Nordhoff Gets Santa Paula on Run
There wasn’t much mystery about how the Nordhoff High football team dismantled Santa Paula on Friday night.
Most of the time it was Nick Kaiser pounding the ball straight up the middle. Or Ian Campbell running to the outside.
It was that simple.
The result was a dominant rushing attack that overpowered Santa Paula for a 35-12 victory in a Frontier League game at Santa Paula High.
“They did everything we expected them to do,” Coach Eddie Gomez of Santa Paula said. “We know what they run. We just got beat off the line.”
The Rangers (6-2, 3-0 in league play), who took a big step toward their third consecutive league title, ran the ball on 62 of 68 plays and finished with 421 yards rushing.
Kaiser received most of the carries, finishing with 258 yards and four touchdowns in 36 carries.
For good measure, Campbell added 142 yards and a touchdown in 20 carries.
It was exactly what the Rangers planned to do from the start.
“We just wanted to power it down their throat,” said Kaiser, who has rushed for 1,109 yards and 12 touchdowns this season. “The offensive line did a great job. I have to hand it to them.”
Santa Paula (6-1-1, 2-1), which entered the game with hopes of capturing its first Frontier League title since 1990, fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and finished the first half with only 34 yards.
The Cardinals trailed, 28-0, midway through the third quarter before their offense finally started to solve Nordhoff.
They finished with 253 yards, including 136 rushing.
Xavier Ramirez had 122 yards and a touchdown in 14 carries, 102 in the second half.
The same could not be said for Santa Paula’s passing game, which struggled from the start. Matt Martinez completed seven of 23 passes for 117 yards with four interceptions.
Three of the interceptions were by Benny Borchard and the other by Trevor Weedon.
Coach Cliff Farrar of Nordhoff said he couldn’t have scripted a better performance by his team.
The Rangers, who reached the Division XI final last season and are ranked No. 4 in the division, are right where they want to be.
“We’ve been the yardstick in this league,” Farrar said. “We won six [league titles] in the 90s and we’re the team you have to beat.”
No argument from Santa Paula.