This Week in Football

Acorn Sports Writer
Westlake (6-1, 3-0)
at Royal (5-2, 2-1)

7 p.m. Friday

With just three weeks left in the season, Royal is the only team standing between Westlake and a second consecutive league championship. A Warrior win will leave the other league teams with two losses.

A Westlake loss will extend the championship race into the final two weeks and leave the Warriors scrambling just to salvage a shared title.

Royal is the surprise of the season. The Highlanders were expected to compete for the league’s fourth and final playoff spot, but nobody expected them to compete for a championship.

Two weeks ago, prior to the T.O. game, four starters were suspended for the remainder of the season for violating school and team rules in an off campus incident.

When the Highlanders lost that game, many figured their season would crumble. Last week they throttled Newbury Park 47-7 and their dreams soared anew.

Kent Sowell will get his second start at quarterback for Westlake if Todd Feiereisen remains on the injured list. Sowell had good and bad moments in his first start, completing just 10 of 26 passes for 130 yards and two interceptions, but had two touchdown passes called back.

The Warriors will turn to their defense and the running of Jon Contos to pick up any slack. Contos is averaging almost eight yards per carry this year and rushed for 210 yards on 15 carries last week.

Royal will challenge the Marmonte league’s best defense with running back Greg Morris and junior quarterback James Cox. Morris averages more than 10 yards per carry and second year starter Cox had the best game of his career last week.

Moorpark (3-4, 2-2)

at Agoura (4-3, 2-2)

7 p.m. Friday

It all comes down to this game. While the permutations and combinations are too complex to figure, the winner of this game will almost assuredly make the playoffs and the loser will go home. It will be a desperate struggle for survival between two evenly matched clubs.

Moorpark has been the fourth and last team to qualify for the playoffs from the Marmonte League each year since joining the conference two years ago. The Musketeers have two, 23-point victories over the Chargers in those two campaigns.

This season, Moorpark was ripped by Newbury Park, but squeezed out a tough four-point victory over Thousand Oaks. Agoura was ripped by Thousand Oaks, but squeezed out a tough three-point victory over Newbury Park.

If Agoura decides to play some defense and Chris Denove is on his game, the Chargers will finally get the victory and a playoff spot.

Simi Valley (0-7, 0-3)

at Newbury Park (2-5, 1-2)

7 p.m. Friday

The Panthers are down, but not out of the Marmonte playoff race. Of course Newbury Park must win this game and then upset either Thousand Oaks or Westlake in the last two weeks of the season to have a chance.

First things first. Simi Valley is the perfect opponent to help the Panthers right the ship after their 47-7 debacle against Royal.

Malibu (0-6-1, 0-2)

at Calabasas (3-4, 1-0)

7 p.m. Friday

This is a road game at home for the Coyotes since Malibu High’s stadium remains under construction.

The Malibu Sharks have never won a league game since entering the Frontier League two years ago. They’ll have to wait at least one more week because Calabasas will not lose this game.

The Coyotes will begin their title run next week against Santa Paula with two league wins under their belt.

Thousand Oaks (2-5)

at San Luis Obispo (6-1)

7 p.m. Friday

This could be a great contest.

Resurgent Thousand Oaks is on a roll, but so is San Luis Obispo. The defending Division IV runnerup is again poised to make a run for a division championship as they enter this game with a six-game winning streak and the No. 2 ranking in the TWP Sports Division IV Poll.

T.O. could pull off an upset, but the Lancers haven’t been able to score this year against top-notch defenses. Rest assured, San Luis Obispo plays great defense.

Santa Clara (0-6)

at Oak Park (5-2)

7:30 p.m. Friday

The medicine needed to cure Oak Park’s St. Bonaventure blues after losing 50-0 to the Seraphs is a good dose of the Santa Clara Saints.

Calabasas received that miracle cure last week. The Coyotes followed their 48-point loss to St. Bonnie with a 48-point winner over Santa Clara.

The Eagles could use some of the same medicine.

For more coverage of the 2000 prep football season, visit Tom Pichotta’s "The World of Prep Sports" Website on the Internet at www.twpsports.com.