This is It - A CIF Open Division Championship Game Preview

It's the rematch that everyone wanted. And now, it's here.

Montgomery and Carlsbad opened the season as the preseason No. 1 and No. 2 teams, and finished the regular season ranked No. 1 and No. 2 by the rankings that count, Maxpreps.

After two rounds of Open Division action, the Aztecs and Lancers are the last teams standing and will meet in the playoffs for the third straight year -- the second straight time in the championship game.

Will Montgomery finally ascend to the top of San Diego's hoops landscape, or will Carlsbad join St. Augustine as the only back-to-back Open Division champions during the Open era?

CIF Open Division Champion: (1) Montgomery (28-2) vs (2) Carlsbad (25-5), 8 p.m., Frontwave Arena

Maxpreps Rank:

Montgomery: No. 7 in California

Carlsbad: No. 18 in California

Key Contributors:

Montgomery

JJ Sanchez, 6-5 Sr. F - Three-time All-CIF selection and three-time Mesa League player of the year recently was offered by Point Loma Nazarene.

Devin Hamilton, 6-4 Sr. W - Made the All-CIF team for the first time as a junior; two-time All-League first-team selection.

Xair Mendez, 6-2 Sr. G - All-CIF second teamer as a junior, three-time all-league selection.

Alek Sanchez, 6-4 Sr. G - All-CIF second teamer a season ago, was a noteworthy omission from the All-Mesa League team this year after making it the previous two seasons.

Xavier Guerrero, 6-5 Jr. F - Reliable fifth starter also plays football for the Aztecs.

Rey Gutierrez, 6-3 Sr. G - Long, rangy role player noted for defensive effort.

Kyden Eleazar-Martin, 5-8 Fr. G - Two-time COTC selection and preseason all-freshman team member.

Darius Montgomery, 6-1 Jr. G - Leading scorer at Mar Vista a season ago is a noted shooter.

Jayden Cannon, 6-5 Sr. F - Four-year varsity player has played his best basketball down the stretch.

Carlsbad

Jake Hall, 6-4 Sr. G - 3,000 point career scorer, reigning CIF Player of the Year and three-time All-CIF selection is headed to UC San Diego.

Jordan Garner, 5-10 Sr. G - Made a huge jump from junior to senior year, earning all North County Coastal League honors for the first time.

Briggs Young, 6-2 Jr. G - Made the jump from little-used reserve to starter in Year 2 on the varsity level.

Jett Kenady, 6-1 Sr. G - Cal Berkeley baseball commit was named to the All North County Coastal League team this season.

Jayden Garner, 6-2 Jr. G - Slender scoring guard and younger brother of Jordan Garner plays key reserve role.

Dylan Sims, 6-3 Jr. G - Power guard is most known for his defense, rebounding and energy.

Trenton Mehl, 6-0 Jr. G - Streaky spot-up shooters has had big games this season.

Roman Payne, 6-11 Sr. C - Blue chip volleyball prospect brings size and shot blocking off the bench.

Joaquin Fernandez-Silva, 6-3 Sr. W - Hard-working energy guy would be a key contributor for most other programs.

Key Wins:

Montgomery: vs San Marcos (SD No. 3) 74-37; vs Santa Fe Christian (SD No. 7) 94-66, vs Portland Roosevelt (OR No. 10) 66-48; vs Sierra Vista (NV No. 2) 49-41; vs Boulder Creek (AZ No. 3) 63-51; vs Windward (CA No. 29) 75-74 OT; vs Mission Bay (SD No. 4) 64-53; vs Parker (SD No. 8) 2x.

Carlsbad: vs Mater Dei (CA No. 30) 74-72 OT; vs Coronado (NV No. 4) 83-62; vs Los Alamitos (CA No. 16) 78-72; vs Mission Bay (SD No. 4) 63-52; vs St. Augustine (D1 finalists) 77-54); vs Olympian (SD No. 6) 65-58; vs Santa Fe Christian (SD No. 7) 71-64

Key storylines:

Montgomery: The Aztecs are making the Open Division championship game for a third straight time: They lost to St. Augustine in 2023 and Carlsbad in 2024.

Carlsbad: Jake Hall enters the game as the No. 2 all-time scorer in San Diego after passing Foothills Christian alumnus TJ Leaf in the first round. He now trails only Troy Leaf, who scored 3,318 in his career.

How they got here:

Montgomery

For Montgomery, this year has been nearly a decade in the making, as part of the core of the team - the Sanchez twins, Xair Mendez and Xavier Guerrero - have been playing together since grade school. After upsetting San Ysidro to win the Mesa League as sophomores, the Aztecs have been to the Open Championship twice: first, a 30-point loss at the hands of St. Augustine, and last year, a 9-point defeat against Carlsbad in a game they played without Mendez (suspension) and Guerrero (injury). This year, the Aztecs have done nothing to indicate they are not on a mission -- they've won 27 games, including winning the second division at the Tarkanian Classic in December and finishing 5th place in the National Division of the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic. They have moments of complacency: a stunning upset at the hands of Montgomery in Mesa League play, a near loss at the hands of Bakersfield Christian in a showcase game in January and some early game struggles against San Diego and Victory Christian down the stretch, but they also showed they are a quick study: they beat Olympian by 39 points in a running clock game when the team's played again earlier this month. As talented as the individual pieces are (JJ Sanchez is arguably the toughest cover in San Diego, Hamilton an athletic specimen who impacts the game with his slashing and lockdown defense, Mendez an three-level scorer who also is an excellent on-ball defender and "Flako" Sanchez being the maestro who connects the pieces together), this is a team that has excellent synergy and the players elevate each other.

Carlsbad

The expectation was that Carlsbad, fresh off of an Open Division championship, would slide back after graduating two Division 1 players in Tony Duckett and Jael Martin, and that the focus might become Jake Hall's quest to become the third player in CIF history to score 3,000 points. As it turns out, the Lancers didn't skip a beat and Hall, signed to UC San Diego, accomplished the feat. But perhaps his biggest feat was elevating a squad of solid role players (although Jordan Garner has emerged as a potential All CIF player in his final year) into a team that defeated OC powers Mater Dei Catholic and Los Alamitos, Nevada power Coronado, and came within a quarter of advancing to their second straight National Division championship game at The Holiday Classic. The team came back to earth a bit in the second half of the year, dropping games to Weston Ranch and two to Torrey Pines, who stunningly thwarted the Lancers attempt at a third-straight North County Coastal League title. But the Lancers resumed their winning ways in the first Open Division game, beating a very good Santa Fe Christian team to advance to their third straight Open Division Semifinals.

Why they'll win:

Montgomery

A suffocating defense. The Aztecs are one of the elite defensive teams in the state, yielding 70 points once all season (an overtime thriller against Windward). They clog the paint and do a great job contesting shots on the perimeter and rebound the ball to complete defensive possessions. It doesn't hurt to have two of the best individual defenders in the section in Hamilton and Mendez, but the Sanchez twins do a solid job in their own right. The defense was on display Wednesday in their Open Division semifinals win over Mission Bay, where they held Mission Bay's leading scorer, Caleb Newton, to two points in the first half and neutralized second leading scorer Pablo Balderas.

Carlsbad

Hall and shooting. It's not an exaggeration to say that there isn't a more complete scorer in San Diego over the past decade than Hall. Other guys might have been better prospects, like Jaylen Hands and Boogie Ellis, but if we're talking pound-for-pound scorers, Hall is as good of one as this county has produced, perhaps ever. But what makes him even more dangerous is his uncanny passing ability out of double teams to shooters who knock down shots at a dangerous clip. Jordan Garner has improved tremendously over his career as a shooter, and Briggs Young, Trenton Mehl and Jett Kenady are legitimate three-point threats. Mission Bay had open looks against Mission Bay, but didn't convert them at a good enough rate to get over the hump. This won't be the face for Carlsbad.

The ex-factor:

Frontwave Arena. This is the first high-school game in the brand new 7,500-capacity arena in Oceanside, which has drawn rave reviews from fans who have attended concerts, San Diego Clippers and San Diego Sockers games in the new digs. And while the traditional concerns of high school kids playing in an arena - namely, shooting against deeper backdrops -apply, they are amplified by the fact that neither team will have played a game here ever until 8 p.m. tonight. This could favor the team that is less reliant on the three.

Prediction:

The teams will struggle to score early as they get used to the arena setting, and Carlsbad will keep it close throughout, but Montgomery's defense will wear on Carlsbad's supporting cast as the game goes on, leaving Hall to try to shoulder the load. It won't be enough.