Too Little Too Late: Calabasas Comeback Falls Short in Football Loss

was tagged with its seventh football loss in a row Friday, a 24-17 defeat at Agoura in a Marmonte League game that figured to see the visiting Coyotes have a good chance to win after losing by wide margins for most of the season.

Though Calabasas (1-7) did not succeed, first-year coach Christian Pierce sees the bright side.

“Offensively, we played with more discipline. I’m very proud of the how some of our student athletes competed in the second half,” Pierce said. “We need to have that same level of competitiveness and fight in the first half of our games from all our players."

"Change takes time, and we’re learning the hard way what it takes to be successful.”

Calabasas spotted Agoura a 24-point lead before scoring the final 17 points of the game over the last seven minutes.

Ike Fuchs replaced starting quarterback Brandon Marin in the second half and passed for 151 yards, including an 89-yard touchdown to Anthony Freeman. Fuchs also kicked a 31-yard field, and Tyson Jones scored on a 2-yard run with 1:25 left.

An onsides kick by Calabasas was recovered by Agoura, and the host Chargers were able to run out the clock for the homecoming win.

“Defensively, we must stop digging deep holes for ourselves,” Pierce said.

Calabasas plays host Friday to St. Bonaventure, one of the California’s top programs, then finishes Nov. 10 at Thousand Oaks.

“Against St. Bonaventure, we need to fight hard from the very first snap and be perfect in what we do because there is no room for error,” Pierce said.

CLOSE FOOTBALL LOSS FOR VIEWPOINT

Viewpoint School also had a tough football loss on Saturday, falling 26-20 at Chadwick in Palos Verdes in a key Prep League game.

Viewpoint (5-3, 1-2) has fallen into a three-way tie for third place, so the Patriots are fighting for a playoff berth with two games left beginning Saturday at Webb in Claremont. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

“We had a tough loss but we played hard,” Viewpoint running back Adam Markun said. “We hope to crush the next two teams go into the playoffs with a 7-3 record.”

No matter what, Viewpoint has made an impressive turnaround after going 3-23-1 over the previous three seasons.

Second-year coach Chris Adamson said the Chadwick loss was a benchmark game even though Viewpoint did not win.

“For the first time in several years, we were in a real four-quarter war against a very good football team,” Adamson said. “We had our chances in the second half to take control of the game and couldn’t get it done.

“I think we learned a lot from the loss, and if Monday’s practice was any indication, our eyes are a little more open to both what we are really capable of and what we need to continue to do to improve on if we are going to keep getting better.”

Markun rushed for 117 yards, including a 65-yard touchdowns, in the loss. The junior has 737 yards rushing, as he is closing in on his second consecutive 1,000-yard season.

A year ago, Markun rushed for 263 yards against Webb in a 36-36 tie.

“Our team is very excited to go out this week versus a scrappy and well-coached Webb team and build on what we learned down at Chadwick,” Adamson said.