Oceanside Falls Short to Torrey Pines

Maybe neither team believed it could move on the other by playing it straight up. So this one was a flea-flicker festival. And, for a while, neither team could stop the other.

But with eight starters playing both offense and defense, Oceanside eventually ran out of gas in top-seeded Torrey Pines’ 32-18 victory in Friday’s San Diego Section 2-A quarterfinal playoff game at Torrey Pines.

The Falcons (10-2) led 18-0. The Pirates (6-6) tied it, 18-18.

Finally, the game of fancy plays that--like the Eveready Energizer rabbit--kept going and going and going, ended with a fumble and a whimper by Oceanside.

Quarterback John Portugal, with 1:22 left and his team driving for touchdown that would only make it close, fumbled, and Simon Terry-Lloyd recovered. Thus ended a near three-hour game that opened with a 65-yard touchdown run.

“We had too many guys going both ways and they just wore us down,” Pirate Coach John Carroll said. “Our effort was excellent. We could have tanked it.”

Indeed. Touchdown runs of one and 65 yards by Joel Brown (17 carries, 141 yards) and another six-yard run by Kevin Winters gave the Falcons an 18-0 lead in the first quarter.

But Kenny Chandler caught a 76-yard touchdown pass from Portugal (18 of 38, 250 yards passing) to make it 18-7 51 seconds later. Then, George Hernandez hit a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter to make it 18-10 at halftime. Hernandez was also short on a 44-yarder.

Torrey Pines’ wing-T offense sputtered in the third quarter, and Portugal marched the Pirates 73 yards and hit Chandler with a 31-yard scoring pass and found him again for a two-point conversion to tie it, 18-18.

But in the fourth quarter, Torrey Pines regained control and scored on 69- and 80-yard drives, each capped by one-yard runs by Winters and Josh Stern.

“After the embarrassing beginning, we thought we had established control,” Carroll said. “We just couldn’t sustain it.”

Said Falcon Coach Ed Burke, “They’re so physical. They’re so strong. They’re a tough, tough ballclub.”

From the outset, it didn’t appear to be Oceanside’s night. The Pirates won the coin toss and deferred, choosing to kickoff rather than receive.

Oceanside then booted it out of bounds, giving the Falcons the ball at their 35. On the first play, running back Brown went 65 yards for a touchdown.

Brown swept right then cut up field on a misdirection handoff from Ryan Lynch, got a big block on the free safety by tackle Chris Jahries and headed straight for the goal posts.

From there, it worsened for the Pirates, who ran four plays and punted on their first series.