OXNARD - He's baaaaaack!

Righetti High tailback Ryan Mole made his presence felt quickly in Friday nights' CIF Southern Section Division IV first-round game against Huemene of Oxnard, leading the Warriors to a 48-14 victory over the Vikings thanks to 253 yards on 23 carries.

"I'm just tickled pink for Ryan right now," Warrior coach Greg Dickinson said after Mole's night, part of a 541-yard rushing attack that carried the Warriors to victory. "All of the kids have been waiting a long time for this. They gave us a chance, gave Ryan a chance to get to the Show, and it now makes a big difference to have two guys like Ryan and Mark Malangko to run the ball."

The win gave the Warriors (8-2-1) a home date in their second-round matchup against Division IV top seed St. Bonaventure of Ventura. The Seraphs opened with a 58-10 victory over Hawthorne at Larrabee Stadium in Ventura.

The Warriors went 5-2-1 without Mole, who was lost for two months after suffering a broken collarbone in a Week 3 victory over Lompoc. Up to that time, Mole appeared to be on a record-setting pace for yardage, with 725 yards on the ground at the time of his injury. Without Mole, Malangko had put up 1,289 rushing yards coming into the game, but the Warriors had lost two of their last three games coming into the playoffs.

Mole, for his part, was glad to be back in action.

"It felt good to get going again," Mole said. "I think it may have helped me that I've still got fresh legs, or that I'm not as banged up as everyone else."

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Still, Mole had his moments of rust on the night. One play in the second quarter brought that to light when he broke free for a possible touchdown run from Righetti's 16-yard line. However, he was caught around Hueneme's 10-yard line, and after making a juke move on two defenders, was hauled down at the Vikings' four. Still, the play set up a touchdown when Chad Stephens scored on a sweep on the next play for their final score of the first half.

All told, Righetti ended the night with 541 yards rushing and 595 yards of total offense, countered to the 214 yards of total offense by Hueneme. The Warrior defense held the Vikings to minus-10 yards rushing on the night; while Viking quarterback Javier Puebla did throw for 224 yards and two scores, most of his yardage came between the 20-yard lines, well away from Righetti's end zone.

"It was all about ball-control, keeping their athletes of the field," Dickson said of the quick Vikings. "My hat's off to the kids for the job they did. They studied a lot of film and worked hard - they came ready to play."

That was evident from the outset, when Righetti took the opening kickoff, then drove 80 yards on 12 plays for the opening touchdown, a two-yard run by Danny Lauer, one of two touchdowns the burly fullback would score on the day.

On that drive, Mole had 35 yards on four carries, while fullbacks Lauer and Luke Deras combined for 23 yards on the drive. The duo had outstanding games, with Lauer ending up with 86 rushing yards to Deras' 63.

After Hueneme's first drive stalled, Righetti answered right back whit a 95-yard drive of only four plays: Malangko took care of the bulk of it with a 44-yard tight-rope job down the left sideline on a sweep play, giving Righetti its second touchdown after only 8:19 of elapsed game time.

Mole got the Warriors going on their next drive, scoring a three-yard touchdown after runs of four and 27 yards on the drive, and even ran in a two-point conversion of a faked extra-point attempt.

After coming out of the locker room down 27-0 at the break, Hueneme looked to strike lightning when Puebla lobbed a 71-yard bomb to Craig Pinner; however, a missed two-point try only closed the gap to 27-6.

Righetti then took the game in command on the next drive, marching 53 yards on 10 plays, capped by a one-yard Lauer plunge. In all the Warriors ran the ball nine times on the quarter, chewing up half the third quarter along the way.

"That was the whole topic in the locker room at halftime," Dickinson said of Hueneme's quick-strike capabilities. "These guys could score at any second, so we needed to be ready. We knew they had a lot of guys going both ways, so the key was to make the third quarter a battle."

That took the wind out of Hueneme's sails, and even though Puebla hit Dillon for a 15-yard touchdown to cut the gap to 42-14, Righetti had well salted the game away at that point. Dally wrapped the scoring with a nine-yard option run with 7:32 left in the game.

The level of Mole's effort was so impressive that while being interviewed after the game, Mole was approached by Dillon, who presented Mole with a pair of receiving gloves he had worn after being given them by former St. Bonaventure star and current USC standout Whitney Lewis.

Malangko ended up with 94 yards on eight carries.

Times Assistant Sports Editor Mike McKean can be reached at 739-2236 or by e-mail at mmckean@pulitzer.net

November 22, 2003