegfried ran in a TD with 2:31 left in the first for a 12-6 advantage.

Swecker’s second TD sweep made it 19-8 with 5:53 to go before halftime.

Granite Hills’ TYLER GONZALEZ had a fumble recovery in the first half to set up Swecker’s third score of the half, which came with 1:22 left in the second and bolstered the lead to 26-8.

ZACH STORER had an interception for Granite Hills, while BRYCE STRICKLAND converted a 25-yard field goal as time expired in the second.

Siegfried made his third TD midway through the third quarter.

Granite Hills (4-0, Grossmont Valley League, 6-4) was likely set to face San Pasqual (6-4) in a Eagle battle in the opening round of the playoffs next Friday in Division 2.

Granite won the season-opener between the two teams, 14-12, at Valley Stadium. The winner this time will face Olympian in round two.

Meanwhile, it appeared as if El Cajon Valley (0-4 GVL, 5-5), on a five-game losing streak, would host Serra (4-6) in a first-round D4 matchup here next Friday.

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