It’s Not So Easy Being Colorblind in Rivalry Week

Verne Merrill will dig deep into his closet, past all the stuff he never wears anymore, the pants with tight waistlines and shirts with wide lapels.

There it will be. Black and Gold, and Green and White.

A schizophrenic letterman’s jacket, half Newbury Park, half Thousand Oaks, sewn together by a seamstress.

Merrill, 40, will slip it on Friday night and head for Thousand Oaks High and the annual cross-town Marmonte League rivalry between Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks.

Merrill was the first player to earn letters at both schools, so he wears the jacket as an indication of his mixed allegiances.

“I wear it for the looks I get and it reminds people to keep the game on a fun level,” Merrill said.

The jacket serves as one of several reminders that the schools are part of one community. The teams gathered Saturday for a pancake breakfast to build camaraderie.

Although the game is at Thousand Oaks, proceeds from the 50-50 raffle will be donated to Matt Emole, a Newbury Park football and baseball player who was partially paralyzed in an auto accident last summer.

Don’t fault Merrill if at some point his deepest allegiance shows through both sleeves, however. His son, Cameron, is Newbury Park’s quarterback.

“I remember my dad wearing that jacket the whole time I was growing up,” Cameron said. “It’s always been about bringing together the town, but the game is about which is the better side of town for this season. It’s about bragging rights.”

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Verne Merrill transferred from Thousand Oaks to Newbury Park after his junior basketball season so he could play baseball for his father, Jay Merrill, the Panther coach.

This was 1976, long before open enrollment, and Merrill moved so he could transfer legally.

These days, transferring is a simple matter. Ask Marcus Crawford, the Marmonte League’s leading rusher with 1,408 yards.

Crawford played linebacker as a Thousand Oaks sophomore last season while seniors Wes Cobos and Joey Casillas carried the ball and earned All-Ventura County honors.

Although the tailback position at Thousand Oaks was his for the taking, Crawford transferred to Newbury Park through open enrollment.

Crawford’s former teammates aren’t openly disdainful of him, but many do feel betrayed. The Lancer running game hasn’t suffered too much--senior Clint Wilson has rushed for 830 yards--but Thousand Oaks defenders wouldn’t mind stuffing Crawford at the line of scrimmage.

“He’s a good runner,” linebacker Nick Ciufo of Thousand Oaks said. “I think we can shut him down, though.”

With Westlake having run away with the league championship, the game is for second place.

Thousand Oaks (6-3, 4-1 in league play) has lost only to Westlake since opening 0-2.

Newbury Park (5-4, 4-1), Ventura County’s most successful program in the 1990s, has been inconsistent but is coming off a 27-14 victory over Agoura.

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Ciufo, a 6-foot, 190-pound senior and the Lancers’ second-leading tackler, made his first interception and scored his first touchdown to cement Thousand Oaks’ 28-22 victory over Moorpark on Friday night.

He might still be running with the ball.

With about 10 minutes to play, Ciufo read a slant pattern by a Moorpark receiver, batted the pass in the air, pulled it down on the run and raced 38 yards to give Thousand Oaks a 28-14 lead.

As someone accustomed to keeping people out of the end zone, Ciufo was not exactly sure where the goal line was, so to stay on the safe side he ran full speed until he was well beyond the end line.

“I ran to the track area behind the goal posts and realized that was probably far enough,” he said.

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Surf city is gaining a reputation for toughness. The three teams from Ventura are a combined 26-1.

Ventura and St. Bonaventure are 9-0 and Buena is 8-1 with only a loss to Westlake.

Buena has won the last two Channel League championships and Ventura has never been unbeaten this far into the season. Something has to give, and something will on Thursday night when the Bulldogs play the Cougars.

“It’s the game everyone has had in the back of their minds all season,” Coach Rick Scott of Buena said. “As both team kept winning, it just got bigger and bigger.”

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With 1,524 yards rushing, James Bethea is Cleveland’s top threat.

But defenses can’t overlook the big-play ability of Matthew Clark, a versatile junior.

Clark returned a kick 90 yards for a touchdown and scored on a 35-yard reception in the Cavaliers’ 39-17 victory over Birmingham.

Clark starts at wide receiver and cornerback, and plays tailback when Bethea needs a breather.

Defenses don’t breathe easy when he has the ball. Clark has scored 10 touchdowns, is averaging 12 yards a carry and 18 yards per reception.

“I try to make the most out of every time I touch the ball,” he said.

Next season his touches are bound to increase when he replaces Bethea, a senior.

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Vasquez (4-5), a school of 481 in Acton playing in the Division XII High Desert League, scored a state record 58 points in the first quarter of an 86-0 victory over host Frazier Mountain on Friday night.

The previous record of 55 was set by Selma in the fourth quarter of a 129-0 victory over Sanger in 1920.

Frazier Mountain (0-9) finished the game with 15 players.