SAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL : Vista’s Kids Continue to Roll, Stopping Morse, 34-13

Dick Haines, Vista High School’s football coach, is finding it easier each week to cope with the loss of 29 players from his Section 3-A champion team of last season.

Friday night, the young Vista team, top-ranked in the county, rolled over No. 3 Morse, 34-13, in front of a crowd of more than 6,000 at Vista.

“We’re definitely getting better,” said Haines. “People don’t realize how young a team we really are.”

Vista is 3-0 after the nonleague game. Morse falls to 3-1.

In spite of its youth, Vista’s defense has limited its opponents to 26 points in three games, and most of those have come with the second and third string players in the game.

Vista opened the game the way everyone expected. Scoring quickly and scoring on the ground. Vista marched 47 yards on 6 plays, the drive capped by quarterback Bill Faraimo’s sneak from the 1 with 5:03 remaining in the first quarter.

The Morse defense, which was No. 7 in the county, scored Morse’s first points when it blocked a Vista punt late in the first period and linebacker Oshay Caesar ran 45 yards for the touchdown.

On the ensuing kick, Vista’s Tom Booker powered his way through the wedge and raced 80 yards down the sideline for the touchdown, giving Vista a 13-7 lead, with 1:13 remaining in the first quarter.

“Every week we say we need one play to set the tone,” said Booker, who finished with 142 yards on 18 carries, including three touchdowns. “Once I saw daylight (on the kickoff return) it was great.”

Haines agreed that after Booker’s touchdown, the tone had definitely been set.

“I think it certainly put a damper on the game for (Morse),” he said.

The one bright spot for Morse was the play of quarterback Willie Davis, who was 6 of 11 for 183 yards. He threw a 45-yard strike to Reggie Webb for Morse’s final touchdown with 1:35 remaining in the game.

Davis had started Morse’s first two games, but Morse Coach John Shacklett wanted to experiment with Melvin Maxwell in the first half. All of Davis’ passing occurred in the fourth period.