Andres Valenzuela (7) of San Marcos brings down a Nordhoff runner for no gain. (Vince Agapito Photos)
Trevor Gibson of San Marcos dives in an attempt to break up a pass.
San Marcos wide receiver and kick returner Randee Harvey scored both of the Royals touchdowns on Friday night, but was outdone by a 475-yard offensive explosion from Nordhoff, resulting in a 70-14 home loss to the Rangers.Harvey was the catalyst that put the Royals on the board with an 82-yard touchdown catch, courtesy of quarterback Joe Rivera midway through the first quarter. He also broke a 94-yard kickoff return early in the second, but was sidelined with a shin injury toward the end of the half.
Head coach Jeff Hesselmeyer was hopeful he will return next week against Santa Barbara High in the teams’ Channel League opener.
“We’ve got a long ways to go,” he said. “Hopefully we will rebound and play a reasonable game against Santa Barbara.”
Rivera finished the night with 103 yards, a touchdown and a pick on 4-of-10 passing. Running back Mo Cruz tallied 39 yards on 13 carries.
Aside from a stagnant offense, loose coverage and a porous run defense opened up the field for Nordhoff.
The Rangers quarterback Jake Logsdon spoiled San Marcos’ homecoming game with two touchdowns through the air and one by foot en route to the one-sided win.
The Rangers boasted two backs who eclipsed the century mark. Running back Isaac Seymore scored three touchdowns on his 112-yard effort on 16 carries and Robert Perron notched two of his own. Perron tallied 127 yards on 14 carries.
Logsdon had 214 yards by the end of the first half on 14 of 21 throws and added two more completions and 79 yards in the second. The main beneficiaries were receivers Micah Thornton and Eric Lara. Thorton tallied 93 yards and a touchdown on five catches while Lara came up with 42 yards and a touchdown on two catches. The Rangers had 20 first half first downs compared to the Royals two — resulting in a 42-14 halftime lead.
Head coach Tony Henney credited the offensive line.
“You can tell tonight compared to last week that (the offensive line) had something extra special when we were getting off the football,” Henney said. “I know our other guys will be the guys getting the headlines, but the offensive line has really come together as a unit, they love each other and play hard for each other.”
Nordhoff only wasted about four minutes, scoring on a Seymore 26-yard touchdown run. Twenty seconds later safety Shawn Shrick picked off Royals quarterback Joe Rivera and scampered 27 yards to the goal. They never looked back.
But Henney said special teams is what the Rangers need to improve going into its first Tri-Valley Conference game against Fillmore.
“Special teams needs a lot of work,” he said. “I think we’ve been playing great offense and great defense all year, but (we need to improve) the kicking game if we’re going to be the team we want to be, not just in October, but in November and December.”
San Marcos fell to 1-5 while Nordhoff advanced to 6-0. San Marcos plays at Santa Barbara next Friday and Nordhoff will go to Fillmore on Oct. 22.
“I don’t mean this to be cliché, but all (Tri-Valley teams) look pretty good,” Henney said. “One thing about all the teams is they are all senior heavy; when you have seniors who think they have a chance to win the league title, you are going to have some good football games. I just think there are going to be wars between all our teams.”
The Nordhoff defense limited San Marcos to 152 total yards, while its offense ran at will, using six different backs who scored nine times in the one-sided win. The Rangers began emptying the bench in the third quarter and only passed the ball three times in the second half. But Henney regretted not substituting his players sooner.
“Our intent was not to score 70 points, we could’ve (emptied the bench) a little sooner,” he said. “We don’t want to have that reputation.”
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NORDHOFF 70, SAN MARCOS 14
Nordhoff 21 21 14 14 — 70
San Marcos 7 7 0 0 — 14
———————————————
First Quarter
Nord – Seymore 3 run, 8:08
Nord – Shrick 27 interception return, 7:48
SM – Harvey 82 pass from Rivera, 6:52
Nord – Lara 32 pass from Logsdon, 4:50
Second Quarter
Nord – Thornton 28 pass from Logsdon, 11:28
SM – Harvey 94 kick return, 11:11
Nord – Seymore 1 run, 4:18
Nord – Logsdon 3 run, :13
Third Quarter
Nord – Seymore 18 run, 10:01
Nord – Robert Perron 2 run, :24
Fourth Quarter
Nord – Jake Perron 2 run, 5:26
Nord – Robert Perron 44 run, 1:46
TEAM TOTALS N SM
First Downs 29 7
Total yards 475 152
Passing 259 103
Comp-Att-Int 16-24-0 4-11-1
Sacked- Yards Lost 0-0 4-15
Punts 0 4
Penalties-yards 7-45 5-43
With “Big Game” # 51 and Channel League play starting next Friday both San Marcos and Santa Barbara have a fresh start at 0-0. The pre-season has been one that both schools would like to forget. Here are some facts about both schools and the “Big Game.”
1) San Marcos is looking to repeat as City Champs for the second time in five years 04&05.
2) Santa Barbara is looking to win a city title since they won it back to back in 07&08. Before that the last one they won was in 95.
3) San Marcos leads with overall city titles with 14, followed by Santa Barbara with 10, and Dos Pueblos with 9. The city title began in 1971.
4) Santa Barbara has the most “Big Game” wins with 27-23, but San Marcos has won the last 6 of 9.
5) San Marcos has won the last 12 of 20 “Big Game’s” since 1990 and 7 of the last 10 at Peabody Stadium.
6) Santa Barbara has 4 shutout wins, and San Marcos has 3.
7) The last time the winner of the “Big Game” earned them a league championship was 1992 (San Marcos won 32-13)
8) The “Big Game” first started in 1960. 1960’s Dons (8-2), 1970’s Royals (6-4), 1980’s Dons (7-3), 1990’s Royals (6-4), and 2000-2009 Royals (6-4).
Good luck to both teams on Friday and hopefully it lives up the game we all expect.