Grounded Westlake Wins, 28-7 : High school football: Warriors take air out of the ball and deflate Thousand Oaks in Marmonte opener.

THOUSAND OAKS —  Far be it for the Westlake High football team to be inflexible.

The Warriors, with All-American receiver Billy Miller, have a reputation as a passing team, but they ran their way to a 28-7 Marmonte League victory over Thousand Oaks on Friday night at Thousand Oaks High.

Senior fullback Craig Walendy led the way with 139 yards and two touchdowns in 15 carries.

“We’ve had this offense all the time,” Walendy said. “It’s just the brains of (Coach Jim) Benkert. He knows how to beat teams.”

Apparently, though, he just figured out how to beat Thousand Oaks. The Warriors, who share a home stadium with the Lancers, had not beaten their crosstown rivals since 1987.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Westlake players doused Benkert in ice water.

Benkert said he planned to use more of a running game than the Warriors (3-1, 1-0) have in the past, particularly after last week’s 20-7 setback to Hart.

“We just felt like the last few weeks, people had really tried to take away our passing lanes,” he said. “So we had to put our ears back and run the ball.”

Westlake gained 218 yards on the ground. Quarterback Scott Spruill, who won the starting job from Brian Shubin, completed five of eight passes for 78 yards. Miller caught three passes for 31 yards.

Brandon Jackson gained 36 yards in nine carries and Scott McEwan completed four of five passes for 32 yards for Thousand Oaks (1-3, 0-1), which had only 109 yards.

However, the Lancers took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter when Bill Sperry scored on a 15-yard pass from McEwan on a fourth-and-four play.

Westlake came right back, tying the game on a two-yard run by Jamal Harris. Westlake took the lead on a one-yard run by Walendy with 8 minutes 44 seconds to play in the first half. Holder Mike Leibin took a bad snap on the extra-point attempt and ran it in for a two-point conversion, giving Westlake a 15-7 lead.

Walendy added a nine-yard scoring run and Jason Victor scored from eight yards.

The game was delayed about 15 minutes in the final quarter when Thousand Oaks running back Mike Thomas was carried off the field with a hip injury.