CARLSBAD — When the CIF San Diego Section Open Division playoff bracket was revealed, North County football fans circled the quarterfinal matchup immediately: La Costa Canyon hosting Torrey Pines on November 17. The two rivals had met just two weeks earlier in regular season play on November 3, a game LCC won 27-21 after rallying from a 21-6 deficit. This time, fifth-seeded Torrey Pines came in looking for revenge — and got it emphatically.
Torrey Pines dominated from start to finish, shutting out La Costa Canyon 40-0 in one of the most lopsided results in the history of the rivalry. The Falcons' defense was suffocating, and the offense moved the ball at will against a Mavericks squad that appeared flat from the opening whistle. It was a stunning reversal from the regular season meeting, where LCC had shown resilience and fight in erasing a 15-point deficit.
A Tale of Two Meetings
The contrast between the two games was stark. In the November 3 regular season contest, LCC Head Coach Sean Sovacool's team had shown the kind of second-half toughness that defined its season, storming back to steal a victory that seemed out of reach. That win gave the Mavericks confidence heading into the playoffs, but the rematch told a completely different story.
Torrey Pines came out with an intensity and focus that LCC could not match, scoring early and often while the Mavericks' offense sputtered. The playoff atmosphere at La Costa Canyon's home field, which was expected to provide a boost for the Mavericks, instead became the backdrop for a dominant Falcons performance.
With the victory, Torrey Pines advanced to the Open Division semifinals to face top-seeded Mission Hills, while La Costa Canyon's season came to a disappointing end. For fans of the rivalry, the two meetings in 2017 — one a thrilling comeback, the other a blowout — encapsulated everything that makes the LCC-Torrey Pines series one of the most compelling in San Diego Section football.