Defense Leads Reseda Past Westchester, 10-0

Joel Schaeffer watched Westchester High play last week and he couldn’t stop talking about how good the Comets were.

The Reseda football coach said Westchester was the best football team he had seen “in a long time.” Schaeffer said that his Regents would have to play over their heads to win the Pac 8 League game between the two schools.

Schaeffer probably would have said Westchester could beat the L.A. Rams replacement team if he would have watched the game Sunday.

But Reseda didn’t get walked over by Westchester as Schaeffer had forecast. In fact, the Regents played almost flawlessly in their 10-0 victory Friday night at Westchester.

“We took the game away from them,” Schaeffer said.

Westchester (2-1) came into the game having outscored its previous opponents, 72-30. But against Reseda (2-0), the defending City 2-A champions, the Comets could barely muster an offense.

Westchester managed to cross into Reseda territory only twice during the game, never getting past the 39-yard line

“We got stuffed,” Westchester Coach Larry Wein said. “Something would always happen. We’d have a good play and there would be a penalty or a fumble.”

George Konstantinopoulos gave Reseda a 3-0 lead on the last play of the first half when his 53-yard field goal attempt bounced on the cross bar and then through.

The field goal was a school record, breaking the mark set in 1983 by George’s brother, Harry.

Reseda scored its touchdown midway through the fourth quarter on a two-yard run by Chris Vargas.

The Regent defense dominated the first half of the game, limiting Westchester to 18 total yards and one first down.

But Reseda’s offense couldn’t move the ball either. The Regents had only four first downs and didn’t move past midfield until the last drive of the first half, which Konstantinopoulos ended with his field goal.