Revenge of the Seraphs
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I remember last year’s Oaks Christian-St. Bonaventure game well. I was sitting in The Times’ newsroom with the rest of the prep call-in staff staring at one of the numerous, wall-mounted televisions turned on to FSN. It was one of those games no one dared to miss – even the copy editors and page designers were going to be watching this one.
Then Oaks Christian scored.
And then they scored again... and again... and again.
It got so bad that you felt, at any moment, FSN would pull the game coverage for something a like a Ginsu knife infomercial.
But you won’t have to worry about boredom or 59-13 blowouts if you make what could be a rain-soaked trek to Ventura High on Friday for the rematch. Now that Jimmy Clausen has graduated to greener pastures (well, at least he’s playing on NBC now), along with 10 of his fellow Division I-bound classmates, things are going to be a little different this year in, Oaks Christian-St. Bonny II: Revenge of the Seraphs.
The Seraphs will get their long-awaited revenge and they’ll do it with a player who wasn’t even at St. Bonny last year. I know you’re probably sick and tired of reading about RB Darrell Scott so much, but he adds a critical bite to the Seraphs’ offense that was missing in Oaks Christian’s dominant victory last year. And the opposition knows it, too.
“They’ve got that Scott kid and he puts them into another dimension,” Oaks Christian Coach Bill Redell said. “They went from being a good team to a great team once they got him.”
So Redell knows if the Lions want to prolong their section record 48-game winning streak, they’re going to have to stop Scott, who’s rushed for 488 yards and seven TDs in his last two games. But Redell sees it as a two-way street.
“We’re going to have to hold on the ball and stop Scott if we’re going to win,” Redell said. “But they’re going to have to stop Potter and Jones if they want to win.”
QB Chris Potter looked impressive in his first two starts, but he hasn’t faced anything like the St. Bonny defense since making the switch from WR. Potter, along with RB Malcolm Jones, need to have the game of their lives if the Lions are going to have a chance.
I think they’ll do well, but not well enough to stop a Seraph squad that’s cracked Division I state bowl champs Canyon and talented teams from Santa Margarita and Atascadero.
“Things are going to be different this year,” Redell said. “If we keep it close, I think we’ve got a really good shot. If there’s going to be a blowout, they’re going to be ones who win.”
What: No. 4 St. Bonaventure (3-0) vs. No. 20 Oaks Christian (2-0)
Where: Ventura High School
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Prediction: St. Bonaventure 36, Oaks Christian 21
- Austin Knoblauch
