CIF Football: Lancers Cruise By Sailors In First Round, 41-17
- Details
- By J.J. Fiddler
- | Saturday, 21 November 2009 02:05
Photo by Jim Cayer
Despite yet another slow start for Lakewood, the Moore League Champions cruised in the second half and took out Newport Harbor, 41-17, in the first round of the CIF Pac-5 Playoffs. The Lancers spotted the Sailors 10 points after just five plays, but 221 yards on the ground and more stingy defense from the Red Swarm was the difference as Lakewood advances to the quarterfinals where they will face Bishop Amat, the #1 seed from the Serra League.
At-large bid Newport Harbor got the spark they needed on the opening kickoff when sophomore Buzzy Yokoyama went 94 yards untouched for the touchdown. The Sailor defense maintained the early momentum and got another big play on the Lancers’ first play from scrimmage. Austin Turner put his hat on the ball when Jesse Scroggins found Ron Lewis on a swing pass, and linebacker Ryan Iverson recovered the fumble at the Lakewood 22-yard line. The Lakewood defense held for a three-and-out to force a 35-yard field goal by Dillan Freiberg, and in a blink of an eye (1:55 to be exact) it was 10-0 Newport Harbor.
The veteran Lancers didn’t panic and stuck with the game plan: pound that rock. All three Lakewood running backs (Alley Long, Rashad Wadood, Terrance Woods) touched the ball on the ensuing 11 play, 80 yard touchdown drive that included only two pass plays and was punctuated by a two-yard plunge from Woods.
“I thought we executed very well on offense,” said coach Thadd MacNeal of his unit that racked up 455 total yards. “Our trio of backs is like… Alley is our Steady Eddie, Wadood is our slasher, and T-Woods is our sneaker with the way he gets lost in there… all three are very good, but we knew we needed to get Woods the ball, so we did.”
Woods carried the ball 15 times and scored twice while gaining 107 yards as he lined up at running back and the slot position. Any time he got the ball coming in motion, the corner was almost inevitably his.
With the score still 10-7 at the beginning of the second quarter the Lakewood special teams made amends for the opening kickoff when the Sailors made the mistake of kicking to Darius Powe. The sophomore sensation made one cut at midfield and went 70-yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Lancer defense came back out to force one of five Sailor three-and-outs on the night, and that was Scroggins’ cue to go to work. The future Trojan carried ball for five yards on the first play, and then threw three straight completions of 11, 17 and 44 yards to three different receivers. The last pass to Kevin Anderson put the Lancers on the two-yard line. Scroggins took the next snap and fell into the end zone to make it 21-10. He finished the night 15-for-19 for 234 yards and a touchdown (nine carries, 27 yards, TD). Anderson led all receivers with six catches for 119 yards.
After a Sailor touchdown on a tipped pass, it was 21-17 Lancers at the half, but in the second half the Pac-5’s top defense flexed their muscle. Justin Utupo led the way as the Red Swarm knocked starting quarterback Austin Rios out of the game, and didn’t allow any points in the second half—holding Newport to 38 yards in the final 24 minutes.
Newport was without their regular starting running back
Cedric Whitaker, who sat out with a knee bruise. The Lancers did an amazing job of shifting the coverage to
the strong side where the other Newport offensive star Cecil Whiteside was
lining up. The 6’3” senior only
touched the ball twice—both catches in the first half for 36 yards. The Sailors
had only one completion after the one tipped touchdown pass from Rios to Kellen
Truxton.
Offense: A-
Defense: A-
Special Teams: B+
Coaching: A
Newport's TDs came on special teams and a blown pass deflection. The Lancers blew their assignments on the first play of the game. Thankfully they made amends by taking one to the house.
Walking E gave the Special Teams a C+, but I weighed this score more on the fact that the punt return was a big game-changer. If Newport can return punts, so can Lakewood.
Defensively, the guys will be rueing the fact that they gave up that second touchdown. For the visitors, it might as well felt like the 25th of December instead of the 20th of November. The adjustments of stopping the run and shutting down Whiteside and Norton worked like a gem in the 2nd half.
And offensively, a few howlers of missed plays but generally Scroggins and Co. got the job done.
Bring on Bishop Amat.
Offensively the Bishop Amat Lancers are led by tailback Anderson. A rock-toting man of reliability, Anderson has rushed for 1,010 yards and 19 touchdowns this season. As a receiver, he has also caiught 25 passes for 291 yards and a score. In Japan, four is the number of death, and if the Lakewood defense cannot stop Jay from going all the way, Anderson will make the Lancers pay early and often. He's fast, he's shifty, and Keanu Kalolo's gonna have to get help from the Red Swarm to bottle him up.
Quarterback Jerry McClanahan has passed for 1,488 yards and seven touchdowns to lead these Lancers. Aside from Anderson, his favorite targets are #1 Darien Johnson and #9 Rio Ruiz. Johnson has caught 27 passes for 353 yards and two scores, while Ruiz has hauled in another 27 for 349 yards and two scores. If #1 and #9 aren't open, no problem for Jerry Mac: he's got #8 Josh Tierney and #36 Zachary Shay as alternatives. Tierney has caught 6 catches for 109 yards while Shay hauled in 11 passes for 149 yards this season. Dion Bailey and Brennan Kelly are going to have a huge test in stopping Johnson and Ruiz from connecting on the pass. Botched deflections must be avoided.
Defensively, Bishop Amat has a solid group of pass rushers: #39 Julian Gener, #47 David Lyons, #65 Daniel Kane and #60 Jovanny Marquez. Gener, Lyons and Kane each tallied 4.0 sacks this year while Marquez chalked up 3.0 sacks.
Not only is Johnson a solid receiver, he can also defend in the secondary. He has 42 tackles this year, and also took one interception 79 yards for a score. However, look for #40 Davis Cazares to rack up the stat sheet. He leads the Lancers with 66 tackles this season.
On special teams, #35 Marc-Anthony Carillo is a clutch punter. He has punted 25 times for 851 yards, his longest being a 50-yarder, and has sent 14 of his punts inside the 20. #29 Alex Ragsdale has made five field goals this season to go with 20 conversions.