When Roberto Nelson caught a touchdown pass on the last play of the first quarter, Santa Barbara High’s Dons were very much in the game against Channel League football juggernaut St. Bonaventure, trailing just 14-7.
Barely a minute into the second quarter, the Seraphs had tripled their lead to 28-7.
Two long runbacks — a 70-yard kickoff return by Devon Blackledge and a 63-yard punt return by Isaiah Burton — blew up Santa Barbara’s hopes of pulling an upset. The Seraphs rolled to a 51-21 victory Thursday night at Peabody Stadium.
St. Bonaventure (7-1, 3-0) boasts a spotless league record since 2002. It is the defending state Division-III champion and is ranked No. 5 in all divisions this season, losing only to No. 1 Long Beach Poly by a 12-7 score.
With quarterback John Uribe passing for 294 yards and three touchdowns, Santa Barbara (3-5, 2-1) managed to score more points than any other team opposing the Seraphs this year, but the visitors also rang up their highest total.
“Our special teams did a great job scoring,” St. Bonaventure coach Todd Therrien said.
Blackledge, the Seraphs’ leading rusher on the night (117 yards and two TDs on just seven carries), was one of the “up” men in their kickoff receiving team.
“You’re going to have to pooch it to a cat,” Therrien said. Translation: If you go for a short kick to avoid the Seraphs’ dangerous deep returners, they have other speedsters waiting for the football. On the kickoff at the start of the second quarter, Blackledge caught the ball at his 30 and was never touched as he followed a convoy up the left sideline.
Trailing 21-7, the Dons were forced to punt at the end of their next series. Burton weaved from sideline to sideline on his runback for a three-touchdown lead.
Whatever chance the Dons had to get back in the game was dashed by a crucial penalty. They took over at their 38 on an interception by Andrew Mendoza midway through the second period. On fourth-and-3 from their 45, Uribe connected with Nelson deep into St. Bonaventure territory. But the Dons’ receiver was flagged for offensive pass interference — a 15-yard penalty and loss of the down. As a result, the Seraphs had a first down on the Santa Barbara 30. Three plays later, Patrick Hall scooted 13 yards for a score, and the visitors led 34-7 at halftime.
“That was a pretty harsh penalty,” Dons coach Will Gonzales said. “You have to have a few breaks go your way to compete with that team. Not only are they good, but they’re getting all the breaks.”
The Dons let a couple opportunities slip through their fingers in the opening minutes of the game. Lenny Vargas forced a fumble on the Seraphs’ first play, but the loose ball eluded the defense. Four plays later a would-be interception that could have been run back for a score was juggled and dropped.
Given those reprieves, St. Bonaventure went ahead 14-0 on a 10-yard scoring pass from Logan Meyer to Hall and a 54-yard run by Blackledge.
“We let them get an early lead, and that made it really hard for us,” Nelson said.
The Seraphs led 48-7 after Blackledge’s 28-yard scoring burst in the third quarter. The Seraphs piled up 284 yards on the ground, a testament to the blocking of their beefy line and the quickness of their running backs.
The Dons’ rushing offense was a net zero. But Uribe moved the ball through the air, completing 26 of 51 passes. His first scoring strike to Nelson was a 31-yard beauty. In the fourth quarter, Uribe found a leaping Nelson with a 12-yard pass in the end zone, and Kyle Leonard scored on a 13-yard catch and run.
Nelson had seven receptions for 130 yards, and hardnosed tight end Bryson Lloyd caught nine passes for 91 yards.
“Their quarterback is tough as nails, and they’ve got two great receivers,” St. Bonaventure’s coach Therrien said of the Dons.
But the Seraphs had outstanding athletes all over the field and on the bench.
“It makes you better to play them,” said Lloyd, who played both ways against the Seraphs and dished out some punishment at linebacker. “We did what we could. We give it all we had.”
Gonzales said the Dons will have no trouble putting the loss behind them. Next Friday, at the special time of 5 p.m., they will host San Marcos in the annual Big Game.
“All you have to say [to the team] is Big Game,” the Dons coach said.
ST. BONAVENTURE 51, SANTA BARBARA 21
St. Bonaventure…..………14 20 14 3 — 51
Santa Barbara.. ………… 7 0 0 14 — 21
First quarter
St.B—Hall 10 pass from Meyer (Kirk kick), 5:59.
St.B—Blackledge 54 run (Kirk kick), 3:38.
SB—Nelson 31 pass from Uribe (Chandler kick), 0:00.
Second quarter
St.B—Blackledge 70 kickoff return (Kirk kick), 11:43.
St.B—Burton 63 punt return (Kirk kick), 10:57.
St.B—Hall 13 run (run failed), 5:46.
Third quarter
St.B—Langkilde 1 run (Kirk kick), 10:52.
St.B—Blackledge 28 run (Kirk kick), 6:00.
Fourth quarter
SB—Nelson 12 pass from Uribe (Chandler kick), 11:04.
St.B—FG Kirk 39, 8:08.
SB—Leonard 13 pass from Uribe (Chandler kick), 5:50.
TEAM TOTALS St.Bon SB
First Downs 20 16
Rushes-Yards 31-284 15-0
Passing Yards 114 294
Total Yards 398 294
Comp-Att-Int 15-25-1 26-51-2
Punts-Avg 3-41 5-38.8
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 13-152 5-53
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING —St.B: Blackledge 7-117, Langkilde 10-61, Short 2-27, Souza 3-27, Hall 3-22, Luna 3-11, Henderson 1-8, Bogardus 2-8, L. Meyer 1-3. SB: Leonard 7-22, Uribe 8-(minus 22).
PASSING —St.B: L. Meyer 12-20-1-106; Souza 3-5-0-8. SB: Uribe 26-51-2-294.
RECEIVING —St.B: Burton 3-34, Langkilde 3-27, Z. Meyer 2-16, Blackledge 2-6, Ledesma 2-1, Rodarte 1-12, Hall 1-10, Gibson 1-5. SB: Lloyd 9-91, Nelson 7-130, Leonard 5-37, Mendoza 2-22, Locatero 2-11, Maldonado 1-3.
MISSED FIELD GOALS —St.B: 49 (SH).
TEAM RECORDS —St. Bonaventure 7-1, 3-0 Channel League. Santa Barbara 3-5, 1-2.
