Santa Barbara Fades late in 45-18 Loss to Valencia

The Santa Barbara High football team came out on fire against traditional powerhouse Valencia, but the visiting Vikings turned up the heat in the second half and the Dons failed to respond.

Valencia outscored Santa Barbara 17-0 in the final 6:52 of the fourth quarter to turn a hard fought contest into a 45-18 rout on Friday night at Peabody Stadium.

“Santa Barbara is really well coached. That’s a good football team. The quarterback is experienced and really confident in what he does. They were moving the ball and feeling good,” said Valencia coach Larry Muir. “The fourth down stops were critical and it kind of shifted the game for us. You could tell our guys built confidence and felt like alright we got this.”

The opening minutes of the game was a fast-paced shootout. Valencia returned the opening kickoff to the Santa Barbara 32-yard line and on the first play from scrimmage Jackson Askins connected with DeAndre Kermah on a screen pass that he broke for a touchdown. 

Trailing 7-0 less than a minute into the game, Santa Barbara responded with a six-play, 77-yard drive capped off by a 24-yard touchdown pass from Abel Renteria to Sammie Congdon with 9:20 remaining in the first quarter. 

After a quick Valencia three-and-out Santa Barbara took a 15-7 lead when Renteria threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Kai Mault and followed it up with a powerful run to convert the two-point conversion.

“I just felt we played with confidence and we were believing,” said Santa Barbara High first-year coach Nate Mendoza, who was coaching his first home game at Peabody Stadium. 

Santa Barbara built on its momentum with an onside kick and recovered the ball, but the ensuing drive fizzled. 

With the game seemingly slipping away,  the visiting Vikings pulled closer on their next drive. The left-handed Askins made an incredible play rolling right on 4th-and-11 to connect with Nick Seymour for a 30-yard touchdown pass that cut Valencia’s deficit to 15-14 early in the second quarter.

The Dons answered with a 33-yard field goal to take an 18-14 lead with 7:24 remaining in the second quarter. 

Santa Barbara cornerback Jordan Mitchum intercepted a pass on Valencia’s next drive and it appeared Santa Barbara would build on its lead as Renteria connected with Congdon on a 45-yard pass down the sideline, but the Valencia cornerback did not give up on the play and stripped the ball from behind in what turned out to be the turning point of the game late in the second quarter.

Valencia immediately drove down the field with sophomore quarterback Brady Bretthauer in the game after Askins was temporarily sidelined after a late hit. Bretthauer finished off the eleven-play drive with a one yard touchdown run to give the Vikings a 21-18 lead with 1:30 remaining in the second quarter. 

A deep ball by Renteria was intercepted on the first play of the ensuing Santa Barbara drive and Luke Cruz took a screen pass 77-yards to the end zone, increasing Valencia’s lead go 28-18 with just under a minute remaining in the second quarter.

Santa Barbara quickly drove down the field, but Congdon’s 36-yard field goal was wide right as the first half clock expired.

The Dons got the ball to start the second half and drove 56 yards on eleven plays, but Renteria was stopped just short on 4th-and-2 from the Valencia eleven-yard line. 

Neither team scored in the third quarter and Santa Barbara had the ball on their own 40-yard line trailing 28-18 with 5:52 remaining in the fourth quarter when Cruz intercepted a Renteria pass and returned it for a touchdown extending the Vikings lead to 35-18.

“That was the name of the game tonight, penalties and turnovers. The defense did outstanding. They could have rolled over a bunch of times in that fourth quarter, but they kept holding strong,” Mendoza said. “If you weren’t at the game you would think our defense got worked, but obviously that’s not the way it went.”

Renteria tossed two more interceptions in the final minutes that set up Valencia scores, which put a sour taste on what was a gutsy performance on his part.

“We kind of built it up all week. This is the type of team you’re going to see in the playoffs and this is the competition we want to play,” Mendoza said. “The boys can either learn a lot of lessons tonight and play the most important game the right way next week or they’re not going to learn.”

The Dons (1-1) will host unbeaten Pacifica of Oxnard next week. Valencia (2-0) will host Murrieta Mesa.

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