Camarillo Stuns Glendale, 33-8

It took only 14 seconds, but Glendale High felt the effects of Brian Vellmure’s 73-yard opening kickoff return for the entire game in a 33-8 loss to Camarillo on Friday night in the first round of the Southern Section Division II playoffs at Glendale.

Vellmure faked a reverse to Fahali Campbell on the kickoff and ran down the left sideline to give Camarillo a 7-0 advantage.

Camarillo (8-3), which placed fourth in the Marmonte League and received an at-large berth, scored on its first four possessions and led, 33-0, at halftime over third-seeded Glendale (10-1).

“We weren’t intimidated,” said Campbell, a sophomore running back who rushed for 126 yards in nine carries, including a 77-yard touchdown run, to spearhead the Camarillo wishbone. “We’ve played some good teams and we felt we could play with anybody.”

Camarillo’s Corey Tucker and Tag Johnson rushed for 59 and 47 yards, respectively.

Glendale running back Pathon Rucker, who ended the season with 1,878 yards, carried 19 times for 102 yards, but Glendale, which came into the game averaging 371 rushing yards, was limited to only 85 yards on the ground.

Glendale quarterback Eric Kiesau (seven of 23 for 70 yards), threw only one interception during the regular season but threw two Friday night.

Tucker returned a Kiesau interception 28 yards to the Glendale six-yard line that set up his own two-yard touchdown run that gave Camarillo a 33-0 lead with 58 seconds left before halftime.

“Once you get a break like we did at the start, the momentum just starts to go your way,” Camarillo Coach Carl Thompson said. “We just played our standard defense and I felt if we stopped Rucker, we would be all right. I’d rather have them pass than let him carry the ball.”

Glendale, which had outscored its opponents, 320-81, entering the contest and had not allowed more than 21 points in a game, scored its first touchdown late in the third quarter. Kiesau threw a short pass to Tim Hilton, who flipped the ball to Rucker, who ran 20 yards down the right sideline for his 31st touchdown of the season. Rucker added the two-point conversion to make it 33-8.

After Vellmure’s opening score, Rucker returned the ensuing kickoff 31 yards to the Glendale 44. The Dynamiters, aided by a 38-yard Rucker run, drove to the Camarillo 12, but Hector Maya was stopped for no gain on fourth and two and Camarillo took over on downs.

Five plays later, Campbell ran 77 yards to give the Scorpions a 13-0 lead with 5 minutes 43 seconds to play in the first quarter.

Camarillo took over on the Glendale 28 after a short punt by Bill Tuttle. Seven plays later, Johnson plunged in from one yard to increase the margin to 19-0 with 1:01 left in the first period.