Cobos Runs North and South to Lead 20-18 East Victory

MOORPARK — Wes Cobos ended last season helpless and shivering on the sidelines with an ankle injury, unable to keep Thousand Oaks from losing to Lompoc in the first round of the playoffs.

Cobos knew the lost opportunity could never be recaptured, but the Lancer running back put a brighter cap on his career Saturday in the Ventura Downtown Lion’s Club All-Star football game, leading the East to a 20-18 victory at Moorpark High.

Cobos scored the East’s first touchdown from 17 yards in the second quarter and finished off the West by breaking a 26-yard run with 1:34 to play. He had 80 yards in 12 carries.

“This was an opportunity to play with the best,” Cobos said. “I’d been holding this in for a long time. It felt great to play.”

Donald Thompson of Hueneme High and the West rushed for 137 yards in 18 carries and scored from eight yards with 1:38 to play to make the final moments interesting.

Fullback Henry Otineru of Hueneme bulled in for a two-point conversion that made the score 20-18, but Art Garcia of the East recovered an onside kick and Cobos broke his run and the backs of the West along with it.

“If we were smarter and stopped talking, we could have won,” said Russell Patton of Channel Islands, who rushed for 35 yards and added 49 yards receiving for the West.

The East’s key drive came on the first possession of the third quarter. With his team leading, 13-7, the East’s David Oviedo of Moorpark took a fumblerooski 67 yards for an apparent touchdown.

However, East coaches failed to inform officials of the play before the game and it was called back.

Undaunted, the East marched for a score in 10 conventional plays. Art Garcia of Moorpark rushed for 38 yards during the drive and scored on a seven-yard run for a 20-7 lead.

Matt Brown of Nordhoff kicked a 35-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to bring the West to within 10 points, and his team took advantage of an all-star rule allowing a team trailing by nine or more to receive a kickoff after scoring.

A sack by Brian Montesanto of Royal thwarted the West’s momentum, however.

The East won for the fifth consecutive year and ninth in 11 games.

“This was a chance to go all out one more time in our high school uniforms and have fun,” said Garrett Lepisto of Agoura and the East, who caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Tim Bird of Simi Valley in the second quarter.

The West chewed up 78 yards and 9:26 on the opening drive, using 16 consecutive running plays to take a 7-0 lead on a three-yard run by Patton.

Punter Kevin Mack of Rio Mesa made the key play early in the drive, running 18 yards on fourth and 16 from the West 26-yard line. Patton had 26 yards and Thompson added 25 during the march.

After running only two plays in the first quarter, the East went 65 yards in eight plays to tie the score with 8:18 left in the half.

Nick Czernek of Newbury Park hit Lepisto, Noah Happe of Simi Valley and Dan Schneider of Oak Park with completions of 15 to 20 yards and Cobos took a counter 17 yards for the touchdown.