Thursday night's semifinal matchup against Oceanside will mark La Costa Canyon's next opportunity to advance to the "Q" for a second CIF final appearance. In only his second year at the helm, Sean Sovacool has built a tough, hard-nosed program, dedicated to running the football and playing stifling defense. Finesse is out the window. 

Possibly the most interesting storyline of this game involves the Maverick’s young-gun head coach pitted against arguably the county’s most legendary football coach, John Carroll. The Oceanside Pirates - a program respected nationally - have won 2 state titles and 13 CIF Championships. The pirates have won 7 straight

CIF Championships dating back to 2004. Will this year be their 8^th in a row? 

La Costa Canyon (9-2), winners of the Avocado league west, up-ended Oceanside (8-2-1) earlier in the season with a 21-16 victory in Oceanside. 

In that game, LCC held Oceanside to under 100 yards rushing and intercepted Oceanside quarterback Tofi Pao Pao twice. La Costa Canyon stormed back from a halftime deficit and held the pirates to only one field goal in the second half, holding off a late Oceanside surge. 

Sovacool and his players have surely not forgotten last year’s quarterfinal playoff game against Carroll and the Pirates, which eliminated the Mavericks from playoff contention. Will Thursday’s semifinal end in a similar result, or will the Mavericks pull off a win.  

Prediction: 

The teams are athletic, aggressive, well coached, and evenly matched on offense and defense. This game will be back and forth, and come down to a big play of special teams in the second half. 

La Costa Canyon 24 – Oceanside 21