WOODLAND HILLS — Friday night hosted a duel between strong rushing West Valley League teams.
El Camino Real football dominated their homecoming game, 41-21, over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers, in a victory filled with huge runs.
Leading the charge for El Camino Real (4-4, 2-1) was running back Shane Bogacz, who was next to impossible to tackle in the second half.
Bogacz totaled 192 yards on the ground and a trio of touchdowns, more than tripling his average per game in both categories.
“I love the physical games, I came in ready today,” Bogacz said. “I got all my things ready. My mom helps me out 100% every time. It’s all the people around me that are that are bringing me that good energy that I need to be ready for the game and to stand out. And all glory to God….I’m new to running back. Every time if I go down, if I need one, I know my teammate is going to step up as well. And my linemen, I love them so much. They all help me out so much every single play, I’m thanking them. It’s just the people around me, all my teammates, they all buy in with the energy and I give thanks to them and the coaches as well.”
The senior running back’s steady first half followed an explosive second where he punched two of his three scores, including a 69-yard rushing touchdown.
“I think (Bogacz is) one of the best in the city,” Royals coach Rick Hayashida said. “Not only is he a great baseball player, but he’s a great football player as well.”
Also adding a big play in El Camino’s 300-yard rushing night was running back Takia Campbell, who had just one offensive touch and ran for a 57-yard touchdown.
Campbell also added a sack on defense.
“They did a great job,” Hayashida said of the offense. “The offensive line, we added a couple extra guys, playing tight end, that are normally offensive linemen as a whole. We’re just getting better and we’re just starting to hit our stride. We’re getting healthy, which was a big problem earlier on this season. I think this team is finally growing and understanding what they’re really capable of.”
It wasn’t just Bogacz who had an impressive second half. Cleveland’s senior running back Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi found holes in the El Camino defense, and he charged through every one.
Odebunmi added 95 of his 150 rushing yards in the second half, with eight runs for six or more yards on the night. The senior also scored Cleveland’s final touchdown of the game.
The Royals’ offense made some plays in the short passing game on top of its success on the ground. Bogacz got the scoring started with a 5-yard rushing score on El Camino’s opening drive. Two drives later, quarterback Gabriel Varga connected with junior receiver Chayse Jackson for a 51-yard score. Varga punched in a 1-yard quarterback sneak to push the Royals’ lead to 20-7 at halftime.
The Cavaliers (2-6, 1-2) had the Royals had chances to tighten the score, but mistakes and a critical end zone interception cost Cleveland late.
Trailing 28-7, the Cavaliers punched in a rushing touchdown from quarterback Julio Avalos to cut the deficit to two scores. Cleveland then recovered a surprise onside kick and pushed the ball deep into El Camino Real territory before a high snap cost the team nearly 20 yards and a score.
Avalos moved the ball well on the ground and finished with 84 yards.
El Camino finished the night with two sacks, a pick, a fumble recovery and two turnovers on downs.
“(The defense has) been carrying the offense for the last three or four weeks,“ Hayashida said. “It was finally good to see the offense kind of take the initiative.”
Cleveland falls back into the loss column and has dropped five of its last six, while El Camino now gets back to .500 and jumps up to second in league with its second straight win.
“We’re not going to change anything,” Hayashida said. “Our kids’ work ethic is really good and really strong. To see them excited to practice, I think that’s one of the things that I noticed. The difference is because they’re actually enjoying practice. So that’s a good sign.”
The Cavaliers will look to bounce back next Friday at Taft, while the Royals remain home to host the Chatsworth Chancellors. Both games kick off at 7:15 p.m.
“Every time we make one little mistake, we bounce back even better the next time, and it showed from the first quarter all the way to the fourth,” Bogacz said. “We have little mistakes here and there, but we bounce back even better. So I think going on week by week, I hope we could just cut down on the mistakes just a little bit more and keep playing our great game, and just keep stepping up and stepping up and stepping up to level of play that we know we could achieve.”