Valley Center earns No. 1 ranking in CIF Division IV football playoffsThe Valley Center varsity football team sent a statement to the rest of CIF Division IV with a huge win over Orange Glen in the final game of the regular season.
The Jaguars rolled to a 70–0 victory over the rival Patriots at home on Friday night to secure the No. 1 seed in the CIF Division IV playoffs. The Jags earned a bye for the first week of the playoffs and will host the winner of this week’s game between Palo Verde and Mission Bay on Nov. 26 at 7 p.m.
In the big win, Valley Center running back Travis Bernard pushed his rushing yardage for the season above the 2,000-yard mark, making him the just twelfth running back in the North County to exceed that total in CIF history.
Bernard, who was coming off a rough game last week at Del Norte in which he hurt his ankle, surpassed the 2,000-yard mark on an 84-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that put the Jaguars up by 21 early in the game.
Senior wide receiver/defensive back Taylor Oshinski also had a big game with three catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns on offense, as well as a pair of interceptions, one of which he returned for a 40-yard touchdown, on defense.
“Last week we came out really slow, but this week we knew we had to come out fired up,” he said. “And this week, with Travis injured, we knew we had to step up, especially on defense.”
The Jaguar defense posted its second consecutive shutout and its fourth of the season, thanks in part to Oshinski’s efforts. And even though both teams ran the same number of plays (36), the Jaguars gained a total of 531 yards on offense while holding the Patriots to just 55, including only three total rushing yards.
“We came out with great intensity,” said middle linebacker Martin Cunningham. “We weren’t playing asleep like we did against Del Norte. It’s a great feeling to get the shutout and the undefeated [regular] season. We just have to keep playing hard, keep practicing hard and come out ready to play.”
Valley Center scored on each of its ten possessions in the game, with the exception of a kneel-down to end the first half. Twice the Jaguars scored on only one play, once they scored on two plays, and the most plays they ran in a drive was nine.
The Jaguars started out with the first possession of the game, and promptly marched 64 yards down the field in six plays to score the game’s first touchdown. Quarterback Beau Reilly scampered 25 yards in for the score, putting Valley Center ahead just over two minutes into the game.
Defensive end Kenny Thomas recorded a sack on the Jags’ first play on defense, and the Patriots were forced to punt two plays later.
The Jaguars needed only two plays to score, as Reilly hit slot receiver David Last on a hitch that Last took almost all the way down the sideline before getting knocked out of bounds at the three-yard line. Bernard pounded the ball into the endzone on the next play to give the Jaguars a 14-point lead with 7:26 left in the first quarter.
Another three-and-out by the Patriots gave the ball back to the Jaguars, but they took over at their own 16 after an illegal block on the punt return.
The long field didn’t stop the Jags from getting another quick score, as Bernard exploded through the middle of the line and outran the defense down the left sideline for an 84-yard touchdown with exactly five minutes left in the first quarter.
Orange Glen couldn’t stem the overwhelming tide of Valley Center’s momentum and turned the ball over on an interception to Oshinski on the first play of the ensuing drive.
Another illegal block penalty on the Jaguars backed them up to the Orange Glen 45 after the interception. The Jags embarked on their longest drive of the night, covering the 45 yards in nine plays and scoring on a 22-yard pass from Reilly to Oshinski with ten seconds remaining in the first quarter. On the play, Reilly scrambled to his left to avoid the pressure and found Oshinski at the eight-yard line. As the receiver battled through five defenders to get to the goal line, the rest of the Jaguars came in and pushed him across for the score.
Three plays later, Oshinski was in the endzone again, this time after he picked off a third-down pass and returned it 40 yards for the score, putting the Jags up by 35 with exactly 11 minutes left in the second quarter.
The Patriots picked up a first down for the first time in the game on the ensuing possession, but the Jaguars held on the next three plays and forced another punt.
Taking over at their own 38, the Jags needed only five plays to drive the 62 yards for another touchdown. Bernard scored his second touchdown of the game on a 29-yard run that started out toward the sideline but cut back to the middle of the field for the easy score.
The Valley Center defense stepped up again on the next drive, nearly intercepting a pass on second down before picking up another sack by Thomas on third down to force a punt once again.
The Jags picked up a big chunk of yards on first down on a reverse run by Last that covered 41 yards. Two plays later, Reilly hit flanker Shonta Chaloux in the flat, and Chaloux barreled in for the touchdown to put the Jaguars up by 49 with just under four minutes left in the first half.
Orange Glen picked up another first down on the ensuing possession, but the Jaguars held once again and forced another punt. With only two seconds left in the first half, the Jags simply took a knee and went into the locker room ahead by 49.
Because of the lopsided score, the second half was played with a running clock, giving each team only three possessions each. The Patriots turned the ball over on downs on their first drive of the half, then punted on their final two drives.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars scored on a five-play, 59-yard drive on their first possession, capping the drive with a 25-yard catch and run by Oshinski for the touchdown.
The second drive covered 43 yards in four plays and ended with a three-yard touchdown plunge by Mike Rodriguez.
The final score came on another one-play drive, this time as Garrett Fiehler took the handoff and broke free for a 59-yard touchdown on what turned out to be the game’s final play.
“We didn’t play well last week to start, and we weren’t ready as a team,” said head coach Rob Gilster. “We knew we had to come out stronger this week, and this is how it looks.”
Despite the big win, Gilster admitted that he isn’t sure what to expect in the playoffs.
“This is a tough one—we’d like to have a little tougher of a contest to know a little bit more about where we are,” he said. “But the guys played well, and we’re going to rest and get them refreshed for the playoffs.”
The Jaguars have two weeks to rest up for the next game, but due to the Division IV playoff schedule, the teams that advance to the championship game will have to play three games in a span of 12 days.
The quarterfinals take place on Friday, Nov. 26, then the semifinal games take place on Thursday, Dec. 2 before the championship game is played at Qualcomm Stadium at 10 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 6.
