THOUSAND OAKS – In a thrilling game that was led by two talented dueling quarterbacks, Thousand Oaks defeated El Modena 41-34 in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 5 football playoffs.
Quarterback Jackson Taylor led the way for the Lancers finishing the game completing 17 of 26 passes for 262 yards and four touchdowns. El Modena’s mobile quarterback Xzavior Guess ran the ball 20 times for 177 yards and completed 13 of 21 passes for 188 yards. Guess had two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown.
The game marked Thousand Oaks’ first playoff win since 2015. The win was also extra sweet for the Lancers after going 10-0 last season and being bounced in the first round of the Division 2 playoffs.
“Last year having an early out in the playoffs, it’s huge to be able to come back from that and get things going here in the playoffs,” Taylor said. “A lot of things came together tonight for us being an offense that defenses don’t wanna go up against.”
El Modena was able to score on a 48-yard run from Brodie Hitchens on the second play from scrimmage to take a 7-0 lead early. Hitchens finished the game with 13 carries for 108 yards.
After the Hitchens score, Thousand Oaks tied the game on Taylor’s first touchdown pass of the night when he found Dean Harrington from 13 yards out to tie the game at 7-7. The Lancers defense did a nice job of bending but not breaking in the second quarter holding El Modena to two short field goals from Troy Parker. On the final play of the first half, Taylor found Silas Kemp for a 50-yard touchdown pass to give Thousand Oaks a 14-13 lead heading into halftime.
Thousand Oaks got off to a hot start in the second half, scoring two touchdowns before El Modena possessed the ball. On the first Lancer possession of the half Taylor threw his third touchdown pass of the night, finding Kemp again. Kemp finished the game with three catches for 82 yards and two touchdowns.
Following the second Kemp score, Bret Warner was able to recover an onside kick that gave Thousand Oaks great field position. Following the recovery, Taylor threw his fourth and final touchdown pass of the night to tight end Blake Lauritzen to give the Lancers a 28-13 lead.
El Modena was able to cut the lead to 28-19 at the end of the third when Guess threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Troy Parker. The drive was also helped with four penalties on the Thousand Oaks defense.
In the fourth quarter, the Lancers started to lean more on the run game and running back Brolin Harrah. Harrah had two fourth quarter touchdowns to help secure the Thousand Oaks victory and finished the game with 21 carries for 128 yards.
Guess’ final two scores of the game in the fourth quarter came on a rushing touchdown and another passing touchdown to Parker. In the final moments of the game El Modena was able to get the ball at their own 8-yard line, but couldn’t reach the end zone with a chance to tie.
Thousand Oaks coach Ben McEnroe said about Guess, “Xzavior’s a heck of a football player, and I don’t really wanna ever play him again. He’s a sweetheart of a kid and I have a lot of respect for him and the way his coaching staff uses him.”
“I think this was one of the seasons I saw the team have the most growth,” El Modena coach Matt Mitchell said. “We got down by two scores and kept fighting and I was proud to see them show their toughness against a good football team tonight.”
Thousand Oaks will be at home next week and take on Bonita in the second round of Division 5 playoffs.
