3-A SEMIFINAL : Pointers Run Over by RBV

The game that was supposed to come down to who had the ball last turned into nothing more than another stage for the Rancho Buena Vista football team to exhibit its remarkable rushing game.

The Longhorns stampeded Point Loma Friday night, 56-36, in a San Diego Section 3-A semifinal that was over, for all intents and purposes, by halftime. RBV scored touchdowns on five of its seven first half possessions to open up a 35-22 lead, and the Longhorns spent the rest of the game making statisticians scramble.

RBV (10-3) has won 27 of its last 28 games on the field and will play the winner of tonight’s Mira Mesa-Morse game next Saturday in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Two of its losses came this year when the Longhorns were forced to forfeit twice when it was discovered they used an ineligible player.

RBV’s only loss on the field came earlier this year to Point Loma, 42-35. Watching the action Friday, you never would have guessed that. For several reasons, the Longhorns have a chance to become just the fourth school to win back-to-back San Diego Section championships--following Lincoln, Kearny and Sweetwater:

--Junior running back Markeith Ross rushed for 217 yards and five touchdowns on 18 carries.

--Senior running back O.J. Hall had 283 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 18 carries.

--Senior running back James Lewis rushed for 76 yards and four touchdowns on four attempts.

--Junior linebacker Matt Sailors sacked Point Loma quarterback Danny White five times and recovered one fumble.

In all, RBV rushed for 594 yards--and didn’t have to punt once. And believe it or not, the offense is not yet ready to rest on its accolades.

“I thought they played as well as they have in a couple of weeks,” RBV Coach Craig Bell said.

A couple of weeks?

“They were playing the way we like to see them play,” Bell said.

But on this night, the RBV defense was just as important. Point Loma scored its first touchdown when sophomore Michael Driver returned an interception 53 yards, and its offense was able to score just four touchdowns.

“They were just too tough,” Point Loma Coach Bennie Edens said. “We knew we’d have to get turnovers to beat them. We got an early break, but they’re just too good of a team.”

The game was delayed for nearly 10 minutes in the third quarter when Point Loma running back John Faulkner went down after a 31-yard run. He was taken to the hospital with what a Point Loma team physician said looked to be a double fracture of his left leg.

The game’s first touchdown was scored on the ninth play and RBV rolled, thanks in large part, to a running game that has trampled everyone this season. By halftime, RBV had rolled up 376 yards rushing--Hall had 155 yards and Ross 149.