North County Game of the Week: La Costa Canyon Mavericks 0, Mission Hills Grizzlies 47

Two of San Diego’s most successful teams took the field Friday night in an Open Division quarterfinal play-off game – #6 La Costa Canyon and #3 Mission Hills. This North County game of the Week had all expectations of being a back-and-forth battle, but the Mission Hills Grizzlies had a different plan in mind. The undefeated Grizzlies (11-0) shut out the La Costa Canyon Mavericks (7-4) 47-0, moving them to the semifinals next week.

The first score of the game for the Grizzlies was set up by a 42-yard pass from sophomore sensation, Jack Tuttle, to Troy Warner, who brought it down on the 1-yard line. Nehemiah McFarlin ran in for the touchdown and made the score 6-0. The Mavericks blocked the extra point.

Nehemiah found himself another touchdown that quarter after breaking away from La Costa Canyon’s defense and running for 50-yards. The extra point was blocked again, making the score 12-0 at the end of the first.

In the second quarter, Mission Hills got a little tricky. Jack Tuttle handed the ball off to Nehemiah McFarlin, who then handed the ball off to Christian Esqueda and Esqueda ran the ball for 23-yards. This set up an 8-yard pass from Jack Tuttle to Silver Pigskin Nominee Troy Warner.

The score at the half was 19-0.

In the third quarter, Nehemiah McFarlin racked in another 4-yard touchdown run to make the score 26-0. This was McFarlin’s third touchdown of the night.

But why only score 3 touchdowns when you can score 4? That’s right, Silver Pigskin nominee Nehemiah McFarlin finds himself in the end zone one more time during the fourth quarter, after muscling his way through La Costa Canyon’s defense for 16-yards.

Jack Tuttle found Tony Huebner in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown pass, to make the score 40-0 in the fourth quarter. The last score of the game came from a pick-6 thrown by La Costa Canyon’s Tanner Clark, which was caught by Mission Hills sophomore, Bryan Barraza.

The final score was 47-0 Mission Hills.

This weeks Escondido Cycle Center player of the game went to Nehemiah McFarlin after totaling 167 yards for 24 carries and 4 touchdowns. McFarlin has scored 32 touchdowns on the season.

The #3 seeded Grizzlies continue to make a statement throughout San Diego County on why they are one of the best teams in the state. The Grizzles travel to St. Augustine (9-2) next week, a big power house for football. This match-up will be the one to watch out for. Will the Grizzlies undefeated record continue throughout the Open Division semifinals? Tune into The Prep Pigskin Report next week at 10:30 PM to see which teams are head to the championships.

PREVIEW: Week 13 of The Prep Pigskin Report brings you an exciting match-up for the North County Game of the Week – the #6 La Costa Canyon Mavericks (7-3) and the #3 Mission Hills Grizzlies (10-0). This Open Division battle is going to be the one to watch this week, as these two teams haven’t crossed paths since 2009.  

The Mavericks were not in the Open Division last year, but are excited to be back and are ready for the challenge. Head Coach, Sean Sovacool, stated that being back in the Open Division feels well deserved.

Junior quarterback, Tanner Clark, is very young, but has had a lot of experience as a Maverick on varsity. Friday will be his 23rd start and Coach Sovacool is excited to see how well he performs under pressure. “He needs to play his best this Friday, and he can.”   

A couple other players to look out for on the Mavericks include Paul Neumann, Cade Jackson, and Pierce Mazcko on defense. These players have a big task ahead of them as they face a very well coached team that strives offensively. They need to capitalize on the great skill players Mission Hills has and find a way to shut them down.

Mission Hills has two players on the Silver Pigskin podium this year – Nehemiah McFarlin and Troy Warner.

McFarlin is a running back at Mission Hills that has only been on varsity for one year. Yes, you heard that correctly. As a senior, he found himself a starting spot as a Mission Hills Grizzly, and has been apart of all 3 rushing records broken this year – season rushing yards, game rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns.

Troy Warner is a BYU commit and will be taking the field next year with his older brother, Fred Warner, who was on the Silver Pigskin podium in 2013. Warner will be graduating early and heading out to BYU in December. The ‘Warner Brothers’ will be back in action.

The Grizzlies are suffering a couple losses to their roster this week due to injuries. San Diego State commit Will Stricklin suffered a foot injury in Week 11 and will be sitting out this week. No word yet on whether his chances of a return to the field this year is possible. Senior Quarterback, Dakota Miller, suffered an ankle injury in Week 3 and underwent surgery earlier this week to repair it. Miller committed to Nevada last week and will be heading there to school in December.

No word yet on an injury report for La Costa Canyon.

Will the Mavericks pull off the upset and beat the undefeated Grizzlies? Head on out to Mission Hills High School to catch these two teams as they battle it out for a spot in the Open Division semifinals. Kick-off is at 7:00 PM. Can’t make it? That’s okay! Tune into The Prep Pigskin Report at 10:30 PM on KUSI News to not only catch the highlights and score of this game, but all the other playoff games in San Diego County.