Ventura County Star Sports

Rio Mesa High coach Bob Gregorchuk looked dejected again as he spoke to a reporter after Friday night's game. "We have got to stop meeting like this," he said. His team's tough luck continued, as Dos Pueblos scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to stun host Rio Mesa 30-22 and prevent the Spartans from notching their first win.

How does Phillip Muscarella celebrate his super Sweet 16? By making sure the Newbury Park High football team earned its first Marmonte League win of the season, 23-21, over visiting Royal Friday Night. The junior stemmed the Highlanders' early moment by reeling in a 70-yard Jake Geringer scoring strike.

Trailing 37-35 with 2:53 remaining and a stiff breeze blowing across the field, Moises Barrera kicked a 42-yard field goal to put host Pacifica ahead for good and the Tritons went on to capture a 38-37 victory over Santa Barbara in a non-league game Friday night.

Not merely balance, but big-play balance powers the Thousand Oaks High football team. The Lancers had four plays in the first half of 35 yards or longer — two delivered by running back John Lister and two more by the arm of quarterback Ian Shultis — and built a 24-point lead by halftime en route to a 38-14 victory over host Agoura High in their key Marmonte League contest Friday night.

The USC-Arizona State matchup was supposed to be the Pacific-10's game of the year. The way things have turned out, it's barely the conference's game of the week. No. 8 USC and the struggling Sun Devils, the Pac-10's co-champs last season and favorites heading into this one, meet today at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The loser will find itself in a huge hole in the conference race.

Last week Oregon visited a team that was coming off a demoralizing loss. Now it's the Ducks who are wounded and looking for retribution. Oregon (4-2, 2-1 Pacific-10), which got routed by USC 44-10 last Saturday, hosts UCLA tonight.

The ongoing stalemate between the Oxnard College and Moorpark College men's soccer teams continued Friday afternoon. Moorpark's Augie Cazarez canceled out the opener by Oxnard's Jonny Martinez as the Ventura County derby ended in a 1-1 draw for the third straight meeting.

Santa Paula High started out well in its homecoming game against Channel Islands, but held on for dear life before letting out a sigh of relief. Santa Paula led by three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but Channel Islands went down fighting, scoring two unanswered touchdowns before being stopped on its final drive as Santa Paula held on for a 27-21 win on Friday night.

Rex Winslow may have completed only two passes, but with both going for touchdowns it was plenty for the Buena High football team Friday night. The 17-0 win over visiting Hueneme (0-5) set up Buena (3-2) up for a meeting with St. Bonaventure (4-1) next week.

Todd Therrien thought it over. Twice. Changing his play selection, the St. Bonaventure High coach held his breath as Logan Meyer's 17-yard pass to Drew Gibson with 23 seconds left in the game was deflected in the end zone as Long Beach Poly, ranked No. 6 in the nation, held off one last desperation drive for a 12-7 win Friday night at Veteran's Stadium on the Long Beach City College campus.

Explosive! Overwhelming! A cast of thousands! And that was just the homecoming halftime show. Moorpark High tried to live up to the bar that was set by the intermission entertainment Friday night and accomplished that mission on both sides of the ball, beating Simi Valley 45-14.

After a tough loss in the final seconds last week, Westlake High rebounded quickly for its first Marmonte League victory of the season in a game that was never in doubt. Nick Isham used pinpoint passing to guide Westlake to a convincing 49-21 win over Calabasas at Calabasas High on Friday night.

As he addressed his team after its 12-7 loss to Long Beach Poly, St. Bonaventure coach Todd Therrien made it clear to his team that he was proud of its effort, even if there are no good losses or moral victories.

If the Texas-Oklahoma series were only about the sights, sounds and smells of their annual matchup at the Cotton Bowl, it would still be a lot of fun. It's special, though, because on top of a great environment there's a long tradition of high-caliber, high-stakes games — and today's should be a doozy.

Everywhere Brandon Hicks and his Florida Gators teammates turned this week, they saw replays of last year's demoralizing loss at LSU. In the weight room. In the training room. In the hallways. Everywhere.

North Carolina's decade-long rebuilding project finally is showing signs of traction, complete with the Tar Heels' first national ranking in seven years. The biggest thing missing right now for coach Butch Davis' club is a win against a big-name opponent.

As amazing as "Mannymania" has been for the denizens of Dodger Stadium the last two months, make no mistake about this: Manny Ramirez remains a villain to many baseball aficionados.