Newbury Park Struggles Before Edging Simi Valley

Someone once said the mark of a good team is if it can “win ugly.”

In a game that featured 70 passes and 28 penalties, Newbury Park High was forced to come from behind to beat Simi Valley, 19-15, in a Marmonte League opener Friday night to stay unbeaten.

With Newbury Park (4-0) trailing, 9-0, at halftime, Edward Patterson returned the second-half kickoff 80 yards to set up a 12-yard scoring pass from Chris Czernek to Justin Vint.

Four minutes later, linebacker Chris Adams intercepted a tipped pass by Pioneer quarterback Robert Gonzalez and sprinted 35 yards for a touchdown and a 12-9 lead.

Czernek completed 23 of 49 passes for 243 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He spread his passes around, using four receivers--Vint (eight receptions for 69 yards), Dajuan Hawkins (five for 66), Pat Reddick (four for 54) and Patterson (five for 52).

Simi Valley (1-3) took a 3-0 lead in the first period on John Gonzalez’s 35-yard field goal. The Pioneers increased their lead to 9-0 on a 50-yard scoring run by Chris Miller.

Newbury Park put together an eight-play, 76-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter, capped by a nine-yard pass from Czernek to Patterson for a 19-9 lead.

Miller returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown to complete the scoring.