Roundup : Little Run Becomes Big Play as Sweetwater Defeats Castle Park, 20-14

The changing of the guard in the South Bay will have to wait for another few weeks, at least, as Sweetwater recouped from a scary 0-3 start and defeated the Castle Park Trojans, 20-14, at Swift Stadium.

“This was the game of the year as far as we were concerned,” first year Sweetwater Coach Andy Sanchez said.

And that was the way they played it.

With 10 minutes to play and the score tied at 14, senior tailback David Gibson took a handoff from quarterback David Gregorio, took advantage of a good block from senior guard Andy Pekarek and ran 63 yards for a touchdown.

“I had hoped he would get 2 (yards),” Sanchez said of Gibson’s winning run, his first for a touchdown this season.

“I found some room and I just took off,” Gibson said. “I finally got my chance.”

Sweetwater opened scoring in the first two minutes of the first quarter when fullback Tana Lepule, the second-leading rusher in the conference, capped off a 5 play, 73 yard drive with a 25-yard scoring run.

Kiyoshi Moody scored for Castle Park minutes later on a 63-yard pass play from quarterback Brian Bane.

Sweetwater’s David Sewell gave the Red Devils the lead at the half, scoring on a 11 yard pass from Gregorio, but 10 penalties for 80 yards frustrated Sweetwater’s offense.

“We really killed some drives in that first half,” Sanchez said. “I wish we could have beaten Castle by more, but I’m happy.”

Castle Park tied the score in the third quarter on a 22-yard pass play from Bane to Nate Favors.

In other Metro League games:

Bonita Vista 24, Hilltop 16--John Funke gained 183 yards on 26 carries for Bonita Vista (1-0, 2-2). Chad Boyd completed 20 of 34 passes for 248 yards for Hilltop (0-1, 1-3).

Southwest 20, Montgomery 0--Richard Delano threw three touchdown passes, two to Will Tate, to lead visiting Southwest (3-1, 1-0). Montgomery is 0-4, 0-1.

Avocado League

San Pasqual 14, San Marcos 7--Andy Loveland rushed for 116 yards and 1 touchdown and Tony Medina rushed for 115 yards to lead host San Pasqual in a rematch of last year’s 2-A championship game. Loveland’s score, a 10-yard run in the second quarter, pulled San Pasqual (3-1, 1-0) to within 7-6 at halftime. In the third quarter, Andy Bacon ran 16 yards for a touchdown and Loveland passed to Eric Olsen for the two-point conversion. San Marcos (0-4, 0-1) and San Pasqual played to a 14-14 tie in the 2-A title game last December.

El Camino 36, Ramona 7--Sylvester Jones scored on runs of 44 and 49 yards lead El Camiono (4-0) past Ramona (3-1).

Palomar League

Orange Glen 45, Poway 20--Jake Nyberg caught 4 passes for 136 yards and 3 touchdowns for fourth-ranked Orange Glen (4-0, 1-0). Poway took a 14-0 lead before Orange Glen came back with 39 consecutive points. Orange Glen quarterback Cree Morris completed 11 of 25 passes for 278 yards, and Dennis Esposito carried the ball 13 times for 115 yards and 1 touchdown.

Mt. Carmel 7, Fallbrook 3--John Tejcek rushed for 100 yards in 29 carries and scored the game’s only touchdown at Mt. Carmel. Tejcek scored on a 1-yard run after a 42-yard drive midway through the second quarter. Fallbrook (1-3, 0-1) took a 3-0 lead on a 23-yard field goal by Bryce Lucore with 28 seconds to play in the first quarter. A.J. Forlano had an interception and recovered a fumble for two of four takeaways for Mt. Carmel (2-2, 1-0). Danny Furleigh intercepted two passes for Fallbrook.

Nonleague

USDHS 44, St. Augustine 6--Anthony Massa completed 12 of 19 for 223 yards to lead USDHS (3-1). Tony Moeder had 7 catches for 145 yards and 3 touchdowns. St. Augustine is 1-3.

Helix 9, Grossmont 8--Tory Winrow completed 16 of 26 passes for 192 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown pass to Chris Massilon, as Helix (3-1) defeated Grossmont (2-2). Helix’s Pena Smith caught 6 passes for 108 yards.

Lincoln 34, Madison 16--Orlanzo Edwards rushed for 182 yards on 8 carries and scored on runs of 2, 28 and 80 yards at Madison. Lincoln (3-1) had 346 yards rushing. Melvin Churchill rushed 7 times for 90 yards and scored on a 5-yard run for Madison (1-3).

Point Loma 43, Crawford 3--Ron Lawson, playing in place of his best friend, injured Ron Evans, rushed for 223 yards in 21 carries and scored 3 touchdowns in three quarters to lead host Point Loma. Evans, previously the starting tailback, sprained his left ankle last week against Helix and was held out. Lawson, who had 120 yards in place of Evans against Helix, came into the game with 130 rushing yards for the season. He scored on runs of 2, 1 and 51 yards. Junior J.J. Stokes added 124 yards in 7 carries and scored on runs of 4 and 91 yards for Point Loma (2-2). Crawford (2-2) took a 3-0 lead on a 36-yard field goal by J.J. Wadas.

Mira Mesa 17, University City 16--Don Elder’s 2-yard touchdown run with 2 minutes remaining capped a 17-point fourth-quarter rally and gave host Mira Mesa (4-0) the victory. University City (1-2) led 10-0 after three quarters and took a 16-7 lead on Anthony Hill’s 53-yard scoring pass to Steve Calvao with 7 minutes left. Pat Abare kicked a 39-yard field goal to bring Mira Mesa within 16-10 to set up Elder’s run.

Santana 17, El Capitan 6--Steve Cardoza scored on a 1-yard run with 3 minutes remaining as Santana (2-2) defeated El Capitan (1-3) for the first time since 1981.

Coronado 19, San Diego 0--Rich Bledsoe, who rushed 30 times for 221 yards, scored on touchdown runs of 9 and 7 yards and kicked a 47-yard field goal to lead the visiting Islanders. Coronado (2-2) also got a 35-yard field goal from Jason Fledderjohn. San Diego falls to 0-3-1.

La Jolla 20, Hoover 12--Fred de la Vega completed only seven passes but two went for touchdowns as visiting La Jolla (4-0) remained unbeaten. De la Vega passed 4 yards to Creigh Ford for a touchdown in the first quarter and 30 yards to Sherman Forrest in the fourth quarter. Hoover (2-2) trailed 13-0 in the second quarter when Jerome Kennedy scored on an 80-yard run. De la Vega’s scoring pass to Forrest made it 20-7 late in the game.

Torrey Pines 13, Mission Bay 9--John Finley kicked a pair of 20-yard field goals in the second half to help host Torrey Pines (2-2) rally and beat Mission Bay (2-2). Brian Miranda’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Jason Surdy early in the third quarter gave Mission Bay a 9-7 lead. But Finley kicked his first 20-yarder late in the third quarter to put Torrey Pines ahead for good. Torrey Pines had taken a 7-3 halftime lead on John Ord’s 6-yard scoring pass to Dan Harriff.

Christian 7, Clairemont 0--David Jeremiah completed 9 of 16 passes for 105 yards to lead host Christian (3-1). Shawn Anderson rushed for 74 yards on 14 carries and Brett Jillson 8 times for 49 yards. Bo Sutherland had 5 catches for 81 yards. Clairemont is 1-3.

Mt. Miguel 24, El Cajon Valley 0--Gene Ethridge rushed for 146 yards and scored all 4 touchdowns to lead Mt. Miguel (3-1) at El Cajon Valley (0-4).

Serra 14, Kearny 13--Tom Cotner threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Rodrique Alexander and then completed a two-point conversion pass to Joe Delfin with 1:21 remaining to give Serra (2-2) the win over Kearny (1-3) at Mesa College. Kearny opened a 13-6 lead on Tosh Huguley’s 1-yard run in the third quarter. In the first half, Kearny scored on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Tom Rollins to Mark Hood and Serra scored on Robert Hamilton’s 1-yard run.

Imperial 56, Calipatria 0--Imperial (1-3) finally played a school its own size after taking a beating by bigger schools in its first three games. Richie Bonillas completed 4 of 7 passes for 125 yards and 3 touchdowns. Visiting Calipatria is O-4.