Column: This prep football game is one for the record books

The highest-scoring football game in Southern Section history took place Friday night, when Upland Western Christian defeated Whittier Christian, 78-74. It was the second-highest score in state history, behind Porterville’s 86-79 victory over Tulare in 2012.

“After the game we were all thinking we broke some sort of record,” Western Christian Coach Kevin Oberlander said. “It was fun.”

Quarterback Anthony Hudson of Western Christian passed for 232 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Sarkis Panossian rushed for 295 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Cooper Hughes of Whittier Christian passed for six touchdowns.

“I was getting text messages from my friends to fire the defensive coordinator, but I’m the defensive coordinator,” Oberlander said. “I’m also the offensive coordinator, so I made up for it.”

Field-goal record

If Andrew Nielsen has his way, Monday will be a free day at Newhall Hart in honor of his school-record 54-yard field goal Friday against Corona Santiago. He just has to convince the principal, Collyn Nielsen, who happens to be his father.

“I’m going to talk to my dad,” he said.

Nielsen, a former soccer player, was surprised that Hart Coach Mike Herrington allowed him to take a shot at breaking a record held by Jim Harper for more than 20 years.

“I had no idea,” he said.

Said Herrington: “The principal offered to take me to lunch for letting him have the opportunity to break the record.”

Nielsen is no ordinary kicker. He also leads the team in special-teams tackles. He started at cornerback as a freshman, so he doesn’t run away from tackling opportunities. He’s a junior with a 4.6 grade-point average.

Streak buster

Tesoro (4-1) ended Corona del Mar’s winning streak at 30 games with a 28-14 victory. Next up is a showdown with unbeaten San Clemente (5-0).

Dramatic endings

Carson knocked off Palos Verdes, 27-24, when Kiki Flores connected with Jabari Minix for a 25-yard touchdown pass as time expired.

Whittier La Serna defeated Rancho Cucamonga, 31-24, by stopping running back Aaron Manning at the one-yard line on fourth down as time expired.

Woodland Hills El Camino Real defeated Wilmington Banning, 28-27, when Kade Schmidtz blocked a field-goal try as time expired.

And Encino Crespi defeated La Puente Bishop Amat, 32-31, in overtime when Coach Troy Thomas decided to go for a two-point conversion and Jalen Starks ran it in.

“I had a lot of confidence we’d get three yards,” Thomas said. “It was a good opportunity to win the game.”