What was the number of that truck that laid out the Live Oak
High football team on Friday night? All most people saw was a 22,
but there were a whole host of numbers that contributed to the
Acorns
’ thorough thrashing in the first round of the Central Coast
Section Division I playoffs. For the record, it was Oak Grove
running back Burton Iosefa (No. 22) and his big, talented offensive
line that did the most damage as the host Eagles ran away with a
54-13 rout of Live Oak.
What was the number of that truck that laid out the Live Oak High football team on Friday night? All most people saw was a 22, but there were a whole host of numbers that contributed to the Acorns’ thorough thrashing in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs.
For the record, it was Oak Grove running back Burton Iosefa (No. 22) and his big, talented offensive line that did the most damage as the host Eagles ran away with a 54-13 rout of Live Oak.
Running loose behind his blockers, Iosefa rushed for 281 yards and four touchdowns to lead No. 1 Oak Grove to the runaway victory over the No. 8 Acorns, who finished the season 8-3 overall.
The obvious disparity between the two teams was not lost on Live Oak coach Glen Webb or his players, who had seen Oak Grove in a preseason scrimmage hosted by the Acorns in August. The Eagles looked good then but they looked far better Friday night.
“It would have been interesting to put both teams on the scales and see what they outweighed us by,” Webb chuckled after the game. “It was a tough draw for us in the first round, and there are probably teams in the playoffs that we could (beat). But it’s the nature of the playoffs that you’re going to have to face them eventually.”
Senior receiver/defensive back Doug Porras said the Eagles were one of the physically toughest teams that LO had faced this season.
“We played a lot of physical teams but not like this,” Porras said. “We hung with them as long as we could.”
Indeed, the Acorns trailed by just 14-13 early in the second quarter after a 56-yard TD run by Dustin Muhn and a 21-yard scoring pass from QB David Iseman to Porras, but things disintegrated from there.
Oak Grove would add a Iosefa TD, a 30-yard field goal, and the backbreaker – a 68-yard interception return for a TD with just seconds to go in the first half – to go up 31-13 heading into halftime.
Then, in the second half, the Eagles scored on their first two possessions, on a pair of long Iosefa runs, and the rout was on.
Despite the loss, LO rebounded from a 24-game winless streak heading into the season to win its first seven games of the year, take third in league and make the CCS playoffs for the first time since 2000.
