Moorpark Rolls to 73-0 Victory Over West L.A.

One has to wonder why West Los Angeles College calls itself the Oilers. This is a team running on empty; greased lightning the Oilers are not.

Moorpark demonstrated this once again Saturday, rolling to a 73-0 Western State Conference victory at West L. A. It was the most points scored by a Jim Bittner-coached Moorpark team.

“This is what we expected. They’ve got the first-year blues,” Bittner said. “I don’t think we were ever breathing hard.”

The Oilers (0-5, 0-4 in conference play), who reinstated their football program this season after a 2-year hiatus caused by budget cuts, have been outscored, 209-0, in their past 4 games.

This one was over almost as soon as it began. The Oilers turned the ball over 4 times in the first period, and the Raiders (5-0, 4-0) cashed in 3 for touchdowns and a 21-0 lead.

Five seconds into the second period, Moorpark lineman John Goslin sacked Marcus Montgomery, then recovered the Oiler quarterback’s fumble in the end zone for a touchdown and a 28-0 lead. By halftime, the Raiders led, 45-0.

At that point, they were sniffing a shutout. They also were smelling steak. Bittner has promised to spring for steak dinners for each Moorpark shutout.

Get the grill ready: The Raiders, substituting liberally, outscored West L. A., 28-0, in the second half. Moorpark will now prepare for Saturday’s game against Harbor, its first WSC Northern Division opponent.

“Now we’ve got to get serious,” Bittner said. “I would have liked to work on the passing game today, but that would have been in pretty bad taste.”

The numbers tell the story. Moorpark had only 1 scoring drive that started in its own territory, putting together “marches” of 10, 11, 17, 30, 32, 33, 45, and 65 yards. The Raiders punted just once all day.

Moorpark finished with 405 total yards to 2 for West L. A., which never penetrated Moorpark territory.

Raider quarterback Jayson Merrill played only the first half, completing 4 of 7 for 74 yards and 3 touchdowns. Running back John Brown had 3 touchdowns--on runs of 34, 1 and 1 yard--and finished with a game-high 70 yards.