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.

Ventura County had two teams play in Monday's CIF-SS Girls' Golf Team finals. The Marmonte League was the only league to have two teams make the finals, a tribute to both players and coaches from Westlake and Royal. Scores for the top teams were amazing, including a 368 team score by champion Torrance. It shows how far girls' golf has come in the dozen or so years that it has been around. When they started, there was no way most players could come near par. Todat, players like Westlake's Danielle Kang are routinely under par. Kang, who will play for Pepperdine next Spring, is the best female player to come through the county. She has great natural talent, but more importantly, she is focused on one thing, winning. She takes aim at winning the CIF Individual title on Thursday. Others in that competition are Lauren Diaz-Yi from Westlake, Katherine Liu from Agoura and Shannon Holden of Royal. Diaz-Yi and Holden are freshmen, another indicator of just how good female players have gotten.

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.

There is never a good time to lose your top singles player, but there are worse times than others.

Sophomore Kristina Eisenbrand told Moorpark girls' tennis coach Sandy Jacobs she will not play the remainder of the season because she is attending a tennis academy in Spain.

Eisenbrand participated in Moorpark's loss to Rio Mesa yesterday - sweeping her sets in the process - and left today for Spain.

Moorpark's schedule this week includes matches against Marmonte League-leaders Westlake and Thousand Oaks. Today's match against Westlake was postponed, however, because of the rain and will be played on Monday.

"I thought we might have a chance against Westlake," Jacobs said. "But without Kristina, that is pretty much impossible. Her absence changes everything."

Now, Moorpark will likely battle Simi Valley for the final two automatic playoff spots in league.

"We should be able to get fourth place, especially since we do have that one win over Simi Valley already," Jacobs said. "Hopefully, we can squeak out fourth place. We have to see. You never know when one of your top girls gets sick or what is going to happen."

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

Northern Division

Buena 27, Thousand Oaks 20: Buena passes big test by Derry Eads in Ventura.
Newbury Park 34, Rio Mesa 6: Newbury Park adjusts well by Joe Curley in Newbury Park.
Pacifica 56, Simi Valley 27: Mondol, Pacifica roll past Simi Valley by Sean Ceglinsky in Oxnard.
Camarillo 49, Agoura 14: Camarillo clicks against Agoura by Jeffrey Dransfeld in Camarillo.
Hueneme 33, Calabasas 0: Hueneme blanks Calabasas by Ted Cotti in Hueneme.
Westlake 42, Saugus 20: Isham powers Westlake over Saugus by Bob Buttitta in Santa Clarita.
Chaminade 33, Royal 14: Chaminade too much for Royal by David Lassen in Los Angeles.

Northwest Division

Santa Paula 23, Golden Valley 13: Santa Paula earns first win by Steve Pratt in Canyon Country.
Morro Bay 28, Oak Park 13: Morro Bay holds off Oak Park by Lance O'Fallon in Oak Park.

Thanks to the Jewish New Year - Rosh Hashanah, which begins tonight at sundown - we get two nights of high school football this week.

Here are the news, notes and highlights from last night's games:

Buena 27, Thousand Oaks 20: It was only a matter of time before Cliff Farrar turned the Buena program into a winner again. But this quick? Wow. In Farrar's second season at the helm, the Bulldogs recorded their biggest win in several years. Buena QB Robert Munoz completed 15 of 19 passes for 218 yards as Buena improved to 2-0 against a Thousand Oaks team that played Valencia down to the wire last week. The Lancers were without the services of RB Richard Minyard.

Camarillo 49, Agoura 14: On the same day the school conducted tryouts for its loudest students, Camarillo gave them plenty to scream about. Ossie Toc - could there be much better of a name? - rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan Molesworth caught three touchdown passes from Jeff Mathews in the route. If you espouse the Kevin Bacon theory, Ventura might be in for a handfull tonight against Moorpark. The Cougars lost to Agoura 12-0 in the opener last week.

Newbury Park 34, Rio Mesa 6: The Panthers scored 34 unanswered points and held Rio Mesa to just 37 yards of total offense in the second half. Newbury Park QB Jake Geringer threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more.

Westlake 42, Saugus 20: Nick Isham knows what perfection feels like. The Westlake QB finished an eye-popping 16 of 16 for 153 yards and four touchdowns. If that wasn't enough, Isham also caught four passes for 27 yards and returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown as the Warriors posted 42 points for the second straight game. Tavior Mowry rushed 13 times for 103 yards. 

Pacifica 56, Simi Valley 27: This game was over by halftime as QB transfer Max Mondol completed 9 of his first 10 passes, including four touchdowns. Mondol finished the game 13 of 15 for 190 yards and his second incompletion of the game didn't come until less than 10 minutes remained in the fourth quarter.

Chaminade 33, Royal 14: Chaminade led 33-0 before Royal finally put together a few scoring drives. Royal QB Zach Collins completed 24 of 43 passes for 270 yards and Connor Wolcott had 11 receptions for 166 yards.

Hueneme 33, Calabasas 0: Sure the Vikings haven't played the toughest schedule, but 3-0 sure feels good after not winning a single game last season. Speaking of that, Calabasas can relate to losing streak. The Coyotes have had a few of their own over the years. Senior RB Trashaun Nixon had a stellar performance for Hueneme, rushing for 269 yards on 16 carries and scoring three touchdowns. Nixon broke off TD runs of 76 and 93 yards in the fourth quarter.

Morro Bay 28, Oak Park 13: The Eagles had to dig deep to find a starting QB last night. Brad Taylor was out with headaches and his backup Connor Hill was out with a hernia. Oak Park turned to WR-turned-QB Dereck Deakin, who completed 3 of 8 passes, including a 66-yard touchdown pass to Aiki Zapati (another classic name for the vault).

Santa Paula 23, Golden Valley 13: Santa Paula registered its first win behind Ivan Ledesma. The senior returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and went 69 yards on a screen pass thrown by sophomore Kameron Klein for another touchdown. Ledesma finished with five catches for 125 yards. 

 

It's 45 minutes before the start of the Westlake and Saugus football game at College of the Canyons here in Santa Clarita but the temperature at 6:15 is still hovering near 100 degrees. Assuming it does not cool down drastically, the heat might play a role in tonight's game, especially in the second half when both teams will be searching for some extra gas in the tank.
Westlake did have last week off, so that should help their legs be fresh, at least early on.
Looking forwward to seeing what Nelson Spruce does tonight. Last game his first four catches went for scores.

Westlake High's Nelson Spruce had one of the best receiving days in state history.

Four Ventura County cross country teams have been accepted as sweepstakes entries for the Woodbridge Invitational Sept. 19 in Irvine.

St. Bonaventure and Oaks Christian are ranked No. 1 in the Northern and Northwest Divisions, respectively, in the CIF-Southern Section preseason football polls.

The CIF-Southern Section released the playoff pairings for basketball today. Here are just a few highlights from the girls side of things. The first round is scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

- Buena is the No. 2 seed in Division II-AA and hosts Glendale - an at-large selection from the Pacific League.

- Agoura is seeded No. 2 in Division III-AA and hosts San Marcos in the first round.

- Ventura is the No. 5 seed in Division I-A and hosts Aliso Niguel - an at-large team from the South Coast League.

- Newbury Park is seeded No. 6 in Division II-A and hosts Glendora - an at-large from the Serra League. Simi Valley and Westlake both received at-large bids in II-A and Calabasas received an at-large bid in IV-AA.

- Thousand Oaks is the No. 5 seed in Division II-AA and hosts Burbank.

- If No. 13 Royal wins on the road against Century in Division II-AA, the Highlanders would likely meet No. 1 Brea Olinda in the second round.

- Pacifica will have its hands full in the very-tough Division I-AA bracket. The Tritons received the No. 11 seed and host Redlands East Valley.

- Rio Mesa received a No. 9 seed and a rematch in Division II-A. The Spartans host Dos Pueblos, which they beat in their own tournament earlier this season.  In another Pacific View-Channel showdown, Camarillo plays at Santa Barbara.

- Oaks Christian is the No. 5 seed in Division IV-A and hosts Louisville. Andre Chevalier should be familiar with Mission League opponents having formerly coached at Reseda Cleveland.

- Fillmore is the No. 7 seed in IV-A and hosts Santa Ynez. The Flashes lost to Santa Ynez three years ago in the second round of the playoffs at Santa Ynez.

- Santa Clara reached the second round without even playing a game. The Saints are the No. 3 seed in V-A and received a bye. They will host the winner of No. 10 Desert-No. 11 Mojave on Saturday.

There were dueling heroics in the waning seconds of the Newbury Park vs. Westlake boys' basketball game on Jan. 7.

Jim Benkert of Westlake High has become the winningest high school football coach in Ventura County history.

Jim Benkert of Westlake and Cliff Farrar of Buena moved up one spot on the Ventura County all-time wins list for coaches.

Westlake High football coach Jim Benkert is one win away from tying former St. Bonaventure coach Jon Mack for the Ventura County record for career football victories.

The Moorpark High girls' tennis team knows the pain of losing in a calculated manner repeatedly.

The Musketeers lost to Marmonte League-leader Calabasas in games yesterday for the second time this week after the teams tied 9-9 in sets.

Moorpark is now 10-6 overall, and five of its six losses have been in games - to Calabasas twice, La Reina, Rio Mesa and Westlake.

The Moorpark coaches might consider bringing a defibrillator to their matches along with their calculator.

The Westlake High boys' water polo team suspended six players for two Marmonte League games for "disciplinary reasons," according to head coach Todd Irmas.
The players missed Westlake's matches against Agoura (a loss) and Calabasas (a win). They were replaced in the lineup by JV players.
Irmas refused to disclose the exact nature of why the players were suspended, but says they have returned to the team.
"There is a lot out in the public and the public seems to have a lot of ideas about what happened," Irmas said. "But it's a personal issue with these guys and it has been dealt with by the school and myself."
It's not been the easiest of seasons for the Warriors. One senior starter quit the team and Irmas' son Cameron, a junior starter, ruptured his ear drum against Moorpark and could be out for the rest of the season.

Grace Brethren became the third area school to score 50 points in a football game and come out on the short end.