WOODLAND HILLS — El Camino Real High held its first West Valley League game on its own home football field since Oct. 15, 2021, and let the whole city know about it.
A packed student section, recently named “The Kingdom,” was bumping from start to finish. They had furnished jerseys that looked like replicas of the Texas Christian Horned Frogs’. They even had a firework show at halftime.
And it spread onto the field in the form of offense as El Camino Real trounced Taft 37-12 to win the Battle of Woodland Hills over its crosstown rival for the eighth consecutive time.
Quarterback Arturo Acevedo threw for 182 yards and five touchdowns, four of which went Jayden Williams’ way as the senior had six catches for 130 yards. The Royals (2-4, 1-0) also held Taft do-it-all athlete Ledgend Wilson to negative rushing yards. They turned the Toreadors (2-4, 0-1) over on downs twice and converted each time head coach Jason Sabolic opted to keep the Royals’ offense on the field in similar fourth-down situations.
Fourth-down conversions accounted for both of the Royals’ first-half scores.
On their opening drive, facing fourth-and-2, Acevedo hit Williams for a 22-yard touchdown. Then, with 4:25 remaining in the first half, the two connected for another six points. Williams ran a quick out route, using just his left hand to snag an errant pass before trotting into the end zone.
“Man, I just made it happen,” Williams said about the highlight. “I just saw the ball, tracked the ball, and came down with it.”
Williams’ third touchdown didn’t come in a spot where it was conversion or bust, but it might as well have been as El Camino Real faced third-and-30 on its own 40. Williams beat his coverage down the sideline and Acevedo hit him in stride for a 60-yard score.
The Royals built a 30-0 lead before Taft scored its first points. Quarterback Nathan Swinson, who threw for 212 yards last week, connected with Dakota Gardner for a 53-yard catch-and-run. The Toreadors recovered the onside kick, which set up a Swinson 40-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jayden Green.
After Green’s touchdown, the Toreadors forced a three-and-out and, for just a second, had El Camino Real’s raucous crowd collectively on edge. Kona Malig turned the tide as he intercepted Swinson with five minutes remaining. Williams added another touchdown for good measure.
El Camino Real had every right to be loud on Friday.
“It’s been such a long time coming,” Sabolic said, his shirt drenched from a Gatorade bath. “The kids deserve it. They’ve just been absolutely taxed.”
“We had that motivation of not having a field,” Williams said, gesturing to the Royals’ baseball field, where the team has held the majority of their practices during his three previous years at El Camino Real.
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“We haven’t had this field for three years,” he added, returning his attention to the turf. “It really means a lot.”
This is more than a feel-good story, though. This is about the Royals building sustenance in the future.
“It’s infectious,” Sabolic said. “Once you’ve gotten that idea and that belief that you can win, you’re a dangerous team, if everybody’s playing together.”