Newport Beach, Calif- A matchup with one of the elite teams in Southern California took the Santa Barbara High football team out of its element.
The Dons struggled with miscues, and Corona Del Mar inflicted maximum damage from nearly every mistake on the way to a 37-7 victory Friday night in Newport Beach.
“I really believe in this team. I think we have an excellent team. We are a solid 0-2 team that needs to clean up the discipline and the gaffes,” said Santa Barbara High coach Nate Mendoza. “We had gaffes tonight, and you can’t win that way, so I believe that we will clean it up.”
Corona Del Mar senior receiver/defensive back Tucker Murray was a one-man wrecking crew as he tormented Santa Barbara repeatedly in all three phases of the game, including a punt-return touchdown, an interception that he returned 99 yards for a touchdown and several big plays in the passing game.
Last season, Corona Del Mar narrowly escaped Peabody Stadium with a 28-27 victory on the way to a 9-1 regular-season record. The close call was clearly on the mind of Murray and company coming into the rematch.
“I’ve got 10 guys around me doing their jobs, and I just have to do my job,” Murray said. “The standard is the standard, and that was our goal this weekend: to meet that standard.”
The Dons marched down the field on their opening drive of the game, covering 69 yards on 13 plays before stalling in the red zone and turning the ball over on downs at the opposing 11-yard line.
The Sea Kings responded with a five-play, 88-yard drive that was capped by a powerful 16-yard touchdown run by Trejan Nixon.
Santa Barbara put together another 12-play drive on its next possession, but the Dons were forced to punt, and Murray raced past Santa Barbara’s coverage unit for a 75-yard touchdown early in the second quarter, increasing Corona Del Mar’s lead to 13-0.
After another Santa Barbara punt, Corona Del Mar quarterback Luca Dinapoli dropped back and connected on a 51-yard pass to Murray down to the 2-yard line. However, the Santa Barbara defense held and forced a field goal with 4:27 remaining in the first half.
It appeared the Dons would reach halftime down two scores, but a muffed punt just before halftime led to a 42-yard touchdown pass from Dinapoli to JJ Haley with 55 seconds remaining in the first half, increasing Corona Del Mar’s lead to 23-0.
Murray returned the opening kickoff of the second half 80 yards to the 10-yard line, but penalties knocked the Sea Kings out of the red zone.
Santa Barbara showed signs of life late in the third quarter with a 52-yard completion from Griffin Arnold to Brandon Weaver on a crossing pattern, but two plays later, Arnold was intercepted at the goal line by Murray, who returned it 99 yards for a touchdown, increasing Corona Del Mar’s lead to 30-0 late in the third quarter.
Santa Barbara scored on its next drive on a 21-yard touchdown run by Everett Preston with 10:59 remaining in the game. Senior offensive tackle Lucas Blessing picked up a huge block to spring Preston, cutting the deficit to 30-7.
The final Corona Del Mar touchdown came off a Santa Barbara muffed punt as backup JD Annett ran into the end zone from 10 yards out.
Up next for Santa Barbara is a non-league matchup against rival Dos Pueblos.
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