Valhalla running back Nehemiah Brown beats the Rancho Bernardo defender to the pylon for the 17-yard touchdown in the first quarter. (Photo by Don De Mars)

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (11-19-11) — Folks around these parts like to believe that East County football is as good as there is in the San Diego Section.

One round into the SDCIF playoffs and this may appear to be true.

Case in point are Grossmont, El Capitan, Valhalla and Steele Canyon – all first round winners.

There is no secret to the success of the Valhalla Norsemen. It centers around senior quarterback FRANK FOSTER, who has accounted for 36 touchdowns in 11 games.

Foster completed 15 of 25 passes for 234 yards, including a pair of scoring strikes to JEVON HASTEN in Friday’s (Nov. 18) opening round of the Division II playoffs as the Norsemen defeated Rancho Bernardo 27-21.

This game was not as close as the final score indicates, considering Valhalla (8-3) had a 75-yard scoring strike nullified in the third quarter that would have given the Norsemen a 34-7 lead.

Obviously Valhalla coach CHARLES BUSSEY was not happy when that break-open game pass play was voided by a late holding call.

“We came out charged up, wanted to put a few points between us and them,” said Hasten, who caught four passes for 69 yards including touchdowns of 30 and 6 yards from Foster.

“I think we surprised them when we jumped on top early,” Hasten added. “Foster had great velocity on his ball.”

Following the opening kickoff, Valhalla started at its 22-yard line and methodically drove the ball down the field to the Rancho Bernardo 48-yard line, where, on 2nd down, Foster hit slot back KEVIN MILLS with a middle screen pass that Mills turned into a 31-yard gain. On the next play running back NEHEMIAH BROWN broke loose on a sweep to the right side for a 17-yard TD. After AMMON DUNN split the uprights, the Norsemen led 7-0, with 8:06 remaining in the first quarter.

Rancho Bernardo (5-6) started its first offensive series with good field position at its 34-yard line after Jake Arnell returned RAMSEY ROMANO’s kickoff 29 yards. On third down, however, linebacker ANTHONY BUZZELL stuffed the runner for a 1-yard loss, forcing RB to punt the ball to ROBERT “Texas” RUIZ, who returned it 15 yards to the Broncos 43-yard line, giving Valhalla’s offense a short field to work with. After a successful 4th down conversion, Foster connected with a streaking Hasten on the right sideline for a 30-yard touchdown. The PAT failed, and Valhalla led 13-0 with 4:40 left in the initial period.

As the second quarter started, JESSE KRAGE hauled in a 9-yard pass from Foster followed by a 22-yard scamper by Foster to the RB 37-yard line. After an offside penalty, Foster hooked up with Ruiz for a 25-yard reception to the Broncos’ 7-yard line. On 3rd and goal, Foster threw a dart to Hasten in the endzone at the sideline for another TD. This time, Dunn’s kick was good and Valhalla had a 20-0 that carried over to halftime.

JESUS VALERO jumped in front of the would-be receiver in the end zone for his 4th interception to help protect the Norsemen’s cushion at the break.

“We came out hard, determined to advance to the next round,” Valero said.

Ruiz, who lived five years in Texas (and therefore earned his nickname) upon moving into the Valhalla attendance area, agreed.

“We have a lot of pride here and we want to keep on going,” he said.

The Broncos came out blazing in the second half, driving 80 yards for a touchdown to open the 3rd quarter, as quarterback Trent Sessions threw a completion to Chris Gill. That made it 20-7, with 9:14 left to play in the third period.

Undeterred, Valhalla answered. A pass interference call gave the Norsemen a first down on their 42-yard line. Foster immediately took advantage by throwing a strike to the speedy Mills, who motored 38 yards to the Rancho Bernardo 20-yard line. On the next play Foster found wide receiver BRIAN MACIAS open in the left flat for a 9-yard gain. Two plays later, Ruiz took a handoff from Nehemiah Brown on a reverse and sprinted to the end zone for a 7-yard TD. Dunn’s kick made it 27-7 with 7:43 remaining in the third quarter.

Valhalla appeared to have put the game away on the next play when Foster threw a perfect spiral to Hasten for a 75-yard touchdown pass, but it was all for naught as a late flag for holding negated the scoring play.

Late in the third stanza, Rancho Bern

ardo had another drive going when defensive back SOWELL ELDER picked up his third interception of the season to wipe that effort.

Early in the 4th quarter Rancho Bernardo narrowed the gap when Sessions bulled his way into the end zone from 1-yard out.

As expected, Rancho Bernardo attempted an on-side kick, but CHRIS FARRELL fielded the kick cleanly, giving Valhalla the ball at the RB 47-yard line, a 13-point lead, and only 6 minutes left in the game. But it wasn’t time to head for the parking lot.

Sessions threw a 4-yard TD pass to Ivy Adair, cutting the Norsemen lead to 27-21 with 3:45 remaining. Bussey was outraged that the Broncos’ receiver had not been whistled for offensive pass interference. Even the Rancho Bernardo coaches in the booth told their coaches on the sidelines that the call was “going against us.”

It did not and suddenly the game was on the line.

Valhalla took a couple of minutes off the clock, but finally had to punt from the RB 40-yard line and Arnell returned the punt 29 yards to the Rancho Bernardo 36- yard line with 40 seconds left and no timeouts. On first down, Sessions rolled out to his right, looking for an open receiver down field. Unknown to him, Valhalla defensive end ANDREW DAOUD chased the quarterback at least 30 yards across the field, caught him and drug him to the ground for a 6-yard sack, ending Rancho Bernardo’s chance to pull off a miracle comeback.

Steele Canyon's Michael Jordan with the grab at the goal line for thetouchdown. (Photo by Frank Price,youatplay.com)

Steele Canyon's Rudy Directo (50) knows the route to sack Scripps Ranch's QB in a 21-7 first-round victory. (Photo by Frank Price,youatplay.com)

STEELE CANYON 21, SCRIPPS RANCH 7 – Most folks probably wish that he never retired early. The entire nation watched him stumble through minor league baseball. Just like Tebow-mania is sweeping throughout the world, everybody back in the day wanted to “Be like Mike.”

Steele Canyon senior defensive back-wide receiver MICHAEL JORDAN proved against the Falcons from Scripps Ranch that Jordan would still always prevail over Bird.

With an extremely nicked up group of players, Steele Canyon head coach RON BOEHMKE had one main theme all week for his Cougars before facing off against Scripps Ranch on Friday (Nov. 18) night in the opening round of the San Diego CIF Division II playoffs – “Just survive.”

“We’ve had a tradition of practicing on Thanksgiving around here,” he said. “With all the injuries to our team this definitely was a big gut check for our guys tonight and they knew it.”

The Cougars’ depleted squad more than survived. Their stingy defense shut Scripps Ranch down without two of its stars and the offense kept the ball away from the Falcons for a vast majority of the game as they cruised to a 21-7 SDCIF Division II first round victory.

Cougars junior quarterback BRANDON ANDRADE summoned his inner Trent Dilfer for the night and managed the game beautifully. He orchestrated a 9-play 80-yard drive right off the bat only tossing the ball twice but completing both passes for 56 yards, the latter hooking up with BRANDON HOWARD for a 23-yard scoring strike.

After backpedaling on a 9-play drive that eventually faltered, the Steele Canyon defense would go on to hold the Falcons next 4 possessions to a 3-and-out.

Faced with a 3rd-and-5 on their own 19, the Falcons quarterback was eaten up by the Cougars RUDY DIRECTO on a sack.

The ensuing punt was taken by BRITTEN WRIGHT at midfield as he set his offense up with a short field via a 36-yard return. Jordan then received Andrade’s second TD pass of the night from 16 yards out for the 14-0 lead that was taken into halftime.

Just when the Falcons started to challenge to get on the board, Jordan sat on a specific route and was exactly right as he intercepted a pass on the 6-yard line and returned it 31 yards down the sideline.

“Coach and I had just talked about that exact play,” Jordan said. “I knew he was gonna run a wheel route and I was able to jump up and make the play.”

Instead of the Falcons having the opportunity of cutting the 14-0 lead in half LaSHAWN WARE then flipped the script and made it a 21-0 advantage as he accounted for 50 yards on the drive and caught Andrade’s third TD pass of the night from 19 yards out.

“Honestly it was a tough battle,” Andrade admitted. “Offensive wise we were just OK. O-line was blocking well for our running game and we could improve in the passing game, but we won the game and that’s all that matters.”

Facing a two-possession deficit, the Falcons made a destructive error late in the game. Needing the ball back with only five minutes left, they forced

an incomplete pass, but a roughing-the-passer penalty negated things and they would never see the ball again.

“We came out here and tried to win for the seniors and that’s exactly what we did,” Jordan said.

— Andrew Smith

Unfortunately for the Eagles (5-6), they imploded, committing five turnovers while suffering a lop-sided first round playoff defeat on Friday (Nov. 18) in North County. Four of the miscues came in the opening half as the Lancers (7-4) raced to a 28-0 halftime lead.

“It’s like I told our guys, you can’t make turnovers in games like this,” DeWitt said. “All of these teams are used to winning and are accustomed to taking advantage of mental mistakes.”

The Eagles made a slight comeback early in the second half as defensive lineman MICAH SPENCE recovered a fumble that led to an 11-yard scoring romp by CHRISTIAN VARNER.

“Carlsbad took all their best players and put them on defense,” DeWitt noted. “So we never got much going.”

A glimmering hope for the future is eight of the 11 teams that Granite Hills played this season are still in the playoffs.

“That’s a good sign but we haven’t been able to turn the corner yet,” DeWitt added.

Granite Hills couldn’t get its running game off the ground as the Eagles finished with 56 yards on 26 carries. The Eagles’ three quarterbacks weren’t much better through the air, completing just 7 of 17 passes for 52 yards while suffering four interceptions.

Norsemen open postseason in session
with visiting Rancho Bernardo

The 6-foot-1, 188-pound signal caller, who ranks second among East County passers in the Grossmont Conference, completed 127 passes in 201 attempts for 2,009 yards and 23 touchdowns.

Foster’s main targets are receivers ROBERT RUIZ (36-551, 5 TDs), JEVON HASTEN (31-541, 8 TDs) and KEVIN MILLS (24-458, 5 TDs).

“We’ve had the best week of practice – bar none,” said Valhalla first-year coach CHARLES BUSSEY. “Everything has been so crisp, which makes me think what if we’d been like this all year. Could be we’d be 9-1 if that were the case.”

Running backs JIHAD ELDER (59-431, 3 TDs) and KYLE QUARLES (67-441, 7 TDs) have taken a bolder role for the Norsemen, and that has taken some of the pressure off the versatile Foster.

If not for miscues in the kicking game, the Norsemen could well be 9-1 at this point.

GROSSMONT (5-4-1) at MIRA MESA (5-4-1) – This is probably the best matchup in the first round of Friday’s (Nov. 18) San Diego CIF Division I playoffs.

“We’re supposed to be the No. 12 seed because of the strength of schedule,” Grossmont coach RON MURPHY said. “But our kids are quietly confident, knowing that we could easily be a 7-3 team.”

These teams met in the playoffs a year ago and Mira Mesa pulled out a 24-17 double overtime victory.

“We match up better against them this year than we did last year,” Murphy said. “Our offensive line is back together for the second year in a row, and that’s always a plus.”

In terms of skill players the Foothillers look to sophomore quarterback ANTHONY LAWRENCE (156-294, 1,776 yards, 15 TDs passing) to direct the offense. East County ’s leading receiver RYAN GREEN (49-688, 8 TDs) is the main aerial target.

The Foothillers will also rely on a handful of running backs led by LAWRENCE WALKER (119-663) to attack from the ground.

This will be a close call again but give the nod to... Mira Mesa 27-20.

SCRIPPS RANCH (3-7) at STEELE CANYON (7-3) – A beat up band of Steele Canyon Cougars enter the San Diego CIF Division II playoffs on Friday night (Nov. 18) against a Scripps Ranch team with a misleading 3-7 record.

Steele Canyon, which finished second in the Grossmont Hills League to No. 1 ranked Helix, took a beating to rise up that high on the circuit ladder. Just how many of the Cougars have recovered from their injuries is uncertain.

“Hopefully we can get everybody healthy by the second round,” Cougars coach RON BOEHMKE said. “But of course we have to get by this first round and that’ll be no small chore.”

Outside linebacker Austin Vigil (6-2, 225), a Division I prospect, is the ringleader of the Falcons’ defense.

“I don’t think their record is indicative of what kind of team they are,” Boehmke said of the Falcons. “I’d be a lot more confident if we didn’t have so many injuries. So we’re going to have to scrap to get by these guys.”

Among the players who have come into their own for the Cougars are quarterback BRANDON ANDRADE, running back LaSHAWN WARE and double-threat WR-DB MICHAEL JORDAN.

Boehmke has been most impressed by Andrade.

“He came back to us in the summer,” Boehmke said. “He played quarterback as a freshman but didn’t play as a sophomore.”

The Cougars eliminated the Falcons from the playoffs last year 23-0. It will be tougher this time but the outcome should be... Steele Canyon 21-14.

GRANITE HILLS (5-5) at CARLSBAD (6-4) – Competing at the San Diego CIF rugged Division I level, the Eagles qualified for postseason play for only the second time in five years.

Granite Hills coach RANDY DeWITT likes the match-up against the Lancers in Friday’s (Nov. 18) opening round of the playoffs in Carlsbad.

“Like one of my coaches said when we were looking at films, they are a mirror image of us,” DeWitt noted. “They run a lot of plays out of the same formations that we do.”

Running back Shawn Cameron is the Lancers’ No. 1 threat, rushing for 1,042 yards and 12 touchdowns on 167 carries.

“He gets about 80 percent of the touches in their offense,” DeWitt said.

Not to be overlooked however is 6-foot-4 senior quarterback Tanner Wrisley, who has passed for 973 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Granite Hills is lacking an offensive leader due to injuries. Defensively the teams are similar.

One comparative score is Carlsbad beat San Diego 36-35 and the Eagles lost to the Cavers 38-12. Those line-ups lean toward the Lancers in terms of favorites.

DeWitt pointed out a rarity in that Carlsbad is 4-1 on the road but only 2-2 at home.

“We’d like to exploit that if we can,” he said.

Granite Hills may have to rely on its defense to win this one, and that puts the leadership role on the shoulders of players such as linebackers TAYLOR FLEURY, L.J. HOWIE and TYLER GEORGE.

These teams have not met in the past, but the edge goes to... Carlsbad 35-19.

EL CAPITAN (3-7) at MT. CARMEL (6-4) – Vaqueros coach RON BURNER’s teams have qualified for the playoffs in each of his seven seasons as El Capitan ’s skipper. They have posted a 3-6 record during that span, and are cast in a spoiler’s role in Friday’s (Nov. 18) San Diego CIF Division III first round meeting.

Senior JOSH MURPHY is a standout wherever he lines up, which, of late, has been at quarterback. Trouble is he is also the Vaqueros’ top receiver and arguably the club’s top running back.

“I’m excited that we made the playoffs,” said Burner, whose Vaqueros began the season with five straight losses. “I think we have a pretty good chance in this one but we have to play well. They have six guys going both ways, but we have a lot of guys banged up. I probably won’t know until game time exactly who will be ready to play for us.”

The high-scoring Sundevils look to Robbi Haliburton (93-912, 7 TDs) and quarterback Nick Vasko (994 total offense) to put the pressure on the Vaqueros.

In 2006 El Capitan scored 95 points in two playoff games, yet had to settle for a split. The Vaqs clipped Cathedral Catholic 52-28, but fell to St. Augustine 51-43. Key name here is RYAN LINDLEY, now the senior signal-caller at San Diego State.

These schools have met only once in the past – 1988 with the Sundevils claiming a 28-6 victory. The outcome could be similar this time... Mt. Carmel 40-14.