Woodbridge Stymies Agoura, Advances to Division VIII Final

Agoura High had advanced to the semifinals of the Southern Section Division VIII football playoffs on the strength of a hard-hitting defense. But Friday night, the Chargers ran into a Woodbridge team with a defense equal to theirs and an offense vastly superior.

The result was a 21-0 Woodbridge victory at Agoura that earned the Warriors a shot at their second consecutive Southern Section championship.

“We just got beat by a better football team tonight,” Agoura Coach Frank Greminger said. “We just couldn’t get our offense going, but they had a lot to do with that.”

Woodbridge (12-1) used its superior quickness to stop Agoura’s running game, holding the Chargers (8-4-1) to 5 yards in 22 carries.

“They took our offense away from us with their quickness,” Greminger said. “They got across the line so quickly that we just couldn’t do what we wanted.”

The Charger passing attack was grounded as starting quarterback Josh Smaler completed only 6 of 18 passes for 31 yards and threw 2 interceptions. His replacement, Brian Jauch, who entered the game midway through the fourth quarter, completed just 1 of 7 for 12 yards.

In contrast, Woodbridge quarterback Fred Schweer completed 12 of 24 passes for 227 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Schweer teamed with fullback Mike Yurkovich for the Warriors’ first score on a 56-yard screen pass with 5:30 left in the first quarter. Troy Holmes’ extra point gave Woodbridge a 7-0 lead that stood for 3 periods.

In the fourth quarter, Woodbridge wore down the proud Agoura defense. With 11:05 left, Schweer hooked up with wide receiver Ryan Nash down the left sideline for a 20-yard touchdown that completed a 5-play, 52-yard drive.

Five minutes later, Schweer was at it again, hitting Chris Blades for a 22-yard touchdown on a slant pattern that capped a 4-play, 34-yard drive.