Olympian Eagles 40, Granite Hills Eagles 29
The Olympian Eagles run their way to the semifinals defeating the Granite Hills Eagles 40-26 in Division II.
The one-two punch of Noah Lacsina and Trey Curry were too much to handle for the Granite Hills front seven. Both seniors combined for more than 300 rushing yards. Curry would rush for a career high 208 yards while Lacsina would add 115 yards on the ground. Curry’s quickness allowed him to stretch runs outside as that opened up the lanes between the tackles for Lacsina.
On the Eagles opening drive, Curry would have runs of 18 and 27 yards to set up Lacsina who bruised through defenders and dove in for the 11-yard touchdown. Granite Hills would respond on the ensuing drive with Jake Siegfried finding Tight End William Burton for a 25-yard score. It would take the home team only eight plays to score two touchdowns as Nico Mendoza hit Mikael Tyler in stride for a 66-yard touchdown on the third play of their second possession.
The scoring would slow down in the second quarter due to three turnovers. The game turned when Siegfried had trouble with a snap deep in Olympian territory and Dante Pressly recovered the fumble, and on Granite Hill’s next possession Nose Guard Camryn Griffin returned an interception to the three-yard line. Lacsina on the next play fumbled the ball due to a tough exchange, but would bully one in from 3 yards out with 2:24 remaining in the first half to extend their lead 20-10.
Olympian would create two more turnovers in the second half and had 3 plays go for 50 or more yards. Lacsina busted the game open with a 75-yard touchdown halfway through the third to improve on their lead, 34-10, and Curry put the nail in the coffin with a tackle-breaking-cut-back-making 53-yard touchdown run. Both backs would also combine for five rushing touchdowns (Lacsina-3, Curry-2).
No.4 Olympian will take on No.1 Poway in the semifinals. Poway defeated Westview 29-15.
PREVIEW
Four teams from the South Bay represent the eight left in the San Diego Sections Division II quarterfinals as No.5 Granite Hills (7-4, 4-0) fly south to play No.4 Olympian (6-4, 3-1).
All four teams south of the 54 freeway (Mater Dei, Otay Ranch, Bonita Vista) are out of the Metro-Mesa League so Olympian has the edge as far as strength of schedule over Granite Hills out of the Grossmont Valley League. Last year as the No.3 seed, Granite Hills lost to No.6 Otay Ranch in the quarterfinals.
Granite Hill’s dual threat quarterback provides the punch on offense as Jake Siegfried has accounted for more than 2,300 yards (1,483 passing, 843 rushing). The junior has also played well of late completing 20-of-29 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for more than 200 yards and three touchdowns in the last 2 games. Best of all he has done it without turning the ball over. The junior’s favorite target is Gustavo Gutierrez whose 33 receptions (107, 30%) for 630 yards (1653, 38%) and four touchdowns (12, 33%) account for a large portion of the Eagles passing attack
Senior RB Noah Lacsina leads the Olympian backfield with 822 rushing yards on 152 carries. He gets the lion share of the carries accounting for more than 38 percent of the touches. His counterpart, tailback, Rashaun Brown leads the team rushing for five touchdowns and averaging seven yards a pop. Senior Trey Curry completes the trifecta rushing for 386 yards. The rushing attack is the engine to the Eagles offense, but Nico Mendoza’s 16 passing touchdown, six interception stat line is nothing to sneeze at.
The last time these two teams played was back in 2010 and 2009 as Olympian won both outscoring Granite Hills 77-49. The winner will face the winner of No.1 Poway and No.9 Westview. You can catch the winner on KUSI’s Prep Pigskin Report Friday at 10:30 PM.
