West Ranch football drops opener to Oxnard Pacifica

VALENCIA – The West Ranch football team came into its season opener against Oxnard Pacifica looking to get the year started on the right foot.

The Wildcats couldn’t notch their first victory though, losing to a strong Pacifica team 42-6 on Friday night.

Running back Luke DePerno was a standout for West Ranch, as he scored the team’s only touchdown in the defeat and rushed for over 130 yards on the night.

But his 62-yard run up the left sideline proved to be just one highlight against a fast Pacifica defense, and West Ranch wasn’t able to sustain a consistent offensive attack.

For DePerno’s part, the senior said that the loss could send a message to the team as they look ahead.

“It’s a wake-up call that we need to lock in for next week,” DePerno said after the game. “We got a lot of work ahead and we gotta work on the things where we’re weak at. We got film tomorrow so we’ll take a look at that and, yeah, we just gotta get better.”

West Ranch’s defense couldn’t contain Pacifica wide receiver Savion Taylor in the open field as the senior scored four touchdowns.

This season was going to be a year of change for West Ranch.

Quarterback Liam McDaniel transferred to Colony High School after last season and West Ranch lost key receivers to graduation.

With that perspective in mind, West Ranch head coach Chris Varner took a big-picture view postgame.

“Playing a solid team like that that does a lot of good things shows us what we need to work on. And we still got nine more games left so we’re just gonna look ahead.”

Junior Cooper Jackson started at quarterback for West Ranch, and he looked shaky in his first varsity start.

He threw two interceptions and was off target at times during the contest, but he did find his footing somewhat later in the game.

Varner acknowledged the difficulties that Jackson had, but he also showed belief in the young quarterback.

“It’s his first varsity game against a very quality team. Made a few mistakes but that’s to be expected in that situation. We have a lot of faith in him moving forward. Just praise what he did right and correct some mistakes for him, but that’s what happens.”

After opening their season with a difficult test at home, West Ranch will go on the road to Cleveland next Friday, while Pacifica will play Oxnard at home.