Ventura Makes Pass at Balance

Tyler Ebell gets the headlines, the big photos in the newspapers, the smiles from the girls as he walks through the halls at school.

The well-deserving poster boy for the Ventura High football team is as popular as he is talented while he closes in on the state single-season record for yards rushing.

But Thursday night, a few new stars blew into the Ventura playbook, an appearance as unexpected as the blustery wind that plagued the Cougars’ nonleague game against Hueneme.

Quarterback Andrew Lovier nearly doubled his season total with three touchdown passes and Ventura defeated Hueneme, 49-22, in a regular-season finale at Hueneme.

Ebell definitely had his yards, 235 in 25 carries to be exact, and he scored four touchdowns, but the Ventura passing game stole the show.

Lovier seemingly defied the elements by connecting with three receivers for touchdown passes of 33, 30 and 50 yards.

Lovier completed six of seven passes for 166 yards, prompting a smile from Ebell as he talked about the Cougars’ two-pronged attack.

“We had to come out and prove we can throw, too,” said Ebell, who has 3,337 yards, 249 behind the state single-season record held by Jermaine Marshall, former Kilpatrick running back. “We’re not just a running team.”

They’re not just an offensive team, either.

Ventura limited speedy Hueneme (7-3) to 171 yards, almost half coming in the fourth quarter.

Bryan Easterly led Ventura (9-1) with three sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a tackle for a loss on a running play.

“One of the papers said we were going to allow 64 points or something like that,” Easterly said. “We wanted to show them what defense is all about.”

Hueneme played decent run defense in the first half, limiting Ebell to 82 yards in 15 carries, but the Vikings had all sorts of problems in other areas, including two interceptions, a fumble and two wind-affected punts of minus-10 and six yards.

Not surprisingly, Ventura led at halftime, 28-0.

“Wherever we were, we weren’t here tonight,” Hueneme Coach Larry Miller said.

The news didn’t get any better after the game for Hueneme.

Because Oxnard and Camarillo won their Pacific View League games, Hueneme fell into a three-way tie for first.

Oxnard (4-6) will be the league’s top-seeded team, as decided by a principal’s meeting earlier Thursday.

Hueneme will be seeded second and Camarillo (5-5) is seeded third.

Miller had no comment on the situation. Hueneme lost to Oxnard, 26-12, last month.

The post-season news is better for Ventura, whose only blemish was a 28-21 loss to Buena in a Channel League opener.

“We’re just proving we’re an all-around team,” Ebell said.

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Ebell Watch

Tyler Ebell of Ventura is the eighth player in state history to rush for 3,000 yards in a season. The state record is 3,586 yards by Jermaine Marshall of Kilpatrick. A look at Ebell’s season:

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Opponent Att. Yds. Avg. TD Simi Valley 12 330 27.5 4 Moorpark 26 375 14.4 5 Royal 21 308 14.8 4 Arroyo Grande 44 393 8.9 6 Oxnard 32 379 11.8 5 Buena 34 240 7.1 3 San Marcos 19 361 19.0 6 Dos Pueblos 22 351 16.0 6 Santa Barbara 24 365 15.2 4 Hueneme 25 235 9.4 4 Totals 259 3,337 13.3 47

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