The morning of his team’s Avocado League football opener against eighth-ranked El Camino High School, Torrey Pines football coach Scott Ashby was succinct in assessing his defense.
“I think we play really, really hard,” Ashby said. “And we’re disciplined. We play together on the defensive side, for sure.”
The Falcons will get no argument from El Camino. The Wildcats came in averaging 32 points but were shut down by the Falcons as Torrey Pines played stubborn on the defensive side, the key to a 7-6 home win at Ed Burke Field.
Torrey Pines forced three turnovers, racked up four sacks and didn’t allow a touchdown until 1 minute, 14 seconds remained in the game.
While the game was not a work of art, an emotional Ashby let his players know how much the win meant when addressing the team after the game.
“I’m not that good in math,” Ashby said. “But seven is more than six.”
Torrey Pines, which won its last game 3-0 over Rancho Bernardo, improved to 3-3, 1-0 in the Avocado League. El Camino fell to 4-2, 0-1.
Later, Ashby said of his defenders, “I think our defense flew around. We took advantage of mistakes. We hit for four quarters. We always play great defense on this campus, and the kids are holding up that tradition.”
The game was scoreless until the final play of the third quarter when Torrey Pines sophomore quarterback Blake Miller, playing his first varsity game, threw a 3-yard touchdown to Zac Barger. Cole Loizu’s PAT proved to be the difference in the game.
Miller’s first varsity TD was anything but routine. He looked up just before receiving the shotgun snap and had the ball hit him in the chest and fall to the ground.
His thoughts with the ball on the ground?
“Get it up, get it out and find somebody open,” said Miller.
Calmly, Miller spotted Barger in the front corner of the end zone. Miller finished eight of 15 for 142 yards, the TD and one interception,
Torrey Pines’ defense turned back El Camino drives that reached the Falcons’ 25, 23 and 11.
“We fly to the ball,” said linebacker Kevin Jackson, who had two sacks. “That’s what we teach around here. Hats to the ball.”
With 3:07 to play in the game, El Camino took possession at the 20. Junior quarterback Gavin Wasserman, who started his first varsity game last week, was brilliant on the drive, completing six of eight (a spike to stop the clock was one of the incompletions) for 80 yards. He capped the drive by hitting Jathan Bejarano for a 26-yard TD deep in the end zone with 1:14 to play.
Bejarano, who caught the winning TD a week ago against Oceanside with one second to play, spiked the ball after running out of the end zone and was assessed a 15-yard penalty. Rather than a 20-yard PAT, the attempt came from 35 yards and was short.
After stopping Torrey Pines on downs, El Camino had one last shot to win. The Wildcats advanced the ball to the Falcons’ 41, but fittingly the game was clinched with Torrey Pines’ third forced turnover, Chase Oleksy intercepting a .
Oleksy said when the ball was in the air, he was thinking he’d just swat it down. But the sailed past the receiver, Oleksy caught it, then sprinted down the sideline about 15 yards before intentionally collapsing to the turf with four seconds to play.
“When I was running (with the ball), I was thinking, ‘Am I going to crib it? (Return the pick into the end zone), ’ ” said the safety. “I said, ‘No, I’ve got to get down.’ ”
He threw his body to the turf in a classic baseball slide, and soon the Falcons were celebrating their upset victory.
Norcross is a freelance writer.
AVOCADO LEAGUE
Torrey Pines 7, El Camino 6
El Camino 0 0 0 6 — 6
Torrey Pines 0 0 7 0 — 7
TP – Barger 3 from Miller (Loizu kick)
EC – Bejarano 26 from Wasserman (kick failed)
