Newbury Park and St. Bonaventure overcame obstacles to stay tied for first place in the Marmonte League football race with wins on Saturday, Oct. 17.
The Panthers scored the first 21 points of a 42-17 victory at Simi Valley on Saturday afternoon.
The Seraphs scored three straight touchdowns in the second half to break open a 33-17 over visiting Oaks Christian on Saturday afternoon.
Both games were originally scheduled Friday night, postponed due to public safety power shutoffs associated with red flag warnings.
The Oaks Christian game had to be moved from Ventura College onto St. Bonaventure’s Telegraph Road campus. It may have been St. Bonaventure’s first varsity game on campus.
More: Check out all the scores from Week 8 in high school football
“As far as I can tell,” said St. Bonaventure athletic director Raul Camacho. “I asked grads from the ‘70s and ‘80s. They said never.”
Newbury Park 42, Simi Valley 17
Darrien Johnson scored twice and the Panthers defense provided the afternoon’s pivotal play as the Panthers improved to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the Marmonte League with the road win.
Tyler Stromsoe and Johnson had 2-yard TD runs as Newbury Park built an early 14-0 lead.
“I thought we did a really good job up front on both sides,” Newbury Park head coach Joe Smigiel said. “I thought our (offensive) line played fantastic. We had a lot of time to throw. We ran the ball well. We didn’t turn the ball over.”
More: Fillmore football snaps Royal unbeaten streak in shutout victory
Simi Valley, playing without star running back Sal Villa, was on the cusp of answering in the red zone, when Charlie Ward delivered a strip sack and Emmett Boyce retuned the loose ball 74 yards for a 21-0 lead.
Former Simi Valley quarterback Aiden Tasci hit Justin Bindelglass for a 25-yard TD pass. Backup Brodie Scheinberg hit Johnson with a 25-yard TD pass and Christian Guzman with a 24-yard TD pass.
Quarterback Connor Petrov threw a 15-yard TD pass to Gunnar Schmid and ran for a 16-yard TD for Simi Valley (4-4, 0-3), which now faces a huge game Thursday at Bishop Diego on a short week.
Newbury Park will travel to Oaks Christian this Friday.
St. Bonaventure 33, Oaks Christian 17
Jaxson Carper threw for three TDs and ran for another as St. Bonaventure (6-2) improved to 3-0 in Marmonte League play.
More: Del Sol christens new stadium with win to highlight Week 8 action
Carper ran for a 15-yard TD run and found Jamonie Lewis for a 6-yard TD pass as the Seraphs build an early 14-7 lead.
Leading 14-10 at the half, Carper hit Antonio Spann with scoring strikes of 18 and 35 yards as St. Bonaventure built a 26-10 third-quarter lead.
Tony Dargan’s 5-yard TD run put the game away in the fourth quarter for the Seraphs, who can now focus this Friday night’s showdown at Pacifica.
Oaks Christian coach Rudy Carlton said there was a decisive winner in the matchup of two of the best lines in the area.
“They’re a really good football team,” said Carlton. “I don’t want to take anything away from that. They’ve got a really good roster. I was impressed with their skill. They’ve got a couple guys that can go 90 any play, that terrify you.
“I felt like up front they controlled the point of attack. When you don’t control the point of attack, it leads to busted plays and turnovers.”
Cody Bird’s TD pass to Xavier Burkett pulled Oaks Christian within 7-7 in the second quarter. Chase Evans returned a late kickoff for a TD for the Lions.
More: Late Westlake flurry ends Channel League stalemate at Ventura
Two empty red-zone trips doomed the Lions (1-7), who fell to 1-2 in Marmonte League play and now need to beat Newbury Park this Friday and Bishop Diego in Week 10 to make the playoffs.
Pacifica 49, Bishop Diego 24
Taylor Lee completed 6 of 8 passes for 133 yards and four touchdowns as the Tritons enjoyed a bounce-back game Friday night in Santa Barbara.
“We needed it,” said Pacifica coach head Mike Moon. “Although it doesn’t feel that way, defensively.”
Isaiah Phelps had a 69-yard TD run on his only carry, Alijah Royster had a 49-yard run on his only carry and Jamarcus Harmon also had a long TD run as Pacifica, one week after suffering a league loss at Newbury Park, built a 35-10 halftime lead.
Will Jones had two TD catches and Anthony Jacobs and Royster also had TD catches for the Tritons (6-2), who host St. Bonaventure this Friday.
Joe Curley covers football for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter/X, Instagram/Threads, Facebook, Bluesky and TikTok.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Newbury Park, St. Bonaventure stay unbeaten in Marmonte football play