Lancers Top Highlanders With Defense

Granada Hills High versus Thousand Oaks was supposed to be Highlander quarterback Jeremy Leach versus Lancer tailback Marc Monestime.

Leach of the terrific arm and solid receiving corps against the moves of Monestime.

What a game that might have been.

Instead, on a field better suited for wrestling at the Hollywood Tropicana, it was the Lancers’ defense that made Granada Hills cry uncle Friday night.

Leach was held to 31 yards passing in the second half and was intercepted twice as Thousand Oaks defeated the Highlanders, 21-12, in a nonleague game at Thousand Oaks High.

“We knew that if we put pressure on Leach, we could win the game,” Thousand Oaks linebacker Mack Humphrey said. “Because we didn’t think they could run the ball.”

The Lancers sacked Leach twice, but the talented senior was on the run most of the game. After taking a 12-0 lead in the first half, Granada Hills was held scoreless. Thousand Oaks scored three touchdowns to improve its record to 6-1. The Highlanders are 2-3.

“I’m really proud of the way the kids played,” Thousand Oaks Coach Bob Richards said. “We didn’t let the adversity bother us.”

The adversity was a muddy field that was home to three football games in the previous 26 hours. Monestime, who entered the game with 818 yards rushing, was held to 74 on 15 carries.

Enter the Lancers’ defense.

Mike Moore gave Thousand Oaks its first lead, 14-12, when he scored from the 1-yard line 3:22 into the third quarter. The score came four plays after Jay Harrah hit Leach just as he released the ball, and lineman David DeSoto intercepted the wobbly pass.

Thousand Oaks scored again on quarterback Steve Sisco’s 27-yard dash through the middle of the Highlanders’ defense. The Lancers went ahead, 21-12, on Sean Cheevers’ third conversion kick.

Thousand Oaks took momentum into intermission despite trailing, 12-7. Lance Alverson, who had returned two earlier kickoffs for 23 and 28 yards for the Lancers, ran the final kick of the half 55 yards to the Highlanders’ 30-yard line. A facemask penalty against Granada Hills gave Thousand Oaks a first down on the Granada Hills 15 with eight seconds left.

As time ran out, Sisco hit receiver Jeff Ward for the touchdown. It was Sisco’s only completion of the game.

Granada Hills had gone ahead, 12-0, moments before on Leach’s second touchdown pass of the half to tight end Sean Brown. The nine-yard pass culminated a 65-yard drive that began with 5:40 left in the half and used all but 23 seconds.

With 4:16 left in the first quarter, Leach rolled right and threw 21 yards to Brown for the score. The point-after attempt failed. Leach was 19 for 38 for 188 yards in the game.

Thousand Oaks managed 57 yards in offense in the first half, 36 on the second play of the game when Harrah burst off tackle. The exchange between Sisco and center Lance Burch caused five fumbles, but Granada Hills was unable to recover any. The Lancers fumbled 10 times in all, but lost just one, late in the fourth quarter.

Leach completed 12 of 18 for 157 yards in the first half. He was intercepted once, by Alverson in the second quarter. Granada Hills seemed to have the field conditions figured out, moving the ball at will for much of the first half. But the Lancers toughened in the second half, making last week’s upset loss to Westlake a little easier to swallow.

“It’s weird,” Humphrey mused. “We played so bad last week and then played so good this week.”