Oaks Christian’s fantastic four
Lions capture fourth CIF-SS football title
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers BREAK ON THROUGH—Oaks Christian running back Marshall Jones, No. 27, frees himself from an attempted tackle by Oak Park’s Logan Ketchum during the CIF-Southern Section Northwest Division title game last Friday night at OCHS. Oak Park linebacker David Henningsen, No. 26, is in hot pursuit. The Lions won 46-7. OCHS will play in the Division III state title game on Saturday at the Home Depot Center.

For the fourth time in as many seasons, Oaks Christian head coach Bill Redell stood soaking wet on the sideline following a CIFSouthern Section championship game victory.

With a fistful of title rings now at his disposal, one might think Redell has acclimated himself to the customary bucketofGatorade-over-the-head. But the 65-year-old coach begs to differ.

“Oh man, I’m freezing my butt off,” said Redell, following the Lions’ 46-7 defeat of Oak Park in the Northwest Division title game last Friday night at OCHS.

“You never get used to that (Gatorade).”

The latest Oaks Christian victory—the team’s 45th in a row— was like so many of the others, with the Lions (14-0) dominating Oak Park (12-2) on both sides of the ball.

OCHS held the Eagles’ offense to just 131 total yards. Oak Park’s offense didn’t earn its initial first down until Oaks Christian was flagged for a pass interference penalty with 7:27 remaining in the second quarter. By that time, the Lions had already built a 25-0 lead.

“We’re blessed to have some great kids,” OCHS defensive coordinator Clay Matthews said. “They talk about offense around here, and that’s fine; we don’t care. But our guys get after it. We’ve actually outscored our opponents this year.”

Oaks Christian’s defense has allowed an average of 8.1 points per game. They’ve recorded three shutouts.

The Lions got on the scoreboard first when running back Marshall Jones navigated the end zone from 10 yards out. Jones’ score capped an 11-play, 80-yard drive.

Following an Oak Park threeand-out, OCHS quarterback Jimmy Clausen found wideout Chris Owusu open in the back of the end zone for a 16yard scoring strike that put the Lions up 13-0. The extra-point attempt was no good.

Jones scored his second touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run with 10:35 remaining in the second quarter. He finished the night with 80 yards rushing and three scores—Jones also returned an interception for a touchdown in the third quarter.

“I just tried to step up and do my thing,” Jones said. “I wanted to work hard and be as good as Marc (Tyler) can be.”

Tyler, the Lions’ All-American tailback/linebacker, missed the game after suffering a broken leg in the first round of the playoffs.

Oaks Christian’s Sean Wiser added a pair of touchdowns before halftime. Wiser scored on a blocked punt and then hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Clausen late in the second quarter to put the Lions up 320 at intermission.

During Oaks Christian’s final drive of the first half, Oak Park linebacker Sean Westgate made a play that may have best reflected the heart and soul of his undermanned team. After losing his helmet,

Westgate ran all the way across the field to track down Clausen, who was rolling toward the OCHS sideline on a pass play. Westgate drilled Clausen near the sideline and was called for a questionable late hit out of bounds.

“I thought I had him inbounds,” Westgate said. “The truth is, I was running with my helmet off, and I’ve never seen a quarterback look

at me like they were going to engage me before. He put his arm up and I went to protect my face. It kind of got me mad that he was looking at me like that.”

Oak Park head coach Dick Billingsley, who’s lost three title games to Oaks Christian in four years, said Westgate always plays hard and gives the team everything he’s got.

“He’s a determined football player and a class act,” Billingsley said. “He’s probably one of the best linebackers around.”

Following Jones’ third-quarter interception return, Wiser tacked on his third score of the night on a 51-yard bomb from Clausen on the first play of the fourth quarter. Clausen finished the game with 249 passing yards and three scores, while Wiser hauled in a team-high six catches for 110 yards.

Oak Park finally got on the board when running back Kyle Shorten plowed in from a yard out to make the score 46-7.

While the end results were disappointing for the Eagles yet again, Billingsley’s group put together a highly successful season in which they took on all comers.

Throw out the two games against Oaks Christian, and Oak Park was flawless. The Eagles’ résumé included victories against larger schools like Newbury Park, Calabasas and Camarillo, and they did it all with only 13 seniors on the roster.

“We’ve had a tremendous season, and there’s a reason these kids played so well,” Billingsley said. “We still feel like champions even though we lost this game.”

OPHS senior wideout/defensive back Kyle Benton said the Eagles proved they were a premier team this season.

“We showed everyone who we were,” Benton said. “We scheduled Marmonte League teams. We scheduled a lot of good teams and showed people that we were better than everyone thought.”