OCEANSIDE — The Oceanside High School football season that started off like a rocket with a win over Granite Hills, once again hit the return-to-earth button, giving up the three scores in the first half, losing 21-14 to Rancho Bernardo on penalty-marred homecoming night at Oceanside.
The win on a hot, windy night with a fire raging just up Interstate 5, moves the No. 7-ranked Broncos to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the Avocado East League.
Oceanside, ranked No. 10 in the section, saw a three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in league play.
The game was marred by 22 penalties, 13 on Oceanside for more than 100 yards.
“The game didn’t have much rhythm,” said RB coach Eric Weddle.
“Our boys dominated, and if you watched the game, you saw that.”
Oceanside trailed 21-0 before quarterback Anthony Barquinero connected on touchdown passes of 68 yards to Ethan Estrada with 3:29 to play and 50 yards to Darien Mahony with 1:02 remaining in the game.
But Oceanside’s onside kick attempt was recovered by Gaige Weddle and the Broncos ran out the clock.
“Gaige and I are the team’s one-two punch,” said RB running back Aiden Farrell. “The defense can’t key on either one of us.
“We played a really good opponent, and this was a dogfight all the way. The offensive line played its tails off, and we all came to hit.”
Farrell rushed 15 times for 54 yards and Weddle 14 for 60.
Weddle completed his first nine passes for 131 yards and finished 11 of 16 for 155.
Barquinero completed 7 of his first 13 passes for 23 yards, but finished with 167 yards passing.
RB made it 21-0 at the break, scoring with 2:46 left in the half on a 6-yard run by Weddle. The big play was a 32-yard pass from Weddle to Dre Walker.