Schools

Mar Vista Football Finishes Near-Perfect Season With Big Win Over Southwest

The 2011 Metro South Bay league champions finished the season with a 58-9 win over Southwest High School.

The Mar Vista High School Mariners walked over Southwest High School Thursday evening 58-9 to finish a near perfect 9-1 season. The win also clinched the 2011 Metro South Bay league championship.

On the legs of eight players, the Mar Vista offense rushed for 496 yards. Over the last two years, Mar Vista has outscored Southwest 104-9.

Mar Vista finishes the season in the top three among 18 Division III teams across San Diego County.

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The Mar Vista-Southwest game decides who earns the right to keep The Bell until the teams play again next year.

The tradition began in 1986 when coaches from the two teams went to a junk yard, said Mar Vista ASB advisor Ethan Charles, and found The Bell on an old boat. Enrgaving the game score on The Bell stopped in 2007 due to a lack of space.

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The U.S. Air Force presented $500 scholarships to players from both teams, including kicker, linebacker and tight end Ricardo Moriel, who wants to go to San Diego State University. The Air Force also gave an award to Head Coach Brian Hay, passed out thundersticks and tossed little planes and soccer balls to the crowd.

At the end of the game, there were no speeches from players or coaches about what was one of the best seasons in the school's history and the best season in Coach Brian Hay's 16 years as a coach.

Coach Hay quickly addressed the team, showed them T-shirts that were made to commemorate the league championship, told them to get some Air Force hats and to help clean up the sideline.

The Southwest game, the final game of the season, seemed to end on a more enthusiastic tone last year when the team started the season 1-3 and finished with a six-game winning streak. After last year's 7-3 finish and unsuccessful run in the playoffs, Coach Hay said the Mariners are a team trying to get mentally and physically prepared for the playoffs.

"We were able to rest a few of our guys that had a lot of injuries, which I think was key to getting us healthy going into the playoffs," he said. 

Still, among teams he has coached he said "This is special because of where we came from and the buildup of it all and it's a great feeling because it feels like we've arrived."If the Mariners gets a bye the team's roster can return to 100 percent, he said.

CIF officials will announce playoff rankings and matchups Saturday morning.

A Southwest player was escorted off the field on a stretcher by ambulance in the third quarter. Last week in the third quarter, Mar Vista linebacker Matt McMahan was taken off the field by an ambulance after neck injuries.


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