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Football: Encinal Runs Over El Cerrito in Season Opener

Behind a dominant rushing attack, Jets roll to a 59-20 win.

Jordan Conn, Neighbor

Posted Sat, Sep 11, 2010 at 3:33 am PT|Updated Sat, Sep 11, 2010 at 6:37 pm PT

Encinal 59, El Cerrito 20

The star: Encinal's offensive line, which paved the way for the Jets to rush for 427 yards, including touchdown runs by five different players.

The turning point: The first three minutes, when the Jets scored two quick touchdowns to give themselves a lead they would never relinquish.

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The quote: "We don't want to rely on one guy. We want to have a system in place where we're spreading it around, where they never know who's going to get the ball on a play."

What's next: The Jets travel to San Mateo to play Serra next Saturday at 1 p.m.

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Bottom line: Encinal was dominant in its opener against a 2009 playoff team, showing they the Jets should again be considered among the favorites in NCS Division III.

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Encinal High entered Friday night's game against El Cerrito with its starting quarterback injured and its backup also unable to play. But as it turns out, even third- and fourth-stringers can hand the ball off — and that was all the Jets needed.

Encinal threw only two passes — both incompletions — and rushed for 427 yards in a 59-20 thrashing of El Cerrito. The Jets scored 20 points in each of the first two quarters before removing many of their starters in the second half.

"When you don't have your starting quarterback or even you're backup, you really have to rely on your offensive line," Encinal coach Joe Tenorio said. "They really carried us tonight."

Jonathan Allen rushed for 196 yards and five touchdowns on 15 carries, doing most of his damage in the first half. Jon Trodder carried the ball six times for 125 yards, most of which came on an 89-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. In all, five Jets running backs scored touchdowns.

"We don't want to rely on one guy," Tenorio said. "We want to have a system in place where we're spreading it around, where they never know who's going to get the ball on a play."

But although he was largely please with his team's performance, Tenorio saw plenty of room for improvement.

"There was a lot of first-game stuff," he said. "Mistakes here and there, penalties, things like that."

And while Tenorio was pleased with his line's play, senior offensive tackle Joshua Morrow wasn't completely satisfied.

"I really felt like we could have done a better job," said Morrow, a 6-foot-6, 320-pounder who has verbally committed to Arizona State. "We weren't cohesive. We weren't playing as a unit."

That kind of mentality — always looking for ways to improve — is part of the reason Encinal has become an East Bay powerhouse.

"Even one of our players said, 'You can't coach heart,' and they've got a lot of it," El Cerrito coach Kenny Kahn said after his team's loss. "They're disciplined, and they're focused, and they play hard."

The Jets were without starting quarterback Andrew Ve'e, who is nursing a left knee injury. Backup Demonyo Bills, a transfer from Berkeley, has not yet been declared eligible to play, so wide receivers Bo Banks and Joe Gill split the quarterbacking duties. Each threw only one pass, both incompletions. They spent most of the night handing the ball off.

"They only ran like five or six plays, and they worked every time," Kahn said. "They have their bread-and-butter, and they kept going back to it."

Paul Okamura scored on the second play from scrimmage, a 5-yard touchdown run that was set up by a long return by Nahim Paschal on the opening kickoff. Then, after forcing a quick three-and-out, the Jets took a 14-0 lead less than three minutes into the game on a 22-yard touchdown run by Allen. Mustafa Whitehead, who typically lines up at guard, bulldozed his way to a 34-yard touchdown later in the first quarter, and Allen scored on three second-quarter touchdown runs to give Encinal 40 first-half points.

Trodder's 89-yard touchdown came midway through the third quarter, and Allen scored on a 34-yarder at the end of the third before Paschal closed the scoring with a 46-yard run early in the fourth.

"All of the running backs were great tonight," said Morrow. "They just kept making plays."

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Encinal 59, El Cerrito 20

El Cerrito 7 13 0 0 — 20

Encinal 20 20 6 13 — 59

Scoring summary

11:21, 1st: EN — Paul Okamura 5 run (Jon Trodder kick)

9:03, 1st: EN — Jonathan Allen 22 run (Trodder kick)

8:40, 1st: EC — Kris Jackson 42 pass from Byron Thomas (Kevin Smith kick)

3:43, 1st: EN — Mustafa Whitehead 34 run (kick failed)

9:57, 2nd: EC — Lyonel Louis 1 run (Smith kick)

7:00, 2nd: EN — Allen 10 run (Trodder kick)