Panthers earn piece of Marmonte title by beating TOHS
Newbury Park opens football playoffs at home; TOHS travels to College of the Canyons
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers LOWERING HIS SHOULDER- Newbury Park wide receiver Vincent Muscarella, right, runs through a Thousand Oaks defender during last week's 34-21 Panther win at TOHS. Newbury Park and Westlake split the Marmonte League championship.

After settling things on the field last weekend, the Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks high school football teams are heading in opposite directions for the first round of the CIFSouthern Section Northern Division playoffs Friday night.

With its 34-21 victory at TOHS in Week 10, Newbury Park (9-1) earned a share of the Marmonte League title and the league's No. 1 postseasonseed.W est lake (7-3) tied NPHS with a 6-1 Marmonte mark, but the Panthers earned the tiebreaker by virtue of their win against Westlake earlier in the year.

It was Newbury Park's first league title since the 1998 season.

"It feels great," NPHS head coach George Hurley said afterward. "We haven't beaten Thousand Oaks for a long time, and we needed to get that done. That was one of the things that was really important to us."

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers CHANGE OF DIRECTION- Thousand Oaks wideout Evan Yabu makes a cut against NPHS. The Lancers play Hart of Newhall at College of the Canyons Friday at 7:30 p.m.

In coming back from a 147 halftime deficit, Newbury Park relied on a swarming, aggressive defense to bottle up running back John Lister and the Thousand Oaks offense. Lister finished with 14 carries for 60 yards and a touchdown. It was his third-lowest rushing output of the year.

Panther defensive end Jackson Powell led the Black Cat Attack with three sacks. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound junior physically imposed his will on the TOHS offensive line during the Panthers' second-half surge.

"This is everything we've been working for since last season ended," Powell said. "We had a horrible season last year, but this means everything to us now. We haven't been league champs in years. It feels so good right now."

Panther quarterback Colby Cameron completed 18-of-31 passes for 183 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also had a pair of rushing scores and averaged 39.5 yards on four punts, three of which were spotted inside the Thousand Oaks 20-yard line.

"Absolutely, Cameron had his best game of the year," Hurley said.

Newbury Park wideout Vincent Muscarella scored on a 29-yard run, and running back Chris Brown carried the ball 37 times for 147 yards and a touchdown.

On Friday at 7 p.m., the Panthers open the playoffs at home against the Santa Barbara Dons (7-3), third-place finishers in the Channel League.

Dons quarterback John Uribe has thrown for 1,924 yards and 19 touchdowns while only being intercepted five times. Uribe's favorite target is wideout Bryson Lloyd, the team leader in receptions (43), receiving yards (583) and touchdowns (eight).

Safety/running back Tad Slaff must be accounted for, too. Slaff leads Santa Barbara in rushing yards (695) and tackles (108).

Powell said he's ready to get the postseason underway.

"We expect to go out, play hard and hopefully go all the way to CIF," Powell said. "That's our goal now."

A Newbury Park victory could set up a potential showdown with Pacific View League champion Oxnard (82) in the second round. Oxnard is big and physical. The Yellowjackets specialize in getting an early lead, running the football and playing airtight defense.

While Newbury Park stays home for its first-round game, Thousand Oaks (5-5) must travel to College of the Canyons to take on the Northern Division's second overall seed, Hart of Newhall (9-0-1), champions of the Foothill League.

The teams went head-to-head in last season's first round at the same venue, a game that Hart won easily, 41-19.

"That was last year's team, not this year's team," TOHS head coach Mike Leibin said.

Hart's offense is explosive and efficient. Running back Delano Howell has 1,550 rushing yards and 23 total touchdowns. Quarterback B.R. Holbrook has completed 60 percent of his passes and has an 18to4 touchdowntointerception ratio.

Leibin said the Lancers played great defense against Newbury Park in the first half, but wore down in the second half when the unit couldn't get off the field. Sustaining offensive drives will be a big key in the matchup vs. Hart, he said.

"We've got to do a better job of driving the football," Leibin said. "There's no doubt about that."

The coach also wants to see his quarterback, junior Ian Shultis, play with confidence and take control of the Lancer offense from the get-go.

"When he lacks a little confidence, that's when we struggle the most," Leibin said. "He needs to be confident, keep his composure, stay in the pocket and complete the throws he needs to make."

Thousand Oaks' game begins at 7:30 p.m.