Football: Valencia’s fires a warning shot at the division

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After watching his team dismantle a game Ventura High squad 42-14 Friday, Valencia Coach Larry Muir had a warning for the rest of the Northern Division playoff survivors.

His Vikings can get better. A lot better.

‘We’re still making some mistakes,’ Muir said. ‘We’re still taking too many penalties.’

Not that it really mattered much against visiting Ventura (6-5), the Channel League runnerup. Valencia dominated on both sides of the ball, rolling up more than 350 yards on offense and forcing five turnovers on defense. The Vikings went 63 yards in four plays on their first drive, which ended with a 12-yard scoring run by Jordan Thompson, his first of three touchdowns.

Ventura had a chance to make a game of it but one early scoring drive was thwarted by an acrobatic Zack Tartabull interception in the corner of the end zone while another ended when Trevor Smyth recovered a Cougar fumble and raced 69 yards the other way for a touchdown.

Smyth, a sophomore linebacker, had another fumble recovery in the second half and nearly returned that for a score as well, earning the praise of his coach.

‘He’s a tough football player,’ Muir said. ‘He’s matured quite a bit. I think his best football is ahead of him.’

Muir would like to be able to say the same thing about his Vikings (9-2), who will meet Westlake, a 36-35 winner over Oxnard, in the second round of the playoffs next week.

And he would have reason to be optimistic after watching Dominick Solley continue to emerge as a leader, throwing for 251 yards and two scores in the first half, and seeing Thompson chew up the clock by running for 82 yards and two scores in the second half. Add in the five catches for 149 yards Tartabull contributed in the first two periods and it’s hard to imagine how the Vikings could have been more well-rounded.

Another reason for confidence? Valencia has lost just once since a 23-14 drubbing by Thousand Oaks in its season opener.

‘It’s just survival each week,’ Muir said of the playoffs. ‘Bring ‘em on.’

Sophomore Keihan Gibbs completed 20 of 32 passes for 220 yards a score for Ventura but he was also intercepted three times, once by Tartabull and twice by junior Jabari Howard.

-- Kevin Baxter