The team that wins most of the battles up front usually wins the football game.

Bit Pine won most of the battles up front against Valley Christian Academy Saturday. Big Pine won the football game.

The Warriors spotted the eighth-ranked Lions 10 points in the first quarter at VCA. Then the visitors scored five unanswered touchdowns for a 46-28 win in the first round of the CIF Southern Section 8-Man Division 2 Football Playoffs.

“We’ve been good up front this year,” Big Pine coach Mark Tillemans said after his line opened holes enabling Warriors running backs to rush for 275 yards.

VCA quarterback James Kerley hit Dustin Taylor for 50 yards and a touchdown on the Lions’ first play from scrimmage. He was under constant pressure, mainly from linebacker Holden Rangel, after that. Rangel, at center, also helped anchor Big Pine’s offenisve line.

Big Pine, an at-large team from the Hi-Lo League, is 7-3. The eighth-ranked Lions finished 7-2-1. The Warriors, who are based in the Owens Valley about 60 miles south of Mammoth Lakes, made their eight-hour bus trip — they did stay in a local hotel overnight after practicing at a Bakersfield high school — pay off.

The Coast Valley League champions saw their five-game winning steak snapped. They were without CVL rushing leader Drew Schettler Saturday.

VCA coach Pete Fortier said Schettler incurred a MERSA infection after being scraped in the Lions’ win at North County Christian two weeks ago. Fortier said Schettler has been cleared to return to school Monday.

Not having Schettler “was a big loss, but we came out tough, we started really strong,” said Fortier. “We just couldn’t sustain it.”

Tillemans said, “With Drew out, we were on our heels because we really didn’t know what they would do. For being on our heels, we responded pretty well.”

The Warriors offense responded well enough to pile up 468 yards. Big Pine scored a touchdown on every offensive possession except one, when the Warriors lost the ball on downs.

Big Pine back Rusty Tillemans ran for 124 yards and two touchdowns. He turned a swing pass from quarterback Isaiah Bacoch into a 65-yard touchdown play on the first play of the game.

Skylar Amisone had 98 yards rushing and two touchdowns for the Warriors.  

Big Pine ball carriers broke a lot of would-be Lions tackles. The Warriors went ahead for good at 24-22 when RustyTillemans broke through a hole on the left side on fourth down-and-four and ran untouched into the end zone from 21 yards out in the third quarter. Most of the scoring came on big plays Saturday. 

After Big Pine opened the game with a charge, David Zepeda responded  for the Lions by running 60 yards for a touchdown with the ensuing kickoff. The Lions ran in the two-point conversion, then went ahead 15-6 on the Kerley-to-Taylor 50-yarder and Andy Wilson’s point-after kick.

After that, Big Pine did more with the ball when it had the wind at its back than VCA did when the blustery wind was in the Lions’ favor. That was a big reason the Warriors won.

The Warriors trailed 22-12 after Michael Calderon’s 69-yard touchdown run for VCA With the wind at their backs the next quarter, the visitors outscored the Lions 20-0 for a 32-22 halftime lead.  

“We like to run the ball, but we tried to mix it up,” said Tillemans. “We wanted to throw more when we had the wind, run it when it was against us.”

The wind was back at the Lions’ backs in the third quarter — but the Warriors still outscored them 6-0 then. Nick Santiago finished a 10-play, 70-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. The drive took 5:45.

Big Pine locked the game away in the fourth quarter with a 56-yard scoring drive. All of the eight plays, except for one incomplete pass, were on the ground. Amisone scored from a yard out, the only touchdown Saturday that didn’t come from at least 10 yards out.

The Lions followed up with a 65-yard scoring march. Calderon, in at quarterback in place of the injured Kerley, threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Wilson.

Calderon ran for 124 yards, though most of it came on the 69-yard touchdown scamper.

Girls tennis

St. Joseph 10, Bishop Montgomery 8

TORRANCE — St. Joseph (18-3) won all nine doubles sets, so it won this battle of the Knights.

The Knights, the ones from St. Joseph that is, also advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 4 quarterfinals.

The tandems of Sammy White and Ellie McPike, Whitney Bouquet and Christine Noe, and Paige Jaeckels and Brittany Chartier all swept three sets. Frankie Eszes earned St. Joseph’s lone singles win.

St. Joseph will play at Oxnard Rio Mesa at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the quarters. Rio Mesa routed Cajon 16-2 in the second round.

Santa Ynez 15, Torrance 3

The Pirates doubles tandems also all swept three matches each, at home, as Santa Ynez rolled into the quarterfinals.

A match at top-ranked San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s looms ahead for the Pirates. St. Margaret’s beat Riverside Patriot 15-3 in the second round.

Doubles pairs Sophie Brandstatter and Sydney Tack, Heather Vellekamp and Mylee Curtis, and Bianca Cappaso and Kylie Petersen all swept three doubles sets for Santa Ynez Saturday. Alisa Silsbee lost only five games as she swept three singles sets.

Boys water polo

Agoura 9, Righetti 5

WESTLAKE VILLAGE — The Chargers put the Warriors (19-11) out of the playoffs in the Division 4 quarterfinals at Oaks Christian High School.

Goal keeper Kyle Stevens made seven saves for PAC-7 League co-champion Righetti. Vincent Martel scored twice.

Top-ranked Palos Verdes beat Arroyo Grande 10-2 at Arroyo Grande in another quarterfinal. No details from that match were available.

Girls volleyball

Los Altos 3, Santa Ynez 0

The Hacienda Heights-based Conquerors swept the fourth-ranked Pirates 25-22, 25-17, 25-12 in a Division 3-AA quarterfinal at Santa Ynez.

 

Cross Country - CIF SS Preliminaries

WALNUT — St. Joseph’s girls had an up-and-down season. The Knights did not run well enough at the Los Padres League finals to earn an automatic bid to these preliminaries at Mount San Antonio College.

They did, however, have a good enough season to land an at-large berth in the prelims at Mt. SAC. They made the most of their chance.

They finished fourth in their  heat, good enough to move on to the Division 4 finals which take place at Mt. SAC next Saturday.

Junior Quetta Peinado led the Knights into the finals. She ran second in her heat in 18:38, the third-fastest overall girls Division IV time.

Bridget Adam (18th place), Caitlin Brandt (27th), Alexis Brandt (31st) and Paulette Rigali (47th) completed St. Joseph’s scoring. The Knights’ other runners were Brittney Brandt (54th place) and Sara Scott (60th).

“Our girls put it together quite nicely today,” said St. Joseph coach Greg Sarkisian.

“Quetta ran a PR by 30 seconds for the Mt. SAC course, and for Alex to finish 31st out of 100 runners — that’s impressive.”

Santa Ynez senior Monica Illes finished an impressive sixth, in 19:26, in her Division 4  heat. She advanced to the finals.  

Arroyo Grande

“Our girls had a sick, unhealthy team,” Arroyo Grande coach Sean Ricketts said in a phone interview Saturday.

The Eagles had still advanced to the Division 2 final. Sophomore Emily Johnston led the PAC-7 League champions to a third-place finish in their heat.

“We’re anticipating a much better team race (in the finals next week), when people are healthy,” said Ricketts.

Johnston finished 10th in 18:53 Saturday. Katie Lewis (12th place), Hannah Stevens (14th), McKenzie Goldman (33rd) and Lupita Leon (39th) rounded out Arroyo Grande’s scoring.

Manhattan Beach Mira Costa won the heat with 23 points. Pomona West Ranch was second with 99. Arroyo Grande finished third with 101.

Arroyo Grande’s boys finished sixth in their heat and did not advance. Hugo Gutierrez, however, moved on as an individual. He placed fourth in 15:38. The top six individuals in each race advanced.

Cullen Cali finished 11th for the Eagles. Teammates following were Dan Smith (27th), Trevor Cowan (47th) and Jose Corona (51st).

Santa Maria

The Saints were 14th out of 14 teams in their Division 2 heat. Still, “I thought we ran as well as we could run,” said Santa Maria coach Maurice Sipes.

The Saints were without Israel Ruvalcaba, their top runner. Sophomore Jose Morales led the Saints with a 44th-place finish. Teammates following were Cipriano Carmona (78th place), Javier Marcial (79th), Diego Ramos (89th) and Eriberto Onofre (98th).  

The Cabrillo boys and girls, and Lompoc boys and girls, squads all failed to advance. Team leaders included Joel Velazquez for the Cabrillo boys (12th place), Ashley Fabing for the Lompoc girls (32nd), Devon Bedell for the Cabrillo girls (41st) and Eduardo Morales for the Lompoc boys (69th).

November 14, 2009