Scotties keep Musket, lose their top gun
- Updated: October 19, 2019
2019 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL
HELIX 54, GROSSMONT 14
By Jim Lindgren
EastCountySports.com
EL CAJON – When summer turned to August prep for the upcoming football season, Kamryn Brown was a wide receiver, Delshawn Traylor was a part-time running quarterback and promising defensive back, Keionte Scott was living in Las Vegas, and Christian Washington was a sophomore tailback hoping to get some late-game scrap yards after the best player in the county continued to climb up the section career rushing yards list.
My, how the foot and fortunes have turned at Helix Charter, which solidified its No. 1 ranking with a dominating 54-14 win over Grossmont Hills League rival and No. 7-ranked Grossmont on Friday night at Jack Mashin Stadium.
First, expected starting quarterback Geoffery Schrock was inflicted with a strange nerve problem in his left foot. Enter Brown, who was running scout team drills at QB before the season opener when coach Robbie Owens decided to give the 5-foot-9, 165-pound lefty a shot as the Scotties’ primary signal-caller.
Two weeks ago, All-San Diego Section running back Elelyon “Fatto” Noa sustained a left foot injury that required surgery on Friday morning and is expected to keep him out for the rest of the year. Enter Traylor, who now is playing running back, and Washington, who is now getting primetime carries.
Scott showed up as a transfer a day before the first preseason package and quickly impressed Owens and his staff with his ability and versatility.
“It’s amazing how lucky we are,” Owens said, “having those guys in unfamiliar roles and coming through the way they have.”
All four were instrumental as the Highlanders (7-1, 3-0) raced past Grossmont (6-2, 2-1) for the 24th straight time to keep possession of the Campbell Musket, which has been at Helix since 1991.
In his eighth game at QB, Brown threw for 213 yards and two touchdowns, completing 9-of-16 attempts, to improve to 7-1 (the lone loss was to Utah Herriman, 26-19, in overtime).
Traylor rushed 12 times for 170 yards, including touchdown runs of 62 and 6 yards as Helix took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter.
Washington made it 20-0 with a 49-yard TD sprint and finished with 136 yards and two scores on 10 carries.
With Noa now out, Scott may be the new “best player on the field” for the Scotties. He finished off a spectacular 51-yard TD play, picked off a pass to set up another score and caught a 70-yard TD pass. Scott finished with five receptions for 141 yards.
“I think he’s one of the top five or six players in the county,” Owens said, “and nobody knows who he is. To me, he’s the most underrated player in the county. He’s why we are what we are right now. And he’s a tremendous kid.”
If one play can define the new-look Highlanders, the last play of the first half was it. Washington had just run for 13 yards and Traylor followed that with a 16-yard pickup to give Helix the ball at their own 49-yard line with 0:06 to play before intermission.
Brown dropped back to pass but saw nothing, so he scrambled through and around traffic for about 16 yards before running out of room and pitching a lateral to Traylor, who skittered about and backward for several seconds but found nothing, so he pitched the ball back to Brown.
Brown slithered around and back before getting hit and tossing the ball backward to Scott around the 50-yard line.
Scott then scooted left, spotted an opening and sprinted down the left sideline for a 51-yard TD and a 34-7 halftime lead.
If you’re scoring at home, that would be No. 6 to 14 to 6 to 11 for 51 yards and a dagger in the Foothillers’ plans of beating Helix for the first time since 1991, when current head coach Tom Karlo was the quarterback for Grossmont.
“That was a lot of fun,” Traylor said. “Amazing play.”
Noa had 1,085 yards and 11 touchdowns in the first six games and will likely finish his four-year career as the section’s fifth all-time leading rusher with 5,835 yards.
“For him to go down was tough,” Traylor said. “He’s the heart and soul of this team. We wish him a speedy recovery.”
Lost in the thrashing but not forgotten was a terrific catch by Kahari Hill, who leaped and pulled in a 23-yard touchdown catch on a pass that looked destined for an interception to give Helix a 27-7 lead.
Informed that Helix finished with 430 rushing yards and 643 total yards, Owens, Traylor and Brown were all stunned and then ecstatic.
“We made some mistakes, but that’s pretty good,” Owens said.
“Wow!” Traylor exclaimed. “That’s nice.”
While the stars shined, credit must also go to the Highlanders’ offensive line of Cezer Valdez, Leandre Rayle, Noah Viloria, Anthony Lombardo and Shawn Martinez, along with tight end Julius Letuliagasenoa.
Brown was particularly sharp in the first half when he completed 8-of-12 passes for 143 yards, including the Hill TD. His only completion in the second half was Scott’s 70-yarder.
“Kamryn stepped into a role when we needed him, and he’s really come through,” Traylor said. “I have complete trust in him with the ball in his hands.
“He won’t say anything about his play because he’s so humble, but he’s really been awesome for us.”
Said Brown, “It’s been a really nice season for us. A lot of guys are really playing well. We deserve it. All of us have been working really hard every day for this.”
Grossmont flashed its promise on a few drives but came woefully short of reaching its average of 533 yards per game. The Foothillers came in averaging 249 rushing yards but got only 48 against the Scotties.
Three-year starter Jaime Odom was 18-of-36 passing for 213 yards and a touchdown, plus he rushed for an 18-yard score.
Traylor scored on the second play of the game on a 62-yard run. After a three-and-out, Traylor scored again from 6 yards out to cap an 18-play, 76-yard drive. Washington’s first score made it 20-0.
Shortly, Helix threatened again but fumbled at the 1-yard line. From there, Grossmont went on a 9-play, 99-yard drive that finished with Odom backpedaling but hitting a wide-open Robert Tucker for a 23-yard touchdown pass. Tucker finished with five receptions for 101 yards but only 12 rushing yards after averaging 121.3 in the first seven games.
After four more Helix scores, Odom found the end zone on an 18-yard keeper with 0:30 left in the third quarter to trim the score to 48-14 and keep the game from going to a running clock.
Aleandro Van Holten (7 rushes, 57 yards) scored on a 1-yard run to finish the scoring for Helix with 3:52 left.
“We came out a little flat, and they got up on us early,” said Grossmont receiver Brody Schicker, who caught six passes for 41 yards. “They’re good. Gotta tip your cap. They have a lot of athletes that make plays.”
Grossmont will try to regroup next week with a home game against No. 5 Steele Canyon (8-0, 3-0), a 49-7 winner over Valhalla. Helix plays host to Granite Hills (4-4, 0-3) next week before an anticipated showdown at Steele Canyon to finish the season.
HELIX 54, GROSSMONT 14
Helix 13 21 14 6 – 54 Grossmont 0 7 7 0 – 14
H – Delshawn Traylor 62 run (kick blocked)
H – Delshawn Traylor 6 run (Elijah Laing kick)
H – Christian Washington 49 run (Elijah Laing kick)
G – Robert Tucker 23 pass from Jaime Odom (Axel Gonzalez kick)
H – Jahari Hill 23 pass from Kamryn Brown (Elijah Laing kick)
H – Keionte Scott 51 run (Elijah Laing kick)
H – Christian Washington 7 run (Elijah Laing kick)
H – Keionte Scott 70 pass from Kamryn Brown (Elijah Laing kick)
G – Jaime Odom 18 run (Axel Gonzalez kick)
H – Aleandro Van Holten 1 run (run failed)
