LAKESIDE – El Capitan's Phillip Cook had an interesting twist to his home black, gold and white uniform.
It was the numbers seven and 11 in the school colors grease paint under his eyes.
Reggie Bush did a similar number when he painted his 619 telephone Area Code under his eyes while he was at USC.
Cook's numbers had nothing to do with telephones.
“I'm like the 24-hour convenience stores – I'm always open,” said the senior wide receiver.
Cook caught touchdown passes of 21 and 35 yards from Tanner Rust last night to help El Capitan (7-3, 4-0) top visiting Santana 21-7. The win gave the Vaqueros exclusive rights to their second Grossmont North League championship in three years.
“This is huge because we don't have to share the league (crown) with anybody, and we're also guaranteed a first-round home playoff game,” Cook said.
Santana (4-6, 1-3) challenged the Vaqueros all night.
“After we got those first two (touchdowns), I think we thought we were going to walk all over them,” Cook said.
Actually, the Vaqueros, who averaged less than 47 yards rushing in their first nine games, did run all over the Sultans. Led by Matt Burkett (six carries, 71 yards) and Rust (15-60), El Capitan rushed for 215 yards on 32 carries.
An apparent mixup in the final seconds of the first half cost the Vaqueros a likely score.
El Capitan had the ball at the Santana 1-yard line with 12 seconds to play. Instead of going for a quarterback sneak as he had done for a 5-yard gain the previous play, Rust dropped back to pass and was immediately sacked by Santana's Justin Williams and Matt Charlebois for a 9-yard loss.
Believing that was a fourth-down play, the referee signaled it was Santana's ball. At the same time, Rust was in the process of spiking the ball.
Time expired and El Capitan came away empty.
“The referee told me later that he blew it,” El Capitan coach Ron Burner said. “It's just human error, part of the game.”
The Vaqueros scored on their first two possessions, including a 17-yard dash by Rust set up by a Bubba Prouty interception.
Santana countered with a 14-play, 79-yard drive – capped by Zach Breidt's 4-yard flip to Kris Kimmell in the second period.
