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RedHawks nearly close gap on Colts
- Updated: September 12, 2026
2026 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL
CRAWFORD 42, MOUNTAIN EMPIRE 41
REDHAWKS COME OF AGE DESPITE ONE-POINT HEARTBREAK
Robinson erupts for 294 yards, five touchdowns as Mountain Empire takes longtime nemesis Crawford to the wire
By Ramon Scott
EastCountySports.com
PINE VALLEY — The scoreboard will remember Crawford 42, Mountain Empire 41.
Mountain Empire should remember everything else.
For four meetings, Crawford had represented the considerable distance the RedHawks still needed to travel as a football program.
Friday night, that distance essentially disappeared.
Mountain Empire rushed for 409 yards, scored six touchdowns on the ground, led by eight points in the fourth quarter and had possession with an opportunity to win in the closing minutes before Crawford escaped Pine Valley with a dramatic one-point nonleague victory.
The RedHawks fell to 2-2, but this was not the kind of loss that sends a program backward.
It may have been the strongest evidence yet of how far Mountain Empire has come.
Junior running back Elisha Robinson carried 34 times for 294 yards and five touchdowns, adding a two-point conversion in another extraordinary performance.
Senior quarterback Chance Ross rushed eight times for 114 yards and a touchdown, giving the RedHawks two 100-yard rushers and helping Mountain Empire average 9.5 yards per carry.
Mountain Empire finished with 424 total yards despite completing only two passes.
The RedHawks did almost everything with the running game.
Crawford knew it was coming.
Crawford still had difficulty stopping it.
“Proud of the boys. They fought hard against a team four times our size,” Mountain Empire coach Cameron Keller said.
That perspective matters.
Mountain Empire had never beaten Crawford.
In fact, the previous four meetings had barely resembled competitive football games.
Crawford entered Friday having outscored Mountain Empire 92-6 in the series, including victories of 35-6 in 2023 and 35-0 in 2024, along with earlier shutouts of 14-0 and 8-0.
Mountain Empire had scored six points against Crawford in four entire games.
Friday, the RedHawks scored 14 in the first quarter.
By halftime, they had 20.
By the end of the third quarter, they had 35.
Early in the fourth, they had 41 and an eight-point lead.
This was different.
REDHAWKS STRIKE FIRST
Mountain Empire established the tone immediately with two rushing touchdowns in the opening quarter.
The RedHawks led 7-0, watched Crawford answer with a touchdown and missed extra point, then scored again for a 14-6 advantage.
Crawford tied the game at 14 in the second quarter on a rushing touchdown and successful two-point conversion.
The Colts then delivered one of the game’s decisive non-offensive plays when sophomore Rey Segura returned a punt 42 yards for a touchdown, putting Crawford ahead 20-14.
Mountain Empire answered again.
Another RedHawks rushing touchdown made it 20-20 at halftime after the extra point was missed.
There had been no separation through two quarters.
That alone would have represented major progress considering the history of the matchup.
Mountain Empire wanted much more.
ROBINSON, REDHAWKS TAKE CONTROL
The RedHawks received the second-half kickoff and immediately went back in front with another rushing touchdown.
A successful extra point made it 27-20.
Crawford quarterback Giovanni Garcia answered through the air, pulling the Colts within 27-26, but the ensuing two-point rushing attempt failed.
Mountain Empire responded with another touchdown and Robinson added the two-point conversion.
Suddenly, the RedHawks led 35-26.
For perhaps the first time in the history of the series, Crawford was not simply in a competitive game with Mountain Empire.
The Colts were in trouble.
Crawford answered before the end of the third quarter, cutting Mountain Empire’s lead to 35-33.
The RedHawks responded again early in the fourth.
Another rushing touchdown — Mountain Empire’s sixth of the night — pushed the advantage to 41-33.
The two-point attempt failed.
That left Crawford within one possession.
Eventually, the missed opportunity mattered.
CRAWFORD FINDS A WAY
Crawford’s own standout running back, junior Shamar Warren, was nearly as difficult to stop as Robinson.
Warren rushed for 276 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries, averaging 12.5 yards per attempt.
The Colts scored to cut Mountain Empire’s advantage to 41-39, setting up a tense finish.
Mountain Empire later lost a fumble in the fourth quarter.
Keller confirmed that Ross was the ball carrier, but the turnover is more significant from the team perspective: it provided Crawford with another opportunity in a one-possession game.
The Colts capitalized, eventually kicking the field goal that moved them ahead 42-41.
Mountain Empire still wasn’t finished.
The RedHawks regained possession with approximately two minutes remaining.
On third-and-long, Keller said Mountain Empire had a receiver open for what would have been a first down.
The pass was dropped.
Crawford then intercepted the RedHawks, and the Colts were able to take a knee.
Game over.
One point.
TWO RUNNING BACKS, 570 YARDS
The numbers explain the type of football game this became.
Robinson and Warren combined for 570 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns.
Robinson finished with:
34 carries, 294 yards, five touchdowns.
Warren finished with:
22 carries, 276 yards, three touchdowns.
Ross added 114 yards and a touchdown for Mountain Empire.
Senior Tayven Sang contributed 44 rushing yards and a touchdown for Crawford.
Altogether, the teams rushed for 757 yards.
Crawford finished with 501 yards of total offense.
Mountain Empire had 424.
The Colts’ slight advantage came largely through the passing game.
Garcia completed 10 of 18 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown.
Crawford senior Damian Monroy caught three passes for 87 yards and a touchdown, while Segura added six receptions for 51 yards and another receiving score to go with his punt-return touchdown.
Mountain Empire attempted only seven passes.
Ross completed two for 15 yards, with Amar Mahasin catching one for 13 and sophomore Nick Terlann making the other reception.
Passing production wasn’t necessary for most of the night because the RedHawks continued moving the football on the ground.
ROBINSON DID IT ON BOTH SIDES
Robinson’s contribution extended beyond his five-touchdown offensive performance.
The junior also recorded six tackles, two tackles for loss and two sacks defensively.
Junior linebacker Angel Avila led Mountain Empire with 14 tackles, including 10 solo stops.
Senior David Oney recorded 11 tackles.
Mahasin added seven tackles, while senior Spencer Alvarez finished with five tackles and a tackle for loss.
Mountain Empire forced two Crawford fumbles.
Avila and Elias Gutierrez were credited with forced fumbles, while Robinson and Logan Snyder had recoveries.
The defensive numbers weren’t pretty — Crawford generated 501 yards — but the RedHawks made enough plays to put themselves in position to win.
So did Crawford.
That was ultimately the difference.
ROBINSON’S MONSTER SEASON GETS EVEN BIGGER
PINE VALLEY — At some point, performances like this stop qualifying as surprises.
Elisha Robinson is simply becoming one of the San Diego Section’s most productive running backs.
One week after rushing for a career-high 300 yards and four touchdowns against O’Farrell Charter, the Mountain Empire junior nearly duplicated the performance against Crawford.
Robinson carried 34 times for 294 yards and five touchdowns.
That’s 594 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in two games.
Against Crawford, Robinson averaged 8.6 yards per carry and produced a longest run of 59 yards.
He accounted for five of Mountain Empire’s six touchdowns and added the RedHawks’ only successful two-point conversion.
And then he played defense.
Robinson recorded six tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks, a quarterback hurry, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
That is the workload of a player around whom an entire small-school program can be constructed.
Robinson entered the Crawford game with 539 rushing yards and seven touchdowns this season.
Friday’s performance lifts him to approximately 833 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns through four games, based on the previously reported totals.
It also moves him well beyond the 2,000-yard career rushing mark he surpassed against O’Farrell.
The remarkable part is that Robinson is still a junior.
Mountain Empire will have him for another season.
For opponents, that’s the bad news.
LOSS SAYS MORE ABOUT MOUNTAIN EMPIRE’S ARRIVAL
There are losses that reveal weaknesses.
There are others that reveal progress.
Mountain Empire’s one-point loss to Crawford belongs overwhelmingly in the second category.
The RedHawks had never defeated Crawford.
More tellingly, they had never truly threatened to.
The previous aggregate score was Crawford 92, Mountain Empire 6.
Friday alone:
Mountain Empire 41, Crawford 42.
That does not mean the RedHawks should celebrate losing.
Keller and his players certainly won’t.
Mountain Empire led 41-33 in the fourth quarter and had opportunities to finish the game.
Those situations are now part of the next stage of the program’s development.
Strong programs do not merely get into close games.
They finish them.
But Mountain Empire first had to reach the point where games against programs like Crawford could even be decided in the final minutes.
The RedHawks have arrived there.
Keller’s team entered Friday having gone 11-4 over its previous 15 games, and the Crawford performance validates that success beyond Mountain Empire’s usual small-school competition.
Crawford may be somewhat below the level of some of its stronger recent teams, but this remains a program with considerably greater enrollment, depth and athletic resources.
Mountain Empire didn’t merely hang around.
The RedHawks led for significant stretches and rushed for 409 yards.
That changes expectations.
A year ago, competing with Crawford represented an enormous challenge.
After Friday, Mountain Empire can reasonably expect to compete with teams of that caliber.
The next step is beating them.
BY THE NUMBERS
409 — Mountain Empire rushing yards.
424 — RedHawks total offense.
294 — Elisha Robinson rushing yards.
5 — Robinson rushing touchdowns.
114 — Chance Ross rushing yards.
9.5 — Mountain Empire yards per rushing attempt.
41 — Mountain Empire points after scoring only six combined in its four previous meetings with Crawford.
14 — Angel Avila tackles.
11 — David Oney tackles.
2 — Robinson sacks.
35-26 — Mountain Empire’s largest lead.
41-33 — RedHawks’ fourth-quarter lead.
1 — Final margin.
NEXT UP: SAN YSIDRO AT MOUNTAIN EMPIRE
PINE VALLEY — Mountain Empire won’t have much time to think about the one that got away.
That’s probably a good thing.
The RedHawks return home to face San Ysidro, and the matchup gives Mountain Empire an immediate opportunity to convert the progress displayed against Crawford into another victory.
This time, the roles are reversed from a year ago.
San Ysidro defeated Mountain Empire 27-19 at San Ysidro last season.
The Cougars will come to Pine Valley this time after absorbing a 61-13 loss at Hoover and should enter as considerable underdogs against a Mountain Empire team that just took Crawford to the final possession.
The RedHawks should not need any additional motivation.
They have last year’s result.
They have Friday’s disappointment.
And they now have clear evidence that their offense can function against a larger, more athletic opponent.
The primary question for San Ysidro will be obvious:
How does it stop Elisha Robinson?
Robinson has rushed for 594 yards and nine touchdowns over his past two games.
Against Crawford, Mountain Empire didn’t need to establish a passing attack because Robinson and Ross combined for 408 rushing yards themselves.
Ross’ emergence as a second explosive runner changes the geometry of the offense.
If defenses overload the box toward Robinson, Ross has demonstrated the ability to punish them.
He averaged 14.3 yards per carry against Crawford and broke a 50-yard run.
That gives Keller options.
San Ysidro also must contend with a Mountain Empire team that has been particularly dangerous at home.
The RedHawks scored 56 against Hamilton, 50 against O’Farrell Charter and 41 against Crawford.
That’s 147 points in three home games, an average of 49 per contest.
The concern for Mountain Empire is defensive consistency.
Crawford rushed for 348 yards and finished with 501 total yards.
Mountain Empire does not want to turn every game into a race to 40.
Avila, Oney, Robinson, Mahasin and Alvarez give the RedHawks enough defensive production to improve in that area.
San Ysidro represents an opportunity to do so.
The Cougars beat Mountain Empire last season.
The current evidence suggests the RedHawks have progressed considerably since then.
Friday’s loss to Crawford demonstrated Mountain Empire can now compete against a program it once could not approach.
The San Ysidro game presents a different test.
This is one Mountain Empire should expect to win.
And after coming one point short against Crawford, the RedHawks should have no trouble understanding how important it is to finish.
EARLY OUTLOOK: MOUNTAIN EMPIRE FAVORITE
The RedHawks’ rushing attack, home-field production and current trajectory give them clear advantages.
Last season, San Ysidro 27, Mountain Empire 19.
This season, the matchup looks very different.
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