Thousand Oaks defeats Westlake in league opener

Acorn Sports Writer


BIG GAME--Thousand Oaks High School's Dave Anderson tries to escape Westlake's Chris Cannon during a Marmonte League showdown last Thursday. T.O. won the exciting game, 21-14.

BIG GAME–Thousand Oaks High School’s Dave Anderson tries to escape Westlake’s Chris Cannon during a Marmonte League showdown last Thursday. T.O. won the exciting game, 21-14.

By now you probably know that Thousand Oaks defeated Westlake 21-14 last Thurs. night, Sept. 27, in a game that was regionally televised.


For the Lancers it broke a two-year drought in which the Warriors won consecutive 49-0 games. Back in 1998, the two teams tied at 31.


T.O. ended Westlake’s 15-game Marmonte League winning streak and put in serious doubt Westlake’s ability to win a third straight league title. The Lancers (2-2 overall, but 1-0 in league) now have the upper hand in the league race while Westlake (3-2, 0-1) will need to rally and hope someone else upends the Lancers.


As is always the case, the Thousand Oaks-Westlake football game carried with it a lot of passion. Westlake dominated the last two years, but this season T.O. arrived with highly touted quarterback Ben Olson and wide receiver Dave Anderson. More fuel was added to the rivalry’s fire this season.


In addition, T.O. and Westlake players know each other, and two years ago, five players transferred from TOHS to Westlake after Mike Kelly resigned as head coach of the Lancers and before current T.O. coach Mike Sanders was named as his replacement.


Suffice to say, emotions were flowing at Warrior Stadium last Thursday night.


In the end, Anderson, "Mr. Everything" to his teammates, ran for one touchdown, caught a pass from Olson for another, and scored a third, game-winning TD on an 84-yard punt return after scooping up a punt that bounced in front of him.


Lancer teammate Kevin Rex, who missed last year’s game and most of last season with a knee injury, also came up big with an interception and a big fourth-down catch for a first down.


After the huge win, probably a defining moment for the T.O. squad, Sanders said, "We started the season saying we’ve got to run the ball and that championships are won with defense. And our defense has played well all year long and they’ve been underrated—tonight they came to play."


Sanders added, "This was a big win for our school and for our kids." And about the play of Anderson and Rex, "Good players make big plays in big games." Of the pressure his players faced because of preseason hype, Sanders said, "They’re great kids, so we just had a good time with it, just tried to have fun with it and let them do their thing, that’s the deal."


After the loss, Westlake quarterback Todd Feiereisen, a senior, said the Warriors would rebound despite the importance of the early-league loss.


"We have five more regular season games," Feiereisen said. "And then we’re ready for the playoffs. We need to regroup. Our team played a hard game, but we’ve got to give all the credit to T.O., they were ready to play tonight, they played a great game and we just got outplayed."


While the loss vs. Hart the week before could be seen as "a moral victory" would it be harder to find anything positive in the defeat vs. the Lancers? "It’s definitely a negative," Feiereisen said. "But it’s going to give us a lot of motivation to come back and win the rest of our games, it’s going to help us bounce back, and I think we’re ready to go."


The Warrior quarterback took some responsibility for his team’s loss. Feiereisen, who has completed 44 of 98 passes for 696 yards this season, said, "Jon Contos had another great game, our team played hard, I’m just frustrated with my own performance."


Westlake senior wide receiver/defensive back Ryan Wiesehan was optimistic despite the loss to the Lancers.


"Both teams played hard, they just had the edge tonight," Wiesehan said. "Their defense took it to us, they shut us down pretty good. But I think we’ll be all right, we’ll bounce back.


"Our defense picked it up tonight from last week—giving up 42 points (vs. Hart)—we only gave up 21 tonight," added Wiesehan. "We’re going to work hard next week, get a good week of practice in and beat Simi Valley."


Rex summed up his thoughts about the big win, saying, "They’re one of the best teams in the region if not the best team in the region, so it just feels good to go head to head with a great team and be victorious."


Any residual bad feelings pertaining to the guys who left T.O. to play at Westlake?


"The bitter emotions that we felt, we actually turned into energy and we used it as adrenaline," said Rex. "Because we felt we kind of got stabbed in the back, because they left—they had their reasons—but our JV team went 10-0 and then they left us. So we were like, ‘let’s show them what they’re missing out on.’"




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