After a first-half stalemate, the Santa Barbara High football team faded in the second half and dropped a non-league contest at Moorpark, 24-14, on Friday night.
Penalties piled up, and the Dons failed to score after halftime as Moorpark ground out a hard-fought victory.
“We are not the type of offense that can go backwards. That’s not who we are, so the second-half penalties on offense killed us,” said Santa Barbara coach Nate Mendoza. “I really give a lot of credit to our defense, who kept sticking it out there. We played hard all the way to the end.”
On the opening drive of the game, Santa Barbara drove 65 yards on nine plays before stalling in the red zone and turning the ball over on downs.
Moorpark responded with a two-play drive, capped by a 68-yard bomb from quarterback Logan Moon to wide receiver Davis Benson with 7:01 remaining in the first quarter.
The Dons answered with a 43-yard strike from Griffin Arnold to James, evening the score at 7-7 with 9:03 remaining in the second quarter.
The Moorpark running game then found its stride, as the Musketeers mounted an 11-play, 76-yard drive consisting entirely of running plays. The drive was capped by a 15-yard touchdown run by Gerrit Gray with 2:44 remaining in the first half.
“We’ve leaned on our offensive line all year, so when we get in a situation where we feel like we can run the ball, we feel like we can be pretty successful,” said Moorpark coach Christian Dearborn.
After a Santa Barbara punt, it appeared Moorpark would have another opportunity to score, but Santa Barbara safety Reid Miller snagged an interception and returned it to the Moorpark 40-yard line.
On 3rd-and-15 from the 45, Arnold connected with Monty Lopez on a 36-yard screen pass down to the nine-yard line. On the very next play, Arnold found Lopez again with a swing pass to the flat, and he scampered into the end zone to tie the score at 14-14 with 38 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
The defenses dominated the early stages of the second half until a 77-yard punt return by Evan Brady set up a short field goal for Moorpark, giving the Musketeers a 17-14 lead with 11:57 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Moorpark extended the lead with a five-yard touchdown run by Gray to make it 24-14 with 5:29 remaining. The Dons fought back and attempted a field goal with just over a minute to play to make it a one-possession game, but the kick clanked off the post.
With the loss, Santa Barbara drops to 2-2 on the season. Moorpark improves to 4-0.
Buena, 47; San Marcos 41 (OT)
The Royals failed to convert a potentially game-winning extra point with under a minute to play and ultimately took the overtime loss. The Royals will travel to rival Santa Barbara next week.
San Gabriel, 32; Carpinteria 7
The Warriors struggled offensively and dropped to 1-1 on the season.
Dos Pueblos 56, Del Sol 0
The Chargers pitched a shutout and improved to 2-2 on the season.
You must be logged in to post a comment.