Oaks Christian football team now three-time Division XI champions

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers UNBEATABLE—OCHS wideout Christopher Potter drags a tackler. Oaks Christian’s football team finished the season with no question about its championship status.

The Lions, now with 31 straight wins and a record this season of 13-0 overall and 5-0 in the Tri-Valley League, know how to win—and win by a wide margin.

Playing in the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division XI title match against the Grace Brethren Lancers on Saturday night on the Newbury Park High field, the Lions won, 49-0. The triumph made it the third consecutive year for Oaks Christian to win a division title.

The Lancers finished 11-3 overall, two of the losses to Oaks Christian, the first on Sept. 16, 487. In Olympic League games Grace Brethren was 3-0. The Lancers, who moved to Division XI this year, were the CIF-SS Division XII defending champs.

“It just seems like it was a lot tougher than last year,” said Oaks Christian head coach Bill Redell. “Everybody expected us to be 13 and oh, and then you have to do it.

“When they expect it, I think the pressure mounts a little bit more than it perhaps did last year when we wanted to have a good season,” the coach said, “but nobody expected us to through like we did. I am glad it’s over.”

Grace Brethren head coach Terry Gourley said he knew his team had to play a perfect game.

“We knew we had to get started right off the bat,” he said. “We kicked a just awesome onside kick, but we didn’t recover the ball. Right then it’s like you have to make every break against a team like that. Right off the bat, they score. We tried to stop them. We got one stop in, but we just couldn’t get anything done on offense.”

Junior tailback Marc Tyler scored six of Oak Christian’s touchdowns, beginning in the first quarter at 11:14 on the clock when he took a pass from junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen and ran 50 yards.

The next touchdown, also in the first quarter, was a 1-yard run at 7:38. During the second quarter, Tyler took it over the goal line on a 1-yard burst at 10:35 and a 55-yard run at 2:04. Junior defensive back Anthony Gildon scored between these when he intercepted a pass and ran 28 yards at 4:44.

The final pair were a 4-yard run at 6:58 in the third quarter and a 12-yard run at 11:54 in the fourth quarter. Senior kicker Andrew Venardi was good on all seven point-after touchdown kicks.

Comparing the earlier game this season and Saturday’s game, Redell said he thought Oaks Christian’s defense was better this game—even though it was good before.

“I thought our defense played better this game,” he said. “(Defensive coordinator) Clay Matthews does a super job getting them ready, and our defense really dominated the whole game.”

The Lions closed down the Lancer ground game. “The Running game, that’s basically their game,” the Oaks Christian coach said. “They do a good job. A wellcoached team, Coach Gourley does a great job. He’s got a great staff.”

Grace Brethren lost senior center Steve Josker, who injured his knee on the second play of the game, and the Lancers’ game plan was also affected by the shuffling of three quarterbacks in an attempt to strike back at the Lions.

The Lancers’ signal-calling trio was seniors Travis Chupp, who went into the game hurt, Rick Elmore and freshman Kevin Ramay.

“Travis Chupp was maybe 60 percent,” Gourley said. “We were hoping he’d be 80 or 90, but he couldn’t cut. So, the second the pressure was there, he had to go down.

“We had to go with the freshman (Ramay),” Gourley said. “He gave us a good look. He’s going to be our guy for three years.

“There’s some positives out of it. There’s a few guys who stepped up and played. My seniors—to a man they played their hearts out. They did everything they could. They were just overmatched.”

Gourley pointed out that the seniors are 45-10 in their four years of football at Grace Brethren.

“That’s a phenomenal record,” he said. “They played in three championship games in three different divisions and they won one of them (34-6 over the Ontario Christian Knights in the Division XII playoffs last season).

“They’ve been just incredible. They’re the foundation. They built the foundation of this program. It’s going to last forever because of the work ethic.”

Tyler led the Lions with 20 carries for 128 yards, his longest for 55 yards.

Clausen attempted 21 passes with 17 completions for 245 yards, the longest a 56-yard pass play to junior wide receiver Marshall Jones, and threw one touchdown pass to Tyler, a 50-yard play.

Jones had three catches for 76 yards.

Sophomore wide receiver Christopher Potter grabbed three catches for 29 yards—one for 15 yards his longest.

Senior wide receiver Andru Stewart pulled down six catches for 88 yards—the longest for 26 yards, and Tyler had four catches for 66 yards, the longest being 50 yards.

On defense for the Lions, junior linebacker Casey Matthews had 10 solo tackles and four assisted, two for a loss of 11 yards and one sack. Senior linebacker Matt Allen had eight solo tackles, five assisted, three for a total loss of eight yards and two sacks.

Oaks Christian’s Gildon and Matthews each intercepted a pass for 28 yards apiece.

Junior defensive lineman Justin Landseadel recovered a fumble and junior defensive lineman Duke Lemmens caused one fumble.

As he reflected on his team’s win, Redell looked ahead to the possibility of winning a state title next season.

He said he wasn’t for the state championships a while back, but he’s beginning to think the other way now.

“I would be in favor of it,” he said. “A year ago I probably would have said no because we couldn’t have fielded enough guys. We had so many guys hurt in the championship game. Now we’re all healthy, so I think I might swing in that direction.”