Four advance in football playoffs





And then there were four.

While the Westlake and Oak Park high school football teams may have simply survived their CIF-Southern Section first-round playoff game last weekend, Newbury Park and Oaks Christian both looked to be in top form by blowing out the opposition.

This week, a new set of challenges has emerged for the four local teams that remain in the postseason hunt. Although the stakes will be identical this Friday as they were last week- win or go home- the margin for error has been greatly reduced.

In the CIFSS Northern Division, Westlake (8-3) travels to Larrabee Stadium in Ventura to take on topseeded St. Bonaventure (101). Newbury Park (10-1) will play at Valencia (7-3-1). Westlake’s game kicks off at 7 p.m., with NPHS starting at 7:30.

At home against Camarillo in the first round, Westlake built a 17-7 halftime lead, pushed the margin to 23-7 on a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Nick Owens to wideout Curtis Peterson with 3:01 remaining in the third quarter, and then spent the rest of the game turning the ball over and letting Camarillo back into the contest.

Westlake ultimately prevailed, 23-20, but the players did little celebrating on the field afterward. Still, Warrior head coach Jim Benkert chose to put a positive spin on things during his postgame speech to the team.

“We won a football game, but we’re walking around like we lost or something,” Benkert said. “It was a good football game, and sometimes I think (the players) think it’s going to be easy. . .

“We just let (Camarillo) hang around with interceptions, fumbles, missed assignments. We were in first-game form tonight, and we’ve got to correct that stuff if we’re going to go any further.”

Owens threw only two interceptions through the first nine games but has had five passes picked off in the team’s last two contests, including three turnovers last weekend. Reliable running back Cooper Shockley was held to 83 rushing yards against Camarillo. He also put the ball on the ground on multiple occasions.

Peterson did his share on offense and special teams. The senior caught eight passes for 124 yards and a score while continuously putting WHS in good field position with long kick returns. Place kicker Jordan Mannisto converted 3of5 field goal attempts, with the misses coming from 50 and 57 yards.

Westlake defenders Beau Poliakin and Devin Talavera each intercepted Camarillo quarterback Marcus Sanchez. Defensive end Tommy Doupe added a fumble recovery for the Warriors.

Looking ahead to Friday, any mistakes made against St. Bonaventure running back Darrell Scott could prove costly. Scott, a transfer from Moorpark, is regarded by most recruiting publications as the top pro-style tailback in the country.

Westlake’s defense has faced Scott twice before when he was at Moorpark, with the talented back averaging 159 rushing yards per game in those meetings.

Unlike Westlake, Newbury Park performed like a coMarmonte League champion in its 34-14 first-round home victory over Santa Barbara.

The Panther starting offensive line, featuring tackles Ashton Wood and Steve Sandoval, as well as guards Daniel Fesmire, Jack Knauer and center Tim Ketaily, paved the way for 290 rushing yards and three touchdowns for running back Chris Brown.

Newbury Park held a 20-0 lead at halftime. The Panther defense only allowed 244 yards of total offense to Santa Barbara, including a mere 61 rushing yards.

NPHS will need another outstanding effort to advance to the semifinal round.

In Valencia, the Panthers will go toetotoe with one of the hottest teams in the Northern Division. Although they finished third in the Foothill League behind Hart of Newhall and Saugus, Valencia has several big-time victories this season, including a 31-9 win against Canyon, the defending CIF Division I state champion.

Last week, Valencia put up 28 points on an Oxnard defense that hadn’t allowed more than 17 points all season. Before Valencia rolled into town, Oxnard had won eight consecutive games.

Moving over to the CIF-SS Northwest Division, Oaks Christian (8-3) gets a tough test at home against the division’s second overall seed, Serra (10-1).

Oak Park (8-3) will play at Harvard-Westlake (8-3) in another showdown between the Tri-Valley League and the Del Rey League. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m.

Oaks Christian dominated its opening-round foe, San Dimas, by rolling up 473 yards of total offense (324 yards rushing, 149 yards passing) in a 56-27 route. The four-time defending section champion Lions have won 18 consecutive playoff games.

Serra, the Del Rey League champion, carries a seven-game winning streak into this contest. Serra’s offense averages 271 rushing yards and 159 passing yards per game.

Oak Park survived a nail-biter to open the postseason, edging St. Joseph 21-14 at home.

Senior running back Kyle Shorten put the winning points on the board with a 5yard touchdown scamper with less than four minutes remaining in the game. The Oak Park defense created two late turnovers to give the Eagles a shot at the victory.

“That’s been our game this year. When we create turnovers, we’ve been able to pull out victories,” OPHS defensive coordinator Brian Crum said. “We really try to teach that and stress that. It’s huge when you can create turnovers and turn them into points.”

Oak Park’s defense, led by linebackers Sean Westgate and Chris Dacar as well as top linemen Andrew Hewitson, Josh Marcus and Dustin Geyer, must contain a Harvard-Westlake team that’s averaged 33.3 points per game in its last three contests.

Hewitson missed last week’s win with a shoulder injury but should be healthy and ready to play on Friday night, Crum said.

“Harvard-Westlake is going to spread the ball out and try to create a few mismatches on the outside,” the coach said. “They’re pretty balanced, and any time a team has balance that makes things much more difficult to defend.”


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