Football: San Clemente Gets Its Revenge Against Lakewood, 42-6

Travis Wilson talked about it. Herbert Gamboa talked about it. And we’re pretty sure everyone else on the San Clemente roster talked about it.

After losing last year in the first round of the playoffs to Lakewood, San Clemente had vengeance on its mind Friday night, and it executed its plan like Dirty Harry.

A stout defense led by Chad Foster and Christian Bailey, and a big peformance by quarterback Travis Wilson made San Clemente’s day with a 42-6 victory over Lakewood in the first round of the Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoffs at San Clemente High.

With its victory, San Clemente (10-1) will play St. John Bosco (8-3), a 33-28 winner over fourth-seeded Mission Hills Alemany, in the quarterfinals on Friday, Nov. 24, at Bosco High in Bellflower. Lakewood, the second-place entry from the Moore League, finished 7-4 (one of those losses being a forfeit of a game it won, 54-0).

“They beat us last year, so we came out this year with some fire and intensity, and payback, and we got them this year,” said Gamboa, a linebacker who helped dominate the Lancers.

Wilson said the Tritons wanted it more.

“They beat us pretty bad last year, and definitely coming out this year, we wanted to get back at them,” he said.

They got back at them good.

Wilson passed for four touchdown against only one interception; he completed 15 of 23 passes for 176 yards.

“Travis was nails," Tritons coach Jon Hamro said. "I thought our defense played really well, our play-calling was great, and our defensive coordinator, Jaime Ortiz, and Troy Kopp on offense, both called great games.

“When they’re going to load the box and stop the run, we’ve got to be able to throw it, play action and such. He made great decisions, he’s athletic, and I’m really happy for him. “

Wilson was the clear winner against Lakewood quarterback Brock Dale, who entered the contest with 26 touchdown passes, five interceptions and a 189-yard per game average.

Dale didn’t even make the finish. Trailing in the fourth quarter, 28-0, and having already thrown two interceptions, he was replaced by junior Chris Bell, who led Lakewood to its only score, a 10-yard pass to Darius Powe. By that time, though, the Tritons may have been losing interest.

Wilson now has 20 touchdown passes with seven interceptions, but more importantly, he is still alive and leading his team into the second round.  The dominant performance Friday was the first home playoff game, and first playoff victory for the Tritons since 2005.

And even though getting a playoff home game and victory were goals, Hamro said that’s not enough. Not with the talent on this team.

“We're competing week to week, day to day, really hour to hour and minute to minute," Hamro said. "We're really focused. We're just going out to play and perform at the best level we can." 

Mike Elespuru rushed 22 times for 100 yards, and his two-yard run gave San Clemente a 7-0 lead after its first drive. Wilson threw second-quarter scoring passes of 20 yards to Chris French and 11 yards to Jacob Graff (with 27 seconds left in the half) for a 21-0 lead.  Wilson tossed scoring passes of four and seven yards to Landon Cooke in the second half, and Deandre James mopped up with a late four-yard scoring run.

“We definitely played to our potential and we came out fired up, came out really pumped,” Wilson said. “We played a good game.”

SCORING

San Clemente 42, Lakewood 6

                                  1    2    3    4   --   T

Lakewood                  0    0    6    0   --   6

San Clemente            7   14    7  14   -- 42

1st Quarter

SC -- Mike Elespuru 2 run (Brett Miller kick) 8:53

2nd Quarter

SC -- Chris French 20 pass from Travis Wilson (Brett Miller kick) 3:38

SC -- Jacob Graff 11 pass from Travis Wilson (Brett Miller kick) 0:27

3rd Quarter

SC -- Landon Cooke 4 pass from Travis Wilson (Brett Miller kick) 5:28

L -- Darius Powe 10 pass from Chris Bell (kick blocked) 3:09

4th Quarter

SC -- Landon Cook 7 pass from Travis Wilson (Brett Miller kick) 8:38               

SC -- Deandre James 4 run (Brett Miller kick)  3:34

Martin Henderson's video to arrive soon. Stay tuned!