HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: WEEK 7 : Newbury Park Comes Down to Earth but Beats Westlake, 18-7

The air all but out of Newbury Park High’s vaunted passing game, Brock Diediker took matters into his hands in a Marmonte League game against Westlake on Friday night.

Diediker, a running back-linebacker whose primary jobs are to block and tackle, ran 55 yards for a clinching touchdown with six minutes to play in Newbury Park’s 18-7 victory.

The touchdown, Diediker’s second of the game, enabled Newbury Park (7-0, 4-0 in league play) to all but eliminate Westlake (3-3-1, 2-2) from the title race.

“ That was fun,” he said of the long run. “It was open all the way and the guys blocked great.”

Westlake battled back from a 12-0 halftime deficit behind the passing of reserve quarterback Casey Preston, who replaced ineffective senior Steve Aylsworth at halftime.

Preston completed 10 of 24 passes for 113 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown to Jason Victor in the third quarter to pull Westlake to within five points.

Newbury Park scored twice in the first half but was forced to attempt two-point conversions--failing on all three--because kicker Chrissy Sanford re-injured her kicking toe in warmups.

Chris Czernek, the state’s leading passer, was mostly unsuccessful in the second half. After passing for 178 yards in the first half, he added only 53 for a total of 231--solid for most quarterbacks but his worst outing of the season.

“I played horribly,” Czernek said. “I was not pleased.”

Czernek had 22 touchdown passes, including four in five different games, but he had none against Westlake and completed 17 of 38.

“Westlake had good athletes in coverage and they stopped us,” Newbury Park Coach George Hurley said. “Those were the best athletes we’ve played against. Tonight we did it with defense and our running game.”

Victor and Jamal Harris normally play only offense for Westlake but both had interceptions. The double duty took a toll on Victor, who sat out much of the second half with leg cramps.

Several Newbury Park players had offensive and defensive duty the whole way, including Diediker and his twin, Brant, both linebackers.

“Eddie Patterson, Nick Zentil, Brian Nelson, Garrett Hobba--we had a bunch of guys play great defense,” said Doug Dagan, Newbury Park’s defensive coordinator.

Newbury Park opened the scoring with a 65-yard drive capped by Diediker’s one-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. Key plays were consecutive receptions by Patterson for 21 and 19 yards.

On Westlake’s ensuing possession, defensive back Corey Bryant stripped the ball from fullback Jonathan Weems and dashed 58 yards for a touchdown to give Newbury Park a 12-0 lead. Bryant later had an interception.