Honor Fa’alave-Johnson shines as Cathedral Catholic tops Granite Hills

Before the game, Granite Hills High School football coach Kellan Cobbs called Honor Fa’alave-Johnson “the best player in the county.”

“Absolutely no question about it,” Cathedral Catholic coach Sean Doyle said after his Dons beat Granite Hills 40-30 before a homecoming crowd at Cathedral Catholic.

All Fa’alave-Johnson did was rush for 110 yards on eight carries with touchdown runs of 17 and 55 yards. And he caught seven passes for 97 yards with gains of 30 and 44 yards.

To make it a trifecta, he intercepted a fourth-quarter pass, killing a Granite Hills drive at the Cathedral Catholic 28.

“Really, I’m just trying to help the team any way I can,” Fa’alave-Johnson said. “I need to step up in big games, and this was a big game.”

Indeed, Granite Hills (3-3) came into the game ranked No. 6 in the county and No. 35 in the state.

Cathedral Catholic, ranked No. 2 in San Diego and No. 13 in the state, is 5-0.

“Granite Hills is a really good team, but we put in the work, work to the max at practice,” Fa’alave-Johnson said. “When you put in the work, good things happen.”

Both of Fa’alave-Johnson’s scores came in the fourth quarter as Granite Hills kept taking advantage of Cathedral Catholic mistakes to keep the game close.

“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” Doyle said of short kickoffs and blown coverages. “To Granite’s credit, they took advantage of our mistakes. That’s the mark of a good team.”

Cathedral Catholic opened the scoring with Brady Palmer finding Isaac Cook behind the defense for a 70-yard score.

Granite Hills answered with a five-play, 33-yard drive with Zac Benitez scoring from 2 yards out. The PAT, however, was missed.

The score was set up by a short kickoff and a 15-yard penalty on Cathedral Catholic.

The teams took turns stopping each other on fourth-down tries.

Granite Hills was first to try with a fourth down and 2 at the Dons 34, but Gage Spalding was stopped short.

Cathedral Catholic had a chance at the 36, going for it on fourth-and-1. But Palmer was stopped for no gain.

Granite Hills took advantage with Jacob Nunez nailing a 31-yard field goal.

Palmer came up big on Cathedral Catholic’s next drive, scrambling for a 25-yard gain on third down, getting to the Eagles’ 1. Willie Flores finished the drive with a 1-yard TD run with 36 seconds left in the half.

But another short kickoff gave Granite Hills a chance with Benitez completing three passes to the Cathedral Catholic 35. But Nunez’s 52-yard field goal try was short and Cathedral Catholic led 14-9 at the break.

The second half was a back-and-forth scoring fest with Granite Hills scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter and Cathedral Catholic 20.

Benitez had a huge game for Granite Hills, completing 27 of 39 passes for 366 yards and two touchdowns. DJ Wilkins had nine catches for 102 yards. But the Eagles were held to 18 rushing yards on 23 attempts.

Palmer completed 20 of 27 for 295 yards and two TDs.

The Dons rushed 38 times for 272 yards, giving them 567 yards total offense without a turnover.

Flores led the rushers with 19 carries for 120 yards with a long run of 32 yards.

“Flores is a great kid who does a lot of the dirty work, gets us a lot of the tough yards,” Doyle said.

Cathedral Catholic 40, Granite Hills 30

Granite Hills  6   3    7    14 – 30

Cathedral Catholic  7   7    6    20 – 40

CC – Cook 70 pass from Palmer (Bergman kick)

GH – Benitez 2 run (kick failed)

GH – FG Nunez 34

CC – Flores 1 run (Bergman  kick)

GH – Spalding 4 run (Nunez kick)

CC – Busalacchi 22 pass from Palmer (kick failed)

CC – Faalave 17 run (Bergman kick)

CC – Flores 5 run (pass failed)

GH – Walker 50 pass from Benitez (Nunez kick)

CC – Faalave 55 run (Bergman kick)

GH – Rodriguez 35 pass from Benitez (Nunez kick)