Pacifica football looks unstoppable in win over Newbury Park

OXNARD — In a matchup between last year’s Southern Section Division 2 and Division 4 champions and two very talented quarterbacks, Newbury Park was unable to stop Ventura County foe Pacifica of Oxnard, and fell 56-35. Pacifica quarterback Taylor Lee tied a Ventura County record with seven touchdown passes in the game, with five of them coming in the first half.

Lee finished the game 28 of 33 for 485 yards to go with the seven touchdown passes and also ran the ball five times for 35 yards. Michigan commit and four-year Newbury Park starting quarterback Brady Smigiel finished the game 26 of 37 for 318 yards and five touchdown passes. Smigiel also ran the ball 14 times for 60 yards and was sacked four times.

“I feel like we had a great performance, executed really quickly,” Lee said. “Our line stepped up and showed out and also shoutout to Alijah Royster, he’s one of the best playmakers around.”

One of the big differences in the game was that Newbury Park (2-1) was unable to score on its first two possessions of the game, whereas Pacifica (3-0) scored on its first eight possessions of the game on its way to 590 total yards. The Newbury defense had no answers for Pacifica’s Royster, who finished the game with 13 catches for 186 yards with five touchdowns, including one rushing. Royster had 224 all-purpose yards in the game.

“I’m super proud of the guys. They’re a really good team over there,” Pacifica coach Mike Moon said. “We hadn’t been tested so far this year and we gotta play teams like this to prepare for our league, so this was an important game to build on.”

Smigiel’s go-to targets were Chaminade transfer Devin Olmande and Sierra Canyon transfer Matthew Curry. Olmande finished the game with 13 catches for 150 yards and one touchdown while Curry had nine catches for 145 yards and three touchdowns. Smigiel also didn’t throw any interceptions in the game after throwing six in the first two games of the season.

“Obviously we have a lot to work on, but I think we took a good step tonight in building trust in our offense,” Smigiel said. “All the receivers in the seasons before this, I grew up with, so it’s been a lot of fun to build chemistry and relationships with my new receivers this year.”

With the win, Pacifica avenged last year’s 35-0 loss at Newbury Park. Newbury Park is now 2-1 after the week 0 defeat to Millikan was overturned to a forfeit win for the Panthers. Newbury will look to bounce back next week at to St. Pius.