Vista, West Park battle to the bitter end in scrimmage

The West Park-Vista del Lago scrimmage looked very much like an early-season scrimmage, which wasn't a good thing for either offenses. Neither first-team offense scored a point and for that matter, didn't pick up many first downs either, as the first half of the scrimmage ended in a 0-0 tie. West Park had the ball six times in the first half and punted four times, threw an interception to Ethan Rhee and another time went for it on fourth down and had a pass broken up by Jack Gibbons. Vista del Lago had the ball seven times and punted four times, lost the ball on downs twice and the other time their possession ended because of halftime. Ethan Kowalski picked off a pass for the Eagles in the second half. It wasn't until late in the third quarter when Joseph Ahola kicked a 24-yard field goal that the first points were scored. It was a situation where had there been points on the scoreboard the Eagles probably would have gone for it, but instead decided to kick the chip shot field goal to put them in front 3-0. Things didn't get much better for the Panthers the rest of the scrimmage, as they figured the punt team got enough work that they decided to go for in on fourth down every time. When they didn't make it, it gave Vista a very short field and the Eagles capitalized with their only touchdown, a five-yard run from Gavin Brainerd, and an 18-yard field goal by Ahola to make the final score 13-0. West Park coach Jason Tenner didn't sugarcoat anything with his team. "We've got a long way to go. I didn't see enough tonight that makes me feel like we're ready for next Friday night," Tenner said. "Whether it's mental approach or execution and even on the sideline, there's a reason why we scrimmage but that wasn't good enough. It was nowhere close." Said Tenner, "Obviously we were rusty and had a lot of new faces out there. We didn't find any rhythm on offense. Neither team did, as it was 0-0 at halftime. "We didn't do a good job on offense. We didn't block. We didn't throw it well. We didn't catch it. We've got to fix our execution on offense or we're going to struggle. We got a lot of bodies to choose from, but we've got to get better next week. "We played decent on defense. Whitney's tough coming in next week and if we're not ready they're going to punch us in the mouth. We've got to get back to work on Monday." Vista del Lago coach Mike Struebing was a bit more positive in his take on the scrimmage. "We got a confirmation on some our strengths," Struebing said. "We thought coming into this that defense would be a strength and that showed tonight. We went toe-to-toe with a team that played in the section semifinals the last two or three years in a row. I'm happy with our defense from the line, which got off the ball well, to our secondary, which did a great job breaking up passes. "Offensively, I thought our quarterback timing was pretty good and it was good to see our receivers work a little bit. Obviously, we've got some things to clean up in the trenches to make sure those guys understand what they're doing. "Coach Corbitt told these guys in the room, 'we are better than we think we are.' We've just got to get the guys to believe it." The Eagles now must get ready to face Laguna Creek on Friday night. A year ago Vista beat the Cardinals in a close game, 33-27. The Cardinals went on to finish 5-5 before losing its only playoff game. "I don't know too much about them, but they looked big up front," Struebing said. "They look like they want to run the football right at us."