Woodbridge football team gears up for CIF Division 8 opener against Temecula Valley

Woodbridge quarterback Kyle Hurry gets the offense ready Thursday in practice. (Tim Burt photo)

Woodbridge’s football team, which captured the Pacific Coast League title with a perfect 5-0 record, hopes to keep rolling in the CIF Division 8 playoffs when it hosts Temecula Valley Friday night at 7 at University.

Woodbridge (7-3) allowed just one touchdown in its last four PCL games and is led offensively by quarterback Kyle Hurry and all-purpose players Elyjah Rush and Jacob Nash.

Temecula Valley (5-5) is an at-large team from the Southwestern League. The Golden Bears finished tied for second place with Murrieta Mesa and Woodbridge Coach Rick Gibson said Temecula Valley poses a tremendous challenge.

“It’s going to come down to who plays better on special teams and who doesn’t turn the ball over and who takes control of the line of scrimmage,” Gibson said after practice Thursday. “They’re a good football team from a very good league. So we’re not taking this as a first place vs. a wild card. We’re taking this as a first place vs. a first place because if they were in our area, they probably would be.”

The Golden Bears’ quarterback is Easton Gibbs, who has passed for 1,169 yards and 19 touchdowns and rushed for 646 yards and eight touchdowns.

“They run, their quarterback is a special player,” Gibson said. “He starts at outside linebacker and he’s around the ball for a lot of things. He leads the team in rushing and throws the ball as well. He is a two-prong player with a lot of talent. And they have a couple good outside receivers who are fast and they’re well coached.”

Another talented player is Logan Moreno, who has rushed for 492 yards. The top receiver is Cade Churchward who has 30 catches for 520 yards and nine touchdowns.

Woodbridge is led by Hurry who has passed for 1,606 yards and 16 touchdowns and all-purpose players Rush (525 yards rushing, six touchdowns and 38 catches for 439 yards and three touchdowns) and Nash (139 yards rushing and two touchdowns and 836 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns).

The winner moves on to face the winner of the Santa Ana vs. Fountain Valley game next week. Santa Ana hosts the game Friday night at Santa Ana Stadium.

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com