TOUGH GUY—Thousand Oaks High running back Rickey Minyard has had to battle through injuries for much of the season. A win and they’re in. A loss and they’re in deep sauce.

The Thousand Oaks High football team travels to Royal for its penultimate league game knowing a victory guarantees a postseason berth and a defeat puts the team in serious jeopardy of missing the big dance.

“We have to play for our playoff lives,” said TOHS head coach Mike Leibin before Tuesday’s practice. “If we can’t get motivated for that, then we’re going to struggle.”

Thousand Oaks is coming off a tough 28-21 overtime defeat at Moorpark, the seventhranked team in the state, according to MaxPreps.com.

It was a physical, emotional backyard rivalry game that saw TOHS battle back from a 14point fourth-quarter deficit only to come up short in the extra session.

Thousand Oaks junior running back Rickey Minyard said his squad delivered a valiant effort in defeat.

“We understand now that we are a good team and that we can definitely play with anybody,” Minyard said.

Of the game with Moorpark he said, “That was a very good football team, and we stayed right with them until the very end.”

The Lancers’ four losses have come to teams with a combined record of 30-2. Three of Thousand Oaks’ defeats featured programs—Valencia, Westlake and Moorpark—that remain undefeated.

Still, Thousand Oaks has yet to beat a team with a winning record, and that doesn’t sit well with the head coach.

“It’s frustrating,” Leibin said. “We can sit there and say we can play with the best, but when you don’t beat any of the best that becomes frustrating.

“I will say, though, that our kids showed a lot of heart. When (the Moorpark game) was 21-7 in the fourth quarter, it was the point where we could have quit or we could have kept fighting. The next thing you know it’s 21-21.

“The character of our team is obviously there. We just came up short on making plays to win a football game,” the coach said.

This week, TOHS faces a Royal team that is in peril of seeing its season slip away.

After opening with a pair of Marmonte League victories, the Highlanders have dropped three straight to Newbury Park, Moorpark and Westlake, the top three teams in the league standings.

But Royal hasn’t just lost its last two games—the Highlanders have been flat-out embarrassed by scores of 51-0 and 38-0.

With motivation running high in a series that has seen its share of close contests in recent seasons, Thousand Oaks junior wide receiver/safety Richard Mullaney said his team must execute the game plan.

“We have to pay attention to the little things,” said Mullaney, T.O.’s leader in receptions and receiving yards.

“We don’t have to be perfect, but we should know what we need to be doing on every play.”

Lancer junior quarterback Avondre Bollar said the offense is playing better than it has at any point in the season, and he foresees big things in the not-so-distant future—provided Thousand Oaks’ season continues beyond next weekend.

“We’re not ready to stop playing,” Bollar said. “We’re starting to click. We’re starting to have a lot more fun out there. We’re ready to make a run into the playoffs.”
Players to Watch
TOHS Royal
RB Rickey Minyard
WR/S Richard Mullaney
RB/DB Keith Langley
WR/DB Connor Wolcott
DE/TE Daniel Miller OL/LB Alex Flandez
LB Garrett Malone
LB Stephen Aldman
DB/TE Shane Toth
LB Mason McCormick
Outlook

This matchup should be considered a playoff game by both teams. Royal was embarrassed in its last two contests, losing to Moorpark and Westlake by a combined score of 89-0. TOHS has played much better than the Highlanders in recent weeks, but history indicates a close game is on the horizon.