Granite Hills overwhelms Rancho Bernardo in Division 1 playoff game

EL CAJON  — Junior quarterback Zac Benitez and Granite Hills High School have a CIF four-peat on their minds after using big plays to overwhelm Gaige Weddle and Rancho Bernardo 56-7 Friday night in the quarterfinals to move closer to defending their San Diego Section Division 1 championship.

Benitez threw three touchdown passes, including an 82-yarder to Parker Johnson the first time he touched the ball, and ran for another score.

Jesse Wilhite scored twice on defense, on an 82-yard interception return on the sixth play from scrimmage and then on a 28-yard fumble return early in the third quarter.

The second-seeded Eagles (8-3) won their fifth straight game. They had a first-round bye and will host a semifinal game next Friday against No. 3 Mount Miguel, which beat No. 6 Oceanside 26-20. It’ll be a rematch of Granite Hills’ 29-16 win against visiting Mount Miguel on Oct. 10.

The Eagles have won three straight CIF championships, in Division 2, Open and then Division 1 last year.

“It feels good. We’re trying to get a four-peat going on,” Benitez said. “We have a three-peat, so we’re trying to get to the championship again. Our main goal here is a state championship.

“When I was in eighth grade they won state, so we’re trying to pick up from there,” he added. “We’ve been winning CIF, so it’s a standard at this point. Now we’re trying to go above the standard and win state.”

The Eagles were so dominating that coach Kellan Cobbs pulled his starters midway through the third quarter. There was a running clock for the fourth quarter.

“If we play football like that, I think we’re going to be tough to beat,” Cobbs said. “Hopefully we can keep it rolling.”

Weddle, the son of head coach and former NFL star Eric Weddle, was intercepted three times. Kali Young’s pickoff set up Benitez’s 1-yard shovel pass to Isaiah Rodriguez and Johnson had an interception to set up Gage Spalding’s 33-yard run that made it 49-7 with 4:27 left in the third quarter.

Weddle threw five touchdown passes in the first half of a 49-15 win against No. 10 Del Norte a week earlier for No. 7 Rancho Bernardo (9-3). The Broncos had five total turnovers.

After Wilhite’s pick-6, Weddle led a long drive capped by his 2-yard keeper for the Broncos’ only score.

Granite Hills’ first play from scrimmage came with 1:19 left in the first quarter, starting at its 18. Benitez launched a beautiful deep spiral that Johnson, a transfer from Cathedral Catholic, caught around the Broncos’ 40-yard line and ran it in.

“We call that an ‘ooh ball,’ you know, everybody in the stands is going ‘ooh,’ ” Cobbs said.

“Zac did a great job, at the top of his drop, set his feet, and we said if he’s flat-footed, let that thing fly and let him go get it,” Cobbs said. “The safety played flat-footed and Zac made a great throw. He’s a Division 1 quarterback for a reason and we need him to make those types of throws. The receivers around him need to make those types of catches.”

Said Benitez: “Parker’s fast so I just threw it up and he’s going to get it.”

Benitez “threw a gorgeous ball _ he’s a great quarterback, I’m not going to lie … and all glory to God, I just came down with it and made my way to the end zone.”

Benitez threw a perfect 27-yard fade pass to Noah Walke