2-A Football : Planned or Not, Fumbles Help Mar Vista to 21-0 Victory over Crawford

Mar Vista High School Coach Bud Aubuchon contends that the two plays were planned.

They involved two incidents in which Crawford fumbled inside the Mar Vista 20-yard line.

“We were planning for that,” Aubuchon said in all sincerity. “It’s one of our plays. If a guy gets hold of a runner, the others go for the ball.”

Planned or not, Crawford’s two fumbles helped Mar Vista advance to the second round of the San Diego Section 2-A playoffs with a 21-0 victory at Mar Vista Friday night.

Mar Vista (8-3) will meet Avocado League champion San Pasqual next week.

Crawford’s first fumble came late in the second quarter, when Robert Howard fumbled behind the line of scrimmage and Mar Vista linebacker Francisco Garcia recovered on his 13.

The second turnover came early in the fourth quarter when tight end Michael Smith fumbled on a reverse and Garcia recovered on his own 10.

In addition to the fumbles, Crawford appeared sluggish against Mar Vista’s defense. Both offenses, in fact, struggled in the game’s opening minutes.

Mar Vista’s passing attack, a trademark of the team this season, didn’t jell until the closing minutes of the first period, when quarterback John Amaya threw a nine-yard scoring pass to tight end Eric Syverson. The touchdown was set up by a 21-yard pass from Amaya to fullback Tony Mendivil.

“That’s how we usually start, good or bad,” Amaya said. “I liked it tonight when they blitzed because I know if I can slip by one guy, I can go off to the races.”

Mar Vista scored again midway through the third period when Amaya hit wide receiver Rafael Santiago with a 49-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-24 play.

“We were thinking touchdown all the way,” Santiago said. “Their guy was playing off of me, and I knew I could just slip by him.”

Said Aubuchon: “John (Amaya) was a little tight early in the game, but as the game goes on, he usually loosens up and gets in his rhythm. That second touchdown was the turning point for us.”

Amaya did get off to a slow start. His first pass of the game was wobbly and off target, and his second was intercepted by Crawford defensive back Jeremy Horton. Horton picked the ball off at the Mar Vista 40 and returned to the 25, but Crawford was unable to capitalize, with kicker J.J. Wadas eventually missing a 34-yard field goal.

Mar Vista sealed the victory with 4:46 left in the game when Amaya pitched to running back Pedro Rosselle, who then threw a wobbly pass 29 yards to a wide-open Tim Nicolis in the end zone.

Oceanside 29, Coronado 0--Dwayne Wilson recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for one touchdown and returned an interception 95 yards for another to lead host Oceanside (5-4-2).

Greg Frazier scored on a 10-yard run and Jerry Garrett passed to Noki Fuimaono for the two-point conversion to give Oceanside an 8-0 lead after the first quarter.

Wilson’s recovery came in the second quarter after Alvin Butler blocked a punt. It gave Oceanside a 15-0 halftime lead.

Garrett scored on a 20-yard run in the third quarter and Wilson closed out the scoring with his 95-yard interception return in the fourth quarter.

Oceanside will meet second-seeded La Jolla in the quarterfinals next week. Coronado finished 7-4.

San Marcos 21, Christian 0--Vaughn Webb rushed for two touchdowns and quarterback Rick Ebert threw a touchdown pass and made a key defensive play to lead San Marcos over Christian at Valley Stadium.

Webb scored on a 16-yard run in the first quarter and then scored on a 23-yard run with 31 seconds left in the first half.

Webb’s second touchdown came on a 98-yard drive after Ebert recovered a Christian fumble with three minutes to play in the half. The key play of the drive was a 31-yard pass from Ebert to Travis Beasley. Christian (6-5) was assessed a 15-yard face-mask penalty in addition.

Ebert also threw a 11-yard touchdown pass to Steve Baum in the third quarter.

The San Marcos defense held Christian quarterback David Jeremiah, ranked No. 9 during the regular season, to 8 completions in 19 attempts for 50 yards and intercepted two passes.

San Marcos’ Jess Berelleza, questionable before the game because of a shoulder injury, ran 23 times for 75 yards.

San Marcos (5-4-2) will play No. 3-seeded El Capitan (6-4) next week.

El Camino 29, USDHS 3--Eric Robinson scored one touchdown as a quarterback and one as a tailback to lead El Camino. As quarterback, Robinson scored on a five-yard run in the first quarter, and as a tailback, he scored on a 75-yard run on a handoff.

In a repeat of last year’s first-round game, University of San Diego High School (9-2) couldn’t do much better. El Camino (6-5) won last year’s encounter, 33-0.

El Camino will play top-seeded Lincoln (8-2) in next week’s quarterfinals. Last year Lincoln knocked El Camino out of the playoffs, 32-12.