RANCHO BERNARDO — Four times in the red zone and no points.
An interception in the end zone.
Key penalties.
And that was the winning team.
Rancho Bernardo High School overcame a ton of mistakes, played great defense and stayed unbeaten, beating No. 9-ranked La Jolla 21-12 on Friday night.
“Defense has been a point of emphasis since last season,” said RB coach Eric Weddle after the Broncos improved to 4-0.
“The guys understand that if you’re not disciplined, don’t tackle, you don’t play. La Jolla is a tough bunch. They run a no-huddle, tempo offense. But we hammered it home.”
Rancho Bernardo held La Jolla (3-1) to 140 yards rushing, 58 coming on a late fourth-quarter touchdown run by Aiden Farrell. The Vikings completed just 10 of 20 passes for 64 yards.
The RB defense had six sacks, two each by James Fisher and Jaden Bickers and one each by Gavin Valencia and Joshua Messick.
“Our coach is really good,” Bickers said. “He has cards for everything. We’re really well prepared. Coach demands 100 percent, 110 percent, 120 percent from each guy. And we try to give it to him.”The way you win championships is with defense. La Jolla is a good team, a good passing team.
“So sacks are great. Maybe an interception is better, but I don’t have one, so I can’t compare.”
La Jolla opened the scoring after a Galo Sanchez interception halted an RB drive at the Vikings’ 20. La Jolla then drove 80 yards on 11 plays, with Nicolas Baradaro scoring on a 15-yard pass from Hudson Smith. A 2-point conversion attempt failed.
The drive was aided by a pair of RB penalties on fourth down.
The Broncos answered with a 78-yard drive on 13 plays with Miles De la Cruz scoring on a 15-yard option run with freshman Gaige Weddle at quarterback. Jayden Bess scored a 2-point PAT on an option from Weddle.
Leading 8-6, RB had a chance just before the end of the half with Weddle driving his team from Broncos 25 to the La Jolla 24. But a pass into the end zone on the final play was incomplete.
The Broncos stretched the lead to 15-6, scoring late in the third quarter on an 8-yard run by Weddle.
A 7-yard TD pass from Trey Durham to De la Cruz late in the fourth quarter put the game away.
Rancho Bernardo 22, La Jolla 12
La Jolla 6 0 0 6 — 12
Rancho Bernardo 0 8 7 7 — 22
LJ — Bardaro 15 pass from Smith (run failed)
RB — De la Cruz 15 run (Bess pass from Weddle)
RB — Weddle 8 run (Hutchinson kick)
RB — De la Cruz 7 pass from Durham (Hutchinson kick)
LJ — Farrell 58 run (pass failed)