THOUSAND OAKS — When a team of 21 from a small school travels to play one of the best prep teams in the nation, it’s hard to measure success by the score, even if it’s 65-6.
Bishop Diego’s Andrew Torrellas stood in front of the scoreboard at Oaks Christian with a couple of teammates after Friday night’s game, smiling and pointing at the “6” lit up on the visitors side as their picture was taken.
Torrellas caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Holland in the fourth quarter that got the Cardinals on the board in the loss to the juggernaut Lions.
“It felt great to catch that pass. Kyle threw a good ball to me,” said Torrellas. “We felt like we played a pretty good game overall.”
Coach Tom Crawford agreed.
“Obviously in a game like this you measure your performance by effort, and you measure it by how your guys react when things go wrong. I though our guys succeeded in that sense tonight,” he said.
The Lions, who are expected to be voted out of the Tri-Valley League once and for all at a CIF meeting Thursday, racked up 328 yards and 51 points by halftime. Starting quarterback Nick Montana, headed for the University of Washington next year, said he wished that his team was involved in a more even matchup.
“It’s great for us to be able to get our reserves in, because we’re going to need them later on in the season,” he said. “But yeah, I’d definitely rather be playing a team we match up with better. I didn’t even get to play in the second quarter.”
In the first quarter, however, Montana rifled the ball around the field with the accuracy and strength that has no doubt been passed down from his Hall-of-Fame dad. When he was taken out, another Hall-of-Famer’s son — Trevor Gretzky — took over and handled the offense.
Malcolm Jones, UCLA’s prized recruit from the class of 2010, rushed for three touchdowns and caught another before three minutes had passed in the second quarter. When Oaks Christian’s Logan Quiroz intercepted a pass and returned it for a score to make it 42-0 with 9:12 left in the half, a 5-minute fireworks show went off.
Throughout the circus-like first half and the poundings taken from the bigger Lions, however, there was an energy on the Bishop sideline that never faded. When a Cardinal took a hard hit, a coach would immediately yell “pick him up!”…. and they did. An Oaks Christian play might have gone for 20 yards, but a good tackle at the end of it would trigger fist-pumps.
Oaks Christian coach Bill Redell, who said “I think we belong in a different league,” was full of praise for the Cardinals and their coaching staff.
“Coach Crawford has done such an excellent job for the past nine years. They just don’t have the personnel right now. They’re young and they have good players. I think they’ll be a very good team in the future,” he said.
He added that coach John Hazelton’s presence on the Bishop sideline as an assistant for the Cardinals was another great addition to the staff.
Torrellas’ touchdown certainly wasn’t the only Bishop play worth noting.
Garrett Garcia sacked Gretzky for a loss of 10 yards early in the second quarter. A few plays later, Vince Figueroa tipped a Gretzky rocket out of the air and nearly intercepted it.
Paul Garcia, just a sophomore, ran the ball hard all night and gained 37 yards. He juked a few Lions and had a 32-yard return of a kickoff in the second quarter. He then had a 20-yard run up the middle in the third quarter but fumbled it away at the end of the play. Joe Salda got the ball right back by stripping the ball and recovering it on the very next play.
Alex Ramirez wrestled the ball out of the hands of Oaks running back Ronny Camacho at the end of the third, which began Bishop’s 8-play, 60-yard scoring drive. Junior Bruce Garcia had a 14-yard run in the red zone to set up the touchdown.
It was 65-6, but the Cardinals walked off the field with their heads up.
The Lions (6-0) play at Carpinteria next week, while the Cardinals (0-6) host Nordhoff.
OAKS CHRISTIAN 65, BISHOP DIEGO 6
Bishop Diego…0 0 0 6 — 6
Oaks Christian…28 23 14 0 — 65
FIRST QUARTER
OC — Jones 1 run (Davis kick), 9:22
OC — Jones 11 run (Davis kick), 7:38
OC — Payton 28 pass from Montana (Davis kick), 4:47
OC — Jones 28 pass from Montana (Davis kick), 2:05
SECOND QUARTER
OC — Jones 2 run (Davis kick), 9:36
OC — Quiroz 32 INT return (Davis kick), 9:12
OC — Safety, 8:02
OC — Mendoza 2 run (Calix kick), 4:01
THIRD QUARTER
OC — Bucciere 30 INT return (Calix kick), 11:36
OC — Mendoza 18 run (Calix kick), 4:13
FOURTH QUARTER
BD — Torrellas 4 pass from Holland (PAT failed), 8:45
