Westbrook, El Camino Blow Whistle on Kearny

Three-time defending champion El Camino was far from its dominating self Saturday night in a 24-14 San Diego Section 2-A quarterfinal victory over Kearny at Mesa College. Fortunately for the Wildcats (11-1), they had Bryant Westbrook and maybe more importantly, the referees on their side.

Westbrook scored two touchdowns, one running and one receiving, and ran for a conversion. But even Westbrook acknowledged his team got a big assist from the officials in reaching the Friday night’s semifinals against Avocado League rival Carlsbad.

“That was kind of lucky,” Westbrook said.

Kearny Coach Willie Matson was a little more adamant in referring to a second-quarter fumble by El Camino running back Seth Morrison that was whistled down by a side judge.

“That’s a good football team,” Matson said of El Camino. “I thought we lost on an inadvertent whistle. The official came over and said he’s sorry, they blew the call.”

Morrison’s fumble was recovered by Kearny’s A.J. Thomas on the Comet 25-yard line. Morrison appeared to be spinning away from a tackler when the ball popped out and the whistle blew.

Three plays later, Trey Crayton found tight end Prescott Unutoa wide open across the middle on well-executed play fake. Unutoa scored from 22 yards on a third and seven. Westbrook ran for the conversion to give the Wildcats a 22-14 lead.

“That’s an eight-point swing,” Matson said. “I felt so bad for our kids. To play so hard and have the officials decide the game. We’re every bit as good as they are.”

As a team maybe, but they weren’t quite as good as Westbrook, who simply wouldn’t let his team lose.

Westbrook, who said he will take recruiting trips to Colorado, Michigan, Texas, San Diego State and either Washington or Washington State, scored El Camino’s first touchdown by outjumping Kearny’s James Curtis and Scott Anderson in the end zone on a pass that wasn’t even intended for him.

On a fourth and 15 from his own 29, Crayton dropped back and threw a floater into the end zone. Somehow, Westbrook took the ball away from Curtis and Anderson. El Camino missed the conversion and trailed 7-6.

Westbrook scored again on the last play of the quarter on a third and one from the El Camino 41. He took a pitch from Crayton and broke away from a Kearny defender who had ahold of his leg, jersey and finally his face mask. Once in the clear, no one could catch Westbrook, who ran 11 times for 115 yards, caught two passes for 25 yards and returned two punts for 30 yards.

“Great kids have to make great plays,” El Camino Coach Herb Meyer said. “When the chips are down, he does. It’s nice to have a guy like that.”

Kearny’s guy, Curtis, ran for 84 yards on 19 carries but never crossed the goal line.

The Comets (10-2) scored first, two minutes into the game, on a 68-yard run by Anderson on a trap play. They tied the score at 14 on a Sam Norris two-yard quarterback keeper that culminated a 12-play, 74-yard drive with 4:45 left in the half.

At halftime, Kearny had outgained El Camino, 193-170.

“We have played better,” Meyer said. “They’re a good football team.”

Kearny crossed midfield once in the second half, but failed to convert a fourth and eight at the El Camino with eight minutes left. The Wildcats closed out the scoring with 1:09 left when Unutoa tackled Norris in the end zone for a safety.