New Division Is Romp for Capistrano Valley

For those Southern Section administrators who thought they had balanced the football playoffs by elevating members of the powerful South Coast League from Division III to Division II play this year, think again.

Capistrano Valley High School’s first postseason game in the higher division was a breeze. The Cougars scored in just about every conceivable manner during a 59-30 rout over Ventura Friday night in front of 3,300 fans. They will play Camarillo in the second round next weekend.

In theory, this was supposed to be a good game. Capistrano Valley, now 9-2, finished third behind Mission Viejo and El Toro in the South Coast League. Ventura, which ended the year at 7-3-1, was the Channel League champion.

So where was the parity?

The outcome was never in doubt after the first quarter as Capistrano Valley built a 24-0 lead. The Cougars benefited from two turnovers by Ventura to get two easy scores.

Inside linebacker Scott Newell set up Capistrano Valley’s first touchdown when he recovered Ventura running back Jack Hammond’s fumble at Ventura’s 27-yard line. Four plays later, tailback Jeremy Brion scored on a 15-yard run to give Capistrano Valley a 10-0 lead. Brion scored two touchdowns in the opening 12 minutes of play.

Ventura’s misfortune continued when Capistrano Valley blocked a punt and Bernie Chapman returned the loose ball 10 yards for a touchdown and a 24-0 lead. The Cougars extended their lead to 31-3 when quarterback Tony Solliday connected with wide receiver David Poltl on a 15-yard touchdown play.

“It was just about then that I started thinking, ‘This is too good to be true,’ ” said Eric Patton, Capistrano Valley coach.

Ventura got into the act by getting two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the half that awakened the partisan crowd. Sophomore Derek Swafford returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and cornerback Tito Holquin intercepted a Solliday pass and returned it 55 yards for another score to give the crowd a thread of hope.

But Capistrano Valley attempted only one punt all evening and almost seemed able to score at will. And Solliday didn’t have one of his better games, throwing two interceptions after having only three picked off in 10 regular-season games.

Solliday completed 13 of 22 pass attempts for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Brion rushed for 98 yards and scored twice and wide receiver David Poltl caught eight passes for 133 yards. Despite a big offensive night, Coach Eric Patton praised his defense.

“They had two 1,000-yard rushers (Swafford and Hammond) and we did a great job containing them,” Patton said. “They didn’t put together one sustained drive all night. The biggest question was whether we could defend the veer. Still, the game almost got away from us at the end of the first half.”

Hammond led all rushers with 105 yards in 13 carries, but earned 49 yards on one carry. Swafford was limited to 60 yards in nine carries.

“We had problems matching up with their skill players,” Ventura Coach Harvey Kochel said. “That’s a fine offensive team and they were just as good as we expected.”