This Week in Football

Acorn Sports Writer
St. Bonaventure (6-0, 0-0)
at Oak Park (5-1, 1-0)

7:30 p.m. Friday

It has been a long road for Oak Park to reach this spot. Their 34-3 pounding of Carpinteria last week is an indication that these Eagles are as ready as ever to scale the mountain top.

The Seraphs enter this game with the longest winning streak in Ventura County history at 20 consecutive victories. Lorenzo Booker, their junior running back, is one of the top running backs in the state . The Seraphs’ sophomore wide receiver, Whitney Lewis, is the real deal with incredible breakaway speed.

Oak Park counters with a defense that swarms to the ball better than any Eagle team in memory. They are focused, aggressive and confident as their biggest game of the season approaches.

Will it be enough?

Agoura (4-2, 2-1)

at Thousand Oaks (1-5, 1-2)

7 p.m. Friday

When you get knocked down just get back up! That’s what Thousand Oaks did last week against Royal. The Lancers’ 28-20 victory might have saved their season.

T.O. is a traditional power with a new look. The old Lancers rammed the ball down your throat. This new breed? It’s all about Ben Olson and Dave Anderson. Olson has thrown for 1,300 yards this year, 570 to Anderson, his favorite target.

Charger quarterback Chris Denove leads area quarterbacks with 1,360 yards this year and has a fleet of fast receivers in Geo Martin, Jordan Grossbart, Steve Tagai and Brad Kahan. Denove can also hand off to Brad Altman, who has rushed for 700 yards this year for an average seven yards per carry.

The scoring should be fast and furious in this game. Can the young upstarts from Agoura hit the road against a traditional league power that just found their mark the previous week?

That’s a huge hurdle for any team.

Royal (4-2, 1-1)

at Newbury Park (2-4, 1-1)

7 p.m. Friday

Newbury Park returns from a week off in Oregon with new life, despite tough loss two weeks to Agoura.

The game proved that anything is possible in this topsy-turvy Marmonte League race. Royal might even be vulnerable now after their loss to Thousand Oaks last week.

Both Royal and Newbury Park have played solid defense this season against some very good offensive teams. The problem for Newbury Park is that the offense has struggled to attain that traditional level of Panther excellence.

Running back Marcus Crawford and quarterback Ryan Lombardo have not had breakout games yet this year and time is getting short. Royal should bounce back this week.

Calabasas (2-4, 0-0)

vs. Santa Clara (0-6, 0-1)

at Channel Islands High School

7 p.m. Friday

Last week Calabasas played the absolute cream of the crop in small school football and lost by a wide margin to St. Bonventure.

This week?

Well, Santa Clara has trouble just suiting up enough players. The Coyotes will win as convincingly tomorrow as they lost last week.

Westlake (5-1)

at Woodbridge (3-3)

7 p.m. Friday

This game has more interest for Oak Park than anything else. Two weeks ago Division XI Orange Lutheran beat Woodbridge 21-10. Orange Lutheran is rated just below Oak Park in the CIF SS Division XI poll.