Westlake Reloaded, 34-13

Anyone up for a repeat?

With stunning swiftness, Westlake High, defending Division IV champion in the Southern Section, throttled Buena, 34-13, in a nonleague opener Friday at Ventura High.

Despite losing 10 starters on offense from last year, Westlake played like nobody graduated, as if no one had moved on.

Buena, the No. 2-ranked team behind Westlake in the Division IV preseasonpoll, looked more like the rebuilt team.

Making the victory more surprising was that two of Westlake’s best players did not start the game.

Quarterback Corey Miles sat out the first series for breaking unspecified team rulesand defensive back-receiver Dan Catalano did not play for unspecified reasons. Westlake officials declined to elaborate on either situation.

It was not immediately known when Catalano, a valuable two-way player, would return.

Ryan Foltz, however, was present. Very much so.

Foltz scored on a four-yard catch, a 13-yard catch and a 53-yard punt return. He also intercepted a pass.

Not bad for a guy who played very little at receiver last year, acting primarily as No. 3 wideout behind Chris Catalano and Michael Brignac.

“I’ve had a lot of guys in front of me for a long time,” said Foltz, who had four catches for 46 yards. “It’s kind of an honor to play wide receiver at Westlake with all the tradition here.”

Quarterback Todd Friereisen, who transferred from Thousand Oaks last spring, started in place of Miles and connected with Foltz on a short corner pattern for a 6-0 lead.

Miles threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to John White.

The rout was on when Casey O’Brien scored on a 38-yard run for a 20-point lead with 8:14 left in the second quarter.

Westlake led at halftime, 34-0.

Buena was supposed to be a better team than it displayed against Westlake, but the Bulldogs had only 21 yards after one quarter.

Freddy Keiaho, one of the top running backs in the region, ran for 108 yards in 18 carries for Buena, but had only 31 yards at halftime.

“I did a poor job of preparing my team,” Coach Rick Scott of Buena said. “We just weren’t ready to play on offense, defense or special teams. They kicked our [behind] in every phase of the game.”

Westlake’s defense was relentless, forcing Paul Johnsonbaugh of Buena into seven of 18 passing for 69 yards with one interception.

“Nobody gave a lot of credit to our defense,” said Foltz, who also plays cornerback. “We ran to the football.”

Miles, replacing graduated Zac Wasserman, completed 11 of 18 passes for 147 yards and a score.

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TRICKERY HELPS

SYLMAR SEAL IT

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FRIDAY NIGHT

FIELD REPORT

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FORD RUNS WILD

FOR LITTLEROCK

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ST. FRANCIS HAS

A DYNAMIC DUO

Brett Mitchell and John Sciarra had Golden Knights’ offense rolling against Arcadia. Page 11

THOUSAND OAKS

FALLS IN OPENER

Jason Hogan scored three touchdowns in Crescenta Valley’s 24-20 victory. Page 11