Oceanside CA— The Oceanside Pirates finished their regular season undefeated (10-0) and in the process, claimed the Oceanside City title beating the El Camino Wildcats (5-5) 26-7.
Oceanside got on the board first, with 7:38 to play in the first quarter, as Josh Bernard took it in from 5 yards out on a run around the right side.
The Pirate defense stifled the Wildcat offenses on their first two possessions holding El Camino to negative yardage. The Pirates drove again but settled for three after two touchdown passes were called incomplete, ruled out-of-bounds, the Ramirez kick was good from 23 yards giving Oceanside a 10-0 lead, 4:10 left in the first quarter.
Oceanside scored again while the horn sounded ending the first quarter, as Josh Bernard powered it in for a 10 yard score. The PAT was missed leaving the score 16-0 at the end of the first period.
El Camino’s offense began to show some life in the second quarter. Wildcat Quarterback Sergio Lopez scrambled down the left side for almost 30 yards but the run was called back on a holding call. The play was costly for the Pirates defense. As the ball was being marched back for the penalty, Pirate defensive standout, Tommy Woo remained laying on the turf and would be lost for the remainder of the game with a dislocated right shoulder. Woo gave the large Oceanside crowd, attending the game, a thumbs up as he headed towards the sidelines after being tended to by trainers from both teams. Tommy said he will be ready to go for the playoffs.
A bright spot for the Wildcats was the Special Teams punting of Eric Wilson who twice pinned the Pirates down inside their five yard-line. After the first one pinned Oceanside back on their own two yard-line. The Wildcats held the Pirates to a three and out and the resulting good field position led to the only score of the night for El Camino. Sergio Lopez ran right for 4 yards and went in untouched making the score 16-7 late in the second quarter.
Oceanside added another three with a 17 yard Ramirez kick as time ran out in the half, 19-7 at intermission.
Aggressive defensive play by both teams kept the third quarter scoreless.
Penalties seemed to rule the fourth quarter. After driving deep into El Camino territory, Oceanside found themselves with a third down and 38 yards to go from their own 46 yard-line. Oceanside Quarterback Matthew Romero hit Josh Bernard on a screen pass and Bernard cut left and slashed his way down the sideline for 42 yards and a first down. After another penalty on first down, Romero hit Isaia Paopao from 31 yards out as Paopao fell backwards into the end-zone for the final score of the night 26-7. El Camino had one more scoring opportunity as Sergio Lopez, on fourth and 16 from the Oceanside 18 yard line scrambled to his right for fourteen yards. From there, it was the victory formation for the Pirates as Romero took a knee several times to end the game. The City Championship series is now tied at 20 wins each. It was the fourth straight loss for a Wildcat team that showed some promise early in the season with five straight wins including a big 47-7 win, on the road, over Fallbrook.
Oceanside Pirates Claim 2014 City Title
November 8, 2014