The Acorn's High School Football Game of the Week
Thousand Oaks Lancers (0-1) vs. Atascadero Greyhounds (1-1) Friday, 7:30 p.m.
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers CATCH AND RUN- Thousand Oaks' Ryan Franklin looks the ball into his hands during practice. TOHS hosts Atascadero Friday.

After losing a heartbreaker to Loyola High last week, Thousand Oaks High will try to even up its record when it hosts Atascadero tomorrow night.

Although the defense played well last week, the Lancers were unable to score on two drives late in the fourth quarter, and the result was a 136 loss in Glendale. Although TOHS lost, first-year head coach Mike Leibin believes his team will bounce back strong.

"We are not in a panic mode by any means," Leibin said. "After the game I told the team that things are going to get better. We were one play away from winning against Loyola. It seems as if a football game always comes down to one or two plays; the trick is knowing when those plays will occur."

This week Leibin is hoping he can get the team back on track in his first game coaching at Lancer Stadium. TOHS had an unusually tough year at home last season, going 2-3 after back to back 4-1 seasons in front of its home crowd. Thousand Oaks will have to do better at home this season in order to make the postseason.

Another new chapter began last week for Thousand Oaks with the post Ryan Cloney era. Cloney, who graduated last season after a storied career, has been replaced at quarterback this season by senior Kyle Triplett and junior Ian Shultis. Each quarterback took roughly 50 percent of the snaps against Loyola; however, Leibin said earlier this week that he had not decided who would start behind center against the Greyhounds.

No matter who starts at quarterback this week, TOHS must find a way to get junior running back John Lister the ball. Last year in the Lancers' 26-22 win over Atascadero, Lister ran the ball 11 times for 85 yards while catching one pass for five yards.

Lister will have to get by a defense led by senior Jack Robinett. Robinett leads Atascadero with 13 tackles on the season.

While the Lancers are hoping to run the ball this week, the defense will have to do what Leibin says any team must do in order to win- stop the run. The Greyhounds feature two strong running backs in Nick Tenhaeff and Andrew Hernandez. In two games this season against Washington Union High and St . Bonaventure, Atascadero's offense has rushed for 698 yards, with Tenhaeff and Hernandez accounting for 302 of those yards.

The Greyhounds' passing game has not been strong this year, as it has only gained 114 yards in the air this season, but quarterback Steven Manier is another weapon on the ground. Manier has scrambled 16 times for 116 yards.

Thousand Oaks' strong defense, led by seniors Scott Luft and Evan Yabu as well as juniors Ryan Thompson and Dereck Jester, will be responsible for stopping the Greyhounds' running attack.

"They have a couple good running backs at Atascadero, so we will have to stop them by playing good assignment football," Leibin said.

"The key is we have to be more consistent this week allaround. At times I thought our team looked great last week, but there were also times when we had bad snaps, someone missed an assignment or someone didn't run a good route. Those things need to improve, and they will."

Players to Watch

Thousand Oaks RB John Lister
WR/DL Scott Luft
DE Josh Bounds DB Evan Yabu

Atascadero
QB Steven Manier
RB Nick Tenhaeff
LB Jack Robinett
DB Michael Lombardi

Outlook

Lancer head coach Mike Leibin makes his home debut with TOHS after spending the past seven years as defensive coordinator for crosstown rival Westlake. If Thousand Oaks can get junior running back John Lister involved in the offense early on, Lancer fans could be in for a real treat.