Point Loma’s Pointers used their best aerial offensive attack of the season and a dominant defense as they ousted first-round opponent Valley Center last week in a CIF Div. II playoff game.

Seeded No. 5, the Pointers scored on their first two possessions before building a 21-0 halftime lead and trotting to a 28-7 win over the No. 12-seeded Jaguars.

The win improves the Pointers’ season record to 6-5 while Valley Center’s year ended at 7-4.

The Pointers travel North to Poway on Friday, Nov. 15 for a quarterfinal battle against the No. 4 seeded Titans who sit at 3-7 overall including 0-5 in the Avocado League. The No. 4 seed gave Poway a first-round bye. The winner of this game moves to the semifinals against the winner of No. 1 University City and No. 8 Christian.

Senior QB Ty Hurst is the main weapon in the Titan offense, completing 47% of his passes for 1,832 yards, 15 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. Junior running back Luke Jorgensen is averaging 6.5 yards over 117 carries totaling 762 yards.

Looking ahead to Poway, head coach Ryan Price noted: “Like us, they played a tough schedule so they are battle-tested. It’s going to be a very good contest. I think we match up pretty well on both sides of the ball in terms of similar skill sets both teams have so I think it should be a fun game.”

Against the smaller Jaguars, however, the Pointers were in control from the opening kickoff as sophomore QB Ryder Watson completed 19 of 30 throws for 251 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted twice.

His favorite target was Romeo Carter, who caught six balls for 128 yards and two scores, an average of 21.3 yards per catch. He also had two interceptions while playing defense. Dylan Upjohn also grabbed six passes for 75 yards.

The run game was again limited, gaining just 59 yards on 27 attempts, a 2.2 average. As a team, the Pointers have not had a 100-yard game this season. But they did manage a touchdown by Canon Ogden on this night.

It was Ogden who scored the first points of the game just six minutes after kickoff and a Jaguar punt. A broken playkeeper by Watson took the ball close to the goal line. Drew Weim’s first of four PATs gave the Pointers a 7-0 lead.

The Pointers scored again on their next possession after a 42-yard pass and run from Watson to Carter took the ball to the Jaguar 22. Ryan Patterson caught another Watson pass at the five-yard line, dodged a prowl of Jaguar defenders covering 19 yards, and scored for a 14-0 advantage 1:21 before the first quarter ended.

In the second quarter, the Pointers finally had to punt and the Jaguars made their initial first down of the game. The Pointers took possession with two minutes left before the break and struck again.

The key play was a swing pass to Ben Kamen who was hit but refused to go down until he had picked up 11 yards. After a pass interference penalty on the Jaguars, Watson, from 33 yards out, threw a high pass and Carter, using his 6 ft. 4 in. height out-jumped a Jaguar defender and came down with the ball and six points 1:03 before the break.

A tipped Jaguar pass was picked off by Mateo Correia, sending the teams to intermission with a 21-0 Pointer lead.

Exactly halfway through the third period, Watson and Carter connected again, this time Carter scampering down the sideline to complete both the touchdown and Pointer scoring for the evening.

The Jaguars erased their goose egg with 4:51 left to play when they scored against Pointer reserves.

Defensively, the Pointers dominated the Jaguars, who came in scoring 30 points per game.

Price lauded his players after the game for their dominating performance.

“We came out focused and did everything we said we wanted to do this week,” he said. “We wanted to stop the run and play strong defensively against their front six or seven. Offensively we got it going early which was a big point of emphasis this week. We knew we could take advantage of some stuff. The team played well, we had some ups and some downs, but the team kept fighting and we finished the game so overall I was really happy with it.”

EXTRA POINTS

The Pointer JV finished 6-3 (2-2 in league) after a 28-0 loss to Cathedral Catholic and prepared a number of players to move up to the varsity level next season.

The freshman team finished 5-4 (0-3 in league) after a 41-14 loss to Cathedral.

Varsity, JV, and freshmen will have separate end-of-season events. The varsity traditionally holds a buffet dinner and awards ceremony at a local restaurant with banquet facilities. This year’s celebration is TBA.

A “well done” to senior Joaquin Guzman who was unable to play due to injury but operated the stadium scoreboard controller from the sidelines while walking up and down the field and communicating with game referees. Guzman quickly learned how to use every facet of the scoreboard, something adults have yet to accomplish.