Saturday, October 14, 2006

San Diego spoiled Valparaiso's Homecoming West on Saturday evening, as the Toreros defeated the Crusaders 68-7 in San Diego, Calif.

The Toreros jumped out to a quick start as J.T. Rogan returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. After a Crusader interception on the second play from scrimmage, San Diego converted again, with Jon Polk catching a five-yard reception from Josh Johnson to make it 14-0 just 2:34 into the contest.

Johnson then found Polk again on the next possession for a 21-yard touchdown pass and threw his third scoring strike of the opening quarter to Ben Hannula with 3:11 to play in the quarter as the lead grew to 28-0. Johnson was 9-of-9 in the first quarter for 112 yards while the San Diego defense limited Valpo to just 28 total yards.

With the Toreros driving yet again to begin the second quarter, Anthony Curry (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville H.S.) picked off a Johnson pass in the end zone and returned it out to the Crusader 30-yard line. Valpo drove down field, and nine plays later Ryan Doerffler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Concordia H.S.) found John Popper (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman H.S.) for a six-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 28-7 with 9:07 to play before break.

San Diego marched right back down and retook a 28-point lead as Rogan caught a 22-yard pass from Johnson with 5:24 left. Rogan then went in from 27 yards out with 49 seconds left to give the hosts a 42-7 lead at the break.

On the first drive of the third for the Toreros, Brendan Feliczak scored from 14 yards out to build on the lead. The Crusaders then moved the ball down to the San Diego ten but a fumbled snap turned the ball over. The hosts drove right back down and added another score, this one a three-yard run by Johnson to make it 55-7.

David Allen added a five-yard scamper with 9:03 to play in the game for the Toreros and Labroi Walton added a touchdown with 47 seconds left to close out the scoring.

Johnson finished the game 18-of-23 for 286 yards and four touchdowns for San Diego while the Toreros racked up 569 total yards of offense. Valpo was limited to just 220 yards, including 69 rushing by Popper.