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Brother Act Is a Fabulous Hit

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

In a sticky situation, look to family.

Standing ankle-deep in a muddy morass, Chris Czernek found his younger brother Nick with an 11-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, lifting Newbury Park to a 7-0 victory over Ventura on Friday night in a first-round Southern Section Division III playoff game.

“When I saw my brother open, of all people, my eyes lit up,” Chris Czernek said. “I nearly underthrew him but he made a good catch.”

Nick Czernek came into the game a distant fourth on the team with 22 receptions, but he had a team-high seven catches for 124 yards against Ventura. Patrick Reddick, the Panthers’ top receiver, was hobbled by a knee injury and had only two catches.

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Despite the field conditions, Chris Czernek threw 50 passes, completing 20 for 301 yards. He threw mostly out of shotgun formation and was never sacked. He threw 23 passes in the third quarter.

“Our center, Justin Nagy, did a great job,” Coach George Hurley said. “We’ve only given up nine sacks all year and our line was fantastic in this slop.”

Ventura (9-2), the Channel League champion, found itself in a quagmire. Jeramie Jackson, who entered the game with 1,429 yards rushing, had only 45 yards in 13 carries.

With their running game slogging in the mud, the Cougars were forced to pass. Mike Anderson, who had completed only 49 passes, finished nine of 24 for 108 yards.

The Panthers (9-2), the Division III at-large team after losing a three-way coin flip, stuck to the game plan that got them here. Czernek has passed for an area-high 3,581 yards this season.

One particular pass was ill-fated, however. After marching 50 yards to the Ventura five-yard line late in the third quarter, Newbury Park passed up a chip-shot field goal and Czernek’s fourth-down pass was intercepted by Moises Ramirez at the goal line and returned to midfield.

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Linebacker Garrett Hobba recovered a Ventura fumble two plays later, though, and Newbury Park embarked on its scoring drive. Czernek found Czernek with 10 minutes 45 seconds to play.

Ventura dominated the second quarter, rolling off a 63-yard drive to the Panther seven, but Chris Soury blocked Jeff Collins’ 23-yard field-goal attempt.

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