Gavin Gray leads Agoura football past Calabasas in Las Virgenes Cup

AGOURA HILLS — The Agoura football team took down Calabasas 31-17 to win its third straight Las Virgenes Cup over its bitter rival.

Agoura quarterback Gavin Gray conquered some demons from last year’s game against Calabasas when he broke his leg.

Gray led Agoura to victory Friday, finishing the game 24 of 36 passing for 290 yards with two touchdown passes and a touchdown run. Tyler Starling caught the two touchdown passes from Gray in the third quarter.

“It felt amazing to get the win, definitely a lot better being out there on the field than watching it from the sidelines,” Gray said. “We knew if we put points up after halftime and put pressure on them, it was over.”

On Agoura’s opening possession of the game, George Hastings had a 59-yard touchdown run. Hastings, who also led the Southern Section in tackles coming into the game, exited the game with a head injury in the first half after running the ball eight times for 82 yards and the one score.  Agoura’s defense also did a nice job in the first half, holding the Coyotes to only three points in the first two quarters and also doing a strong job on third and fourth downs.

Gray had a strong showing in the third quarter, finding Starling for the two touchdown passes and completing 9 of his 11 passes for 139 yards. Gray also had a 2-yard touchdown run with four minutes left in the game to give Agoura a 31-10 lead.

Starling finished the game with seven catches for 98 yards and the two scores, and also had a strong performance in the secondary. Gray’s other favorite target was Luke Bussiere, who finished with eight catches for 117 yards and had a strong performance on defense at safety for the Chargers.

“Ever since Gavin got here last year, we’ve been building a great connection,” Starling said. “Defensively, we kinda just stuck to what we knew and we all contributed together to win the game.”

The Agoura defensive line had five sacks and also batted down several balls. Ian Camiolo and Will Gelt each had two sacks.

“It wasn’t even our starting line. Actually, our starting nose tackle (Will Navarez) was sick, and all the guys really stepped up,” Gelt said. “We’ve been all hyped for this game and it’s one we needed to win.”

Agoura (2-2) also forced two turnovers on special teams, with Jonah Koehler blocking a punt to set up a field goal in the first half. In the fourth quarter, Calabasas muffed a punt that was recovered by Colton Powell to set up the drive where Gray ran in for a touchdown.

“Calabasas has always been our biggest rival, so this is obviously a really big win for us,” Agoura coach Dustin Croick said. “Gavin Gray is the best quarterback in our county not named Brady Smigiel. He’s a special kid and hopefully some colleges start to see that.”

Dezmyn Hardy finished the game with 11 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown for Calabasas (2-1). Kayne Miller ran the ball 13 times for 111 yards and a touchdown for Calabasas.

With the win, Agoura improved to 2-2 and now has a 29-8 all-time record in Las Virgenes Cup games against Calabasas. Agoura will travel to take on Buena next week and Calabasas will be on the road against Birmingham.