Spartans face Canyon-sized challenge
Rio Mesa football teams set to battle playoff's No. 2 seed
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers WINNING WITH DEFENSE-From right, Rio Mesa defenders Jordyn Aupiu, Matt Palmer-Newton and Jerell Thomas bring down Ventura's Ian Durham during the Spartans' 42-14 first-round playoff win last Friday. Steve Gagua, No. 5, is in the background. Tonight, RMHS travels to Canyon High to take on the second-seeded Cowboys at 7 p.m. The winner advances to the CIF-SS Northern Division semifinals.

Rio Mesa High head football coach Bob Gregorchuk said this week that his team has still not played a perfect all-around game this season. In the meantime, the Spartans keep winning.

RMHS won its eighth straight game last Friday, this one in the first round of the Northern Division CIFSouthern Section playoffs against local rival Ventura High, 42-14.

The offense was clicking on all cylinders as quarterback Shane Austin continued to add to his school record of passing yards in a season.

Austin completed 15-of-19 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns.

Jordyn Aupiu seemed to benefit from Austin's passing the most, hauling in five receptions for 133 yards and a touchdown.

The running game was exceptional as well, with Malachi Lewis rushing the ball 20 times for 245 yards and four touchdowns. Lewis has been extremely tough to tackle of late, rushing for over 200 yards in three of his team's last four games. He has scored 11 touchdowns during that span.

Lewis "has been playing great, and he always seems to step it up when we need it the most in big games," Gregorchuk said. "He has the ability to break big plays all the time. After we let Ventura score on a 12-play drive, Malachi comes right back immediately with a 70-yard run. He really has been matching the momentum of other teams lately."

Gregorchuk also said the defense played great because the unit caused turnovers. The Spartans offense didn't commit any.

The only flaw in the Spartans' game against Ventura was penalties, the coach said, but it was a big flaw because of how many they had.

"We had too many penalties against Ventura," Gregorchuk said. "At one point we gave Ventura 12 shots at scoring inside the 10 because we kept committing a penalty and giving them a fresh set of downs. We can't give a team that many opportunities inside the 10 and not expect them to score. So that is an area we need to improve on."

If there is one thing Rio Mesa can't do tonight against Canyon it's giving them more chances to score.

This season Canyon has scored 449 points, an average of 45 points per game. The Cowboys have a seven-game winning streak of their own, and during the stretch, Canyon's offense has been on fire.

Canyon has scored over 60 points three times including a 900 win over Golden Valley High on Oct. 20. They posted a 63-3 win in the first round of the playoffs last week against Royal High.

Although Rio Mesa has a great offense, they can't afford to get in a shootout with the Cowboys.

"Well, you know what they say, 'defenses win championships,'" Gregorchuk said. "We've got to find a way to limit their scoring below their average."

Gregorchuk said the team has handled the playoffs very well up to this point and have not let any pressure get to them.

"They don't see it as playoff pressure as much as they see it as an opportunity," Gregorchuk said. "They want to carry on the legacy of Rio Mesa football. The past couple of years, Rio Mesa has been working at getting the respect of other schools. "I think the kids want to push

this program to the next level," he said. "I think this week's game could do it. Canyon was a former Division II school and now they are a Division IV. If we can beat a former Division II school, I think that'll be a win that could push us to the next level."

Rio Mesa plays at Canyon tonight at 7 p.m.

Camarillo gets scorched

by Moorpark's Darrell Scott

While Rio Mesa will continue in the postseason, Camarillo's season ended when it lost to Moorpark 51-21 last Friday.

The Scorpions became one of many teams this year to have a tough time stopping MHS running back Darrell Scott. Scott rushed for a team-record 306 yards on just 15 carries and scored six touchdowns.

Although the Scorpions finished the season with a 4-7 record, just making the playoffs was an accomplishment. The team lost its starting quarterback, Samson Szakacsy, for a good portion of the year and its home field for the first month.

"What I will remember about this team is how everyone overcame a lot of adversity," Camarillo head coach Dennis Riedmiller said. "The coaches were very positive and came up with good game plans all year long. The players practiced, played and studied hard.

"Our team could have easily been 9-1 or 8-2 heading into the playoffs. We lost one game by eight, one game by seven, one game by five, one by four, one by three and one by two. All of them were one-possession games."