On a foggy Friday night in Valley Center that obscured the visiting team’s sideline, the Jaguars had no trouble finding their way to the endzone en route to a 59–0 blowout win over San Marcos.
As Valley Center celebrated Homecoming, the Jags scored six touchdowns in the first half, including a long scoring run on their first play from scrimmage. The quick strike set the tone for the rest of the game, and the Valley Center defense hounded the San Marcos offense all night in recording its second shutout of the season.
Senior running back Travis Bernard, the leading rusher in the North County so far this season, added to his totals with 192 yards on 20 carries, four of which went for touchdowns. The diminutive runner has played like a giant in leading the Jags to a 7–0 start, amassing more than 1,300 yards and scoring 20 touchdowns on the ground.
Quarterback Beau Reilly completed six of nine passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns, while Taylor Oshinski led the Jaguar receivers with three catches for 79 yards and a score. Also adding to the Valley Center rushing totals were Garrett Fiehler, who had nine carries for 98 yards and a touchdown, and Michael Rodriguez who added six carries for 39 yards and a touchdown.
Going into the game, the Jaguars had earned the No. 1 ranking in CIF Division III South, according to Cal-Hi Sports. After this week’s big win, the Jaguars are now ranked at No. 6 in the entire CIF San Diego Section and No. 32 in the state, according to MaxPreps.com.
“It’s not fun to win like that; I’ve been on the other side of this kind of game,” head coach Rob Gilster said after the game. “Our guys have been playing well, but a game like this is hard because we don’t really know what just happened. Did we do the things we were supposed to do, or did we just run into a team that’s struggling, or was it both? We’ve got Mount Carmel and Orange Glen coming up, and those are two programs that are getting better. We can’t do much about who we’re playing, but we’ve got to keep getting better every week.”
Things couldn’t have started much better for the Jaguars in the first quarter, as they stuffed San Marcos on a fourth down conversion attempt on the first series of the game.
A few seconds later, the Jags were on the scoreboard after a 54-yard touchdown run by Bernard on Valley Center’s first play from scrimmage. On the play, Bernard simply ran to his left, through the gaping hole in the line, side-stepped a diving defender and escaped untouched on his way to the endzone.
The Jags forced a three-and-out on defense on the next San Marcos drive, including a big sack by linebacker Zach Blanco, and the resulting punt gave the ball back to the offense at the Valley Center 48.
This time, the Jaguars needed six plays to drive 52 yards for the touchdown, which came on a play-action pass to Kenny Thomas for the score. Reilly hung in the pocket and took a hit as he let go of the pass, but he delivered the ball on target. Thomas reached up and tipped the ball to himself, juggled it twice, but held on to give the Jags a 14-point lead with just over six minutes gone in the game.
Another three-and-out by the Knights resulted in a punt that moved the Jaguars back to their own 35. But the Jags covered the 65 yards in just five plays, scoring the third touchdown of the game on a beautiful 40-yard bomb from Reilly to Oshinski. Once again, Reilly stood tall in the face of the oncoming rush and delivered a perfect pass to Oshinski streaking down the left sideline.
Trailing by 21 with just over a minute left in the first quarter, the Knights nearly got the big play they desperately needed to get back into the game. On the first play of the ensuing drive, San Marcos completed a long pass down the sideline for what appeared to be an 80-yard touchdown. But the play was called back on an offensive pass interference penalty, and the Knights never seemed to recover. Two plays later, Jaguar linebacker Stehly Reden intercepted a pass and returned it to the San Marcos 22 to set the Jags up in great field position.
Four plays later, the Jaguars were celebrating another touchdown, as Bernard ran it in from eight yards out to put Valley Center ahead 28–0 with just over 11 minutes left in the second quarter.
The Knights couldn’t get anything going on their next drive, and, feeling the desperation of the quickly-expanding Jaguar lead, went for it on fourth and one, only to come up short again.
The Jags took over at the San Marcos 29, and three plays later, had another touchdown on the scoreboard. Bernard scored for the third time in the game on a two-yard run, putting the Jaguars up 35–0 with just over eight minutes left before halftime.
The Knights picked up a quick first down on the next series, but couldn’t gain anymore yards and punted, sending the Jags back to their own 33.
From there, Valley Center relied on the running of backup tailback Fiehler, who carried the ball on three of the drive’s four plays, including a 53-yard touchdown run. On the play, Fiehler took the handoff on the draw, bolted through the middle of the defense and simply outran the defenders to the endzone.
The Jaguars made one more big play on defense before the half, as they forced a fumble that was recovered by Dylan Smith at the Knights’ 45 late in the second quarter.
From there, Fiehler had three carries in a five-play drive that ended with David Last kicking a 44-yard field goal to give Valley Center an incredible 45–0 lead at halftime.
The Jaguars ran only 28 plays on offense in the first half and racked up 245 rushing yards before the break. Bernard ran for 141 yards on only ten carries, and scored three rushing touchdowns in the first half.
Meanwhile, the Jaguar defense held San Marcos to only four first downs in the first half, while racking up two stops on fourth down, a fumble recovery, an interception and two sacks before halftime.
Playing the second half with a running clock, due to the lopsided score, the Jaguars had only three offensive possessions and scored touchdowns on the first two.
On the opening drive of the half, Reilly led the offense on a 12-play, 80-yard drive for a touchdown, scored on a six-yard run by Bernard with just under six minutes left in the third quarter.
The Knights went three-and-out on their first possession of the half, and the Jags responded with a seven-play touchdown drive that spanned 52 yards. Rodriguez saw the bulk of the action on the drive, as he carried the ball five times for 34 yards, including a ten-yard touchdown run to cap the drive and the scoring for the Jags in the game.
Afterwards, the 2010 Homecoming king Nico Carrasco expressed how excited he was to win the crown and win the game.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” he said of the Homecoming honor. “I thought Stehly [Reden] was going to win, but it’s a great feeling.
“We were able to get ahead by a lot just by doing what we do,” he added about the big win. “And when we make a mistake [on defense], our coaches are right there to call us out and make sure we know our assignments. We just have to stay focused and give it a hundred percent in practice like we do every week.”
Middle linebacker Martin Cunningham added that the defense has been playing so well because the coaches keep the players in the right spot.
“There were a lot of times when we would do the assignments right, but sometimes we missed a few,” he said. “We’ve got a lot to work on in practice, but that’s what championship teams do—work hard. It feels good to be undefeated, but now we just have to get back to the film room to try and figure out what [Mt. Carmel does] on offense.”
The 7–0 Jaguars travel to Mt. Carmel on Friday to take on the Sundevils. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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