Column: High school football teams going from buses to planes for road games

Road games for high school football teams have gotten a little more sophisticated and complicated besides the usual Friday night bus ride.

Westlake Village Westlake, Mission Hills Alemany and La Puente Bishop Amat proved to be road warriors, winning games in Arizona, Washington and Texas on Friday while giving a boost to the reputation of California football.

Westlake received two fourth-quarter touchdowns from junior running back Chase Jasmin to defeat Red Mountain, 34-27, in Mesa, Ariz. It was 99 degrees at kickoff.

“Red Mountain went to a no huddle when they saw us dragging,” Coach Jim Benkert said. “We were sucking air. We had more issues than we thought. We knew it was going to be hot. But when you kick off and it’s 99 degrees and gets hotter . . . I was sweating in the fourth quarter, but maybe because it was a close game.”

Alemany overcame same-day travel issues to defeat Eastside Catholic, 31-14, in Sammamish, Wash. Dominic Davis rushed for 183 yards and three touchdowns. Kevin Summers had three sacks.

Alemany players got up at 3:30 a.m. Friday, boarded a plane, took a nap at their hotel after landing, then played the game. “A Washington coach was laughing at me,” Coach Dean Herrington said. “We saved a little money.”

Bishop Amat knocked off the No. 1-ranked team in Texas 5A, Aledo, 42-7.

As for the pluses and minuses of travel, Benkert said, “It is a tremendous experience, but it’s tough on the coaches. It’s an all-night deal. You’re dealing with buses, food, airlines. This is above and beyond from a coaching standpoint.”

Benkert relied on Melissa Cahalan, a Westlake booster, to coordinate getting 120 players to Arizona flying on two different flights. One plane took off from Burbank, the other from LAX five minutes apart. They landed in Phoenix about the same time.

“When you’re on a trip, you can never take a deep breath,” Benkert said.

He got to sleep at 2 a.m. Saturday, and woke up at 6 a.m. And he has to prepare to play Long Beach Poly next week.

Centennial wins

Corona Centennial, coming off a loss to Santa Ana Mater Dei last week, got its offense in gear to knock off Orange Lutheran, 52-49, on Saturday in the Honor Bowl in Oceanside.

J.J. Taylor broke off touchdown runs of 63 and 79 yards for the Huskies. Patrick Reardon ran for three touchdowns for Orange Lutheran.