RBV Sticks to Basics, Beats Morse, 35-20,

Let it be recorded that the first offensive play Rancho Buena Vista High School executed to begin its first San Diego Section 3-A football game was a pass.

Hey. When you’re the defending section 2-A champion, and you’ve been upgraded to 3-A status, and when you’re opening against the defending section 3-A champion, you put in a few new wrinkles. Especially when you’re opening against the defending 3-A champion. Right?

Wrong.

That was the last pass RBV threw. The Longhorns picked up their dominating rushing game right where they left it off in 1988, and it was every bit as impressive. By the time it was finished, RBV had produced a 35-20 victory and left quite an impression on Morse.

“They’re a good football team,” Morse Coach John Shacklett said. “Our defense just got overpowered, especially the outside kids. They hit the off-tackle so strongly.”

RBV collected 442 yards on 50 rushes. Junior Markeith Ross ran 24 times for 247 yards. Senior O.J. Hall didn’t have a bad night either, adding 117 yards on 22 carries.

The game was tied at halftime, 14-14, but RBV wore down Morse in the second half. The Longhorns scored three touchdowns on four possessions after halftime, Ross going in on 32- and 74-yard runs, and Hall scoring from the one.

The longer the second half went, the more dominant RBV became.

“That’s just what we try to do,” Coach Craig Bell said. “We’re not arrogant, but we believe that conditioning and attitude eventually pay off.”

The victory was RBV’s 15th in a row, moving it to fifth on the all-time section list.

Still Bell, who has 12 starters returning, played it down.

“When you’re trying to mesh a team together, any win is a big win--whether it’s over Morse or Julian,” Bell said.

Morse, meanwhile, opened two weeks ago, losing to St. Louis of Hawaii, 24-17. The Tigers, too, have 12 starters returning and are trying to find their identity. Quarterback Teddy Lawrence passed for three touchdowns, all to David Dunn.

But two of those came in the first half. Morse scored just once in the second.

Lawrence completed six of 11 passes for 157 yards. But he attempted just three passes in the second half, completing it to Dunn for an eight-yard touchdown.

“I wanted to win the game, but I have to get the offense going,” Shacklett said, explaining why Morse didn’t throw more in the second half. “In Hawaii, we couldn’t get (Jessie Campbell) into the game. So we put the option in last week.”

Morse used the option plenty. Campbell, a senior who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last year, gained 66 yards on 14 carries.

Morse scored both of its first-half touchdowns on passes, and Rancho Buena Vista scored twice on the ground. But one of RBV’s scores came on a double reverse.

Morse struck first, on its eighth offensive play (second possession). Lawrence passed 54 yards to Dunn with 6:38 left in the first quarter.

RBV answered on its next possession, going 75 yards in nine plays. James Lewis took the ball in from the 43 on a double reverse, taking the handoff from running back Markeith Ross.

Four plays later--on the first play of the second quarter--Morse regained the lead. Lawrence found Dunn again, this time from 32 yards out after faking a handoff up the middle to fullback Ututofo Fiame.

Rancho tied the game with 5:03 left before halftime when Hall plunged up the middle from the one.