{"id":440117,"date":"2026-08-22T04:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T04:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/440117\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T04:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T04:24:16","slug":"scene-and-heard-high-school-football-season-opens-with-solana-beach-showcase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/440117\/","title":{"rendered":"Scene and heard: High school football season opens with Solana Beach showcase"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOLANA BEACH \u2014 Minutes before the 4 p.m. kickoff against Helix High School, Santa Fe Christian\u2019s football coaching staff, nattily attired in off-white shorts and white polos, gathered at midfield for a prayer. Then the Eagles burst through an inflated tunnel.<\/p>\n

Helix\u2019s players stood en masse in the opposite end zone. Some 56 cheerleaders \u2014 30 for Helix, 26 for Santa Fe Christian \u2014 lined up for kickoff.<\/p>\n

On the baseball infield behind the Helix bench, kids smacked soccer balls toward a goal. Behind the south end zone, future SFC Eagles leaned against blocking sleds, watching their high school heroes.<\/p>\n

Another high school football season kicked off.<\/p>\n

And Santa Fe Christian, the private K through 12 school with a high school enrollment of 442, demonstrated, again, that it can hang with the big boys. Helix\u2019s enrollment is north of 2,500, but the Highlanders were no match for Santa Fe Christian, which walloped the Scotties 38-6.<\/p>\n

Helix\u2019s offensive line outweighed SFC\u2019s defensive line by 74 pounds per man. The Eagles\u2019 middle linebacker, Charlie Stover, stands 5-foot-9, 165 pounds.<\/p>\n

So how do the Eagles do it?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all heart,\u201d head coach Jon Wallace said minutes after the rout. \u201cWe tell the kid we win because we\u2019re smart and we\u2019re tough. Just be tough and gritty. Just fight to the bitter end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Big Three<\/p>\n

A year ago, Santa Fe Christian opened the season with 13 straight wins and won a section Division 2 title before losing in the Southern California regionals.<\/p>\n

The Eagles will rack up wins again in 2026, thanks in part to a trio of gifted offensive players, Cornell-bound quarterback Dax Labrum, running back\/linebacker Brady Berg and wide receiver Chase Woolley.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Labrum completed 19 of 29 passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Berg scored three touchdowns, on runs of 2 and 10 yards, and a 40-yard catch. A 47-yard Woolley punt return set up SFC\u2019s first TD. His 53-yard kickoff return set up another score, and he pulled in a 32-yard TD catch.<\/p>\n

Said Wallace: \u201cThey\u2019re really good players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Esprit de corps<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a vibe among the Santa Fe Christian players, a closeness that comes from attending classes side by side and being teammates for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been on a team this close,\u201d said Berg.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been on a team that stays as late after practice as this one,\u201d said Woolley. \u201cAnd we don\u2019t recruit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Berg, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than putting on this jersey and playing with my best friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SOLANASOLANA BEACH, CA \u2013 August 21, 2026: Santa Fe Christian\u2019s quarterback Dax Labrum talks to quarterback coach and former NFL quarterback Drew Brees during the fourth quarter against Helix at the Santa Fe Christian School in Solana Beach on Friday, August 21, 2026. (Hayne Palmour IV \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nHall of Fame coach<\/p>\n

Santa Fe Christian may have the most overqualified assistant coach in America. The Eagles\u2019 quarterbacks coach is former Chargers QB Drew Brees, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Brees\u2019 son, Baylen, is an SFC senior wide receiver.<\/p>\n

Labrum called having Brees as his position coach \u201cprobably the biggest blessing in the whole world. Having him on the sideline, he\u2019s able to predict what the other team is doing before they even do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

QB draws penalty<\/p>\n

Labrum was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for something he said after a late hit that drew a personal foul. To which teammate Logan Moran said from the sideline: \u201cThat can\u2019t be. He\u2019s going to Cornell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Class personified<\/p>\n

Despite battling a knee injury all last season, Woolley caught 59 passes for 680 yards and six TDs.<\/p>\n

Wallace says Woolley \u201cplays his guts out every time he\u2019s on the field and has a heart of gold.\u201d If a younger player on the team is struggling, Wallace will often ask Woolley to console the player.<\/p>\n

Asked what inspires him to give back, Woolley said: \u00a0\u201cIn my life, what\u2019s most impacted me is my love for Jesus Christ, my Lord and savior. That\u2019s flowing through me. It\u2019s a reflex that when I see these young teammates I love on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helix struggles<\/p>\n

Helix is coming off back-to-back 5-7 seasons. It\u2019s the first time since 1974-75 that the Highlanders suffered back-to-back losing seasons. In Helix\u2019s 75-year football history, the Scotties have suffered three straight losing seasons just once, from 1973 to \u201975.<\/p>\n

By the numbers<\/p>\n

7 \u2013 Section titles for Santa Fe Christian<\/p>\n

11 \u2013 Section titles for Helix, the last in 2021 in Div. 1.<\/p>\n

18 \u2013 Section championships for Oceanside, the most of any school.<\/p>\n

Food review<\/p>\n

Opted for the mini tacos, courtesy of Rodeo\u2019s Cocina. One steak, one chicken, rice and beans. Came with onions, cilantro and guacamole.<\/p>\n

Four belches on the five-belch scale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOLANA BEACH \u2014 Minutes before the 4 p.m. kickoff against Helix High School, Santa Fe Christian\u2019s football coaching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2044,181,74,76,75,127],"class_list":["post-440117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-high-school-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}