Oxnard Ground Game Steamrollers Westlake

Speed kills. Or, in this case, speed puts a game out of reach in a hurry.

Oxnard High, working out of the wishbone offense, rushed for 343 yards and 3 first-half touchdowns to bury Westlake, 26-0, in a nonleague football game Thursday at Thousand Oaks High.

The Yellowjackets ran the ball just 28 times but averaged 12.3 yards a carry.

Asked the last time he had seen such speed, Westlake Coach Contreras said, deadpan: “I was at the state track meet last year, and Hawthorne looked pretty fast.”

Here are the numbers. Quarterback Johnel Turner, 8 carries for 120 yards, 1 touchdown; fullback Bryan Taylor, 10 for 98, 1 touchdown; halfback James Gaston, 4 for 86, 1 touchdown; halfback Landry Wofford, 6 for 39. All are juniors except for Wofford, a senior.

Contreras has said that this is his fastest team in years, but the Warriors were no match for Oxnard. Westlake gained 204 yards in total offense compared to Oxnard’s 379. Warrior quarterback Todd Preston was sacked 5 times and tackled for a loss 10 times.

Preston, a sophomore who won the job outright this week, passed for 95 yards, completing 9 of 16 passes. Westlake halfback Keith Burke rushed for 58 yards--all in the first half. He sat out the second half because of a bruised shoulder.

By then, the game was all but over--Oxnard’s scoring was fast and furious in the first half.

The Yellowjackets drove 63 yards in 5 plays on their first possession. Turner scored from 18 yards, set up by runs of 15 and 30 yards by Bryan Taylor on the first two plays. Ed Toraya, who was to miss his next two attempts, made the point-after for a 7-0 lead only 1:53 into the game.

Late in the same quarter, James Gaston went through the middle and down the left sideline for a 55-yard touchdown. It came one play after he broke off a 20-yard run and made the score 13-0 with 2:52 left.

Oxnard struck again with 1:53 remaining in the half. The Yellowjackets went 76 yards in 4 plays, the final 11 on Taylor’s off-tackle run. Turner had runs of 17 and 38 yards in the drive. It was 19-0 at halftime.

In the third quarter, Turner passed to tight end Bobby Patterson for an 18-yard touchdown. Toraya hit the extra point for a 26-0 lead with 7:47 left.