Western stays grounded, beats Sunny Hills
November 20th, 2008, 11:48 pm · · posted by OCVARSITY.COM
By LOU PONSI
OCVarsity
ANAHEIM – The Western High football team kept the ball on the ground almost exclusively in a 38-15 victory over Sunny Hills in a CIF-SS Southwest Division first-round playoff game Thursday at Western High.
Ruben Ortega carried 18 times for 134 yards and a touchdown, and Mookie Cooksie ran for 134 yards and a score on 16 carries to lead the Pioneers ground attack.
Cooksie also had three receptions for 70 yards and two touchdowns.
The Pioneers (9-2) face the winner of Saturday’s Trabuco Hills-Valencia contest in the second round.
“We try not to complicate it things too much” Western coach Toby Howell said. “For the most part, we are pretty pleased … it was a good first-round win. We try to get better as we go on.”
After Western stopped the Lancers (6-4) on the game’s first drive, Cooksie’s 10-yard scoring run capped a 12-play 80-yard drive giving Western a 7-0 lead.
Ruben Ortega’s 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter upped the lead to 14-0.
Sunny Hills faced second-and-goal from the 10 with two seconds left in the first half, but instead of attempting what would have been a 27-yard field goal, the Lancers tried to catch the Pioneers off guard with a fake. However, Kurt Deutschman’s run went for a 1-yard loss.
Ortega then scored on a 1-yard run, giving Western a 24-0 lead with 7:00 left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing possession, Sunny Hills drove 80 yards and scored on a 1-yard run by Brett Trump.
Any hopes of a comeback were dashed when quarterback Derek Orman tossed fourth-quarter touchdown passes of 15 and 32 yards to Cooksie.
“You’ve got to be able to pass a little bit if you want to move on,” Howell said.
Sunny Hills quarterback Johnny Nguyen completed 12 of 22 passes for 144 yards. The Lancers finished third in the Freeway League and made the playoffs for the first time in four years.
The Lancers went 1-8 overall and 0-4 in league in 2007.
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How does a 6-04 team even make it the playoffs? They need to change the CIF system to exclude teams that don’t belong there, like Sunny Hills.
Stephen is totally right! Change the system so no one can go to playoffs unless they are undefeated or meet the minimum “Stephen standards” – that way we’ll know who “belongs.” Thanks Stephen, because sending the top three league teams just makes no sense. Plus, Stephen finds looking at the 8 box scores from the Southwest division overwhelming. We should try to help him, life is difficult for Stephen.
hey stephan , how bought we send the whole orange league,since your so competitive, not and it looks like sunny hills played you as tough as sa valley who could have beat you except for to plays.
Stephen….Shame on you for that comment!!!! Who are you to say who goes to the playoffs and who doesn’t.
What are you afraid of, a little team that has a 6-4 record? What would of you been saying if there was an upset. Would you of been slamming Western with there record and saying they shouldn’t of gone to the playoffs.
The Sunny Hills team worked there tails off to take 3 place in there league and they disserved every bit of respect as other teams that had a winning record to play in the post season.
People like you don’t really understand much about high school football and what it means to players on teams like Sunny Hills and others that work there tails off to have a winning record and have that opportunity to advance. Every one of the senior boys on that team ended there football career last night and now they can look back on there memories and achievements of there 2008 season with pride. People like you are just selfish and just want the elite to succeed. Sunny Hills did not win there first round game but they did succeed as a team. Congratulations to Sunny Hills.
By the way Steve Fryer named Sunny Hills as the most improved team in Orange County.
Stephen have a clue before you make statements like that again. I’m sorry for that, I meant you are clueless.
Great Job! Sunny Hills on your season. Class Act on the field and off. Don’t worry too much about guys like Stephen. Guys like him, like too shoot their mouth off and hide behind their computers.
From an Indian fan –
Very proud of Sunny Hills this year! Way to go boys! You guys are going o be a handful next year!
Nothing AT ALL to be ashamed of, from where you were last year, to this year is phenomenal!
Let’s look at the facts; Sunny Hills earned the right to play another week of football. While other schools in the league turned in their gear last week, Sunny Hills got back on the field and practiced. Then they got to play another game.
This extra practice make Sunny Hills an even better team by giving them the necessary game and practice experience.
Besides, we need 8 teams and Sunny Hills had a good enough season to compete.
Want to talk about Foothill and Pacifica too?
HAHAHA! western still own
I would of like to see sunny hills vs magnolia