Carpinteria’s clash with Grace Brethren Friday night figured to be a classic matchup at quarterback on both sides, and the game that developed at Warrior Stadium didn’t disappoint.
That assessment didn’t change when Warrior star quarterback R.J. Rosborough had to leave the game early in the second quarter with a high ankle sprain. Justin Alvarado, who started the game at wide receiver, stepped in to take the snaps and led Carpinteria back from a 22-7 deficit to a 23-22 lead midway through the third quarter. But ultimately the outcome was determined by way too much Kevin Ramay, the Lancer quarterback who accounted for 418 total yards on offense to lead Grace Brethren to a 34-23 nonleague victory.
“They’re a fine offensive football team with a senior quarterback and senior leaders,” said Warrior head coach John Hazelton after the game that squared both teams’ records to 2-2. “But when R.J. went out, that created an interesting domino effect that brought out of lot of courageous performances from our players.”
Rosborough had completed three passes for 42 yards — all to Alvarado — and had produced one touchdown as the Warriors’ offensive leader on Ryan Caudillo’s 8-yard run late in the first quarter. But Ramay was winning the battle between the two star QBs in the early going.
He scored his first of three TD runs to open the scoring on the Lancers’ second possession. His 13-yard scamper on a option fake 6:52 into the game capped a six-play drive that started at the Carpinteria 40 after Ramay recovered a Warrior fumble on defense. Carpinteria responded with a short (49 yards) scoring drive of its own after a Lancer onsides kick — the first of many — that didn’t succeed.
Rosborough had a key 16-yard run for a first down to the Grace Brethren 18 as well as two passes to Alvarado for first downs in the drive. Caudillo’s 8-yard run with 2:45 left in the first quarter and Damian Acevedo’s PAT kick gave the Warriors a shortlived 7-6 lead.
But Ramay asserted his domination on the Lancers’ next two possessions, both producing touchdowns. On the first, he found receiver Travis Sproat wide open three strides past his defender down the right sideline for a 38-yard passing strike that put the Lancers back on top with 38 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Ramay’s shovel pass to Ryan Curnel for the two-point conversion squared the missed PAT opportunity on Grace Brethren’s first score for a 14-7 lead.
When the Lancers’ next onsides kick gave them the ball back immediately on a fumble recovery at the Carpinteria 46, Ramay struck hot again. Consecutive pass completions for 23 and 21 yards to Max Leffler and Chris Meyers pushed the ball to the Carpinteria 2.
Ramay scored from three yards out two plays later at the 10:40 mark of the second quarter and Sproat ran in the two-pointer for a 22-7 advantage. Rosborough got hurt playing defense on that possession.
“The sprain immobilized him enough that we decided not to take a chance to put him back in,” Hazelton said.
That forced Hazelton to make hasty adjustments on a 25-man squad that was already strapped by a couple key injuries entering the game. Alvarado moved from the receiver slot to quarterback. His first two possessions leading the offense were shaky, including a fumble that a teammate recovered.
But Grace Brethren couldn’t get anything going on either response, both ending in bad snaps in punt formation. On the first Lancer punter (Curnel) escaped a perilous situation by scooping the ball up at the two-yard line, scrambled from trouble and got the kick off.
But the second bad snap resulted in a two-point safety for Carpinteria that cut the Lancer lead to 22-9. Alvarado finally settled into the leading role on the final possession of the first half. On a drive that covered 67 yards on 11 plays and produced four first downs, Alvarado hit Tony Sanchez from seven yards out under intense pressure for a touchdown with less than two seconds left on the clock.
Another Acevedo PAT kick put the Warriors within striking distance entering intermission, trailing only 22-16. Alvarado started out strong opening the second half, completing his longest pass of the night (36 yards) to Sanchez, only to have Curnel make a heads-up play on defense by popping the ball loose from behind, and Ramay made his second fumble recovery on the night.
But after Ramay was unproductive (for a change) on the other side of the ball, Alvarado resumed his own Ramay-like resemblance. He directed a 10-play scoring drive, finishing with a 16-yard sideline pass to Sanchez and an 18-yard TD pass to Ivan Millhollin that proved to be the most exciting score of the night. Millhollin, playing with a broken finger, curled over the middle in the end zone and tipped the razor-sharp pass to himself in front of the defender.
“I just put my hand up and tipped it perfect — right there,” said Millhollin, who dismissed the broken finger as a handicap. What was even more exciting was Acevedo’s third PAT kick that gave the Warriors a 23-22 lead at the 5:39 mark of the third quarter.
“Alvarado played exceptional,” said Hazelton. “It was unbelievable he could drive us and put us ahead in a situation he’s never been in before.”
“I wasn’t nervous,” said Alvarado. ” I didn’t get a lot of reps in practice (at quarterback). But I felt I had to step up. I felt really comfortable behind the (offensive) line.”
But Ramay wasn’t done.
After breaking off a 24-yard run and completing a 21-yard pass to Leffler, Ramay finished an 80-yard, 10-play scoring drive with a short pass to Sproat, who bounced off a couple tacklers to score from 15 yards out.
The Lancers’ two-point conversion failed again but they regained the lead, 28-23, with 1:40 to go in the third quarter. Carpinteria was poised to take the lead back when Millhollin intercepted a Ramay pass for a sudden possession change at the Lancer 45.
Alvarado calmly drove the Warriors on a time-gobbling 10-play march to a first-and-10 at the Grace Brethren 11 with less than six minutes to play. But the drive stalled on three successive incomplete passes targeted for the end zone. The final exclamation point to Ramay’s memorable night was a 79-yard TD run after he broke free from a scrum at the line of scrimmage with 3:58 showing on the clock. Ramay finished with 203 yards rushing on 31 carries, and added 215 passing yards on 13-of-21 attempts. Curnel had four catches for 31 yards and Sproat totaled 53 yards on his only two catches, both for TDs.
Alvarado finished with 106 yards passing on 8-of-21 completions. Sanchez caught six passes for 88 yards, while Millhollin was the Warriors’ leading rusher with 64 yards on 16 carries.
GRACE BRETHREN 34, CARPINTERIA 23
Grace Brethren…14 8 6 6 — 34
Carpinteria……….7 9 7 0 — 23
FIRST QUARTER
GB —Ramay 13 run (run failed) 6:52.
C — Caudillo 8 run (Acevdeo kick) 2:45.
GB — Sproat 38 pass from Ramay (Curnel pass from Ramay) 0:38.
SECOND QUARTER
GB — Ramay 3 run (Sproat run) 10:40.
C — Team safety (bad snap downed in end zone), 2:36.
C — T.Sanchez 7 pass from Alvarado (Acevedo kick) 0:02.
THIRD QUARTER
C — Millhollin 18 pass from Alvarado (Acevedo kick) 5:39.
GB — Sproat 15 pass from Ramay (pass failed) 1:40.
FOURTH QUARTER
GB — Ramay 79 run (run failed) 3:58.
TEAM TOTALS GB C
First Downs 19 17
Rushes-Yd 43-251 38-130
Passing Yds 215 150
Total yards 466 280
Passes 13-21-1 11-25-1
Punts-Avg 1-35.0 3-40.3
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 4-3
Penalites 8-63 6-53
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — GB: Ramay 31-203, Sproat 8-31, Curnel 4-17. C: Millhollin 16-64, Caudillo 10-29, Rosborough 5-20, Alvarado 7-17.
PASSING– GB: Ramay 13-21-1. C: Rosborough 3-4-0, Alvarado 8-21-1.
RECEIVING– GB: Curnel 4-31, Rushing 3-51, Sproat 2-53, Leffler 2-44, Curnel 4-31, Meyers 1-22, Ellis 1-8. C: T.Sanchez 6-88, Alvarado 3-42, Wilson 3-26, Millhollin 1-18.
