Bishop Diego showed its big-play capability in routing Santa Paula, 56-7, on Friday night to wrap up the Tri-Valley League’s No. 1 spot for the CIF-Southern Section football playoffs.
Bishop scored on seven plays of 40 yards or longer to win the regular-season finale and finish with records of 7-3 and 2-1 in league. Santa Paula will enter the playoff’s as the TVL’s No. 2 seed with records of 5-5 and 1-2. Bishop is in Division 5 and Santa Paula in Division 12.
League champion Grace Brethren (9-1, 3-0) is ineligible for the postseason.
The CIF playoff pairings will be released on Sunday.
Tommy Murillo scored three times for Bishop Diego. He had a 41-yard run and caught a 46-yard pass from quarterback David Gladish in the second quarter as Bishop build a 28-0 lead, and ran 59 yards after a screen pass for the first touchdown in the third quarter.
“We knew coming in that it would be a challenge,” Santa Paula coach Mike Montoya told the Ventura County Star about playing Bishop Diego. “They were as good as we expected them to be.”
Santa Paula played without leading rusher Anthony Morales, out with a knee injury. As a consequence, the team had only 53 yards in offense in the first half.
Bishop Diego rolled up 476 yards on just 35 plays.
Jake Engel completed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Michael Agnoli to get Bishop Diego going in the first quarter. John Harris followed with the first big play of the night, a 76-yard touchdown run.
Mark Soracco added TD runs of 87 and 45 yards, and Elijah Whitney scored for the defense on a 43-yard interception return.
The only times Bishop Diego was stopped came on an interception return by Santa Paula’s Martin Vega and a missed field-goal attempt that hit the left upright.