Scene and heard: There’s nothing like Friday Night Lights as San Diego’s football season opens

SAN MARCOS — Minutes before San Marcos High School kicked off the 2025 season against Mount Miguel on Friday night, 66 Knights players walked down the stands’ concrete steps and underneath a blue tarp held aloft by the student body, nicknamed The Blue Crew.

The players marched on to the field, jogged beneath the team’s blow-up tunnel, then sprinted between two lines formed by the 34 varsity cheerleaders.

Minutes later, the 200-member band played the national anthem. It was “Friday Night Lights” at its finest.

“The feeling before the first game, it’s amazing,” said San Marcos senior quarterback Kreet Makihele minutes before kickoff. “It’s hard to explain for people outside of it.”

Mount Miguel senior defensive back/wide receiver Brandon Arrington, a 100- and 200-meter state track champion who has committed to Texas A&M, explained it well.

“Honestly, I’m not nervous,” Arrington said. “But you get the hype goosebumps.”

High school football’s kickoff isn’t just celebrated by the teenagers in helmets and shoulder pads. The sport energizes the entire student body.

Said San Marcos senior Tyler Sevilla, who plays the alto sax in the marching band: “People came up to me at school today, asking if the band was playing. I told them yes, and they got super excited.”

“The cheer team, the dance team, the band, we’re all here,” said San Marcos senior cheerleader Maddie Evans. “It’s a school celebration.”

Patient QB

Makihele threw for 3,452 yards and 44 touchdowns last season. But because he’s 5-foot-10 (maybe in cleats), he has just one Division I scholarship offer, from Old Dominion.

“It doesn’t tick me off,” said Makihele, who has an ornate tattoo sleeve down his left arm honoring his Hawaiian heritage. “Obviously, I know height is a big thing. I stay humble. I still have a senior year. Patience. I know it’s in God’s timing.”

Food review

Options abound at San Marcos High: Handel’s ice cream, bubble tea, Chick-fil-A, Frida’s street tacos and the usual pizza, nachos, hot dogs, Cup-O-Noodles, and not so typical dill pickles. We opted for the street tacos, washed down with a Diet Pepsi. Frida can flat-out cook.

Five belches on the U-T five-belch meter. (Hat tip to Aztecs football beat writer Kirk Kenney, belch meter originator.)

Like father, like son

San Marcos coach Tom Carroll is the son of longtime Oceanside coach John Carroll, who posted a 248-75-6 record in 26 seasons, winning a record 13 section titles. Asked the biggest football lesson he learned from his father, Tom said it was how detailed he was in preparation.

To that end, football coaches exchange game tapes six days before games. Tom Carroll often forwards his to opponents at 2 a.m. Saturday since he’s already staying up late, reviewing tape of his Friday night games.

About the late hour, Carroll said: “I don’t get many (immediate) responses.”

By the numbers

1 — Section championships for San Marcos, which has played football since 1962. The Knights won the 1A title in 1966.

2 — Section titles for Mount Miguel, which has played football since 1957. The Matadors won the 1A title in 1960 and beat Chula Vista for the Division 4 championship in 2023.

34 — San Marcos varsity cheerleaders.

60 — San Marcos dance team members.

400 — Estimated number of San Marcos Pop Warner tackle football players, flag football players and cheerleaders introduced before the game.

His money’s on Cash

The Union-Tribune ran a story Friday about the section’s three highest profile quarterbacks, Cathedral Catholic’s Brady Palmer, Mission Hills’ Troy Huhn and Cash Herrera of The Bishop’s School. Mount Miguel coach Verlain Betofe thinks Herrera is the best.

“He’s the most accurate out of all of them,” said Betofe. “He’s weirdly athletic. And he’s real cerebral. He can shred you apart.”