OCEANSIDE – Two Avocado League teams represented North County in the CIF San Diego Section Championships at Southwestern College on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30.
El Camino High School won the Division II Championship on Nov. 29. The seven-seeded Wildcats beat the one-seeded Bishop’s Knights 75-59. El Camino’s 75 points are the most ever in a section title game, surpassing the 71 points scored by Monte Vista in 2017.
The Wildcats trailed 45-20 at halftime, mostly due to the fact that the No. 8-ranked quarterback in the country, Tyler Buchner, scored six touchdowns for the Bishop’s Knights.
At halftime, El Camino Head Coach Michael Hobbs said that he felt confident his team could come back and win if they could just get a few stops in the second half.
They did just that in the fourth quarter when Jordan Wilkins got an interception and the Wildcats went down to tie the game at 59 points.
Oceanside High School won the Division I Championship the following night on Nov. 30 when they beat the No. 2 seed Lincoln Hornets 28-10.
Both of these historic high school football programs added to their legacy. This was Oceanside’s 17th championship, and El Camino has won nine.
Oceanside was tied 7-7 at halftime. Coach Rodriguez told his team at halftime that they needed to compete better in the trenches in order to win. They did that in the second half, and the defense was able to take advantage of opportunities.
Shawn Ramsey had a monster second half for the Pirates, where he recovered a fumble for a touchdown to put them up 14-10 and had an interception. Junior running back Kavika Tua had two touchdowns for the Pirates.
Tua was just happy to help his team win. “Honestly, I was happier when Ramsey had the fumble recovery, than when I was making plays,” he said after the game, “Everyone looks to me to make plays, but I love when my brothers succeed out here and we win.”
After winning the Division I championship, Rodriguez was proud to bring North County a second title in two days. “It’s going to be interesting to see how they take all these Avocado League memes,” he said, “No one is making guacamole tonight, I can tell you that much.”
El Camino Head Coach Michael Hobbs said it felt awesome to be able to represent North County in a winning way, because North County doesn’t always get the credit it deserves in high school football.
Hobbs said, “People like to bag on the Avocado League, but the Avocado League doesn’t bag on other leagues.”
El Camino will host Temecula Valley in the Division 3-AA State Regional Finals on Dec. 6. Oceanside will travel to Newport Beach on Dec. 7, to take on the number three team in the state, Corona Del Mar in the Division 1-A State Regional Finals.
2 comments
Does that mean they are the best in the state of California?
Good Luck against CDM…, maybe the best public program around. :/
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