Santa Fe Christian has 423 high school students. Carlsbad has 2,360.
When the two schools meet in the Open Division semifinals Friday in Carlsbad, the Eagles will face a considerable disparity in size and the challenge of slowing Lancers running back Darian Webb, whose regular-season numbers have been almost mythic: more than 2,000 all-purpose yards, 29 touchdowns and nearly 10 yards per carry.
Winning, Santa Fe Christian coach Jon Wallace said, will take a “knife fight in a phone booth.”
“Let’s get dirty in the trenches and battle this thing out,” Wallace said. “Our heaviest kid’s 240 pounds, and I think that’s probably one of their lighter kids. They can just pound the rock so well with that running back. Two really good tight ends that they do a lot of things with, too. They present a lot of problems with formations, and the quarterback does a really good job getting the ball where it needs to be. But really, it all goes through that running back. He’s special. It’s a fun challenge for our boys.”
The Eagles earned their place in the Open Division with an unbeaten regular season, finishing 11-0 with a 42-13 victory over Bishop’s on Friday. Sunday’s county rankings placed Santa Fe Christian fourth, earning the program one of four spots in the section’s top division. The Eagles outscored their opponents 470-68 and held nine teams to single-digit scoring.
The selection capped a three-year rise in which Santa Fe Christian has gone 32-3 and progressed through the section’s playoff divisions. After winning the Division II championship last season, the Eagles now have a chance to follow the path of Granite Hills, which won Division II in 2022 before capturing the Open Division championship in 2023.
But the Eagles’ placement, determined by a ranking algorithm, has stirred debate about whether Santa Fe Christian belongs among the county’s largest programs. The other two Open Division semifinalists, Cathedral Catholic and Mission Hills, which also play Friday, have high school enrollments of 1,700 and 2,764, respectively.
Wallace said he understood the formula to weigh factors such as strength of schedule, margin of victory, signature wins and enrollment.
“Everybody online is crucifying us,” Wallace said. “We’re just playing who they tell us to play. We scheduled about as hard as we could have out of conference. If you read Twitter, [people] think that we shouldn’t even be on the field or that we don’t deserve to be there. I would just say, why take this special thing away from these kids that have worked super hard, and they’ve played everybody we put in front of them? If people are pissed, they should be pissed at the algorithm.”
Wallace said the Eagles made a point of testing themselves, scheduling a rematch with Steel Canyon after last season’s Division II championship game, taking on Helix and traveling to New Orleans to face Newman, which he considered the best team Santa Fe Christian played all season.
“But we got a good little football team. I don’t know if we’re an Open Division team or not. We’re going to find out. But our kids play good football. They’re super tough. They really care about each other,” Wallace said.
The Eagles’ confidence is rooted in a program culture built over years. Wallace pointed to games against La Costa Canyon and Mission Hills several years back, as well as Santa Fe Christian’s 3-0 Division III playoff loss to San Marcos in 2013. Those games have become part of the stories passed down among players, many of whom have attended the school since they were little.
“Most of the kids have been here since elementary school, and they talk about, you know, ‘Oh, remember that guy and that team and what they did.’ And it kind of gets passed down. It’s kind of a special culture, and we really believe in telling the stories of those things,” Wallace said.
Santa Fe Christian wide receiver Chase Woolley said that history has helped make the team close-knit, with many of the starters having attended school together since sixth grade.
“I think we are one of, if not the most tight-knit team in the county and we really just play for each other,” Woolley said. “I just can’t wait to show the county the type of ball we play.”
Quarterback Dax Labrum said the Eagles aren’t approaching the opportunity with any sense of intimidation.
“We were hoping that we’d get this amazing opportunity and are blessed to have been given it. No surprises over here either. We know that we can compete and are excited to show it. Should be a fast-paced and physical matchup, and we will be ready,” Labrum said.
Wallace knows what awaits the Eagles in Carlsbad. He knows they aren’t going to back down.
“They got nothing to lose. They’re not afraid of things. They run downhill into battle, and they’re going to give it all they got,” Wallace said.
