Villa Park’s players jumped off a lot of things on their trip to Hawaii, so it is only fitting that they jumped on Damien when pleasure turned to business.
The California school used a punishing ground game and beat Damien 37-13 in the season opener for both teams at Skippa Diaz Stadium in Kalihi.
The Spartans spent a full week on Oahu, jumping off the rock at Waimea and the bridge in Haleiwa in addition to another hundred activities.
“The kids will remember this trip far longer than they will remember that score,” Villa Park coach Dusan Ancich said. “It’s been an awesome trip, everyone has treated us first class. It’s pretty special for our boys to come out of Orange County and come here.”
Damien got on the board first when Micah Neizman jumped in front of Villa Park quarterback Nate Lewis’ second pass and returned it 27 yards for the initial touchdown. After that, the Spartans went almost exclusively to the power running game and scored on three of their next four drives, tallying 181 yards on the ground on 27 carries. Ethan Fraser and Dominic Ancich had the first two scores, and workhorse Carter Christie had the third on an electric 31-yard effort.
Christie finished with 185 yards on 16 carries, hitting a seam on the first play of the second half for a 70-yard score to make it 30-7. He didn’t have a carry after that, ceding his spot to his backups.
Lewis didn’t complete his first pass until the third quarter and finished 2-for-10 with a touchdown and an interception. He is in just his second week of practice after being hurt in the offseason. Even with his struggles, the Spartans scored on five of their last seven drives with him under center, the only zeros coming from two missed field goals.
It was Villa Park’s second trip to the islands. The Spartans visited Damien when Skippa Diaz Stadium first opened in 2017 and won a thrilling game 14-6.
“We came here intending on going 50/50 run-pass, but we just couldn’t get into a rhythm,” Ancich said. “You know, we brought 88 people and every single kid got to play except our backup kicker.”
Damien didn’t score on offense until 1:43 remained in the third quarter, when AJ Tuifua found Wyatt Ho-Williams in the corner of the end zone from 20 yards out. But like Villa Park, the Monarchs were just looking at Nanakuli next week and beyond.
Tuifua, a sophomore quarterback, did a fine job of shredding Villa Park’s defense before the sun set, hitting his first six passes and picking up yardage on another due to a pass interference call. He dropped the snap and lost a fumble on the 10th play of the drive. After that, Damien struggled to get anything going against a bigger and deeper squad. While Villa Park brought 88 boys to the islands, Damien hit the field with fewer than 50. Knocking heads on defense for a 10-play drive and then being asked to do it again on offense was a bit much.
“I have to respect the battle our defense did against those giants,” acting head coach Lefa Lauti said. “We won’t see a bigger team like this, so it’s good that we came out healthy. We’ll get there when the head coach comes back.”
Lauti stood in for Anthony Tuitele as head coach for Damien. Tuitele missed the game for “personal reasons.”
“I’m taking all of the blame. It’s not on the coaching staff or the kids,” Lauti said. “Like I told (Tuifua), it’s not your fault. I made some bad calls. The main thing is that we came out healthy.”
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Villa Park (Calif.) 37, Damien 13
At Skippa Diaz Stadium
Villa Park (1-0) 8 15 7 7 — 37
Damien (0-1) 7 0 6 0 — 13
DMS—Micah Neizman 27 interception return (Samuel Kawakami kick)
VP—Ethan Fraser 11 run (Dominic Ancich run)
VP—Ancoch 1 run (Nate Lewis pass to Jacob Poff)
VP—Carter Christie 31 run (Emiliano Sanchez kick)
VP—Christie 70 run (Sanchez kick)
DMS—Wyatt Ho-Williams 20 pass from AJ Tuifua (kick blocked)
VP—Jarrell Spencer 50 pass from Lewis (Sanchez kick)
RUSHING—Damien: Matthew Ishihara 6-19, Jayden Rivera 5-7, Tuifua 8-2, Trytan Vicari 1-1, Aiden Kahele 1-0, Nalu Chinen-Zablan 1-(minus 2). Villa Park: Christie 27-181, Ancich 9-51, Fraser 5-32, Jake Lawhon 2-19, Braeden Perez 4-14, Makhai Hayes 1-6, Vinny La Gatta 1-5, Connor Layton 2-4, Blythe Dahl 1-4, Lewis 1-(minus 8).
PASSING—Damien: Tuifua 15-22-2-159, Bush Kaeo 2-3-0-17. Villa Park: Lewis 3-10-1-89, Lucas Simone 1-1-0-16, Noah Nam 1-1-0-20, Aidan Pacillas 1-1-0-4, La Gatta 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING—Damien: Chinen-Zablan 6-40, Dayton Savea 5-61, Bryse Hopeau-Lampitoc 3-38, Ho-Williams 1-20, Kaysen Dulay-Gorai 1-10, Samuel Kawakami 1-7. Villa Park: Dylan Daniels 2-20, Gunnar Dahl 2-18, Spencer 1-50, Jack Dragovich 1-41.
