Cody Clark saw a glimpse of daylight and he was gone.
His 99-yard touchdown run was part of a resilient effort by the San Marcos football team Friday night, but it wasn’t enough in a 41-16 loss to host Ventura at Larrabee Stadium.
If the first half was all that mattered then San Marcos would have emerged with an upset but Ventura scored 27 unanswered points in the second half that made it a rout. Of the four second-half scores, two came from the offense, one from the defense and another from special teams.
“They’re bigger, stronger and faster than us,” San Marcos coach Dare Holdren said. “You can see that. They are. In order for us to beat a team like that we have to play really well and we made too many mistakes.”
There were some bright spots.
The San Marcos defense twice stopped Ventura quarterback Keihan Gibbs at its own 1-yard line.
The Royals took advantage of one of those turnovers. In the beginning of the second quarter, quarterback Jake Buchanan handed off to Cody Clark, who broke through a swarm of Ventura defenders and sprinted 99 yards up the right sideline for a 16-7 Royals’ lead.
“It was a nice run by Clark,” Holdren said. “Good block by the O-line. He busted that thing.”
San Marcos’ advantage wouldn’t last.
Clark did his part with 181 yards on 28 carries, but Buchanan struggled and was replaced by James Crook following his second interception of the second half.
On the evening, Buchanan was 5-for-11 with two interceptions for 42 yards. Crook wasn’t much better at 1-for-7.
“(Ventura) brought a lot of guys and with our passing game you have to give them credit,” Holdren said. “I wouldn’t sit back either. I would come get us too. Our passing game is just not good right now.”
San Marcos had a fortunate bounce on its first touchdown drive. After a Ventura interception was nullified by a holding penalty, Clark ran five yards before losing the football. Jeff Ramirez grabbed it and lumbered another nine yards to the Ventura 10-yard line.
Two plays later Buchanan punched in a 1-yard touchdown run over the middle.
“(Our players) play really really hard, but we just have some mental breakdowns,” Holdren said. “Just a few. A guy here. A guy there and when you’re not as big and fast as the other team you can’t do that.”
