San Diego Roundup : ‘The Franchise’ Leads Helix Past Patrick Henry, 21-0

A strong Helix High defense and the slippery hands of Patrick Henry receivers resulted in a 21-0 win for top-ranked Helix in the season opener Friday night at Henry.

“We had four drops that kept us from making it a game,” said Walt Baranski, Henry coach. “We had people wide open, but we dropped the ball. We did everything we wanted except catch the ball. If we catch those four passes, we could have gotten points, and we would have scared the hell out of Helix.”

The Highlanders got their points because of senior quarterback Jeff Hammerschmidt, a player Coach Jim Arnaiz calls “The Franchise.”

Hammerschmidt threw for two touchdowns and kicked three extra points. He completed 6 of 10 passes for 74 yards, including 44- and 13-yard scoring strikes to running back Terry Mack. The first pass gave the Highlanders a 7-0 first quarter lead. Running back Eric Arcio’s six-yard touchdown run in the second quarter gave the Highlanders a 14-0 halftime lead.

Henry, which did not commit a turnover or penetrate closer than the Helix 21, was outgained on the ground, 143 yards to minus-27. That was in spite of Kerry Barr’s 82 yards on 11 carries. Henry quarterback Keith Courtney completed 13 of 24 passes for 126 yards. Tight-end Jeff Thilacker had six catches for 83 yards.

In other nonleague action:

Orange Glen 42, San Marcos 7--Patriot quarterback Brett Salisbury threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for two more, leading Orange Glen to an easy win at San Marcos. Salisbury, who scored on a three-yard run with 2:53 left in the first quarter and had a six-yard scoring run in the third quarter, completed 14 of 18 passes for 190 yards.

Salisbury threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Scott Harper in the second quarter and an eight-yarder to Scott Carlovsky in the fourth. Chance Portillo ran 20 yards with a recovered fumble for Orange Glen’s final touchdown.

Jim Jennings scored the Knights’ only TD, a four-yard run in the third quarter. The Orange Glen defense limited San Marcos to 80 yards rushing on 31 carries. San Marcos quarterback Rick Ebert completed 3 of 12 passes for 27 yards and was intercepted once.

Mission Bay 23, Castle Park 21--Willie Matson got his first win as head coach at Mission Bay when his Buccaneers rallied from a 14-6 third-quarter deficit to beat visiting Castle Park. Mission Bay was 0-10 last season, Matson’s first as coach.

Mission Bay was led by halfback Kevin Alexander (10 carries for 115 yards), who ran for a 78-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and quarterback Rusty Patrick (10 of 23 for 142 yards), who had a four-yard scoring pass to Kyle Ketchum (five catches for 70 yards) in the second period. Tailback Steve Gross led Castle Park with 120 yards rushing in 17 carries.

Mission Bay dominated the first half statistically but trailed, 7-6, at halftime largely because of four turnovers, three in Castle Park territory. Hector Garcia put the Trojans ahead, 7-0, on a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown late in the second half.

After Castle Park went ahead, 14-6, on a one-yard sneak by quarterback Dominic Quintero early in the third quarter, the Bucs started their comeback. Alexander took a pitchout and ran 78 yards down the sideline for a score that brought Mission Bay within two.

Early in the fourth quarter, Rod Weichelt scored from a yard out and Patrick followed with a pass to Ernest Johnson for a two-point conversion that put the Bucs up, 20-14. A 33-yard field goal by David Geiger with 3:36 to play gave Mission Bay the insurance it would need down the stretch.

Kearny 21, El Capitan 0--The Komets broke open a 0-0 halftime score with two touchdowns in the third quarter. James Courtney put the Komets ahead with a 95-yard kickoff return to open the second half. Matt Epenesa later scored from one yard out to put Kearny ahead, 14-0. In the fourth quarter, Paul Housh returned an interception 31 yards to close out the scoring.