Westlake Gets Zeroed In on Marmonte League Title

Jim Benkert denied it. Zac Wasserman did too.

Michael Brignac sidestepped the question the same way he juked Thousand Oaks defensive backs over and over on Friday.

Although Westlake High decimated another Marmonte League opponent, this time a 49-0 victory over Thousand Oaks, none of the Warriors acknowledged the league title was all but theirs.

So Coach Mike Kelly of Thousand Oaks did it for them.

“It’s a bunch of us playing for second place in the league,” said Kelly. Who could argue?

For the third consecutive week, Westlake (6-1, 3-0 in league play) soundly defeated a league team, running at will, passing at will, scoring at will.

The Warriors didn’t fool around in the first half, scoring all six of their touchdowns on drives of under two minutes, including their opening drive, which lasted 1:53 and ended on a one-yard run by Julian Lambert.

One of their scoring drives took six seconds. Another took 17 seconds. Another lasted 18 seconds. A fourth went a comparatively pedestrian 48 seconds.

Then there was the marathon of all drives. It went 1:27.

The bottom line, if Westlake had the ball, it wasn’t for long.

“We want to get a team down fast,” said Brignac, who had seven catches for 84 yards and three touchdowns. “Once we do that, they tend to back off. They tend to get scared.”

As for the league title, it’s all Westlake, no?

“I don’t think so,” Benkert said. “We’ve got to play Moorpark [next Friday]. They’re going to say they’re making a title run.”

Thousand Oaks (4-3, 2-1) had been doing some winning of its own lately, scoring 153 points in its last four games, all victories.

But lack of depth up front hurt the Lancers, who were missing three starting offensive linemen because of injuries. It showed.

Quarterbacks Santo Riccobono and Ben Olson, who have rotated throughout the season, had little or no time to throw, completing a combined five of 22 passes for 57 yards.

They were sacked four times.

The Lancers tied Westlake last year, 31-31, but the only thing they tied this year were their cleats.

“[Westlake will] be playing with one of the Northern schools for the finals [in Southern Section Division IV],” Kelly said. “That’s my guess.”

Wide receiver Kahil Fennell of Thousand Oaks was taken to a hospital by ambulance after suffering a concussion in the second quarter.

It was the second significant concussion this season for Fennell, who was coherent. Kelly said Fennell will likely sit out the rest of the season.