And Saturday afternoon, he certainly lived up to that billing.

Blankenship threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more to lead the Westmont Warriors to a lopsided 37-0 win over Del Mar at the Dons' sunken field.

The Westmont win came in the first game of the season in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League (BVAL). The Warriors improved to 4-0 for the year with the victory.

Blankenship had a hand in all five of Westmont's first-half touchdowns as the Warriors opened up a 31-0 lead before intermission.

Blankenship scored on a 1-yard run in the fist quarter, then hit Eric Oswald with a 26-yard scoring toss. The quarterback hooked up with Mike Bacciarelli for 22 yards and a score before the end of the period, and Amin Jahini's extra point made it 19-0.

Blankenship went back to work in the second quarter. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior quarterback fired a 17-yard touchdown pass to Burt Codera, then scored on another 1-yard run to give the Warriors a big cushion at the half.

Back-up quarterback Gabe Regalado completed a 48-yard touchdown pass to John Baumgardner in the final quarter to close out the scoring in Westmont's 37-0 victory.

Senior running back Mike Jiosa led the ground attack for the Warriors in the win, and senior strong safety Robert Jennings was the defensive leader.

Westmont will be back on the road this week when the Warriors visit Gunderson on Oct. 12, 1:30 p.m., in a non-league game. The Grizzlies are winless in four games this season and lost 55-0 to Oak Grove last Friday.


Dons vs. Panthers

Del Mar, meanwhile, will try to get on the winning track the same day when the Dons host Prospect at 1:30 p.m. Del Mar takes an 0-4 season record into the game, and the Panthers are 1-3 following a 49-0 loss to Independence in the Santa Teresa Division opener last Saturday.

There wasn't much offense for the Panthers in the weekend loss to the 76ers.

Jeremy Nuia led the offensive attack with 16 carries for 68 yards, and Steven Kong supported with 38 yards on 20 carries.

But the Panthers could complete just 1 of 4 passes on the day with Adam Day hitting Kyilo Hulton with a 7-yard toss.

The longest offensive play of the day for Prospect was a 14-yard run by Nuia.

Austin Baumgarten led all Prospect tacklers with 11 stops in the game. Garrett Karren was in on six tackles, Andrew Shouse finished with five, Nuia and Trammell Staten were in on four apiece and Ted Piggins had three.