Foothillers finish early, await championship fate

By Ramon Scott
Updated: October 24, 2015

By Ramon Scott

© East County Sports.com

SPRING VALLEY (10-24-15) — Grossmont scored on the first play from scrimmage and kept the pedal down in the first half of Friday night’s (Oct. 23) encounter en route to a 28-0 lead and the Foothillers finished off the homecoming Matadors, 35-0, to improve to 7-1 and move on to next week’s title showdown against Helix.

Grossmont junior quarterback HUNTER GAINES threw a 45-yard touchdown pass off play-action to senior BAILEY VAN EVERY. Van Every appeared uncovered out of a three wide-out set along the right side of the formation. He hauled in the pass at the 22 and eluded one man on his trip to the end zone.

Mount Miguel put together a subsequent drive, but a bad snap on fourth down led to Grossmont assuming control.

Early in the second quarter, Gaines completed a pass of 74 yards to DOMONIQUE GUEVARA on a long bomb down the left side, as the junior receiver ran under the aerial in full stride for a beautiful score.

Following a Matadors’ punt, the Hillers countered with a 75-yard drive highlighted by a 56-yard TD pass from Gaines to KHALEED DAVIS, who out-jumped his defender on a deep high ball down the right side. He secured it around the 20, then cruised in to the end zone for a 21-0 lead.

Grossmont foiled the ensuing Mount Miguel (3-5) drive when they recovered a fumble on a fourth-down attempt near midfield.

Grossmont’s Khaleed Davis scores another touchdown during the second quarter Friday night in Spring Valley. / EastCountySports.com photo

The Hillers put together a final scoring drive before half, as Davis caught a 19-yard pass from Gaines on a short pass over the middle.

The Gaines-to-Davis connection hit a third time in the third quarter to cap a four TD night for the emerging Grossmont signal-caller.

“This was a good team win for us and a good bounce back,” Gaines said.

It was a very good night at the office for Gaines’ protection team of seniors CAMERON LISK and HECTOR LEYVA, juniors TOMMY MLYNIEC, CONNOR SELANDER and JAMES ROGERS.

Defensively, Grossmont was downright stifling, led by seniors ELI QUINN, JOSH McMFAUL and BRIAN VEGA and juniors BRANDON ARMS, CHRISTOPHER LAETHEM, RILEY HAVIRD and ANDREW MINK.

DURAN MILLER had two sacks and a fumble recovery in the first half for Mount Miguel, while teammate KIKO BORJA had a tackle-for-loss in the first half.