Wolf Pack defense smothers Marauders

2026 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

Wolf Pack off to 3-0 start in ’26 following 0-5 start in ’25

WEST HILLS 17, MIRA MESA 9

EastCountySports.com staff report

SANTEE — West Hills spent an entire year waiting to reverse a three-point loss to Mira Mesa.

The Wolf Pack accomplished it by refusing to give the Marauders much of anything.

Quarterback Evin Dill rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown, threw a scoring pass to Jackson Davis, and the West Hills defense held Mira Mesa to 174 yards during a 17-9 nonleague victory Friday night.

No. 40 West Hills improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2022 while avenging last season’s 10-7 loss to the Marauders.

The final margin became uncomfortable only after a blocked punt gave Mira Mesa possession near the West Hills goal line late in the fourth quarter. Until then, the Wolf Pack defense had permitted only a field goal.

West Hills limited standout running back Marques “Juju” Salmond to 36 yards on 14 carries—an average of 2.6 yards—and held the Marauders to 36 rushing yards as a team.

The Wolf Pack were eating up the Mira Mesa ball carriers in the second half.

That defensive performance represented another important step for a West Hills team that allowed Mira Mesa to make one offensive touchdown stand up last season.

The Wolf Pack entered Friday having allowed only 23 points through two games. They lowered that average despite facing a Marauders offense that had produced 913 yards during its 2-0 start.

West Hills opened the scoring on Dill’s first-quarter touchdown run with 4:18 remaining. The scoring play was not captured on the available video feed, but the final statistics credited the senior quarterback with the touchdown.

Junior kicker Fenix Fitzgerald converted the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

Mira Mesa threatened during the second quarter when quarterback Nico Giusti connected with Isaac Mendiola on a long completion that moved the Marauders into the red zone. West Hills kept Mira Mesa out of the end zone, however, forcing the visitors to settle for a field goal.

Fitzgerald answered with a field goal of his own with 19.6 seconds remaining before halftime, extending the Wolf Pack lead to 10-3.

Mira Mesa attempted to manufacture one final scoring opportunity, but senior Caden Johnson intercepted Giusti and returned the ball 4 yards. Dill then took a knee to send West Hills into halftime with its seven-point advantage intact.

The Wolf Pack controlled the third quarter with the running game before striking through the air.

Dill, E.J. Lee-Fields, Evan Dorris, Marcus Leath, Andrew Serrato and Rene Varela-Ugalde combined to help West Hills rush for 229 yards on 38 attempts.

Dill supplied the game’s biggest offensive play with West Hills inside the Mira Mesa 5-yard line late in the third quarter.

With a running back aligned beside him, Dill initially sold the run and drew the Marauders toward the line of scrimmage. Davis slipped away from the right side into open space, and Dill delivered an off-balance jump pass for the 5-yard touchdown.

It was a creative call at exactly the right moment—and a fine use of the junior tight end.

Fitzgerald’s extra point gave West Hills a 17-3 lead with 2:37 left in the third quarter.

Dill completed 6 of 14 passes for 68 yards and the touchdown. He added 105 yards on 16 carries, finishing with 173 yards of total offense and accounting for both West Hills touchdowns.

Leath gave the Wolf Pack another explosive element, rushing four times for 42 yards and catching two passes for 28 yards. Dorris added 36 yards on four carries, and Lee-Fields gained 28 yards on seven attempts.

Junior Chuck Rosolino led West Hills with three receptions for 35 yards.

The Wolf Pack finished with 297 yards—229 rushing and 68 passing—while averaging 6 yards per carry.

West Hills had an opportunity to extend its lead during the fourth quarter, but Fitzgerald’s second field-goal attempt came up short.

Mira Mesa then advanced into West Hills territory behind completions from Giusti to Theodore Tagliareni and Devin Cabrales, but the Wolf Pack defense again turned away the Marauders.

The game appeared nearly secure until Mira Mesa’s Niko Cato blocked a Johnson punt near the West Hills goal line. The ball went out of bounds before the Marauders could recover it for a touchdown, but Mira Mesa took possession near the 2.

Salmond scored on the short run, although an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty followed the play. Mira Mesa attempted a two-point conversion that could have reduced the margin to six, but senior Mike Ware broke up the pass.

West Hills still led 17-9 with 3:35 remaining.

The ensuing kickoff initially appeared likely to eliminate Mira Mesa’s final opportunity because the dead-ball penalty forced the Marauders to kick from farther back. Instead, Angelo Allen Crisostomo broke a return of approximately 60 yards and reached the West Hills 11.

The Marauders suddenly had a chance to tie the game during the final minute.

West Hills escaped one scare when a defender tipped a pass in the end zone and the intended receiver nearly secured the deflection. Marcus Leath then nearly intercepted another throw that would have immediately sealed the outcome.

A costly delay-of-game penalty helped push Mira Mesa into fourth-and-25. Giusti’s final desperation pass fell incomplete with 42.6 seconds remaining, allowing Dill to finish the victory from the kneel-down formation.

Giusti completed 8 of 36 attempts for 138 yards and an interception. Mendiola led the Marauders with 61 yards on two receptions, Cabrales caught four passes for 42 yards and Tagliareni made one 35-yard reception.

Lee-Fields led West Hills with eight tackles. Johnson recorded six tackles, the interception and three pass breakups.

Ryan Hamilton recorded a sack and one tackle for loss. Seth Creech and Zach Waters shared another sack, giving Creech at least a share of a sack in each of the Wolf Pack’s first three games.

West Hills recorded 11 pass breakups. Rosolino and Leath contributed two apiece, while Ware added three to his conversion-saving deflection.

The victory completed a dramatic reversal from last season, when West Hills began 0-5 and spent the remainder of the schedule fighting to recover.

This Wolf Pack team is 3-0, has allowed only 32 points and has demonstrated that it can win through its passing game, rushing attack or defense.

Against Mira Mesa, defense carried the Pack.

Dill becomes West Hills’ ground-game leader

Evin Dill entered the season recognized primarily as the quarterback capable of elevating the West Hills passing game.

Three games later, he also leads the Wolf Pack in rushing.

Dill produced his first 100-yard rushing performance of the season against Mira Mesa, carrying 16 times for 105 yards and one touchdown. He added 68 passing yards and the well-designed 5-yard touchdown to Jackson Davis.

The senior has now accumulated 656 yards of total offense through three games—398 passing and 258 rushing—an average of 218.7 yards per contest.

His development as a runner has given West Hills an additional dimension. Defenses must account for E.J. Lee-Fields, Evan Dorris and the Wolf Pack’s other backs without losing containment on Dill.

That threat helped make the Davis touchdown work. Mira Mesa committed to the apparent run action, Davis slipped into open space and Dill improvised enough to complete the pass while throwing off balance.

Dill accounted for both touchdowns in a game during which West Hills needed every point.

Wolf Pack turns Juju into a nonfactor

Mira Mesa running back Marques “Juju” Salmond arrived in Santee averaging 148 yards after rushing for 169 against Castle and 127 against Hoover.

West Hills held him to 36 yards.

Salmond carried 14 times, averaged only 2.6 yards and did not score until Mira Mesa’s blocked punt created a possession near the Wolf Pack goal line late in the fourth quarter.

The Marauders finished with only 36 rushing yards after averaging 218.5 through their first two games.

West Hills’ front and linebackers consistently reached the point of attack before Salmond could build momentum. E.J. Lee-Fields made eight tackles, Caden Johnson added six, and Ryan Hamilton, Seth Creech and Zach Waters combined for two sacks.

The Wolf Pack defense has now allowed only 10 offensive touchdowns across its first 12 quarters—and only four touchdowns overall through three games.

NEXT: West Hills visits Hilltop

Wolf Pack takes unbeaten record on the road

WEST HILLS (3-0) at HILLTOP (2-1), Friday, 7 p.m.

CHULA VISTA — West Hills will attempt to extend its undefeated start Friday when the Wolf Pack visits Hilltop in another nonleague matchup.

The Lancers opened 2-0 before suffering their first defeat Friday, falling 16-0 to Otay Ranch.

Hilltop’s defense kept the game within reach. Linebacker Abraham Matuz recorded 12 tackles and two sacks, but the Lancers were shut out after averaging 26.5 points during victories over Southwest-San Diego and El Cajon Valley.

Otay Ranch quarterback Caleb Delaughter completed 15 of 22 passes for 172 yards, including a touchdown to Devin Hope, who made a one-handed catch. Jaidon Castillo rushed for 60 yards and scored on a 12-yard run.

The matchup should place West Hills’ improving ground game against an active Hilltop front. Matuz is averaging nine tackles per game, while Zion Almazon is among the Lancers’ leading pass rushers.

Hilltop enters averaging 217 rushing yards and 319 total yards per game, although those numbers were reduced considerably by the shutout loss to Otay Ranch. Tre Nichols III has led the Lancers’ rushing attack, while Lajuan Johnson directs an offense that will attempt to rebound at home.

West Hills owns the more balanced attack.

The Wolf Pack averages 331.7 yards—189.7 rushing and 142 passing—with Dill producing 218.7 total yards per game. West Hills has also defeated two opponents that Hilltop will see or has already faced, beating Chula Vista and Bonita Vista while Hilltop defeated El Cajon Valley.

The larger question is whether West Hills can immediately reset after an emotional victory and avoid allowing special-teams problems to give Hilltop short fields.

A victory would send the Wolf Pack to 4-0 and continue one of the county’s strongest early-season turnarounds after last year’s 0-5 start.