Victory Slips From Camarillo’s Grasp, 7-3

A fumble just seems to have no sense of timing. It can occur at the most unlikely and inopportune moment.

For Camarillo High on Friday night, that moment came as the Scorpions were driving toward what appeared to be the decisive touchdown against rival Rio Mesa.

The Camarillo line was opening huge holes, and running backs Tag Johnson and Fahali Campbell were taking full advantage, breaking off large chunks of yardage--38 yards on one play, 18 on another, 14 more on a third.

Then it happened. Campbell hit the turf at the Rio Mesa 14-yard line and coughed up the football. The Spartans’ Adriano Abellera scooped it up on the run and outraced Jim Hansen 86 yards to the end zone for the game’s only touchdown and a 7-3 nonleague win for Rio Mesa before a packed house at Camarillo.

“The ball was rolling free and I just picked it up and ran,” Abellera said. “I was so tired. I felt someone dive for my legs, so I lifted them up. I wasn’t sure who it was.”

Hansen’s diving tackle attempt was futile, and McLane Hansen added the extra point for Rio Mesa with 9 minutes 6 seconds to play, giving the Spartans a 7-3 lead.

Camarillo, which outgained Rio Mesa in yards, 224-116, tried desperately to rally and moved to the Rio Mesa 35 with just more than three minutes to play. But on a fourth-and-one play, the Spartans’ Stan Monroy stopped Johnson for no gain.

Johnson rushed for a game-high 119 yards in 19 carries and Campbell, who set a single-game Camarillo rushing record a week ago, gained 116 yards in 23 carries.

Rio Mesa held Camarillo to zero passing yards as quarterback Jim Hansen misfired on all eight of his attempts.

Gordy Abellera, Adriano’s brother, led the Rio Mesa offense with 60 yards in 13 carries.

Despite leading just 3-0 at intermission, Camarillo thoroughly controlled the first half, limiting Rio Mesa to 31 yards.

Rio Mesa quarterback Andy Contreras, who threw for 191 yards last week against Channel Islands, completed one of three passes for seven yards in the first half against Camarillo and was sacked twice.

The Spartans, who managed just one first down in the first half, hurt themselves by losing two first-period fumbles near midfield--one by running back Dane Pastorius and one on a bad pitch by Contreras.

Camarillo was only slightly more offense-minded, gaining 70 yards, all on the ground. Junior tailback Campbell led the way with 52 yards in 15 carries.

Scorpion quarterback Hansen, a sophomore, misfired on all three of his first-half passes.

The only score of the first half came after Camarillo drove from its own 40 to the Rio Mesa six in seven plays. Hansen’s third-down pass into the end zone fell incomplete, and Lee Ciuffitelli booted a 23-yard field goal with 3:11 remaining in the first period.

Ciuffitelli had two other field-goal opportunities in the first half but missed them both. His 44-yard attempt in the second period was wide to the left, and his 49-yard effort with two seconds left in the half fell inches short of the crossbar.