Oceanside CA— It was Senior Night at Simcox Field with Oceanside hosting La Costa Canyon. The Pirates were able to hold on to win their final home game of the regular season, 27-26.
Oceanside got on the board first capitalizing on a Maverick turnover when Azizi Hearn stripped the ball from LCC’s Tanner Clark and it was recovered by Jason Sroufea at the Pirates 45-yard line.
The Pirates drove the distance with the help of two key first down receptions by Jake Gerardi. Jake Bernard finished the drive with a 5-yard sweep around the right side for the touchdown, 0-7, 1:51 left in the first quarter.
Tanner Clark would make up for the fumble to set up La Costa Canyons first score of the game when he blocked Jake Gerardi’s punt. LCC recovered the ball at the Oceanside 2 yard line. The Mavericks punched it in two plays later to tie the game at 7 with 9:00 minutes left in the second quarter.
The Pirates would strike right back on a 67-yard touchdown reception over the middle by Julian Hicks taking a 7-14 lead with 7:00 left in the half.
The flags were flying in abundance all night and penalties ended another Oceanside scoring opportunity after Aziz Hearn intercepted Jake Neufelds pass deep in La Costa Canyon territory. Holding calls moved the Pirates out of scoring position ending the threat and the score remained 7-14 at the half.
La Costa Canyon took advantage of a Max Shuffer mistake, early in the third quarter, when he threw the ball up for grabs under heavy pressure from the Maverick defense. Alec Varteressian made the interception and ran it back 20 yards for the touchdown. In what would loom big in the final score, the point after was wide and La Costa Canyon trailed by one with 7:55 left in the third quarter.
The Pirates would add to their lead after a 40 yard run by Jake Bernard would set up a 6-yard Shuffer to Puka Kaleopa-Tuisee touchdown pass and a 13-21 lead with just 1.6 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. As it turned out, 1.6 seconds was all La Costa Canyon needed to score again. In a little bit of misdirection, Tanner Clark handed the ball off to Jake Cashman who began running left, then tossed the ball back to Clark who threw the ball to a wide open Zachary Goodkin to complete a one play, 80-yard score. The two-point conversion was no good and at the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was 19-21.
La Costa Canyon took their first lead of the game when Zachary Goodkin scored from 5-yards out. PAT was good, 26-21 La Costa Canyon.
The Pirates retook the lead after a 23 yard run by Jake Bernard and Shuffer’s 46-yard strike to Joshua Garcia got the Pirates to the LCC 4 yard line. Shuffer finished the drive with a quarterback sneak for the score. The two point conversion was good but a holding call nullified the play. The Pirates were unsuccessful on their second attempt making it a one-point game with 6:32 left in the game. With La Costa Canyon driving for the win, Azizi Hearn got his second interception of the night to seal the victory for the Pirates.
Up next for the Pirates(7-2) is the City Championship at El Camino High School(3-6). The Wildcats(3-6) couldn’t get on track falling to Carlsbad 38-27. It was the first conference win of the season for the 2-7 Lancers. Carlsbad travels to Vista(3-6) who lost to Westview 0-14.
2nd half touchdowns by Luke Duerr and Sully O Brien pace Torrey Pines in 33-14 win
David A. Willauer-Contributing Writer
The Falcons improved their record to 7-2 on the season. Gabe Gmyr’s 30 yard run tied the game at 14 and went ahead on Luke Duerr( 25 carries for 113 yards) 2nd touchdown run of 1 yard after scoring on a 5 yard run which was followed by a safety for 2 points and Nino Alworth the grandson of former Chargers wide receiver Lance Alworth connected on a 39 yard field goal and Sully O Brien 17 carries for 87 yards scored on a 5 yard touchdown run.
Torrey Pines Head Football Coach Rod Gladnick: “I felt the same about this game as I felt about the Oceanside contest. As strong as we are physically, we can control the line of scrimmage and the clock. We are in the best shape of any team in San Diego County.”
“At halftime, I felt that the tide was starting to go our way, in the third quarter when we came out our offense held the ball for 9 minutes drove 80 yards in 20 plays and punched the in touchdown,” said Coach Gladnick.
“Our defense played better and our team improves every week. Lou Duerr has been a tremendous player for us. When we run the Wing-T, our offense is hard to stop. We kept putting defenders in conflict with each other. Junior, Sully OBrien is playing and improving each game as is our whole football team. We were coming in with 3 underclassmen on our offensive line and we still had 300 yards. In our last 4 games, we had a total of 1200 yards. said Coach Gladnick.
Mission Hills at 6-3 was led by Sam Dixon as he carried the ball 10 carries for 114 yards scored on an 8-yard touchdown run and QB Jack Tuttle 6 carries for 12 yards, scored on a 1-yard run.
Torrey Pines can claim a share of the league title, with Mission Hills, next week with a win over La Costa Canyon.
Other scores:
San Marcos- 10
Mt. Carmel- 21
San Pasqual- 21
RBV- 7