Thousand Oaks Rallies for Win

Thousand Oaks quarterback Dan Nagelmann wasn’t having the best of nights against Newbury Park.

He had completed 3 of 12 pass attempts for 29 yards. But with two minutes remaining, the senior quarterback hit on 6 of 8 passes for 81 yards, including a touchdown pass, and a game-winning two-point conversion which landed the Lancers a 15-14 victory Friday night.

“Dan had a rough game until that last drive,” Thousand Oaks Coach Bob Richards said. Then he added, “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”

After a mostly ineffective offensive night, Nagelmann had one last chance to pull out the win. With 2:39 remaining, the Lancers drove 83 yards to the two-yard line. In the drive, Nagelmann hit Kevin Medeiros for 16 yards, then 13 more. With 22 seconds left, Nagelmann completed a two-yard touchdown pass to make the the score 14-13 in favor of Newbury Park.

Nagelman then threw a pass to Medeiros for the winning two-point conversion.

“We decided before the drive that we’d go for it if we scored,” Richards said. “There was no question.”

It was a fitting ending to a close game.

Thousand Oaks opened the game with a 74-yard scoring drive, mostly on the running of tailback Marc Monestime. The Lancer running back carried the ball 9 times for 47 yards, including a four-yard TD run.

Newbury Park came back in the second quarter, with a 65-yard drive. The drive was highlighted by a 26-yard pass from Jayson Merrill to Steve Muscarella, a junior wide receiver. The pass moved the ball to the Thousand Oaks 22. The Panthers scored four plays later when tailback Randy Fox dove over from the two, with 8:54 left in the half. The extra point was good to make it, 7-7.

The Panther defense forced Thousand Oaks to punt after three plays.

Newbury Park took over on its own 46. The offense took slightly more than two minutes to score a go-ahead touchdown with 3:45 left.

Running backs Mike Cox, Bill Phillips, Fox, and Eric Craig provided strong running and Merrill connected with Muscarella for a 33-yard gain to put the ball on the four.

Fox scored two plays later from the one.

Thousand Oaks’ troubles continued in the second half. With the offense unable to move the ball, the Lancer defense spent most of the third quarter trying to slow down Phillips and Fox.

The Panthers had a chance to put the game away midway through the fourth quarter. They drove from their own 25 to the Thousand Oaks 11, but the scoring threat ended when Craig fumbled at the nine.

Again, Thousand Oaks had the ball and a chance to tie the game. But a Nagelmann pass was intercepted by Steve Padberg.

Again, Newbury Park had an opportunity to pad its lead, but the Panthers were forced to punt.

That set up the winning drive by Thousand Oaks.