They say that revenge is a dish best served cold, and on a chilly Friday night, the Valley Center varsity football team dished out a heaping helping of retribution with an authoritative 52–0 win over Mission Bay in the second round of the CIF Division IV playoffs.
“After they beat us last year [in the Division IV championship game], we were pumped up to come out and get revenge,” senior running back Travis Bernard said. “We got our payback.”
Bernard carried the ball 25 times for 282 yards and five touchdowns, pushing his season yardage total to 2,335 yards, placing him 13th on the CIF San Diego Section all-time record list for rushing yards in a season. The current record of 2,974 was set by Dillon Baxter of Mission Bay in 2009, a season that culminated in a 384-yard rushing performance in a 48–17 win over Valley Center in last year’s CIF Division IV title game.
This year, Bernard and the Jaguars had no trouble moving the ball down the field in building a 28-point lead at halftime. Quarterback Beau Reilly had the passing game firing on all cylinders, as he completed eight of 11 passes for 140 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, only his third pick of the year and his first since Sept. 24 against Los Alamitos. The Jags spread the ball around in the passing game, as Reilly completed a pass to five different receivers. Taylor Oshinski hauled in four passes for 46 yards, while Bernard had one reception for 36 yards, David Last had one catch for 31 yards, Jean-Marc Brierre had one catch for 24 yards and Shonta Chaloux hauled in a three-yard touchdown reception.
Not only did the Jaguar offense have its way with the visiting Buccaneers, the Valley Center defense posted its third consecutive shutout, the unit’s fifth blanking of the season. The Jags got to the Mission Bay quarterback for five sacks in the game, took the ball away three times—once on a fumble and twice on downs—and held the Bucs to just 52 yards passing.
“We play as a team. We always play together,” said senior defensive end Kenny Thomas of the defensive success this season. “We’re always well-coached, and every game we know exactly what to expect.”
Mission Bay started off the game with a pair of first downs on the opening drive, but the Jags stepped up on defense and took the ball away when Thomas recovered a fumble at the Mission Bay 38.
From there, the Jaguars drove 62 yards in 11 plays to open the scoring on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Reilly. The drive included a key fourth-down conversion, on which Reilly picked up more than the necessary two yards with a quarterback draw to keep the drive alive.
The Buccaneers went three-and-out on their next series and the Jags took over at their own 39.
This time, Valley Center needed only three plays to score another touchdown. Reilly connected with Last for 31 yards on first down, then Bernard picked up a short gain on the second play before breaking free on a 28-yard touchdown run with just over three minutes left in the first quarter.
Thomas helped force another three-and-out by the Bucs with a big stop on third down, and the Jags took over after the punt was downed at the Valley Center 28.
Six plays later, the Jaguars had another touchdown, this time on a six-yard run by Bernard. The drive started with a holding penalty on Valley Center, but the Jags bounced right back on the ensuing play. Under pressure, Reilly managed to shovel the ball to Bernard for a 36-yard gain and a first down after the Jags faced first-and-20. After the score, the Jaguars led by 21 with less than a minute gone in the second quarter.
The Jags came up with a sack on the ensuing Mission Bay drive and forced another three-and-out, this time taking over at the Bucs’ 41.
Valley Center’s only mistake of the game came on the next play, as Reilly threw a deep ball for Last, but had it intercepted at the five yard line.
The Bucs could only pick up a single yard on the drive, however, and the Jags took over at midfield after the punt.
The Jaguars needed only five plays to score, this time getting a touchdown on a three-yard out pass from Reilly to Chaloux with just under seven minutes left in the second quarter. Bernard had two big runs on the drive, picking up 22 yards on the first play and gaining 25 more three plays later to set up the score.
Mission Bay embarked on its first lengthy drive of the game on the ensuing possession, as the Buccaneers picked up four first downs and drove 63 yards down to the Valley Center 17. But the Jaguars held on a fourth-down run and ran out the clock on the first half.
Valley Center received the second half kickoff, a failed onside attempt by the Buccaneers, at the Jags’ 43. From there, the Jaguars ran six plays to cover the 57 yards and scored on a six-yard run by Bernard with 8:39 left in the third quarter. Bernard carried the ball on four of the six plays, while the other two were completions to Oshinski, as the Jags efficiently moved the ball down the field.
Mission Bay responded with another long drive, as the Bucs ran 11 plays and covered 68 yards. But the Jaguars clamped down on defense once again and held on a fourth down conversion attempt to give the ball back to the offense on the Valley Center 12 yard line.
It only took four plays for the Jags to cover the length of the field, as Bernard escaped and weaved his way to a 70-yard gain on the second play of the drive, then punched it in on a 14-yard touchdown run two plays later.
The Buccaneers picked up a first down on the ensuing drive, despite a big sack by Stehly Reden, but the Jaguars held on the next three plays and forced another punt.
Reaching the end of the third quarter, the Jaguars brought Thomas in on offense to carry the ball.
“I was a little nervous,” he confessed with a smile after the game. “That was my first time running the ball in a game. But my brother came down today from San Francisco to visit, so I was excited to get out there and play.”
The bruising runner picked up 23 yards on three carries, including an 11-yard scamper to the outside on his second carry. Bernard came back in on the sixth play of the drive, and promptly escaped untouched for a 38-yard touchdown with just under ten minutes left in the game.
Mission Bay picked up another first down on its next drive, but a sack by Chaloux on third down forced another punt.
The Jags took over on their own 20, and with Garrett Fiehler in at running back, took the ball to the Mission Bay 30 before the drive stalled. Last came on to attempt a 49-yard field goal that fell short, but a penalty on the Bucs for running into the kicker gave the Jags another chance. Last connected with plenty of room to spare on a 44-yard field goal to close out the scoring.
The Jaguars held on another fourth down conversion attempt as the Buccaneers mounted a last-ditch scoring attempt, and Valley Center ran out the clock for the win.
“We played a physical game, and that’s the way we’ve got to play if we want to keep playing,” head coach Rob Gilster said. “We executed well, and [Bernard] is a hard runner. Our offensive line, especially [Brierre] at tight end, they did a great job staying disciplined with their blocks. That’s the beautiful thing about our offense; when it all works, Travis is going to get a lot of yards.
“And we played very good defense as well,” he added. “[Thomas, Chaloux and Last] all played hard tonight. When you play defense like that, it’s a lot of fun to be a coach.”
The big win moves the Jaguars into the semifinal round, where they will play Santa Fe Christian in Valley Center on Thursday night at 7 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to the championship game at Qualcomm Stadium the following Monday morning, Dec. 6, at 10 a.m.
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