Thousand Oaks football takes control early in rout of Agoura

AGOURA – The Thousand Oaks High School football team set the tone against Agoura right away in Friday night’s 37-20 win at Frank Greminger Stadium.

The Lancers (2-1) jumped out a 7-0 lead on their first play from scrimmage. After a return to midfield, junior running back Justin Lewis took a first down carry 50 yards for a touchdown.

“That play was a total key breaker for us,” said Thousand Oaks coach Ben McEnroe. “We had been running the same play out of the same formation, but to the other side. We thought we might be able to exploit that and it worked out really well for us.”

Lewis racked up 101 rushing yards on eight first-quarter carries. Lewis finished with 192 rushing yards on 17 rush attempts. He scored three times in the win and had a pair of catches for 23 yards.

“He’s versatile,” McEnroe said. “Aside from being a talented running back, he’s an outstanding receiver out of the backfield. We’ve thrown to the backs more than any time in my coaching career. He’s also a willing pass blocker. Those three things together? That’s a big time back.”

The Chargers (2-1) didn’t need long to tie the game, thanks to some efficient passing from junior quarterback Gavin Gray. On the ensuing drive he went 3-for-4 passing for 68 yards. He finished 17 of 27 passing, throwing for 283 yards in the

Gray tossed a 5-yard score to senior Brady Dieffenbach to knot the score at 7. Dieffenbach was his top target throughout, finishing with 8 catches for 131 yards.

The teams remained tied at 7 through the end of the first quarter but Thousand Oaks scored on the first play of the second quarter. Cory McEnroe took a snap out of a wildcat formation and ran it for a 5-yard touchdown – the first of two scores for one of the Lancers most important players.

“He’s a real student of the game and the types of plays he makes, he gets people fired up,” said McEnroe. “Including me.”

The Lancers added a field goal later in the quarter from Ryan Leff to take a 16-7 lead into halftime.

Agoura came away with a pair of first-half interceptions that helped keep them in this one. Senior Connor Luebke had one to stall a first-quarter drive and Luke Bussiere intercepted a would-be touchdown in the end zone with one second remaining before half.

The Thousand Oaks defensive line controlled the trenches throughout, helping force a pair of interceptions by Zachary Kochel.

“It starts with pressure,” said McEnroe. “We had their quarterback running backwards and checking the ball down. Zach made some nice plays. When you can keep a quarterback guessing and keep a quarterback off balance, you’re going to have some chances in the secondary. Our secondary played great today.”

Agoura got a second-half receiving touchdown from Connor Luebke and a rushing score from Giacamo Likavec in the losing effort.