Santa Barbara Eliminated From CIF-SS Division Four Playoffs With 24-21 Loss to Corona Del Mar

Abel Renteria dropped back to pass for the final time in his high school career looking at a Hail Mary attempt at the end zone from near midfield, but he was sacked before he could release the pass, ending Santa Barbara’s dream of a CIF-SS Division 4 Championship.

The Golden Tornado, as the Dons are called during the playoffs, couldn’t hold on to a 14-0 halftime lead and dropped a 24-21 heartbreaker to visiting Corona Del Mar in a quarterfinal game at Peabody Stadium.

“Our boys battled all the way until the end. It was kind of a historic win last week and close to doing the same thing this week, but that’s sports, somebody has got to win,” said Santa Barbara coach Nate Mendoza. “You just hate to see the seniors lose that game because you just felt like we were going to win it. You just felt like the whole time we were going to pull it out.”

Santa Barbara had a golden opportunity to get the ball back with just under three minutes to play in a tied ball game, but after Corona Del Mar’s pass was broken up by a Santa Barbara defender on 3rd-and-8 a penalty was called for an illegal hit on a defenseless receiver. 

The game-changing call on shoulder to shoulder contact gave the Sea Kings 1st-and-10 from the 48-yard line, and five plays later, kicker Colin Pene converted a 30-yard field goal to give the Sea Kings a 24-21 lead with one minute remaining.

“I hate to say it, but that wasn’t a penalty, it was a clean hit with his shoulder. I don’t know what else he is supposed to do. We would’ve got the ball back, that was third-and-ten when it happened,” Mendoza said. “Hats off to Corona Del Mar, they fought back from 14-0.

The first half was all Santa Barbara as the Dons defense dominated and the offense came up with explosive plays. Renteria and Mault got things started with a 54-yard screen pass down to the six-yard line after a face mask penalty was tacked on.

Three plays later, Renteria found Winston Bartley wide open in the end zone with 2:37 remaining in the first quarter.

The Renteria to Mault connection came through again on Santa Barbara’s second scoring drive as a 50-yard catch and run on third-and-22 brought the Dons down to the two-yard line. Renteria finished off the drive on the next play with a two-yard run up the middle into the end zone, increasing the Santa Barbara lead to 14-0 with 1:50 remaining in the second quarter.

A long punt return by Dillon Lane sparked Corona Del Mar early in the second half, setting up a six-yard touchdown run by Owen Sanders with 8:27 remaining in the third quarter.

“When we had that punt return pop and got one ounce of belief and hope our kids jumped on that and we rode that momentum all the way to the end. It was fun,” said Corona Del Mar coach Kevin Hettig.

Sanders’ second touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter tied the score at 14-14. His third touchdown of the game with 6:35 remaining in the fourth quarter gave the Sea Kings their first lead of the game.

However, Santa Barbara responded with a seven-play, 67-yard drive capped off by a 34-yard touchdown pass from Renteria to Mault with on third-and-13 that tied the score at 21-21 with just under five minutes to play.

The ensuing Corona Del Mar possession resulted in a field goal and Santa Barbara received the ball with one minute remaining. Back-to-back completions to Bartley and Mault advanced the Dons to midfield and a short pass to Jaden Reath with five second remaining put the Dons on 44-yard line for the final play that was not to be.

Renteria completed 17-of-30 passes for 241 yards. He tossed two touchdown passes and ran for another. Mault caught five passes for 155 yards. The standout receiver will return for his senior season.

Corona Del Mar will travel to Yorba Linda for the semifinals on Friday.