Torrey Pines’ (9-0, 3-0 Palomar) undefeated season continued Friday night as they claimed a 38-17 victory over Poway, giving them the Palomar League championship. “We have been calling each week a step this season. Tonight was step 9: League Champs. We are hanging a banner, it feels great,” said Torrey Pines’ senior running back Kevin Cuff.

Cuff was the player of the game rushing 117 yards and four touchdowns. Cuff scored on all three of the Falcons first- half possessions on runs of 4, 4 and 18 yards. His fourth touchdown came in the third quarter, a 4-yard run. The Falcons first drive of the game covered 80 yards (16 passing yards and 64 rushing yards) on 18 carries.

Torrey Pines second scoring drive of the first half was similar to their first. Drive number two covered 80 yards again (5 passing yards and 75 rushing yards) on 10 plays. Starting at their own 42-yard line with 3:24 left in the first half, the third scoring drive for Torrey Pines was relatively short. 58 yards on six plays, capped with an 18-yard touchdown by Cuff. Torrey Pines was on top 21-3 going into the second half.

It was a tough night for Poway (6-3, 2-1 Palomar) as their running game was shut down by the Falcon defense having 191 total yards. Torrey pines never trailed, leading 38-3 in the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Poway Titans had two turnovers in the third quarter that led to a Falcons touchdown and field goal stretching the lead to 38-3.

Poway’s Nehemiah Gross fumbled on the opening play in the second half, giving the Falcons the ball on the Poway 30 yard line. This fumble ultimately led to Cuff’s fourth touchdown run of 4 yards, putting Poway down 28-3.

Poway put up some points in the fourth quarter as they scored two touchdowns. Zach McDonnell scored on a 7 yard scoring pass from junior quarterback Gabriel Isaak. The second touchdown followed a blocked Torrey Pines punt by Ryan Moreno. This was a very short drive, only ten yards. Senior Chris Verne scored the Titan’s second touchdown of the night on a 9 yard run.

John Wilson caught a 15- yard pass to the end zone for a Falcon touchdown in the fourth quarter. “If we keep working hard, the sky is the limit for our team. We are going to keep staying focused at every practice, work hard and that is all that we can do, one day at a time,” said Cuff.

—Courtesy 619Sports.net

When coasting into the garage looked like the prudent course on Friday night, Oceanside Pirates head coach John Carroll stepped on the gas.

Aggressive decision-making and playcalling late in the first half helped shake the 5th ranked Pirates (7-2, 3-0 Avocado West League) out of their doldrums, and Oceanside never looked back, rolling on to a 31-2 win over the Carlsbad Lancers at renovated Simcox Field.

Oceanside sophomore quarterback Tofi Pao Pao completed 9 of his last 10 passes, finishing 13-of-18 for 151 yards and two touchdowns. Senior running back Noah Tarrant complemented the air attack with 89 yards and two touchdowns rushing.

But for the game’s first 22 minutes, the Pirates looked like an offense lost at sea.

John Carroll’s team had managed to gain all of 22 total yards in six first-half series against Carlsbad’s defense. With just over a minute to play before halftime, the Pirates led 7-2 thanks to a Lancers first quarter fumble. Carlsbad had the ball, and it was time to limp into the locker room for halftime adjustments.

Instead, Carroll started calling timeouts. Three of them, on defense, all to get his sophomore quarterback and the Pirates’ struggling offense the ball back for a one-minute drill. Somewhere in North Carolina, Marty Schottenheimer rolled over in his sleep.

“We do have confidence, and we run a pretty good two-minute drill,” said Carroll.

Postgame audio interview: Oceanside head coach John Carroll

Starting at their 25 with 1:17 to play and no timeouts, the Pirates moved 75 yards in seven plays and 47 seconds, capped by a 24 yard touchdown pass to Matthew Rojas. The Lancers failed to adjust to Oceanside’s two-minute strategy, which consisted of one sideline pass after another to the Pirates’ sideline.

“Calling those three timeouts, personally, it made me wonder, but coach Carroll is a great coach,” said Tarrant.

Postgame video: Noah Tarrant and Eduardo Middleton

Pao Pao hit five of six passes on the hurry-up drive, then hit on all four of his targets in the second half, as the Pirates scored seventeen third quarter points to salt the game away. Tarrant’s 25 yard touchdown run was followed by a 25 yard scoring pass from Pao Pao to Demario Coleman (5 receptions, 65 yards, TD).

Meanwhile, the Oceanside defense, which allowed the Lancers only two first downs in the first half, intercepted three passes after halftime to completely throttle the Carlsbad scoring attack. Junior QB Tanner Wrisley made his first career start for the Lancers, completing 5 of 11 passes for 110 yards and two interceptions. Senior Cody Pinner relieved and went 1-for-5 for 12 yards and a pick.

“(Wrisley) had some nerves but did some good things,” said longtime Carlsbad head coach Bob McAllister, “they’re both in an equal battle and will battle it out in practice, we’ll see whathappens.”

A ground-oriented attack, Carlsbad (4-5, 1-2) was held to 21 yards rushing on 28 attempts.

Postgame audio interview: Bob McAllister

Combined with an El Camino loss, Oceanside’s win clinched the Avocado West League title for the Pirates. Next week, Oceanside will play El Camino for the City Championship and the bragging rights which come with it.

“The City Championship’s a big deal,” said Carroll, “No matter if you win a league championship, the city championship’s a big deal.”

And you know the Pirates will be ready.

—Courtesy 619Sports.net

The West team received the opening kickoff, but the first possession for each team resulted in quick three and outs. During the West’s second drive, Connor Wood, a quarterback committed to The University of Texas, led the offense down the field and struck first by sailing a ball over the defenders to his emergency tight end, Ronald Powell, in the back of the end zone for a 23-yard score. Powell, known as a terrific defensive end and the fifth ranked player nationally, showed that he has the potential to be a two way player at the college level with his leaping grab.

On the ensuing drive, facing a third-and-9, Markeith Ambles came up with a spectacular forty-yard catch to keep the drive alive. Just when the East looked like they were going to get on the board, Michael Palardy had his 32-yard field goal attempt blocked by Cassius Marsh and Josh Shirley delivered and put the West up 14-0 at the half.

During the half Dillon Baxter, an explosive all purpose back from Mission Bay High School in San Diego, California, was awarded the U.S. Army player of the year award for his outstanding performance and leadership this past season. Baxter led the Buccaneers on a perfect 13-0 season that resulted in a San Diego CIF Division IV title. His stats are astonishing as he has accounted for 76 total touchdowns on the season and carried his team with 7 touchdowns in the championship game. With the departure of Pete Carroll to the Seattle Seahawks, Baxter is seriously reconsidering his commitment to USC.

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In a year filled with deserving candidates, Mission Bay superstar Dillon Baxter took home the hardware. The Buccaneers QB and future USC Trojan was announced as the 11th winner of the KUSI Silver Pigskin, awarded each year to the top high school football player in San Diego Section.

Baxter led Mission Bay to a 13-0 record and a D-IV San Diego Section championship, setting the all-time section single-season rushing record in the process. Baxter carried 261 times for 2,974 rushing yards and 50 touchdowns, while throwing for 1,922 yards and 25 more touchdowns.

Baxter beat out Escondido’s Ricky Seale, LCC’s Kenny Stills, Eastlake’s Tony Jefferson, Scripps Ranch’s Brennan Clay, and Valhalla’s Pete Thomas for the yearly honor (all pictured above).

After the announcement, Baxter spoke with 619 Sports about the honor, his future at USC, and the challenge of potentially matching up with Oklahoma and their three new San Diego stars in the future:

–Courtesy 619Sports.net

Sport: Football Positions: WR / FS Height: 6’1” Weight: 185 Class: 2010 School: Oceanside High School Oceanside, CA

The Oceanside Pirates struggled to find any production on offense in the CIF San Diego Section DII Championship game, so they turned to their defense and Devin Taverna. Taverna single-handily secured Oceanside’s sixth straight division title. The 6’1 senior free safety recorded two interceptions, one returned for a 47-yard touchdown, and recovered a fumble in the end zone for another touchdown. Oceanside coach John Carroll took notice telling the North County Times, “thank God our defense and special teams came to play.” With the victory the Pirates have now won a remarkable 38 games in a row and will face San Jose Bellarmine Prep in the state D1 game this Friday at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. Regardless of how the Pirates fair in the state playoffs, they can look back at this game as the day Devin Taverna rallied his team from certain defeat and willed his team to victory. Visit Devin’s SportsForce profile to learn more about this star athlete.

Scouting report courtesy of SportsForce – Home for college Sports Recruiting Videos, Tips, Tools and Premium Services – www.sportsforceonline.com

Positions: RB / DB Height: 5’10” Weight: 170 Class: 2010 School: Santa Fe Christian High School Solana Beach, CA

Sam Hoekstra may have played his last game for Santa Fe Christian, but he went out with a performance to remember. Hoekstra rushed an exceptional athlete with speed and quickness rushed for 313 yards and 4 touchdowns on only 13 carries for a mind-boggling 24-yard per carry average in a losing effort against Mission Hills last Friday. Hoekstra finished his senior year with over 2,000 all-purpose yards and 24 touchdowns.

Visit Sam’s SportsForce profile for more statistics and details

Scouting report courtesy of SportsForce – Home for college Sports Recruiting Videos, Tips, Tools and Premium Services – www.sportsforceonline.com

Positions: RB / LB Height: 5’10” Weight: 200 Class: 2010 School: Mission Hills High School San Marcos, CA

Chad Dobbins and the Mission Hills Grizzlies ran their way into the semifinals of the CIF San Diego DII playoffs last Friday with a dominating 35-7 victory over Grossmont. The 5’11 200 lb senior running back set a career high with 192 yards and 3 touchdowns on only 13 carries. Dobbins has gone somewhat under the radar this season as his grind it out style doesn’t receive the same exposure as the flashy style of a Ricky Seale. Dobbins told the North County Times, “I don’t usually have those big, flashy runs like Ricky does. I’m one of those running backs who chips away. Today, maybe I turned that around.” And turned it around is exactly what he did with touchdown runs of 76, 54 and 32 yards. With his stellar performance, Dobbins eclipsed the 1,000 rushing yard mark for the season. Dobbins may need a little more of the flash he showed against Grossmont as his Grizzlies take on the #1 ranked, undefeated Oceanside Pirates in a semi-final showdown this Friday night.

Check out Chad’s SportsForce profile here

Scouting report courtesy of SportsForce – Home for college Sports Recruiting Videos, Tips, Tools and Premium Services – www.sportsforceonline.com

Positions: RB Height: 5′ 11″ Weight: 200 Class: 2010 School: Mira Mesa High School San Diego, CA

The CIF playoffs are finally here, and Damien Williams made sure his Mira Mesa Marauders weren’t going to have an early exit. The 5’11” 200 lb running back ran all over the Carlsbad Lancers, rushing for 275 yards and 2 touchdowns as he led his team to a 48-29 victory. Lancers head coach Bob McAllister was well aware of the explosive ability of Williams telling the North County Times, “He’s the real deal, we knew we had to stop him, and we didn’t. We just had to tackle better than we did.” Williams now has 2, 285 rushing yards with 24 touchdowns on the season. Next up for Williams and the Marauders is a date with the #3 ranked Escondido Cougars in a division 1 showdown this Friday. With Williams and the all-time CIF San Diego rushing leader Ricky Seale positioned to receive a lot of carries, both defenses might want to brace themselves for an all out rushing assault for the ages.

Visit Damien’s full SportsForce profile

Positions: RB Height: 5′ 8″ Weight: 165 Class: 2010 School: Mt. Carmel High School San Diego, CA

Kenneth James Jr. ran, and ran, then ran some more, and didn’t stop running until he had rewritten the record books. The 5’8” 165 lb running back out of Mt. Carmel High School set the CIF San Diego Section single-game rushing record by torching the defense for 424 yards and 4 touchdowns last Friday, while beating the Westview Wolverines 49-32. James edged the previous rushing mark set back in 2003 by 14 yards. Mt. Carmel football coach Sanford Carvajal told the North County Times, “If the opportunity presented itself, we were going to ride that horse until he fell over dead.” As it turned out it was the defense that looked 6 feet under, allowing rushes of 84, 70, 63, 39, 34, and 21 yards by James. James, however, was quick to share the glory with his teammates telling the North County Times, “I just hit the holes, and everyone made their blocks. Everyone played a part in it.” Now, James and his Sundevils can only wait and hope their impressive victory will be enough to vault them into the playoffs. After witnessing James’s spectacular performance, Coach Carvajal is positive his team will receive a playoff bid saying, “I can’t see us not getting in now.” Very few would be inclined to disagree.

Positions: QB Height: 6’5″ Weight: 215 Class: 2010 School: Valhalla High School, El Cajon, CA

Quarterback Peter Thomas has etched his name into San Diego high school football history. With a 14-7 win last Friday, Thomas led his Valhalla Norsemen to their first league football championship in the school’s 35-year history. Thomas threw the game winning 65-yard touchdown pass late in the 3^rd quarter to secure the win. He was elated after the game telling The San Diego Union-Tribune, “This is absolutely awesome, no one in the 35 years of our school has ever experienced this moment before.” Thomas, who is ranked by MaxPreps.com as a top 100 player and the 6^th best pro-style quarterback in the country has committed to playing football at Arizona State University next fall.