Highlanders Play Sub-Par Offensively in 21-0 Win

In taking a look at the football score card beforehand, Friday night’s Northwest Valley Conference opener between Granada Hills and El Camino Real highs should have been a battle between a scratch player and a 40-handicapper.

El Camino Real quarterback Tony Bordwell, better known as the school’s No. 1 player on the golf team, had passed for a mere seven yards in two games, the football equivalent of a shanked wedge from just off the fringe.

And Granada Hills, ranked No. 1 in the Valley by The Times, had rolled to three wins in as many starts, the last two by convincing margins. This would be a game, it seemed, where the Highlanders would teach Bordwell and Co. the real meaning of the term big drive, and show him what teeing off was all about.

And while Granada Hills did succeed in shutting down the El Camino Real offense, its offense basically double-bogeyed its way through a sloppy, 21-0, win at Pierce College, the Highlanders’ sixth consecutive win over the Conquistadores.

But if this was a skins game, determining who skinned whom would not be easy.

“I guess the best thing is that we didn’t play well and we still won,” said Granada Hills co-Coach Tom Harp, who handles the offense.

That was about the best of it, because the scoreboard didn’t really indicate just how stymied the Highlander offense was.

Granada Hills (4-0, 1-0 in league play) turned the ball over four times. Its offense scored 14 points, the other score coming on a punt return. The Granada Hills ground game was almost nonexistent, gaining only 51 yards. In all, El Camino Real gained 174 yards to Granada Hills’ 176.

“The coaches told us all week that El Camino would be one of the toughest defenses we played all year,” said quarterback Bryan Martin, who completed nine of 19 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown and threw one interception. “I guess we didn’t believe it.”

Martin was sacked four times for minus-29 yards. Running back Brett Washington gained only 47 yards in eight carries--42 in the second half.

The defense of El Camino Real (1-2, 0-1) stunted and blitzed from the linebacker position continually, filling the rushing lanes and causing Granada Hills to keep a running back in the backfield for extra protection on most pass patterns.

“I felt we played to the best of our ability,” El Camino Real co-Coach Mike Maio said. “We played real well defensively.”

It took a punt return from Eric Moss to get the Highlanders jump-started in the first half. After the Granada Hills defense held the Conquistadores at their own 12, Moss dropped a punt at the El Camino Real 42, picked up the ball at the 45 and raced down the right sideline for a 7-0 lead with 6:05 left in the half.

Moss was, unmistakably, the bright spot for Granada Hills, gaining 148 yards in five punt returns.

Granada Hills struck again on its next possession as Martin hit tight end Charles Carpenter on a roll-out play for a 25-yard score and a 14-0 lead with 1:54 left.