Rio Mesa Torched by Oxnard, 50-41

Haltime festivities included fireworks Friday night at Oxnard High.

So did the game.

In a Channel League game that featured more than 1,000 yards of total offense, Oxnard came from behind to defeat Rio Mesa, 50-41.

Junior tailback Desmond Davis of Oxnard, Ventura County’s leading rusher, ran for 276 yards and three touchdowns in 27 carries, including a 60-yard scoring run in the second quarter.

Fullback Chad Pierson added 178 yards in 17 carries, including a 58-yard touchdown run that gave the Yellowjackets (6-0-2, 4-0-1 in league) a 36-35 lead midway through the third quarter.

“We knew coming in we were in for a shootout with them,” Davis said. “They have a good offense but so do we.”

Rio Mesa (6-2, 3-2) rolled up 578 yards, mostly on the ground.

Senior running back Carl Richardson rushed for 156 yards in 15 carries, including scoring runs fo 24 and 15 yards.

Running back Nate Haros added 109 yards in eight carries, including an 18-yard scoring run, and fullback Jay Flores ran for 93 yards in 20 carries, including a four-yard touchdown run.

Quarterback Farhaad Azimi passed for 181 yards, completing 12 of 19.

Azimi had a 40-yard touchdown pass to Richardson to open the Spartans’ scoring early in the second quarter after Oxnard had taken a 14-0 lead.

Azimi connected with Scott Fujita for a 24-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

Richardson’s three touchdowns raised his season total to 22, most in Ventura County.

“We knew we had two good teams going in,” Richardson said. “Desmond Davis, he’s good.”

Oxnard, virtually assured of its first playoff berth since 1986, had 481 yards of total offense. Quarterback Bryan Spencer threw for 22 yards and rushed for 18.

“Everybody had a great game tonight,” Oxnard Coach Wesley Morimune said. “It was a great football game. Fortunately we came out on top. We just wanted to make sure that if they scored, we could come back and we could score on them.”

A five-yard touchdown run by back-up quarterback Joseph Rivas and a four-yard scoring pass pass from Spencer to Ross Randolph gave Oxnard a 14-0 lead after one quarter.

Richardson pulled Rio Mesa even with scoring runs of 24 and 15 yards to highlight a 29-point second quarter for Rio Mesa.

Davis’ 60-yard run for a touchdown gave Oxnard a 21-14 lead. But Richardson’s 40-yard touchdown pass from Azimi, coupled with Azimi’s two-point conversion run, gave Rio Mesa a 22-21 lead.

Haros ran 18 yards for a touchdown to give Rio Mesa a 29-21 lead.

With under a minute to play in the half, Davis ran five yards for a score and then ran for a two-point conversion to make the score 29-29.