Eagles prove ready for Hills rematch

By Ramon Scott
Updated: November 17, 2025

Granite Hills Parker Johnson / Vic Marano

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2025 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL – QUARTERFINALS

Division 1: (2) GRANITE HILLS 56, (7) RANCHO BERNARDO 7

EastCountySports.com

EL CAJON — Granite Hills has spent the past month steamrolling its way toward a fourth-consecutive Grossmont Hills League title, and on Friday night, the Eagles made it clear they don’t intend to slow down in the postseason until someone finds a way to stop them.

Next up — ready or not — will be the East County’s second-best team: Mount Miguel.

Second-seeded Granite Hills delivered a complete, overwhelming performance in a 56–7 rout of No. 7-seed Rancho Bernardo in the San Diego CIF Division II quarterfinals, setting up the East County showdown everyone has been waiting for: Mount Miguel at Granite Hills, a semifinal rematch of their heated Grossmont Hills League clash from three weeks ago.

But first, the Eagles (8–3) took care of business with ruthless efficiency.

The tone was set on the very first snap of the game.

Parker Johnson burst through the left side and raced 82 yards to the end zone, igniting a Granite Hills crowd and signaling what would become an avalanche.

Rancho Bernardo briefly answered to make it 7–7, but the Broncos’ momentum lasted only seconds. From that point on, Granite Hills scored 49 straight, turning playoff football into running-clock domination.

The defense — already one of the best in San Diego — played like a unit ready for a division championship run.

Jesse Wilhite stole the show with two defensive touchdowns, returning an interception 83 yards and later scooping up a fumble and sprinting 34 yards for another score.

By halftime, the Eagles led 28–7. By the end of the third quarter, it was 49–7. And by the final whistle, Granite Hills had stacked five forced turnovers, multiple long scoring plays, and another statement victory in a season full of them.

Quarterback Zac Benitez, the county’s passing yardage league, was sharp and decisive, throwing three touchdown passes including a late-second-quarter strike that broke the game open.

The running game — already a hallmark of the Eagles’ identity — delivered fireworks all night.

After Johnson’s opening sprint, Gage Spalding added an 83-yard touchdown rumble of his own in the third quarter, part of a punishing ground attack that never gave the Broncos a chance to regroup.

Every phase contributed. Every drive seemed to tilt the field further in Granite Hills’ favor. And every minute reinforced why the Eagles have now won five straight, all by double digits.

During that stretch, they’ve allowed just 10.6 points per game, while scoring more than 40 four times.

This is a machine and a confident one, at that.

All eyes now turn to Friday night at Granite Hills, where East County’s two most explosive teams collide again — this time with a trip to the Division 1 championship game on the line.

Their first meeting on October 17 was controlled wire-to-wire by Granite Hills, a 29-16 Eagles’ victory in which Benitez and the defense dictated the tempo from the jump.

But few, except maybe those close to the Granite Hills program, expects Round 2 to look anything like Round 1.

Mount Miguel (10–1) brings one of the county’s most dynamic offenses, powered by quarterback Jeremiah Loper, whose dual-threat ability is unmatched in the division.

The Matadors have won nine of their last ten, and their only loss during that run was the setback at Granite Hills.

This time, the stakes are higher. The margin for error is smaller. And both sidelines know what’s coming: speed, power, pressure, and four quarters of playoff intensity.

For Granite Hills, the formula remains the same — suffocating defense, explosive plays in the run game, and Benitez’s precision when the moment demands it.

For Mount Miguel, the challenge is clear — find cracks in a defense that just forced five turnovers and held a 9–2 Rancho Bernardo team to one early score and nothing more.

The Eagles have looked like a team built for December. But December doesn’t come unless they get through Friday.

And waiting for them is an opponent hungry for payback, armed with elite playmakers, and playing its best football of the year.

Granite Hills has been dominant.

Mount Miguel has been dangerous.

Now, with the lights brightest and a finals berth hanging in the balance, East County gets the semifinal it wanted.