High School Football Scene & Heard: Otay Ranch senior ‘someone every player could aspire to be’

CHULA VISTA – Friday was Senior Night at Otay Ranch High School as the host Mustangs took on cross-town rival Eastlake.

When asked if any special 12th-graders were playing in their final home game, Otay Ranch coach Howard Bannister didn’t hesitate to answer: David Smith.

“He’s a 4.6 GPA and does everything you could ever ask for,” Bannister said. “He’s the hardest worker, the most prepared. He’s someone every player could aspire to be.”

“This game means so much to me,” said Smith, the team’s leading tackler with 71 total tackles on the year. “I’ve played here for four years and never beaten Eastlake. It would mean so much to me.”

“I’ve prepared so much for them. I’ve played them every year and I know them and watched a lot of film.”

Eastlake won 35-10.

Titan domination

Since the first time Otay Ranch and Eastlake met, the Titans have had the Mustangs’ number. And what a number.

The Titans have won 18 of the 20 meetings. The campuses are just one turn on the corner of Olympic Parkway and Eastlake Parkway apart.

“We’re absolutely aware of that,” Bannister said. “While it is true the ‘Battle of the O’ with Olympian is considered our biggest rivalry game, Eastlake has always been the beast to slay.”

The rivalry started in 2006 with a 25-20 Eastlake victory, the first of 10 straight.

The Mustangs ended that streak in 2016 when Devin Lloyd picked off four passes, returning two for TDs in the 27-14 victory at Eastlake. Lloyd currently plays linebacker for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

The following year ended in a second-half barnburner at Otay Ranch. The hosts scored a game-winning fourth-quarter TD to counter the Eastlake 21-point third-quarter burst to win 31-28.

“I believe we’re a little bit more talented this year,” Bannister said.

Density

There’s not an area of the county with so many high schools as close as the five in East Chula Vista.

Bonita Vista to the north; Olympian to the south; Otay Ranch to the west; Eastlake to the east; and Mater Dei Catholic at the hub of the Chula Vista schools east of Interstate 805.

No school has to travel more than 3.6 miles to play the other. Eastlake is a mile from Mater Dei Catholic. So are both Olympian and Otay Ranch.

You could even include a pair of schools barely five miles apart on the west side of Interstate 805. It is just 4.6 miles between Otay Ranch and Castle Park; 4.7 miles between Bonita Vista and Hilltop and 6.2 miles between Otay and Montgomery.

The bad side

The South Bay produces big-time football talent, even if some of it leaves to play elsewhere.

Bannister has observed way too much of the area’s talent play at schools like Mount Miguel, Lincoln, Cathedral Catholic, St. Augustine and Helix, among others.

“It’s a weird dynamic,” explained Bannister. “With the exception of Mater Dei Catholic, there currently is no go-to program out here. Face it: without Mater Dei, we’d all be D3 teams.

“Policies like open enrollment in the ninth grade make it tough as well as being so saturated with kids tend to make them flock to other places.”

Food review

Don’t worry about missing dinner at home to attend a football game at Otay Ranch: there are lots of options.

They have the traditional snack bar fare, whether it’s hot dogs, nachos, French fries, chips, candy or ramen.

There’s also Chick-fil-A, Taqueria Los Chuchy, Hibachi Kings and Tikiz Shaved Ice.

The strawberry shaved ice looked delicious. But you can’t eat dessert until you finish dinner, so we started with a very juicy and tasty hot dog.

Five belches on the U-T five-belch meter.