Vista Cruises to Easy Victory at Chula Vista

CHULA VISTA — What is it with high school football coaches and their refusal to gloat?

Not only do they refrain from pushing the First Amendment to its limits, but they go out of their way to downplay victories.

Even a 35-0 victory, which is what Dick Haines’ Vista Panthers enjoyed after tangling with a highly regarded Chula Vista team.

“I think we’ve got a long way to go,” Haines said after watching his team dismantle Chula Vista. “But we played pretty well tonight.”

Maybe Haines was talking about the hour bus ride back to Vista.

“I want to re-emphasize,” Haines said, “we come down here because we like the staff at Chula Vista. These are great people.”

It’s not that the Spartans (1-1) gave away the game, but they sure were accommodating.

Not only did Chula Vista fail to score, but the Spartans bothered to pick up only four first downs.

Vista (2-0) rolled for 320 yards on the ground. Senior running back Kenny Edwards accounted for 119 on 14 carries. He also had a seven-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes remaining in the first half to make it 21-0.

Teammate Chato Jackson took 14 handoffs and although he gained only 36 yards, he scored three touchdowns. Dante White had the other touchdown on a counter play that went for 37 yards.

In all, Vista used eight ball carriers, all of whom ran successfully behind a young, but overpowering, line.

“We have some good athletes along the line,” Haines said. “We knew that going into the season. What we didn’t know is that they would come along so fast.”

It wasn’t only Vista’s offensive line that pushed the Spartans around all night. The defensive front of David Wright, Billy Klinicheck, Jimmy Ramos, David Viger and Dan Sears, was equally impressive in shutting down Chula Vista’s one-dimensional attack.

LaMar Bailey had 101 yards on 17 carries, but the Spartans got only 38 yards from the rest of their offense.