Agoura Wins in a Double Threat

There is a certain order to things when high school rivals Calabasas and Agoura meet on a football field.

One team will run. One team will pass.

That basic pattern held once against Friday night in Agoura’s 24-22 victory at Calabasas. It was the Frontier League opener for both teams.

But this game was unique for several reasons.

For starters, it was played in spite of a bomb threat. Los Angeles County sheriff’s arson experts defused a plastic pipe containing fireworks without incident. Two teen-aged boys were taken into custody for questioning after the devise was found. Most of the crowd of 4,000 remained oblivious to the incident, and the game continued without interruption.

And on the field, a role reversal of sorts went against the normal pattern of the rivalry.

Calabasas (4-2), called “Air Cal” because it likes to let the football fly, went to its ground crew this time.

Most of the ground damage came from one man. Jim Ervin rushed 30 times for two touchdowns and 187 of the Coyotes’ 261 total yards

The change in philosophy caught defending Frontier League champion Agoura (4-2) somewhat by surprise.

“We knew they had a good running back,” said Chargers Coach Frank Greminger. “But we didn’t know he’d be that good.”

Agoura, which usually relies on its ground game, also strayed from its regular routine a bit.

The Chargers gained 193 of their 277 total yards on the ground, but many of those plays began as run/pass options by quarterback John DeGennaro.

“We wanted to go to the pass earlier,” Greminger said. “We ran the pass option a lot, because when they go with that six-man (defensive) front, they can’t always get an extra man back to defend the pass.”

DeGennaro was efficient through the air, completing 8 of 12 passes for 87 yards and one touchdown. Six of the completions went for first downs.

Most of the game was spent on the ground, however.

Agoura scored first when Gregg Kapp, back from an injured shoulder, went five yards for a 7-0 lead at the end of the first period.

Calabasas answered with a touchdown of its own on the next series. Ervin capped a nine-play, 74-yard drive from one yard out.

After Robert Sahm’s 27-yard field goal gave Agoura a 10-7 lead at half, the Coyotes went ahead 14-10 on one-yard quarterback plunge by Darren Del’Andrae.

The Chargers got the lead back on a 17-yard screen pass from DeGennaro to Don Koch late in the third period.

About the only mistake Ervin made all night cost Calabasas dearly. On the next series he fumbled and Agoura’s Dennis Mangola recovered on the Coyote 38 yard line midway through the final period.

Twelve plays later, Dave Papadopulo scored the game-winning touchdown from three yards out.

Calabasas came back with a 6-play, 55-yard scoring drive, caped on a 15-yard run by Ervin. A two-point conversion pass from Del’Andrae to John Perlstein got the Coyotes to within a field goal of a victory.

But the Chargers got three first downs on its next drive to run out the clock and return the perpetual Las Virgenes Cup, awarded to the winner of this annual game, to Agoura.