The Acorn's High School Football Game of the Week
Camarillo Scorpions (0-0) at Newbury Park Panthers (0-0)
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

OFF AND RUNNING-Newbury Park wide receiver Scott Takeguma hauls in a pass and heads downfield during a recent practice session at NPHS. Tomorrow, the revamped Panthers open the preseason at home against a solid Camarillo squad.

It wasn't long ago that the Camarillo and Newbury Park football teams used to wage yearly battles as Marmonte League rivals.

But since Camarillo left the Marmonte to join the Pacific View League, the two teams haven't faced each other on the gridiron, said NPHS head coach George Hurley, with the notable exception of a few preseason scrimmages.

The backyard rivalry will be rekindled Friday night as the Scorpions make the short trek south on the 101 Freeway to face-off against NPHS at Panther Stadium.

"For a long, long time, we were big rivals," Hurley said. "Every year it was one of our hardest-hitting games. It was always a big, physical game."

Tomorrow's matchup is certain to be a major test for the young Panther squad.

Gone are standouts Jordan LaSecla, Jordan Cameron, Josh Baker and Travis Dickey. Replacing them will be players who've yet to make big-time names for themselves at the varsity level-guys like quarterback Colby Cameron, wideouts Danny Diefenthaler and Anthony Leonardi, and running backs Chance Flaaten and Brian Koenig.

"We're so young and inexperienced," Hurley said. "We played a scrimmage the other day and I looked out there at our first group and we had one senior lineman and three receivers. All of the rest were juniors.

"Everybody's new, so everybody's learning," the coach said. "We've got a long way to go on that learning curve, and we're not anywhere near there yet."

Offensive tackle Nick Cwayna, who played part-time at guard a season ago, is the only returnee on the Panthers' revamped offensive line. Because NPHS will continue to throw the ball all over the field, it'll be the line's responsibility to keep Cameron on his feet.

"We're going to put it up," Hurley said. "We're not going to do the same things we did with (LaSecla) last year-he was a three-year varsity starter-that was a little bit different than a kid who's starting his first varsity game. But the plan's still the same. We just don't expect to be as sophisticated with check-offs and those kind of things."

Cameron, who started at guard on the Panther basketball team as a sophomore, has impressed the Newbury Park coaching staff with his decision making and arm strength. However, Hurley warns that summer scrimmages don't exactly equate to live games.

"All summer long he made good decisions and threw the ball well," Hurley said. "We just have to see how well he does with a target on his chest and some big uglies chasing him around."

With USC-bound Samson Szakacsy behind center for the defending Pacific View League champion Scorpions, Hurley said his defense needs to show up ready to play.

"We have to stop him," the coach said. "We have to get some fire under battle and find out how the young kids on defense are going to react when it really counts."

Camarillo punter Bryan Anger is one of the most coveted kickers in the nation because of his ability to consistently blast the ball with nearly 5 seconds of hang time. Hopefully, Hurley said, Anger will get a lot of work tomorrow night.

"I hope he punts six times because that means we're getting the ball back."