Monestime Runs It Up in Thousand Oaks Win

It didn’t stand to reason that Marc Monestime would break the Ventura County career rushing record with a long run.

There never has been a doubt concerning the Thousand Oaks High senior’s durability, moves or desire. The drawback, his detractors said, was his inability to break the big gainer.

But it was Monestime’s dazzling 51-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter that broke Hilria Johnson’s eight-year record, thereby leaving detractors with mouths agape. The score was the first for the Lancers as they defeated San Marcos, 35-6, Friday night in a first-round Coastal Conference playoff game at Thousand Oaks.

Monestime, a three-year starter, gained 125 yards in 19 carries to give him 3,768 yards in his career.

“It’s a lot of yards when I think about it,” said Monestime, who ran behind solid blocking by Greg Banks and Eric Dennis. “When the season’s over I can look back and think I had a pretty good high school career.”

Thousand Oaks Coach Bob Richards, who firmly believes Monestime’s career has been more than pretty good, is nonetheless glad the record hunt is over.

“That has been a real monkey on everybody’s back,” Richards said. “With everybody liking him the way they do, they felt good that he could get it. Now we can start looking toward winning in the playoffs.”

In the second round, Thousand Oaks (9-1-1) will play Palmdale, a 54-14 winner over Hoover in its first-round game.

Because attention was focused on Monestime, linebacker Mack Humphrey picked an inopportune time to play perhaps his best game of the season. The Lancer senior had a sack, fumble recovery, and an interception.

San Marcos (4-7) managed just 161 total yards. Thousand Oaks gained 319, primarily behind the Lancers’ powerful running game.

Thousand Oaks scored 21 second-quarter points to all but put the game away. The three-touchdown barrage started with Monestime’s record-breaking run with 8:51 left in the half. Five minutes later, the Lancers drove six plays to go ahead, 14-0, as Lance Alverson ran one yard with a fumble recovery.

Humphrey then intercepted a pass by San Marcos quarterback Chris Cappon with 1:38 to play in the half. A 30-yard screen to Monestime moved the ball to the San Marcos 23, and quarterback Steve Sisco ran in from two yards out to make the score, 21-0.