Bishop Diego Steamrolls Garces Memorial

For the second consecutive week the Bishop Diego high football team flexed its muscle against a powerful opponent and came away with an impressive victory.

Junior running back Quran Gossett racked up 132 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns as the Cardinals cruised to a 30-14 victory over CIF Central Section powerhouse Garces Memorial.

“Obviously on tape they had two wins against good programs, and they were pretty dominant,” said Bishop Diego coach Tom Crawford. “This was kind of a measurement game for us to get a sense of where we are at early in the season.”

The Cardinals came into the game ranked No. 57 in the state according to Maxpreps. Garces Memorial was ranked No. 55. On the field, the game wasn’t that close as Bishop Diego controlled the action from start to finish and proved to be the more physical team.

“We didn’t have a lot of plays in the week one game because of the running clock in the second half so I was a little worried about the durability of some of my players given how many plays I knew was going to be in this game,” Crawford said. “I was probably most impressed with how hard our guys who were going both ways continued to play throughout the game.”

Mikey Hayes promptly ended Garces Memorials’ first drive of the game with an interception and four plays later Gossett rumbled into the end zone to give the Cardinals a 6-0 lead with 8:50 remaining in the first quarter. The ensuing extra point was missed.

On the final play of the first quarter Michael Luckhurst connected with Johnny Alvarado on a 49-yard bomb that increased the Bishop Diego lead to 13-0.

However, Garces Memorial responded with a 12-play, 82-yard drive capped off by a four-yard touchdown run by quarterback Travis Plugge.

The Cardinals tacked on a 27-yard field goal by Luckhurst just before halftime and opened the second half with a 63-yard run by Gossett that gave Bishop Diego a 23-7 lead with 11:31 remaining in the third quarter.

Bishop Diego’s final touchdown came on a 30-yard pass from Luckhurst to Marcus Chan who ran a wheel route out of the backfield and got behind the Rams’ defense.

Santa Barbara 42 Righetti 7

Santa Barbara High sophomore quarterback Abel Renteria completed 17-of-18 passes and the Dons jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead on their way to a 42-7 victory.

Anthony Lopez caught two touchdown passes and sophomore running back Koa Herrera led a dominant Santa Barbara rushing attack.

The Dons will host San Marcos in their annual crosstown rivalry game next week.

Ventura 32 Dos Pueblos 14

The Cougars notched their first win of the season and Dos Pueblos falls to 0-2 under first-year head coach A.J. Pateras.

Lompoc 56 Cabrillo 0

Deville Dickerson continued his unbelievable streak as a returner as he took the opening kickoff, and two punts for touchdowns. Lompoc improves to 3-0 with the victory and will take on Arroyo Grande next week.

Santa Ynez 10 Nordhoff 7

The Pirates improve to 2-1 after coming out on top of a defensive slugfest with Nordhoff.

St. Monica 19 Carpinteria 17

The Warriors took a 10-6 lead into the locker room at half time, but couldn’t hold on and dropped to 0-2 on the season.