VISTAVISTA — For the first time since the 2021 football season, the Vista High Panthers can call themselves winners.
Vista put an end to a 20-game losing streak in emphatic fashion Friday night with a 28-14 victory over cross-town rival Rancho Buena Vista in the Valley League finale for both teams. Senior quarterback Adrian Ghrer tossed two touchdown es and ran for another as the Panthers roared to a 28-0 halftime lead and held on to post their first win since Oct. 22, 2021, when they defeated Rancho Bernardo, 28-27.
“We knew we had to come out and play hard against our rival,” said Ghrer. “We made the big plays when we needed to.”
Vista (1-9, 1-5) had scored just 13 points in its previous five games, including being shut out three times. But the Panthers scored four touchdowns in the first half at RBV, beginning with a 3-yard touchdown run by Noah Smith just two minutes into the first period following a 67-yard run by Jordan Douglas on Vista’s first possession.
The Panthers then scored 21 points in the final 3 minutes and 20 seconds of the second period, including a 6-yard scoring from Ghrer to Keoki Becerra that was set up by a blocked punt by Becerra at the Longhorns’ 43-yard line.
Big plays then followed a pair of RBV punts as Ghrer connected with Isaac Robinson for a 63-yard TD before Ghrer raced untouched up the middle for a 71-yard scoring scamper with 28 seconds left in the first half.
“Vista has never lost to RBV three years in a row, so we drew a line in the sand, “ said Panthers first-year coach David Fa’atu’iese, a former player at Vista High. “This game was an example of what this team can do.”
Rancho Buena Vista (1-9, 1-5) avoided being shut out with two late scores.
“I love my seniors; they’re my guys,” said RBV coach Shane Graham. “We just need to learn how to play football better.”
The Panthers have a long tradition of winning to rebuild. Dick Haines brought the Big Red mantra to Vista High in 1970, and the Panthers won a league championship a year later by dethroning three-time defending Avocado League champ Escondido. A 13-0 record and a CIF Division 2-A title followed in 1974, the first of nine CIF crowns for Vista, including three under Haines.
Vista last reached the CIF finals in 2011, a year after winning the Division I title under coach Danny Williams with a 12-1 record. The most recent win against RBV came in 2019, when the Panthers were Palomar League champs and reached the CIF Division II semifinals.
It’s been an uphill battle since.
“It’s been a learning curve,” said Fa’atu’iese, who played linebacker for the Panthers under Williams during the 2014-15 seasons and took over the head coaching job at Vista barely a month before practices began. “There’s still a lot of things I’m learning, and I still call and text Coach Williams because he knows a lot of the inner workings of the community.
“This is a great community here, and for me it’s all about giving back. I won’t leave a place until I left it better than when I got here. The wins might not be showing, but the kids understand what we’re doing, and we have a great group of kids that plays hard.
“There’s a lot of buying-in by these young guys.”
Hoff is a freelance writer.
VISTA 28, RANCHO BUENA VISTA 14
Vista 7 21 0 0 – 28
Rancho Buena Vista 0 0 0 14 – 14
V – Smith 3 run (Ghrer kick)
V – Becerra 6 from Ghrer (Ghrer kick)
V – Robinson 63 from Ghrer (Ghrer kick)
V – Ghrer 71 run (Ghrer kick)
RBV – Ramos 4 run (Hernandez kick)
RBV – Madali 25 from Ramos (Hernandez kick)
