The Acorn's High School Football Game of the Week

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers TIME TO STEP UP—Westlake High senior QB Ben Conlin faces the Marmonte League's premier defense in Week 10 at Moorpark. The Moorpark High football team can win a Marmonte League championship with a victory over Westlake in its regular-season finale at home Friday night.

Sound familiar? It should.

Similar situations took place during the 2005 and '06 seasons.

In 2005, Moorpark won at Westlake 29-0 to capture the program's first Marmonte title. The following year, the Warriors went to MHS and upset the Musketeers 23-12, claiming the crown for Westlake.

Westlake won last season's contest to secure a co-league title with Newbury Park.

"It's been this way for the last few years," said Moorpark head coach Tim Lins, who's guided MHS to an 8-1 overall record and a 6-0 mark in league play.

"It's definitely a big game."

That goes for both teams.

With a win and a victory by Newbury Park (7-2, 4-2 in league) in its home game against Thousand Oaks (8-1, 5-1), the Warriors (6-3, 4-2) would find themselves with the league's No. 2 playoff seed and a first-round home game by virtue of a threeway tie for second place, said WHS head coach Jim Benkert.

"In our league, (ties) are all based on points," Benkert said. "And since we'd have beaten the top team, Moorpark, we'd end up with the most tiebreaker points.

"There's quite a bit riding on this. It's huge."

Thousand Oaks, which lost to Moorpark last month, can claim a share of the league title with a win and a Westlake victory.

Moorpark, a veteran group that features the Marmonte's stingiest defense—the Musketeers have allowed a league-low 103 points—is ranked second in the CIFSouthern Section Northern Division coaches' poll and has already clinched the league's top postseason seed.

Junior running back Austin Edmonson, the team's leading rusher, has returned from an upper body injury to help balance the Musketeers' offensive attack.

In Edmonson's twogame absence, junior quarterback Brody Rohach worked well with wideouts Tim Vizzi, Tanner Moe and James Dearborn.

Lins said having Edmonson back is a "big deal for us."

But no one is really talking about Moorpark's offense, and that's because the MHS defense continues to steal headlines by stifling its opponents.

"They had Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) beat, and everybody's talking about how great their offense is," Benkert said. "They are the real deal on defense. How we're going to beat them, I have no idea."

Moorpark's only loss of the season was a 17-14 setback at Notre Dame on Sept. 12. Notre Dame is ranked sixth in the state by CalHiSports.com. MHS remains unranked in the same poll.

Westlake's offense, featuring a twoquarterback system of strongarm senior Ben Conlin and fleetof-foot sophomore Nick Isham, should give the Musketeers all they can handle.

The Warriors lead the league with 327 points scored.

"They are definitely wellcoached, and they're definitely going to play for all four quarters," Lins said of Westlake.

"And you know (Benkert) is going to have something up his sleeve, something extra; he's always going to have a new wrinkle that maybe you haven't seen before."

Both teams are relatively healthy with the exception of Westlake wideout Steve Hagy, who's battling an arm issue. He's questionable.

Outlook Westlake head coach Jim Benkert's mother, Joanna, has seen every game he's ever coached or played in. On Friday, Benkert goes for career victory No. 164, which would break the Ventura County record for coaching wins. "It's special for me to be able to share that with her," Benkert said.