Despite competing through fall camp with senior Nick Arbuckle, senior Marc Evans will start tonight as the St. Bonaventure High football team visits powerhouse Corona Centennial. 

Evans, who threw 30 touchdowns and just six interceptions as a junior, Evans won the job with his performance in last week's scrimmage against Chaminade. 

"It was a battle," said St. Bonaventure High coach Todd Therrien. "They rotated in the scrimmage, but I'm not big on rotating quarterbacks during a season. 

The multitalented Arbuckle will still be a big contributor for the Seraphs in a number of positions, including tight end. 

St. Bonaventure travels east to face one of Southern California's top programs. The Huskies have won six CIF titles since 2000, plus the 2008 state championship. It lost to Palo Alto, 15-13, in the rain-swept CIF Division I state bowl last December.

The game is of added significance considering it is the lone non-league game of the schedule for St. Bonaventure.

"We want to go out and put up a good performance," said Therrien . "We were rooting for Oaks Christian and Westlake last week. We definitely want to make our conference look good."

The Seraphs took advantage of this position a year ago, in the first year of the 10-team Marmonte League, when it traveled south and blitzed Long Beach Poly, 32-7. 

"After all the preseason stuff when it was said that we were going to finish fourth or fifth in league, I thought it gave us a little confidence," said Therrien. "We're definitely repping the 805 in this game. I think there's a lot of support out there for us (today)."

"I don't know what's going to happen," said Therrien. "I told people it's going to look a little like 'Friday Night Lights.' ... They're going to outweight us at every single spot. We just have to go out there and play."

Centennial returns four offensive linemen from the team that rushed for 5,000 yards last year, including 6-foot-4, 330-pound Lio Lafaele, 6-foot-6, 310-pound Anthony Juarez and 6-foot-2, 290-pound Viane Talamaivao,

"This game is going to be physical with a capital 'P,' " said Therrien. "Their offensive line is bigger than most NCAA Division I offensive lines."

St. Bonaventure does have an issue on defense. Junior strong safety Paul Thompson could be out as long as six weeks with an elbow injury. Beyond losing one of the team's better playmakers, the injury also means senior running back Shawn Wick will have to play defense full-time. 

"No break for Wick," said Therrien.

It's a case of who's in and who's not in this week's CIF football rankings.

CIF-Southern Section boys' basketball playoffs

Friday, 7 p.m. Second Round

Pacifica at Los Alamitos, I-AA
Thousand Oaks at Los Osos, I-AA
Simi Valley at Alta Loma, II-AA
Westlake vs. Damien, II-A
Oak Park at Gahr, III-AA
Calabasas at Tustin, III-AA
Oaks Christian vs. Fillmore, IV-A
St. Bonaventure vs. Woodcrest Christian, IV-A
Santa Clara vs. Western Christian, V-AA
Besant Hill at Hillcrest Christian/Granada Hills, V-A

St. Bonaventure High senior lineman Giovanni DiPoalo signed his letter of intent to play football at USC this morning.

 DiPoalo had verbally committed to USC, but re-opened his recruitment after Pete Carroll left USC to take the head coaching job with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.

But new USC coach Lane Kiffin and his staff were able to do enough to convince DiPoalo the Trojan family was the best place for him to be.

DiPoalo was considering heading across town to UCLA, but will be donning a cardinal red and gold uniform after all.

Junior Hannah Kolbeck and senior Rebecca Parziale had 18 points apiece, but it was sophomore Susanna Kolbeck who had four of Villanova Prep's five points in overtime as the Wildcats edged host St. Bonaventure, 58-55, in overtime Tuesday night.

The Kolbeck sisters combined for 19 rebounds, including 10 for Susanna, who also added six points for Villanova (13-3, 2-2).

Hailey Lozano had 17 points, including two free throws with nine seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime, and Juliette Hill added 13 points and four assists for St. Bonaventure (8-10, 0-4).

With the CIF-Southern Section postseason football brackets set to be released on Sunday, expect to see a reshuffling of the top four seeds in the Northern Division.

Devon Blackledge broke a 57-yard gain on third and 2 to sett up a 2-yard Logan Meyer touchdown sneak and a 31-13 St. Bonaventure lead with 3:47 left in the third quarter.

But Buena, aided by 45 yards of St. Bonaventure personal fouls, marched right down the field to pull within 31-19 on Tyler Perry's miraculous 23-yard diving catch of Robert Munoz's fourth down double reverse pass.

Opening the second half, St. Bonaventure running back Devon Blackledge picks up four straight first downs on runs of 14, 29, 11 and a 12-yard screen pass to the Buena 4.

His 9-yard touchdown run, following a delay of game penalty, gives St. Bonaventure a 24-13 lead with 7:29 left in the third quarter. Blackledge has 182 yards rushing and 91 receiving.

Devon Blackledge rips off a 30-yard gain on third and 1 from the Seraphs 44-yard line to move St. Bonaventure to the Buena 26 in the final minute of the half.

St. Bonaventure looked set for a game-tying field goal try, but a roughing the passer flag on a third-down incompletion cost Buena.

One play later, Logan Meyer scrambled for a 10-yard touchdown run and a 17-13 SB lead with 17 seconds left in the half.

UPDATE: St. Bonaventure leads 17-13 at the half. Blackledge has 198 yards from scrimmage on 13 carries and two receptions. St. Bonaventure has four lost fumbles.

Buena quarterback Munoz hits receiver Kevin Leiser across the middle for a 24-yard gain. A personal foul moves the ball to the St. Bonaventure 25.

Two plays later, Munoz finds tight end Tyler Perry for a 26-yard scoring strike on a double pass.

The PAT fails. Buena leads, 13-10, with 1:55 left in the first half

Tyler Perry punts from his own end zone and St. Bonaventure turns the ball over on punt return for the third time in the first quarter, which ends tied 7-7.

St. Bonaventure cornerback Troy Hill gets the ball back with an interception. It's the fifth turnover of the first game.

St. Bonaventure moves the ball to the Buena 9 on six straight Devon Blackledge carries. But Matt Arve sacks Logan Meyer on first and goal for a 14-yard loss.

Two incompletions later, the Seraphs are forced to settle for Mason Kirk's 39-yard field goal and a 10-7 lead with 4:51 left in the half.

Buena's Kyle Robles recovers St. Bonaventure's second fumbled punt of the first quarter on the Seraphs 20-yard line.

One play later, quarterback Robert Munoz hits tight end Tyler Perry in the back of the end zone for a 7-0 Buena lead over St. Bonaventure with 3:53 left in the first quarter.

UPDATE: The Seraphs immediately answer with quarterback Logan Meyer's 80-yard touchdown pass to running back Devin Blackledge, who caught the ball sprinting down the sideline.

In its battle of 5-1 teams, Buena started slowly, going backwards 14 yards on a fumbled snap on the first play from scrimmage and following that inauspicious debut with two incomplete passes.

But St. Bonaventure fumbled the punt. Junior Bret Coleman recovered. Buena quarter Robert Munoz connected with tight end Tyler Perry for 17 yards on a third down. The subsequent late hit gave Buena the ball on the Seraphs 25.

But Buena couldn't convert on second or third and short and missed the 33-yard field goal to spurn the opportunity.

The super-sized Marmonte League has three of the Top 17 teams in this week's CalHiSports' state rankings -- No. 1 Oaks Christian, No. 11 Moorpark and No. 17 St. Bonaventure.

Two weeks ago, prior to St. Bonaventure's upset to Bishop Amat, the poll had Oaks Christian at No. 1, St. Bonaventure at No. 3 and Moorpark at No. 13.

The total jumps to four teams in Rivals.com's Southern Section rankings -- No. 2 Oaks Christian, No. 4 Moorpark, No. 7 St. Bonaventure and No. 24 Westlake.

This week's CIF-SS rankings features No. 1 Moorpark, No. 3 St. Bonaventure, No. 4 Westlake and No. 5 Newbury Park in the Northern Division and No. 1 Oaks Christian in the Northwest Division.

Ventura High football coach Brad Steward on St. Bonaventure leaving the Channel League to join Oaks Christian in the new super Marmonte League next fall:

"I haven't any input in this thing at all. My response today was 'Wow, that's huge news!'

"I kind of have mixed emotions. I feel like... It's a difficult thing to express, isn't it? I've always enjoyed being able to prepare against the best team around. We'll have one more time. It's just been difficult coming out on the short end of it again and again.

"I'll miss that opportunity to play the best team in the state of California. We got to do that because they were in our league. It's exciting for our guys to put in the preparation like that.

(Is this solving anything? Isn't the Marmonte League just being put in the position the Channel League has been in?)

"Maybe those guys are better suited to having them than we are. I do feel like we've had our turn."

"Things change. I think we need to do as good a job as we can, frequently, to make sure we do the best job we can for kids."

Ventura High athletic director and Channel League representative David Hess on St. Bonaventure and Oaks Christian joining the Marmonte League for the 2010 season, which proposed Thursday in Long Beach:

"I was pretty surprised. We're happy in that our goal from the start of this process was to find a more competitive place for St. Bonaventure football... We feel that we have done that... As it played out, my ultimate obligation was to take care of kids in the Channel League and at Ventura High.

"As (the) meeting approached, nobody was talking to us, which was an indicator that people were talking in a way that was not going to go well for the Channel League... So we needed to look at the process and what was available to us. 

"What do we think will work if whole lot of schools that are not in Ventura County are voting? How do we tell the story?

"We did not want to bring St. Bonaventure in for all sports... Ultimately we felt that would not be good for all sports for St. Bonaventure."

"We didn't want to do something that was simply punative... If we supported St. Bonaventure coming into the league for all sports, we were saying that it was alright for St. Bonaventure to be in the Channel League for football and we're not... We wanted to stand on that principle."

Shocking events today from The Grand in Long Beach, where a late proposal to lump Oaks Christian and St. Bonaventure into the Marmonte League for football was passed by the CIF-Southern Section council.

Here's David Lassen on the events:

LONG BEACH - Oaks Christian and St. Bonaventure will end up in the same football league after all - but it will be a 10-team Marmonte League,  not a proposed four-team private-school football league.

Endorsing appeals by Ventura and Calabasas high schools, the CIF-Southern Section council voted Thursday to move the area's private-school powers into the Marmonte League for football only, while leaving all other schools intact.

In doing so by a 41-21 vote with nine abstentions, the council - a body representing one vote for each Southern Section league - overrode a vote by the nine leagues in the Northern Area that would have had Oaks Christian and Calabasas change places, with Oaks Christian joining the Marmonte League for all sports, while moving Calabasas into the Tri-County Athletic Association.

Coming at the end of a long and contentious releaguing process, the decision is final and will take affect for four seasons, beginning with the 2010-2011 school year.

"As football in Ventura County goes, I believe it's a good thing," said St. Bonaventure principal Marc Groff. "Since it's football only. ... I'm certainly very interested to see what these other configurations are. I need to digest it a little bit."

The 10-team league will be split into two five-team units, details of which are uncertain.

"From a football interest standpoint, I think people in Ventura County should be excited that the best teams are all going to play each other."

The plan to put Oaks and St. Bonaventure in the same league was floated early in the releaguing process but did not gain traction within the Northern Area's releaguing procedure. So its reemergence, as a proposal introduced at Thursday's meeting, created a wide range of reaction.

Lassen's live Twitter updates are available here. More to come at VCStar.com later in the day.

Here is a look at where some of the area teams stand in a few of the state, regional and national rankings:

STATE RANKINGS:
- MaxPreps: No. 2. Oaks Christian
No. 5. Moorpark
No. 14 St. Bonaventure

WEST REGIONAL RANKINGS:
- ESPN Rise Top 20: No. 1 Oaks Christian. West Region bubble: Moorpark.

NATIONAL RANKINGS:
- MaxPreps Xcellent 25: No. 5 Oaks Christian

- USA Today Super 25: No. 5 Oaks Christian

- ESPN Rise Fab 50: No. 4 Oaks Christian

Oxnard's first regular-season loss in 23 games cost the Yellowjackets a place in the Northern Division rankings.