Open Division hopefuls abound in South County this year

by Phillip Brents

When the San Diego Section unveiled its elite Open Division playoffs a decade or so ago, it remained a dream for most Metro Conference teams.

Not anymore.

Check the rankings and both Victory Christian Academy (second) and Olympian (eighth) are on course to qualify for the top playoff division in boys basketball this year while Mater Dei Catholic (fourth) is vying for an elite finish as well in the girls basketball bracket.

On the soccer side, Mater Dei Catholic (16-0-0) entered the week with the No. 2 ranking in girls soccer while Eastlake (8-4-3) was No. 8 in boys soccer.

Open Division hopefuls also include Bonita Vista (6-7-1, ninth) in girls soccer, Victory Christian Academy (8-14, 10^th) in girls basketball and Bonita Vista (17-8, 14^th) in boys basketball.

VCA’s boys hoops team improved to 20-4 overall, 3-0 in Metro-Mesa League play, after dealing visiting Bonita Vista a 78-61 defeat on Wednesday. The Knights tipped off league play Jan. 28 with a 69-50 win at Olympian and topped visiting Montgomery, 76-61, on Jan. 30.

Olympian defeated host Bonita Vista, 77-62, on Jan. 30 while the Barons edged Montgomery, 64-62, on Jn. 28.

Sophomore Troy Tominna keyed VCA with 19 points in the win over Olympian while senior Jayden Gray (13 points), senior D.J. Humphries (12 points) and senior Isaiah Owens (11 points) also scored in double-digits. Gray sank three three-point field goals while Humphries had six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. Gray led the team with eight assists and three steals.

Junior Tristan Anderson keyed Olympian with 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals while senior Jordan Walker had 13 points.

Humphries, a transfer from Olympian, poured in 20 points in the win over Montgomery while Gray (16 points), Tominna (11 points), sophomore Khalil Curry (10 points) and Owens (10 points) made it five Knights in double-digit scoring. VCA amassed 48 rebounds: 12 by Owens, nine by senior Chato Garcia and eight each by Tominna and Curry.

Senior D.K. Montgomery led the Aztecs with 20 points while junior Jayden Hawkins dropped in 10 points. Montgomery had four treys in the game while Hawkins had three long-range bombs. Sophomore Nico Villa grabbed seven rebounds while Montgomery had five steals.

Tominna had 25 points on Wednesday while Gray had 15 points and Humphries and Owens each sank 12 points as the Knights once again finished the game with multiple players in double-digit scoring.

On the season, Tominna keys VCA with a 21.9 scoring average, followed by Humphries at 25.0, Gray art 24.3, Owens at 21.6, senior Ben Cordova at 12.6 and Curry at 10.4.

Owens leads the team with 6,5 rebounds per game, followed by Tominna and Humphries at 4.1 rpg each, and Garcia at 3.7 rpg. Humphries is the team’s assist leader at 6.0 per game while Gray is next up at 4.3 per game and Garcia at 4.0 per game.

Humphries is also the team leader in steals (3.7 per game).

Opponents face a mine field when playing the Knights this season.

“We lost in the Division I final last year and the guys took the loss hard,” VCA coach Will Gray said. “They’ve worked hard during the offseason in their individual games, and collectively, to do what was best for the team.”

So far, the game plan has worked with the return of key players and key additions. But the Knights clearly haven’t satisfied their hunger for redemption yet.

“Our goal is to win the Division I Open Division championship,” the elder Gray said. “We felt coming into the season that we were going to have good team this year, a senior-heavy team. We felt we could one of the best teams in San Diego this year.”

Victory Christian clearly finds itself among the section’s heavy hitters in 2025-26.

Montgomery won last year’s Open Division hoops title last year after a runner-up finish the prior year.

Olympian has won two CIF championships back-to-back: Division III in 2024 and Division II last year.

With six seniors on this year’s roster, there may be an urgency on the Knights part to get the job done this season. Victory Christian hosts Olympian on Friday on Senior Night with a chance to take a big step toward wrapping up the league title with a win.

“It’s going to be a dogfight,” the VSA coach said about this year’s Open Division playoffs. “This year you can say it’s up for anybody to win. In the past couple years, people could say they had a favorite coming in, not this year.”

So, why not the Knights?

The Eagles, who beat host Montgomery, 75-50, on Wednesday, are looking to excel in their final games this season, whether in the Open Division or Division I. Anderson leads Olympian in scoring at 19.0 ppg this season, followed by Walker (18.4 ppg) and senior Mathew Huertas (10.0 ppg). Anderson (5.4 per game) and senior Xavier King (5.0 per game) are the team’s rebounding leaders while Anderson tops the Eagles in both assists per game (4.2) and steals per game (4.6).

As for soccer, Mater Dei Catholic’s girls team is led by sophomore Alessia Villalpando with 27 goals and six assists, junior Lydia Chavez with eight goals and three assists and senior Keira Braanski with five goals and seven assists.

The Lady Crusaders have out-scored opponents 57-2, including Wednesday’s tight 1-0 win over visiting Bonita Vista. Villalpando score the game-winner off a pass from freshman Sophia Ruvalcaba. Sophomore Camila Campos made six saves to record the shutout win.

Mater Dei Catholic plays at Eastlake (8-8-1) on Friday.

Senior jake Naiman had led Eastlake’s boys teams with six goals and three assists through nine games.

Metro Conference Standings

Boys Basketball

Metro-Mesa League

Victory Christian Academy 3-0, 20-4

Olympian 2-1, 20-5

Bonita Vista 1-2, 17-8

Montgomery 0-3, 16-8

Metro-South Bay League

Mater Dei Catholic 2-1, 11-12

Southwest 2-1, 16-9