The Thousand Oaks Game for the Camino League Championship

Thousand Oaks Lancers

4-5 overall, 1-1 Camino League

at

Newbury Park Panthers

5-4 overall, 2-0 Camino League

On Friday the Panther JV squad played their final game of the 2015 season against their longtime, crosstown rivals, the Thousand Oaks Lancers.

The two schools first met in a football game back in September of 1970 when I was the one and only assistant coach on the Thousand Oaks H.S. JV staff. Bob Richards was the Lancers' JV Head Coach that season. T.O.H.S. won that game 46 seasons ago by a final score of 36-8.

Now I'm a Panther.

Although the two teams' overall records were not glossy, the stakes were indeed high!

First and foremost, there was the personal pride of community bragging rights for the next year. Also add to the mix the winning of a Camino League title.

If the Panthers won, for the second consecutive season, Newbury Park would go undefeated in league play and have claimed both the 2014 and 2015 circuit crowns.

If Thousand Oaks were to win, then at least the Panthers and Lancers would wind up with shares of the league title. Also, if Camarillo were to beat Royal, it would be a tri-championship with Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo all at 2-1 and having beaten each other. Under this scenario, Royal would be in last place at 0-3.

Let's see how things turned out in 2015 . . .

It was a. . .

BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR AN

AMERICAN FOOTBALL GAME!!!

Warm-ups went well, I thought that we were ready to play.

"Raymond, if you are the C gap player,

you HAVE to contain their QB."

Today's Captains: #8 Ian Albaeck,

#23 Greg Paige, #68 Nick Krause

and #9 Ruben Soria

Tackle for Loss by Jake Radwan

Rallying to the ball

Matt Stein recovering a Thousand Oaks

surprise on-side kick

That was close!

The Offensive Line blocked well today

We rushed for a season high 277 yards and passed for another 106 yards.  That's 383 yards of total offense on 60 plays.

QB Ruben Soria is loose again

Ruben carried the ball a whopping 29 times for 277 yards scoring four TDs and threw for 106 yards and two TDs. He also made five tackles from his cornerback spot.

LB/RB Noah Clark had a good day too

He was in on seven tackles, rushed for 80 yards and caught a screen pass that he ran 30 yards to pay dirt for a TD.

Derek Henry making a big tackle for

loss on our successful goal line stand

Ruben on a bootleg

For the season, he scored 114 points on 18 TDs and three Two-Point PATs.

He rushed for a team leading 794 yards on 150 carries, scoring 16 TDs and three two-point PATs.

He passed for 1,634 yards, completing 107 of his 170 attempts (62.9%). He threw 13 TD passes.

Defensively, he was in on 42 tackles, intercepted three passes that he returned 143 yards (one for a TD), broke up six passes, recovered a fumble and forced a fumble.

Ruben contributed on special teams too, returning eight kickoffs (one for a TD) and five punts.

We ran good old fashioned I formation

Toss Sweeps for good yardage today

Ian Albaeck's 43 yard TD reception

Ian also had an outstanding season for the Panthers. He caught 69 passes for 1,264 yards and notched 11 TDs.

As a cornerback he was in on 28 tackles, broke up three passes and intercepted five passes that he returned 97 yards including one for a TD.

QB Wedge = SIX POINTS!!!

Wounded Panthers

Hunter Hoskins and Fernando Takacs were both sorely missed today. Hunter is a first year player who was really improving when he got injured in the Camarillo game.

Fernando missed the last seven games of the season but was still our second leading rusher with 334 yards.

With Varsity Referee Diego Renteria

I had the pleasure of coaching Diego at Rio Mesa H.S.

Diego is now a hard working, up and coming high school referee who did a good job working the Varsity game on Friday.  

Sometimes Ruben is just a blur

on the game field

Ruben is hard to catch

Ruben for the last six of the season

The defense struggled but did come

up with some timely stops

IT'S OVER!!!

FINAL SCORE

Newbury Park (6-4, 3-0 CL) 42

Thousand Oaks (4-6, 1-2 CL) 32

With the win in the season finale, the Panthers improved to a perfect 3-0 in league play and were crowned the . . .

2015 CAMINO LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!

Here is a final look at our 2015 JV football results:

Beat Birmingham (4-6) 36-14

Beat Saugus (4-6) 42-18

Lost to Agoura * (9-1) 29-49

Lost to Dos Pueblos (7-2) 16-26

Beat Venice (3-6) 28-6

Lost to Simi Valley (3-7) 28-29

Lost to Westlake ** (8-2) 34-35

Beat Camarillo (5-5) 49-39 ***

Beat Royal (3-7) 27-13 ***

Beat Thousand Oaks (4-6) 42-32  ***

* Canyon League Champions

** Marmonte League Champions

*** Camino League Game

Final 2015 Camino League JV Standings
1. Newbury Park 3-0 (6-4 overall)
2. Camarillo 2-1 (5-5 overall)
3. Thousand Oaks 1-2 (4-6 overall)
4. Royal 0-3 (3-7 overall)

It was a long, often times difficult and trying campaign, but in the end we were able to adapt and overcome. Playing well the last three games left everyone with a good feeling about the 2015 season.

Reading Is Fundamental

I have now read all eight of the

wonderful Bruno, Chief of Police novels

As always, an interesting mixture of crime in France (terrorists this time), life in the countryside of the Dordogne region and tales of the amazing cuisine that permeates every facet of this wonderful country!