Sports Highlights

Hillcrest Christian Beats Valley Christian 56-6 as Dustin

Travers Rushes For 243 Yards and 5 Touchdowns

The Hillcrest Christian School Eagles, behind its powerful running game, defeated the Valley Christian Academy Lions 56-6 in an 8-man football game on Saturday September 22 nd to increase its undefeated record to 3-0. This is the best start for Hillcrest in its young four-year-old football program led by Head Coach Gene Uebelhardt.

The Eagles scored five touchdowns in the first quarter resulting in a 38-0 lead and allowing plenty of playing time for the backup Hillcrest football players. After a full day of showers, the game started at 5:30 pm and ended without a drop of rain falling on the football field during the whole contest.

The game started with Hillcrest kicking off to Valley Christian as senior Michael Garcia's kick traveled 45 yards to the Valley Christian 5 yard line, without a return. After junior defensive back Jason Lang broke up a Valley Christian pass, senior nose guard Ryan Ashley sacked the quarterback for a one-yard loss. A no-gain run on the next play by Valley Christian led to a punt by the Lions to Hillcrest. This series was indicative of the game as this strong defense by the Eagles continued throughout the balance of the game.

The Eagles first offensive series began on their own 33-yard line. As the Hillcrest ball boy, Robert Rosenfeld, a Hillcrest six grader, returned to the Hillcrest sidelines after having given the game ball to the referees for the Eagles first series of downs, he had a wide smile on his face - A smile so wide that it seemed he knew what was going to transpire on the playing field during the first quarter of play. Hillcrest then proceeded to score five touchdowns in their next five offensive series during the first quarter.

The first offensive series for Hillcrest began with a 6 yard run by senior running back Dustin Travers, followed by a powerful 32 yard run by senior 220 pound running back Michael Garcia to the Lions 9 yard line, then an 8 yard run by Travers to the Lions 1 yard line and finally, a beautifully executed fake handoff quarterback sneak touchdown by senior quarterback Preston Furukawa.

After limiting the Valley Christian offense to one net yard on the next series, Hillcrest took over at midfield with 8:01 left in the first quarter. It took only three plays to get the ball into the end zone as Travers ran for 23 yards, Garcia ran 9 yards and finally Travers scored on an 8 yard run. Sophomore running back Nick Ramos scored the PAT 2 point conversion on a run to the right side.

The next Valley Christian offensive series was halted by a quarterback sack for a 1 yard loss by defensive end Nick Ramos at the Lions 34 yard line. After the punt, it only took Hillcrest one offensive play to score as Dustin Travers ran 54 yards for the touchdown on the first play in the series. Preston Furukawa scored on the 2 point PAT conversion with a run down the middle.

After stopping the Lions in only 3 plays again, the Hillcrest offense took over at midfield with only 15 seconds left in the first quarter. Nick Ramos ran for 10 yards, and then on the next play senior fullback Ryan Ashley broke about 5-6 tackles on his way to a powerful 31 yard touchdown run that started in the middle of the line and ended on the left sidelines by the time he reached the goal line. Ramos scored the 2-point PAT conversion on a run.

Valley Christian's Stoddard scored on a 3 yard run with 4:54 left in the second quarter followed by another long touchdown run, this time 60 yards, by Hillcrest's Dustin Travers and an 18 yard run down the middle by Hillcrest's Ryan Ashley.

The game was called with 8:41 minutes left in the third quarter due to the mercy rule after Travers scored again on a 29 yard run. The backup Hillcrest players got plenty of playing time as many were inserted with about 2 minutes left in the first quarter. The backfield trio of freshman running back Jose Sermeno, sophomore running back Chris Tigmo and sophomore quarterback Christian Villasenor combined for a net 21 yards on 10 carries.

The stingy Hillcrest defense limited the Lions to 2 first downs and only 56 total offensive yards, all of them rushing yards, as all six pass attempts were foiled by the Eagles. The defense was led by the powerful tackling of senior linebackers Nick Dougherty and Preston Furukawa, who led the team in tackles with 8 each. Hillcrest sacked the quarterback 6 times for a loss of 22 yards. The players involved in the sacks were defensive ends Nick Ramos and Raffi Aghvinian, nose guard Ryan Ashley and linebacker Michael Garcia.

Many of the rushing yards were obtained with the excellent blocking of offensive linemen Wyatt Carpenter, Nick Dougherty and Daniel Owens, as well as receivers Raffi Aghvinian and Leo Noya. Overall, Dustin Travers had another career game as he rushed for 243 yards and 5 touchdowns, both personal and school bests and accomplished on only 8 carries. Ryan Ashley rushed for 59 yards and 2 touchdowns on only 3 carries. Michael Garcia Rushed for 41 yards and scored on a 2 point PAT conversion. Preston Furukawa rushed for 26 yards on only 2 carries, but had 25 of those yards taken away due to a penalty. He also scored a touchdown and a 2 point PAT conversion. Nick Ramos scored on 2 PAT conversions. The team rushed for 382 yards in total, as the school continues to lead the state in rushing after 3 games played.

Memorable plays included another thundering solo tackle by freshman Jose Sermeno on a kickoff, where half the audience yelled an "ouch" after the tackle was made, and a "you are not going anywhere" powerful tackle on a kickoff by Michael Garcia, all done while on his knees.

In addition to announcer Mark Hubbard and the 18 person cheerleader squad headed by Cheer Adviser Dawna Kendrick and Cheer Mom Tina Scheppers, the game could not have proceeded as smoothly without the help of ball boy Robert Rosenfeld (6 th grade), six grade water boys Jacob Padilla and Anthony Aragon and water girls Bethany Haliday (7 th grade) and Kerstin Stone (9 th grade), as well as game video man Jason Kennedy (12 th grade).

Special thanks goes to the Hillcrest Friends of Football, including parents and friends of Hillcrest Christian School, that donate much of their valuable time to assist the school and the team in preparing the field and stands, the player drinking and food arrangements, the security and other matters, including assistance in the food stand. Some of these "friends of Hillcrest" include Steve and Norma Kraft, James and Jamie Rigney, Stuart and Cindy Rosenfeld, Donna Furukawa, Joe and Lori Padilla, Anthony and Rebecca Aragon and Jim Hom. Special thanks also to game video man Sam Hahn for giving of his time and expertise to film all HCS games.

Hillcrest Christian Eagles defeat Thacher 32-14 behind powerful running offense

As approximately 100 Hillcrest Christian School 8-man football fans descended upon the lower athletic field of The Thacher School on a sunny Saturday afternoon (September 15 th ), many were asking - "Will we beat Thacher this year?" After all, although the Eagles lost a close game to Thacher the year before, 22-16, they had never beaten the Toads of Thacher during the four year Hillcrest football program. Hillcrest had beaten its opponent convincingly in the previous week by 68-13, but this was Thacher, the same Thacher that went all the way to the semi-finals of Division I CIF 8-man football playoffs the previous year. The same Thacher that finished the 2006 season ranked fifth in the State.

Well, the answer to the question above is a big YES. The vociferous Eagles fans that traveled about 1 ½ hours to the lovely 425 acre Thacher campus located in Ojai Valley to cheer their beloved Hillcrest team were treated to a convincing win as Hillcrest Christian School defeated The Thacher School 32-14. Hillcrest used its powerful running machine that resulted in 382 rushing yards for the game and had three players each rush for 100 or more yards in the same game, something that is rarely done at any level of football - high school, college or professional.

The game was more one-sided than the score indicates as the Eagles were leading 18-0 at half-time and 26-0 after three quarters of play. Hillcrest held the Toads to only 67 yards rushing, 76 yards passing and 4 first downs as the Eagles amassed 416 yards in total offense and 26 first downs.

Leading the offensive charge for Hillcrest were senior co-captains Preston Furukawa, Dustin Travers and Michael Garcia. Running the triple option offense to perfection, quarterback Furukawa rushed for 122 yards as he ran for two touchdowns and passed for another. Running backs Travers and Garcia rushed for 121 yards and 100 yards, respectively, as each also rushed for a touchdown. Junior receiver Jason Lang had 3 receptions for 34 yards, including a beautifully executed 27 yard touchdown pass at the beginning of the second quarter from quarterback Furukawa. The only other score for Hillcrest was a 13 yard PAT conversion reception by senior receiver Leo Noya that was perfectly placed by sophomore quarterback Christian Villasenor.

As with the first game, the successful running attack of the Eagles could not have been accomplished without the blocking of the offensive line, including senior guards Nick Dougherty and Wyatt Carpenter, sophomore center Miles Penn and junior center Daniel Owens.

Eagles' defensive coach Tony Uebelhardt's defense was led by linebacker Michel Garcia's 12 tackles. In addition, linebacker Nick Dougherty and defensive back Dustin Travers each had 7 tackles. The defense was bolstered by 7 tackles for a loss, including 2.5 and 2.0 tackles for loss by sophomore defensive end Nick Ramos and senior nose guard Ryan Ashley, respectively. Senior defensive end Raffi Aghvinian had another quarterback sack, ranking him third in the State in that category.

The Thacher Toads were led by senior co-captains quarterback Griffin Triplett, who scored two touchdowns, fullback/linebacker Chris Thomas and running back Will Oberndorf, who totaled 98 yards rushing and receiving.

In addition to the above Hillcrest touchdowns, some of the more memorable plays were two come-from-behind touchdown-saving tackles by Ashley and Ramos, who caught up with speeding Thacher runners within the 5 yard line of Hillcrest to prevent touchdowns and an eye-popping thunderous tackle of a Thacker kickoff return man with 5:04 left in the game at the Thacher 23 yard line by Hillcrest freshman Jose Sermeno.

In addition to the strong show of support by the large Hillcrest contingent that showed up at Thacher to cheer their favorite football team, the Eagles were inspired by the tremendous cheering of the valley's best cheerleading squad, led by senior captain Bianca Ceballos and seniors Jessica Kaczor, Janalee Rodriguez, Roxanne Traugh, Veronica Schirripa and Camille Nuyda.

Head Coach Gene Uubelhardt's Hillcrest squad is now beginning to get noticed as, thanks to the Thatcher win, Hillcrest is now ranked 7 th in the CIF 8-man football Division I in an early season poll. The Eagles lead the State in rushing yards per game at 412 yards/game, are first in the State in rushing touchdowns per game at 6.5/game and are second in total offense per game. Hillcrest ranks third in the State in points scored per game, 50.0 points/game. Dustin Travers is the leading rusher in the State, having amassed a total of 354 rushing yards in the first two games of the year.

The next game for the Hillcrest Christian School Eagles is a home game on Saturday, September 22th at Granada Hills High School against Valley Christian Academy of Santa Maria at 5:30 pm.

Behind Dustin Travers' first half 233 rushing yards and four touchdowns, Hillcrest Christian sets school scoring mark in win over Victor Valley Christian

Hillcrest Christian School scored the most points in the school's history in a 68-13 win over Victor Valley Christian in an 8-man football game played at Granada Hills High School on Saturday September 8. It was a very exciting home opener.

Hillcrest Christian was led by a career game by speedy senior running back Dustin Travers, who rushed for 233 yards and four touchdowns on only nine carries. Travers had touchdown runs of 65, 65, 63 and two yards, in addition to a two-point PAT conversion. A fifth touchdown run by Travers, for 65 yards, was called back due to a penalty. Senior 220-lb. Hillcrest running back Michael Garcia scored two touchdowns and had two interceptions on defense, while sophomore running back Nick Ramos scored two touchdowns (38 and 35 yards) on his first two running attempts in varsity football play.

The defense was led by senior defensive end Raffi Agvinian, who led the team in tackles and recorded 2.5 quarterback sacks and by senior linebacker Nick Dougherty, who had five tackles. Special teams kickoff coverage was excellent with seniors Ryan Ashley, Sam Saghir and Wyatt Carpenter each recording two tackles each. Ashley also had a quarterback sack and a 32-yard touchdown run on offense as fullback in his only carry.

Much of the success in the Hillcrest Christian running game can be attributed to the large holes opened by the starting offensive line, including sophomore center Miles Penn, senior guards Nick Dougherty and Wyatt Carpenter, as well as senior tight end Raffi Agvinian and senior receiver Leo Noya.

Hillcrest Christian averaged 20 yards per carry rushing during the game. The powerful running game of Hillcrest Christian resulted in nine touchdowns and seven PAT conversions for 442 yards, all in the first half of play. Senior quarterback Preston Furukawa scored four of the PAT conversions and had a fumble recovery on defense. Furukawa was perfect in his passing, having completed his only pass to sophomore receiver Nick Delanders for 11 yards. Victor Valley Christian was limited to four net yards rushing as senior quarterback Garret Rogers was sacked four times for 30 yards in losses. Rogers completed seven passes on 22 attempts for 133 yards and one touchdown - a 61-yard pass to Trevor Sbkorski.