The Acorn’s High School Football Game of the Week

Westlake Warriors (5-2) vs. St. Bonaventure Seraphs (3-4)



WELCOME BACK—Westlake High quarterback Jake Kaplinski, right, hands the ball off to running back Nathan Brooks. Kaplinksi missed the past two games with a concussion, but he’ll start on Friday night. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

WELCOME BACK—Westlake High quarterback Jake Kaplinski, right, hands the ball off to running back Nathan Brooks. Kaplinksi missed the past two games with a concussion, but he’ll start on Friday night. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

Friday, 7 p.m. at Ventura College

In a galaxy far, far away . . . or in an end zone near you . . .

Westlake kicks off Marmonte League action on Friday night against longtime rival St. Bonaventure, but the intergalactic jousting leading up to this confrontation has assumed cosmic dimensions that defy space, time and, in the case of one scribe, common sense.

 

 

Tony Henney, St. Bonaventure’s first-year head coach, led Westlake the previous two seasons before being unceremoniously sacked by the principal.

Henney is Han Solo in this epic. He’s won many great battles as captain of the proverbial Millennium Falcon, capturing three straight CIF-Southern Section titles between 2012 and 2014 with Nordhoff and Trabuco Hills.

Tim Kirksey, who played at Westlake and earned team MVP in 1991, took over for Henney this offseason. Kirksey is beloved by players and parents like Luke Skywalker, the young Jedi apprentice who spent 14 years assisting the Warriors on Jim Benkert’s staff.

Kirksey followed Benkert, known as Darth Vader to many on the rebel outpost of Hoth, to Oaks Christian for two seasons before rerouting his X-wing starfighter to Warrior country. Skywalker was briefly seduced by Vader and the dark side—they have good white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, and Lion players/ stormtroopers have the coolest digs in the Milky Way—but Kirskey’s heart was always with Westlake.

“I’m where I’m supposed to be,” Kirksey said.

Completing the cast of Marmonte generals with Star Wars characters, Camarillo head coach Jack Willard is the incomparable Admiral Ackbar. Of course, Willard and Ackbar combined to win the 2015 Northern Division championship, reach a state bowl in Sacramento that same year and utter the three most glorious words in cinematic history, “It’s a trap!”

In this universe, Thousand Oaks head honcho Mike Leibin is the dashing Lando Calrissian and Oak Park’s Casey Webb is a well-groomed Chewbacca. Among coaching legends, Oak Park’s Dick Billingsley is Yoda and Oaks Christian’s Bill Redell is Yogurt, from “Space Balls.” Rio Mesa’s Jim Bittner, or Obi-Wan Kenobi, is 8-0 this season leading the Spartans.

Friday’s skirmish will be a homecoming for Westlake junior cornerback Kamren Fabiculanan, who played the past two seasons for St. Bonnie.

“I’m just excited to go back to Ventura, to go against some of my cousins and best friends at Bonnie,” said Fabiculanan, who recently picked up a scholarship offer from Vanderbilt.

Fabiculanan, who snared a Ventura County-leading eight interceptions in 2016, will line up against his cousins, St. Bonaventure sophomores Ryan Morales and Gabriel Colon, for the first time.

“I can’t wait to play against them,” Fabiculanan said.

Westlake’s high-powered offense will try to stretch St. Bonnie’s defense. Westlake quarterback Jake Kaplinski will start on Friday. He sat out the previous two games with a concussion.

Kaplinski, who missed action in losses to Oxnard and Calabasas, has thrown for 1,264 yards with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions in five wins. He’ll be slinging the ball to an armada of dynamic targets, including Michael Carner, Carson Kuhl, Nick Silver, Jason Heller, Seth Figgins and Nathan Brooks.

“It’s a big game for us,” Carner said. “We need to come out and play well. . . . We’re ready to start winning again.”

St. Bonaventure, which defeated

Thousand Oaks 61-55 in overtime on Oct. 6, features a stout offensive line, including right tackle and San Jose State commit Tyler Ostrom, and dualthreat quarterback Kai Rojas.

Coaches don’t want to let a whirlwind offseason affect what will transpire on the field.

“They’re having a good season,” Henney said of Westlake. “Their coaches are doing a good job. I love those kids over there, but going into this, it’s about the kids that I’m coaching (at St. Bonaventure). It’s about trying to build this program, and that’s really all I’m concerned with.”