Granite Hills beats Lincoln, wins San Diego Section Open Division title: 4 takeaways
SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – Granite Hills answered any remaining doubters on Saturday night, taking down unbeaten and top-seeded Lincoln 27-26 for the San Diego Section Open Division championship.
The Eagles (12-0) faced a two-touchdown deficit in each half before working their way back. Granite Hills took their first lead of the game with 5:32 to play and held off a last-second drive by Lincoln (11-1) to become the sixth different San Diego Section school to take home an Open Division title.
Below are four takeaways from Saturday's championship game.
LINCOLN COMES UP SHORT
Trailing 27-26 with 90 seconds to play, Lincoln was able to stuff Granite Hills on 4th-and-1 from the Hornets 40-yard line. Lincoln took over possession, needing a field goal or touchdown with no timeouts remaining.
On 4th-and-9, Akili Smith Jr. completed a pass to CJ Williams for a new set of downs and then found Williams once again, giving the Hornets the ball on the six-yard line.
Lincoln ran the ball on first and second down, gaining two yards each play. They ran the ball once again on third down but were stuffed at the goal line. Without any timeouts, the Hornets rushed to snap the ball out of the shotgun on fourth down but the snap was at the feet of Smith Jr. He was unable to get possession of the ball as it rolled in the backfield, leading to a Granite Hills fumble recovery by Travis Ford as the clock expired.
GRANITE HILLS COMES UP BIG ON FOURTH DOWN
For the second straight week, Granite Hills delivered on fourth down.
In last week's semifinal win over Carlsbad, Granite Hills scored a fourth down touchdown at the end of regulation and scored another touchdown on fourth down in the overtime period.
“We’re not afraid to take chances," Granite Hills head coach Kellan Cobbs said. "We didn’t get here by being conservative and not taking those chances."
With the game on the line Saturday night, freshman quarterback Zach Benitez found senior Josh Zander for a three-yard touchdown on 4th-and-goal.
“He’s special, the kid’s very talented," Cobbs said of his quarterback. "Cool, calm and collected.”
Benitez has now tossed a touchdown pass in all 12 games this season and has only thrown two interceptions, the most recent coming against Madison in week six.
EAGLES TAKE OVER CALIFORNIA WINNING STREAK
Lincoln entered Saturday's championship with California's longest winning streak. The Hornets had won 23 straight games dating back to week three of the 2022 season.
With the win, Granite Hills now assumes the top spot in California. The Eagles, CIF State D2-A champions in 2022, stretched their winning streak to 21 games and will have a chance to extend it in two weeks.
“It’s incredible, we’ve got a great group of kids that work hard all year," Cobbs said of the current run. "Our administration does a great job, they’ve given us multiple football classes to get weights in, to get out for speed and agility... these are East County kids and we’ve built it the right way.”
Granite Hills will have next week off before taking on a Southern Section opponent in a Southern California regional bowl game.
LINCOLN UNABLE TO REPEAT AS CHAMPIONS
Since the addition of the Open Division playoffs in 2013, no team has repeated as champions. Lincoln, who staged a dramatic comeback to beat Carlsbad in 2022 on their way to a state title, had the opportunity to become the first on Saturday night.
The Hornets twice led the game by two scores but were unable to put the Eagles away. The Hornets jumped out to a 13-0 lead with two touchdowns over an 80-second span in the first quarter and later scored on their first two possessions of the second half to lead 26-13. Each time, Granite Hills battled back and did just enough to emerge victorious.
(All photos by Justin Fine)
-- Bodie De Silva | bodie@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveca
