Thousand Oaks football edges El Modena in Division 4 playoff

THOUSAND OAKS – For two schools that are more than 80 miles apart and in two separate counties, the Thousand Oaks and El Modena football teams have become quite familiar with each other, playing three times over the last year with both teams winning one game each prior to Friday’s game.

The first game between the two teams was last year in the first round of the Division 5 playoffs when Thousand Oaks won and the teams also played in Week 0 of this season where El Modena won in overtime.

Thousand Oaks won the grudge match tonight in the Division 4 quarterfinals 21-14, with their running back Justin Lewis scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to clinch the victory. Lewis finished the game with 30 carries for 142 yards and the two scores.

“It’s a great win. We lost to them Week 1 in a tough game,” Lewis said. “I thought tonight we played a lot better than in Week 1 and I just always kept running my feet.”

The Thousand Oaks defense delivered a strong effort in the game, holding El Modena to only 227 total yards of offense and grabbing two interceptions. The Lancers also had three sacks on El Modena’s very elusive quarterback and UC Davis commit Xzavior Guess.

The Lancer defense did a nice job containing Guess, who came into the contest with 1,232 rushing yards this season. Guess finished the game 10 carries for 40 yards and a 22-yard touchdown run in the first half. Guess also left with a little bit under four minutes left in the game with an injury.

Neither team was able to get much going offensively in the first half with the lone score for either team coming on the Guess run. The Guess score on El Modena’s first possession after Isaac Perez recovered an El Modena onside kick to open the game.

Thousand Oaks responded with a 14-play drive to the red zone on its first possession, but was stopped on a fourth down play. On Thousand Oaks’ second possession, Jackson Taylor threw an interception to Connor Smith of El Modena, but the Vanguards didn’t capitalize.

Thousand Oaks tied the game 7-7 when Taylor found Luke Sullivan on a 55-yard touchdown pass in the middle of the third quarter. El Modena answered when Guess found Smith on a 39-yard touchdown pass for a 14-7 lead after three quarters.

“It felt great to get the score. To put points on the board is always fun, especially in a game like tonight when they’re really needed.” Sullivan said.

Thousand Oaks tied the game 14-14 with a little under four minutes remaining when Lewis scored his first touchdown of the night from 11 yards out. On the possession following the Lewis score, Guess went down with an injury and was replaced by Ethan Sorenson for the Vanguards.

Following a Vanguard three-and-out with Sorenson under center, Thousand Oaks got good field position at the El Modena 37 following a tipped punt by Sullivan. Four plays after the blocked punt, Lewis punched it in with a little over a minute left in the game to give the Lancers a 21-14 lead. El Modena couldn’t get anything going on the final possession and their last offensive play resulted in a Thousand Oaks interception by Sullivan to clinch the victory.

Thousand Oaks will now host Pacifica next week in the Division 4 semifinals.

“I’m so proud of our kids. We didn’t panic. Our defense kept us around and kept them out of the end zone,” Thousand Oaks coach Ben McEnroe said. “This game was polar opposite compared to the other two games we played with them and I thought we did a great job running it between the tackles.”

Taylor finished the game 11 of 21 passing for 134 yards with a touchdown pass and an interception for Thousand Oaks. Hayden Vercher had three catches for 48 yards and Brady Beck had an interception for Thousand Oaks.