SAN MARCOSSAN MARCOS — It’s one thing to beat your city rival in the annual regular-season game.
It’s quite another to do it with the season on the line.
Mission Hills High took care of business in the playoff version of the Discovery Bowl on Friday, this time with a 27-13 win over San Marcos in a CIF Division I quarterfinal matchup.
The Grizzlies (8-3) will take on El Camino on Friday in an Avocado League rematch for the right to get to the championship game.
“We leaned on our schedule,” Mission Hills head coach Chris Ha said. “(Thursday night) there were two 10-0 teams (Granite Hills and Carlsbad) playing in the Open Division semifinals. We played both of them. We just played an Avocado League schedule where four teams are the top four teams in Division I. Our Friday nights were battles every week. That was our message to our team.”
Message received first and foremost by both Grizzlies lines. The defensive line, led by senior end Jonathan Class, got constant pressure on San Marcos’ talented sophomore quarterback Kreet Makihele while limited San Marcos (9-3) to 21 yards total on the ground.
“A lot of our defensive linemen, you don’t hear about them too much,” said Class, who had a sack and two tackles for loss while also playing tight end. “They’re the guys who should be talked about more. The idea of the game is to put as much pressure on them and attack the run game.”
If the Grizzlies defensive line made an impact, the offensive line simply controlled the game. It led the way to junior running back Giovanni Harte rushing 36 times for 280 yards and all four touchdowns.
Mission Hills got on the board first on the Grizzlies’ opening drive. A seven-play, 72-yard drive culminated in Harte’s 5-yard touchdown run. Early in the second quarter, Harte again led a long scoring drive. This one was an eight-play, 80-yard one that resulted in his 11-run scamper at the end. He carried the ball seven of those eight plays and ed for 73 of the yards.
“All week we were planning to run 80 percent of the time because of what I was able to do to them last time,” said Harte, who ran for a previous career-best 250 yards against the Knights in Week 5.
The Knights struck back after going down 7-0. They put together an eight-play, 80-yard drive that finished with one of the best catches of the season. Quarterback Kreet Makihele threw a fade into the far left corner of the end zone that Jase Nix lept and pulled down in bounds.
But they wouldn’t see the end zone until down 20-6 early in the fourth quarter when San Marcos came back to life. Justus Woods blocked a 44-yard field goal attempt by Harte, which Jake Vorhees returned 80 yards for the score.
The Knights then recovered the ensuing onside kick, but the drive stalled and ended the season for the Knights, who went 1-10 just two years ago.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our kids,” head coach Tom Carroll said. “It’s going to sting tonight, and it’s supposed to sting, but when the sting wears off we’ll we’re league champs. We have some talented seniors we’ll miss but I fully expect us to hit the ground running.”
Meehan is a freelance writer.
Mission Hills 27, San Marcos 13
San Marcos 6 0 0 7 — 13
Mission Hills 7 6 7 7 — 27
MH — Harte 5 run (Leishman kick)
SM — Nix 14 from Makihele (kick failed)
MH — Harte 11 run (kick failed)
MH — Harte 1 run (Leishman kick)
SM — Vorhees 80 blocked field goal return (Pickering kick)
MH — Harte 25 run (Leishman kick)
