BUENA BACK UNSTOPPABLE BUENA 54, NEWBURY PARK 28.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

VENTURA - Almost before the Newbury Park defensive linemen had a chance to turn their heads, Alex Garfio was past them, on his way to a big gain.

Garfio, the speedy tailback from Buena High of Ventura, rushed 29 times for 340 yards and four touchdowns as the Bulldogs earned a 54-28 nonleague victory Friday night at Ventura High.

Garfio sat down after giving the Bulldogs (2-1) a 33-point lead early in the fourth quarter and received great help from his offensive line, which blew open holes against an overmatched Newbury Park (1-2) offensive line.

Buena attempted just one pass in the second half.

Newbury Park declared its intention earlier this week to make the game a wide-open, high-scoring contest, and although quarterback Rudy Carpenter had an excellent first half, he ran into trouble in the second half.

The Bulldogs turned a five-point halftime lead into a 54-21 lead early in the fourth quarter and all but shut down the Panthers' prolific offense.

Carpenter finished 20 of 31 attempts for 237 yards, but 197 of those yards came in the first half.

Buena quarterback Garrett Cushing completed just 1 of 5 attempts in the first half, but the one completion was an 11-yard touchdown pass to Cory Ford with five seconds left in the second quarter that gave Buena a 26-21 halftime lead.

The Panthers couldn't have been too discouraged, though, because they trailed 20-0 after the first play of the second quarter.

Newbury Park then established some momentum with a six-play, 53-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass from Carpenter to Nick Godfrey.

After a Buena fumble near midfield, the Panthers scored two plays into their ensuing drive on a reverse by Cox, who ran 49 yards for a touchdown.

A punt gave the Panthers the ball back near midfield, and a screen pass from Carpenter to Cox put the Panthers at the Buena 11.

Buena's defense made three stops, but on fourth and 6 at the Buena 7, Carpenter rolled left and Bryce Winter made a diving catch in the corner of the end zone to give Newbury Park a 21-20 lead with 2:34 remaining in the half.

Newbury Park's problem early in the game was stopping the Buena rushing attack, particularly the big plays.

The Panthers had a chance to strike first, driving down the field with ease, but receiver David Sanford fumbled into the end zone for a touchback.

On their sixth offensive play, the Bulldogs ran a reverse through Garfio to Justin Ishida, who ran 59 yards untouched to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead halfway through the quarter.

Another fumble, this one inside the Buena 30, started the Bulldogs' next scoring drive. It lasted just four plays and was capped when Garfio took a misdirection handoff and ran 61 yards for a 13-0 lead with 3:19 left.