By james art 
RIALTO — The battle for first place has turned into a race for the Summit High football team. The SkyHawks ran over host Eisenhower en route to a 37-0 victory that clinched the Sunkist League title.
Although Summit (9-1 overall, 3-0 in league) did not score in the third quarter, the fourth quarter was played with a running clock due to the 35-point mercy rule.
Summit rolled up 267 yards on the ground and outgained Eisenhower 309-26 overall.
SkyHawk offensive linemen like Ivan Arzalaz, Jake Strausborger, Joshua Gonzalez, Mekael Robinson, Perseus Soto and Xiaozi Pulu dominated – even though Pulu left the game early with an injury.
“I feel like everything went really well,” Gonzalez said. “We’re league champions now and I feel like we’ve played some real Summit SkyHawk football. We dominated physically, showed sportsmanship and kept our character.”
Summit scored on its opening possession, driving 74 yards and capping the drive with a 3-yard run by Mark Mitchell III (119 yards on 12 carries) to make it 6-0.
Asked if he could pinpoint when he knew the SkyHawks were dominant, Gonzalez said, “That was one of the first drives when we realized we were in control.”
Summit continued to impose its will, driving 72 yards to score on Mitchell’s 44-yard run to make it 14-0 early in the second quarter.
Summit, with Mitchell, Moses Afemui and George Tola leading the defense, didn’t need more points. But just to stay safe, the SkyHawks extended their lead to 22-0 on a 1-yard run by Daniel Bonilla with 5:08 left in the half.
The SkyHawks continued to pull away, led by their stellar defense, which went scoreless in league play.
Freddy Huneberg intercepted a pass deep in Eisenhower territory and Summit capitalized on it by scoring on Evan Ramos’ 5-yard run for a 30-0 lead.
Summit scored one more time before halftime on a 28-yard pass from Francisco Hernandez to Nathan Garcia.
“Unbeaten, scoreless — that doesn’t happen very often,” Summit coach Nick Matheny said. “I’ve been doing this long enough to know that a nine-win season, with your only loss to Beaumont, is something to be proud of.”
Matheny said the offensive line was a weak link last year, but not anymore.
“Our offensive line coach is Teddy Brooks and he started with these guys in January and they worked and worked,” Matheny said. “They picked up and jumped over a hill in South Fontana, so for them to be a dominant force was a big deal.”
In addition to Mitchell’s big night, Bonilla rushed for 42 yards for Summit.
Hernandez didn’t need to throw much, but he completed 4 of 5 passes for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Summit enters the CIF-Southern Section playoffs on a seven-game winning streak.
There weren’t many highlights for Eisenhower (2-7, 2-1), which had its modest two-game winning streak snapped. Ike opened the season 0-6 but did well to contend for a title.
“We lost to a better team tonight,” Ike coach Al Brown said. “They are more physical. They played rough ball up front and we had no answer.”
Although both teams are advancing to the playoffs, Eisenhower won’t be going full steam ahead.
“I haven’t even thought about (the playoffs) yet,” Brown said. “We took that game from behind tonight and we’ll see on Sunday who makes the playoffs and try to prepare for that game.”
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