HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL ROUNDUP : RBV’s Ross Scores Five TDs ... in First Half

Here’s how Orange Glen’s Friday night went:

Rancho Buena Vista running back Markeith Ross had 181 yards and five touchdowns.

Then it was time for the second half.

By evening’s end, Orange Glen players were a lot more familiar with the back of Ross’s jersey than with the RBV end zone. Ross finished with 275 yards and six touchdowns in 23 carries as host RBV ripped Orange Glen, 48-15.

On the surface, it was an intriguing match-up. RBV won the Avocado League and San Diego Section 2-A championships in 1988 and Orange Glen won the Palomar League championship and lost in the San Diego Section 3-A championship game.

It was their first meeting as Palomar League opponents, and both were 3-0 in league play coming into the game.

The league favorite quickly emerged.

“They played like champions, and we didn’t play like champions,” Orange Glen Coach Rob Gilster said.

The No. 1-ranked Longhorns scored on five of six first half possessions. The only reason they didn’t go six-for-six was because their final possession started with 55 seconds to play before halftime from the Orange Glen 30. Give them credit for trying, though. Ross ran 23 yards to the Orange Glen seven as time ran out.

Orange Glen, meanwhile, was called for 60 yards in penalties in the first quarter.

RBV scored twice more in the second half. Ross’s touchdown runs were for one, 14, 27, 45, 11 and 34 yards. O.J. Hall, who finished with 70 yards, scored RBV’s other touchdown on a 10-yard run.

None of RBV’s seven touchdowns drives were gimmes. The shortest was 54 yards. Four were more than 60 yards and one was 85 yards.

“We want to keep coming at them in waves,” RBV Coach Craig Bell said of his offensive philosophy.

The RBV defense wasn’t bad, either. It held Orange Glen running back Ryan Strathearn to 34 yards on nine carries. Strathearn was averaging 121 yards entering the game.

And then there was Ross, who even signed an autograph after the game.

“I’m making my way toward the Heisman,” he said, laughing.

Funny, nobody else was laughing.