One barely squeaked by and the other rolled on through. Either way, both Santa Barbara High and SBCC picked up their first football wins this week, and their coaches were at the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table luncheon Monday having shed some weight off of their shoulders.
“I’m here to tell you when you finally get that win, it sure does feel good,” said Vaqueros coach Craig Moropoulos.
SBCC got past visiting L.A. Southwest on Saturday thanks to Riley St. Clair’s fantastic foot. The freshman booted a 50-yard field goal with under two minutes left to lift the Vaqueros to a 10-7 victory.
“L.A. Southwest had some of the most athletic people I’ve seen in my coaching,” said Moropoulos.
Nate Golding had 15 tackles in the game and is hoping to be named the Western State Conference’s top defender for the second straight week.
The Dons picked up their first win in a big way, crushing visiting San Luis Obispo 51-21 at Peabody Stadium on Friday. Quarterback John Uribe was the hands-down pick for Athlete of the Week, setting the county record for touchdowns (7) and passing yards (581) in the contest.
But Uribe was not the only reason for the win.
“When you throw for 1,400 yards and have 16 touchdowns at this point in the season, you have a lot of guys to thank,” said coach Will Gonzales.
Two of those guys do something that doesn’t show up in any county record book, and that’s blocking. Two-way linemen Juan Figueroa and Juan Hernandez came along with their coach and quarterback, as did Oregon State basketball-signee Roberto Nelson, who caught seven passes for 247 yards and a touchdown in the win.
Unlike the Dons’ statistics, the numbers aren’t big on Carpinteria’s roster, as the loss of standout linebacker Isacc Cervantes has the Warriors down to about 20 healthy players at the moment.
“Our injury and illness issues have grown to the point to where our team doctor suggested I bring our trainer with us to the Round Table,” said coach John Hazelton, who took the suggestion and brought along trainer/assistant coach Dr. Jay Kalisek to be recognized.
Hazelton described how he kept seeing Cervantes tending to his calf muscle on the sidelines during Friday’s 40-14 loss to Fillmore. He played through the pain, but ended up in the hospital needing surgery afterwards after discovering he had compartment syndrome, an often serious condition in the lower leg. Cervantes and his mother, Diana, left the hospital for the luncheon. They were joined by Cervantes’ replacement at linebacker, two-way star Mike Ramirez, who carries a 3.7 GPA.
Dos Pueblos coach Jeff Uyesaka congratulated SBCC and SBHS on their wins, pointing out to Gonzales that San Luis Obispo is not an easy team to beat.
Dos Pueblos fell to Righetti 14-0, but had a breakout performance from defensive end Michael Rascon as well as a big game from senior linebacker Luis Guzman, who was returning from an injury that made the whole room cringe when Uyesaka described it.
“He had his front teeth knocked out in summer passing tournament… He broke the bone below his nose that was holding the teeth in,” said Uyesaka.
Ouch.
The San Marcos Royals also fell on Friday, losing to a tough Oxnard opponent on the road 47-7. Coach Dare Holdren was his ever-positive self, however.
“Sports is not about wins or losses. High school sports are not a war or a battle,” he said. “It’s a game. It’s about preparing our young athletes for the future, teaching them about respect and showing them how to respect one another,” he said. “It’s just such a pleasure to be at a high school that values those things.”
He first introduced Daniel Wolgamott, who is “not the best athlete” but has used hard work to get minutes this year.
“It’s athletes like him that make coaching worthwhile,” said Holdren. “As a coach I feel like I’ve helped this kid more so than I ever could a star athlete… I hope he understands that I appreciate his efforts.”
Holdren also brought senior receiver Adison Day, a standout student-athlete whom the coach described as “just a stud.”
Speaking of studs, Ray Vazquez has quite a few on his Bishop Diego cross country team. The squad runs about 30 miles per week but also spends 50 minutes per day in the weight room. Trent Speier and Teddy Sleep are a few of those runners, and both can bench press over 225 pounds. As is typical at Bishop, they are also three-sport athletes. The Cardinals will run next at the DP Invitational on Friday.
Laguna Blanca cross country coach Bob Lunn brought along four of his top runners, all of whom worked hard during the summer. Vanessa Tom is new to the sport but is a natural runner and has finished as the top Owl in two meets thus far, while captain Sarah O’Conner is running about three minutes faster than last season after attending a cross-country camp over the summer. Canadian-transplant Zach Campbell is a triathlete who has improved his cross-country times by over a minute, and standout Kevin Lunn has shown a heap of dedication in running 55-70 miles per week over the summer. He even takes ice baths after workouts.
The Dos Pueblos runners have had an exceptional early season, finishing second in both the boys and girls competitions at the Channel League meet. Coach Leslie Wiggins-Roth said that that has not happened in seven years and possibly much longer.
The Chargers host the DP Invitational Friday at Shoreline Park, and there is an open division at 5:30 for members of the public interested in competing.
Wiggins-Roth was accompanied by some of the younger Chargers, all of whom are playing key roles for the team as underclassmen. They are Sarah “Secret Weapon” Jamison, Kaylie “Cinco” Daniel, Jacob Bartholomew and Sam Sarmiento.
Evan Bradford is not only San Marcos’ top cross-country runner — he’s also the program’s top romantic.
The bleach-blonde Royal runner asked coach Lawrence Stehmeier for the microphone at the front of the bus after a recent meet and recited a poem before asking teammate Danielle Gemberling to be his date for Homecoming. The happy couple of No. 1 runners was joined by fellow team-leaders Jansen Dahill and Kalley Ridgway.
Carpinteria cross country coach Angel Silva brought along Javier Flores and Travis Madden, both of whom have been top-of-the-heap competitors for the Warriors, who are in a new conference and are finding success amongst highly ranked competition in the Tri-Valley League. The girls were fourth in the first league meet and the boys were third.
On the college cross-country front, Westmont’s Russell Smelley was at Harry’s to talk about both of his Warrior teams. Both the men’s and women’s teams are historically in the top 10 of NAIA national meet competitors, and have committed to be a balanced team that works in groups instead of as individuals. Both squads should be in the top 20 by the end of the week.
Aside from running, Smelley jokingly lauded Stehmeier’s endurance in giving such a long talk about his team.
Avery Blackwell came and spoke about UCSB’s team. The men are led by potential All-American Scott Smith and the women are led by reigning All-American Danielle Dominichelli. The Gauchos took fifth this week at the Stanford Invitational, and have been putting in the hours as a heap of road meets are on the horizon.
The lone water-polo coach at the luncheon was San Marcos’ Jeff Ashton, who brought along an All-American of his own in goalie Travis Johnson, who is also one of the team’s top goal-scorers and a Division-1 talent, according to the coach. The Royals are led offensively by Sam Boysel, a senior who has been with Ashton ever since he took over the program for the 2005 season.
Not present was the female Athlete of the Week, SBCC soccer goalie Meigan Maiwald, who has posted five consecutive shutouts for the Vaqueros, who are currently ranked No. 1 in Southern California.
—WOMBLE AWARD: San Marcos’ Jenny Ann Martinez received this month’s Phil Womble Ethics Award, and Womble was there to see the plaque go to the much-deserving Royal.
Martinez carries a 4.5 GPA and is the No. 15 student out of 477 in her class. She is a member of the National Honor Society and is active in her church. Athletically, she has impressed Stehmeier with her outstanding work ethic as a runner but is most known for her exploits as a star soccer player. She hopes to play the sport in college.
Martinez is quite a speaker as well. She gave an eloquent and well-delivered speech to the packed Ranchero Room, thanking her family, friends, coaches, the Round Table and Womble.
