The Mt. Carmel-Helix Matchup: This Time It’s for Keeps

Bill Christopher returned to Mt. Carmel High School as football coach this season after a four-year hiatus, and one of his first duties was to arrange a preseason scrimmage with another San Diego County team.

“I wanted us to meet a team that I knew had a good, solid program,” Christopher said.

He chose Helix.

Before the season, the last time Christopher had coached a high school game was in the 1982 section 3-A championship--and it was Helix that beat his Sundevil squad, 10-6.

Now, Christopher is coaching Mt. Carmel in another playoff game, the school’s first since 1982. And, again, Mt. Carmel is meeting Helix. Only this time it’s in a quarterfinal game at 7:30 at Mt. Carmel High.

“We’ve definitely exceeded what we set out to do this year,” Christopher said. “We started out just trying to bring respectability back to our program.”

And they started gaining respectability during that first scrimmage. Mt. Carmel scored three touchdowns; Helix didn’t score.

They both have solid teams this season. Mt. Carmel (8-1) won the Palomar League championship, clinching the title one week before the season ended. The Sundevils have played well on defense, offense and special teams and have shown the ability to win the close games.

Helix (8-2-1) also has a strong defense, which like Mt. Carmel, allowed 10.3 points per game. On offense, the Highlanders rely on wide receiver/kick returner Todd Sheehan, who scored two touchdowns in last week’s 21-11 first-round victory over San Dieguito.