Castle Park High School wasn’t the only site of an offensive shootout last Friday. Similar events unfolded at nearby Otay Ranch High School as the host Mustangs twice squandered 14-point leads to hand the visiting Ramona Bulldogs their first win of the season.
Final score: Ramona 49, Otay Ranch 42.
The loss spoiled an otherwise festive homecoming gathering.
For the Bulldogs (1-3), the victory highlighted a phenomenal individual performance by senior tailback Kirk Kaliszewski, who rushed for 273 yards and scored six touchdowns —one short of the San Diego Section record for rushing touchdowns in a game.
Kaliszewksi scored on runs of 54, 14, 2, 53, 17 and 15 yards while teammate Elias Jauregui scored on a 41-yard run to account for the Ramona scoring.
Outside of the big yardage plays made by the visitors, the hosts dominated large segments of the contest to lead by scores of 14-0 and 28-14.
“We came out fiery and confident,” said Mustang coach Anthony Lacsina, whose team saw its record drop to 2-2 in non-league play. “We weren’t as fiery the second half. We just couldn’t finish them off.”
Before the large crowd had a chance to comfortably settle in the stands, the hosts quickly broke out to a 14-0 lead as Deodrick Cunningham scored on a nine-yard rushing play and Chris Martin caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Cody Springsguth.
Ramona made the score 14-7 and then 14-14 on the first play of the second quarter. But Otay Ranch regained the momentum with two unanswered touchdowns to end the first half.
Anthony Williams scored on a 10-yard run with 5:31 left in the second quarter to push the visitors back in front 21-14.
A gutsy call then gave the Mustangs a 28-14 halftime lead as Williams scored on a two-yard fourth-down running play with seven seconds left in the second quarter.
Kaliszewksi’s two-yard score with 8:33 left in the third quarter brought Ramona back into the ball game, trailing 28-21.
If there was a point when the momentum finally swung in favor of the visitors, it came in the dying seconds of the third quarter. The Mustangs’ Cunningham broke off a long run only to fumble the ball along the goal line while being tackled by a Ramona defender.
Instead of safely putting some distance between themselves and the Bulldogs, it allowed the visitors to get back in the game.
Ramona recovered the ball and a few plays later, Kaliszewksi broke off a 53-yard sideline scamper to tie the game at 28.
It was the first of four fourth quarter touchdowns scored by the visitors.
“When we fumbled, it gave them momentum,” Lacsina said.
The Mustangs didn’t quit, however.
The Bulldogs needed every one of their seven touchdowns after Otay Ranch scored twice in the final minute of the game while recovering two onside kicks. Springsguth scored on a run while tossing a TD pass to Nicolas Gula.
The Mustangs had the last possession of the ball and the game ended near the goal line as a fourth-down pass from Springsguth was batted away amid a crowd of flying bodies. Otay Ranch had advanced as far as the Ramona 31 with nine seconds to play.
The Bulldogs forced four second-half turnovers to reverse the game’s momentum, and finished the game with four picks.
“We made some mistakes and we mean to correct them,” Lacsina said. “I give them (the Bulldogs) a lot of credit. They wore us down and did what they had to do to win.”
Otay Ranch hosts the Hoover Cardinals on Friday, Sept. 30, as non-league play continues. The Cardinals (3-1) are coming off a wild 35-28 victory at Castle Park by scoring the final two touchdowns of the game, including the game-winner with 15 seconds remaining in the non-league contest.
Stat attack
Springsguth completed nine of 18 passes for 127 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. David Mondy rushed 13 times for 121 yards while Williams had eight carries for 118 yards, Cunningham had four carries for 70 yards and Springsguth scrambled for 69 yards on eight attempts.
Martin led ORHS receivers with four catches for 62 yards while Gula grabbed two passes for 23 yards and Williams had two receptions for 27 yards. Angel Mendoza caught one pass for 15 yards.
Jordan Peterson had eight tackles and one interception for the Mustangs, who also received six solo tackles from Steven Alexander
