Oaks Christian Delivers in Rout

After a year of waiting, weeks of buildup and even the threat of postponement by the Day wildfire, Westlake Village Oaks Christian and Ventura St. Bonaventure finally got down to one of the most eagerly awaited high school football games in Southland history.

Mega-hype, mega-blowout.

Oaks Christian (3-0), ranked fifth in the Southland by The Times, scored on its first three possessions, and six of its first seven in the first half, in a 59-13 victory over No. 1-ranked St. Bonaventure (3-1).

Marc Tyler and Jimmy Clausen delivered the way blue-chip prospects are supposed to deliver. USC-bound Tyler rushed 18 times for 274 and five touchdowns. Notre Dame-bound Clausen completed 16 of 26 passes for 227 yards -- 180 in the first half -- and two touchdowns.

USC-bound Marshall Jones, Oregon-bound Anthony Gildon and Brett Vollert intercepted passes thrown by St. Bonaventure sophomore Tony Macarena.

Oaks Christian’s time of possession in the first half was only 8 minutes 14 seconds, but it led 38-7. Its most time-consuming scoring drive was 2:10, and two drives were clocked at 41 and 13 seconds.

The first of those short drives was Oaks Christian’s first of the game, ending in Clausen’s 15-yard pass to Sean Wiser, who caught five passes for 79 yards. The latter was Tyler’s 74-yard run for a 31-7 lead with 3:31 left in the half, enough time for the defense to get the ball back and the Lions’ offense to score again, driving 62 yards in 1:32 for a 38-7 halftime lead.

“Hopefully, now we can get some respect,” said Tyler, who scored on runs of 13, 74, five and 25 yards and one yard. “Jimmy started it off with the passes, the lines opened some holes and I hit them.”

Over and over.

Clausen used short passes early and was never pressured, and Tyler was unstoppable as the Lions got their skill players the ball in the open field as easily as they had against lesser opponents.

With nine seniors probable Division I-A college prospects, Oaks Christian had gained national prominence without having played a team close to its equal. It went into its game Friday ranked ahead of St. Bonaventure nationally, No. 12 to No. 13 by Student Sports Magazine, No. 12 to No. 17 nationally by USA Today.

But even Oaks Christian Coach Bill Redell didn’t know how his team would react in its first, and biggest, test.

“The question, is when we get hit in the mouth, how will we respond,” Redell said this week. “They will hit us in the mouth. We’ve never played a team that is this physical.”

The Lions handled it just fine.

Mike Lee rushed 26 times for 164 yards and a touchdown for St. Bonaventure, which trailed by as much as 45-7.