Carpinteria's Alex Rodriguez gets behind Santa Paula's secondary on his 79-yard touchdown run. It was Rodriguez's 15th TD of the season.
An injury to star player Alex Rodriguez didn’t stop Carpinteria on Friday night, as the Warriors outlasted visiting Santa Paula for a 35-32 Tri-Valley League victory.
Rodriguez scored two touchdowns on long runs of 47 and 79 yards before he was knocked from the game with more than half the time left on the clock in the third quarter and Carpinteria up 21-17.
Warriors head coach Ben Hallock said initial reports have Rodriguez out two weeks. The senior remained on sidelines for the remainder of the game but wore a large brace on the injured leg.
It’s a big loss for the Warriors as the senior two-way player has 15 touchdowns on the season. He was on pace to break his single-game record of 181 yards rushing set last week against Fillmore.
“It was a bummer when Alex got hurt, but Paul (Cortez) stepped up on offense,” said Warriors quarterback Ian Craddock, who scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter and completed a TD pass to Jordan Robinson.
Santa Paula had just closed it to 28-25 in the fourth quarter when Cortez made his mark.
Now a one-score game, Cortez took the ball for the Warriors. Craddock fed the 5-foot-4 ball carrier six straight times. Cortez’s first two runs went for 20 and 22 yards and Cortez ended up accounting for all of Carpinteria’s 57 yards on the scoring drive, including a 1-yard touchdown.
“We ran right at them at the end. We ran straight ahead and Paul did a good job of finding holes,” Hallock said.
Santa Paula grabbed a 10-0 lead early on before Rodriguez snatched momentum back for the home team by breaking off two long runs. Both came on the very first plays of drives.
“It was Alex who sparked us,” Hallock said. “He seems to be the guy who has ignited us when we’re not playing the way we should, he’s the guy that comes out and makes those great, determined runs and really sort of sets us back on course. It’s about the third or fourth time he’s done that for us.”
With Craddock under center, the Warriors put together an 87-yard scoring drive on their next offensive possession to go up 28-17. The biggest gain of the drive was a 35-yard completion from Craddock to Jeffrey Moorhouse.
“We ran the ball really well and when we needed to pass, we did. And when we needed a defensive stop, we stopped them,” Craddock said.
The Warriors defense produced two second-half turnovers. Anthony Graham intercepted a pass in the third quarter and Andrew Sova forced a fumble that was recovered by Duncan Gordan.
Santa Paula’s sophomore quarterback Christian Garcia kept the Cardinals in the game with a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The first was a hook-up with fellow sophomore Daniel Kohr on a 34-yard touchdown reception. Garcia punched in the 2-point conversion to make it 28-25 with 10:21 left in the fourth quarter.
Santa Paula scored again with 1:22 on the clock – a 67-yard TD reception by Steven Kohr – but the following onside kick scooted out of bounds.
Carpinteria ups its record to 6-1, 2-0. Oak Park (2-5, 0-1) is up next Friday at Carpinteria Valley Memorial Stadium.
For Santa Paula, the Cardinals fall to 0-7 on the season. It’s the second straight loss in league by less than a touchdown.
“I’m proud of the boys. I’m proud of the way we played,” said Santa Paula head coach Teohua Sanchez, who’s starting a number of sophomores at skilled positions. “I think we’re the best 0-7 team.”
Santa Paula senior Steven Kohr was responsible for the Cardinals’ first and last touchdowns of the night. Kameron Klien also rushed for a Santa Paula touchdown.
The Cardinals host Nordhoff (3-4, 1-0) next Friday.
MORE TO COME
We were counting on the five guys up front to make plays and they did.
