Against a banged-up Santa Barbara football team that had six players out with injuries, Righetti relentlessly kept putting up six — six times, in fact.
Santa Barbara's Kenny Foster makes it around the corner
With kicker Jared Miller tacking on six extra points and a 31-yard field goal to boot, the visiting Warriors rolled to a 45-0 victory that was as dominating as the score implies at Santa Barbara High.
Members of the Dons’ Reunion Class of 1964 in attendance had little to cheer about as Righetti moved pretty much at will, finishing the night with 245 rushing yards among seven ball carriers and 166 passing yards off the arm of senior quarterback TJ Jordan. Matt Miller caught six of Jordan’s eight completions for 127 yards.
Michael Hale (114 yards on 14 carries) had two touchdown runs, Jordan ran one in and threw for another for 18 yards to Eric Wilson, Dylan Jones added a scoring run, and Santa Barbara had the white flag waving by the time Usa Taua scored on his only carry of the night from 35 yards out with 5:15 remaining in the game.
“They outright beat us,” said Dons first-year head coach Jaime Melgoza, whose squad fell 0-3. “We’ve just got to go back to work. That’s the Dons’ way. The Dons have pride, and we’ve just got to get prepared for our next game (at San Luis Obispo next week.)”
RJ Rosborough, Santa Barbara’s senior quarterback, gamely tried to get something going on offense, but his efforts proved to be futile against a Warrior defense that yielded only 127 yards.
“It took a lot of hard work to put that zero up,” said Righetti defensive coach Ron Prober. “Rosborough’s a stud. He’ll do all right this year.”
The Warriors improved to 2-2 after losses against quality opponents (Pioneer Valley and Hart) sandwiched around a 31-0 drubbing of Cabrillo.
“We played a couple tough teams,” said Righetti head coach Gary Wilson. “But we made some adjustments on the field and the kids responded.”
Wilson credited Prober for putting together a solid game plan on the defensive side. He cited middle linebacker Cody Berry, who had to make one of the more significant on-field adjustments moving from the outside linebacker spot. Berry got involved in the offense in the second half as well, gaining 60 yards on seven carries.
The tone of the game was set immediately when Santa Barbara netted minus 1 yard on its first two possessions.
Jared Miller kicked his field goal to cap Righetti’s first possession at the 5:56 mark of the first quarter. The Warriors wouldn’t have to settle for 3 for the remainder of the half.
A Rosborugh fumble recovered by the Warriors’ Carlos Soto at the Dons’ 19 led to the first easy 6 for Righetti — a 4-yard run by Hale.
Santa Barbara managed to get a couple first downs on its third possession, crossing into Righetti territory for the first time on the first play of the second quarter. But a delay-of-game penalty stalled the drive.
It didn’t take long for the Warriors to make it 17-0 after a 51-yard pass from Jordan to Matt Miller to the Santa Barbara 6. Six more yards from Hale put up another 6, and Jared Miller was well on his way to a perfect kicking night with his second PAT.
It became evident the Dons were in for a long night when their next possession ended with a Rosborough punt that was a launched straight up in the air and netted minus one yard. Righetti took over from the Santa Barbara 46 and took eight plays to score again on Jordan’s 2-yard keeper.
Santa Barbara quarterback RJ Rosborough hand off
It became evident the Dons were in for a long night when their next possession ended with a Rosborough punt that was launched straight up in the air and netted minus one yard. Righetti took over from the Santa Barbara 46 and took eight plays to score again on Jordan’s 2-yard keeper.
Tony Velasco intercepted a Rosborough pass and returned it to the Santa Barbara 45 to set up the next score. Matt Miller’s most impressive reception came between two defenders and covered 27 yards, and Jordan followed with an 18-yard corner route completion in the end zone to Eric Wilson for a 31-0 lead while still 41 seconds shy of halftime.
The Warriors substituted liberally in the second half and could have made it much worse if not for drawing eight flags that cost them 80 yards.
“They showed a lot of class,” said Melgoza.
Isaac Cardenas led the Dons with 31 rushing yards on five carries and had a couple short receptions. Nick Custodio provided a little spark for the home crowd with a couple nice kick-off returns.
RIGHETTI 45, SANTA BARBARA 0
Righetti……………..10 21 14 0- 45
Santa Barbara………0 0 0 0- 0
FIRST QUARTER
R– J.Miller, 31 FG, 5:56.
R– Hale, 4 run (J.Miller kick), 3:09.
SECOND QUARTER
R– Hale 6 run (J. Miller kick), 10:27.
R– Jordan 2 run (J. Miller kick), 4:21.
R– Wilson, 18 pass from Jordan (J.Miller kick), 0:41.
THIRD QUARTER
R– D.Jones 2 run (J.Miller kick), 4:01.
R– Taua 35 run
TEAM TOTALS R SB
First Downs 21 8
Rush Yds- Att. 245-37 78-24
Passing Yds 166 49
Passing Att-Comp-Int 8-11-0 8-16-1
Total Yards 411 127
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1
Penalties-Yds 8-80 4-20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: R- Hale 14-114, Berry 7-60, Jones 6-44, Taua 1-35, Jordan 5-12, No. 20– 3-10, Pincin 1-2. SB- Cardenas 5-31, Stuva 6-29, Foster 6-12, Rosborough 6-4, M. Perez 1-2.
PASSING: R- Jordan 8-11-0-166. SB: Rosborough 8-16-1-49.
RECEIVING: R- M.Miller 6-127, Wilson 1-18, No. 14– 1-11. SB: B. Perez 2-28, Stuva 1-10, Jimenez 2-6, Cardenas 2-5.
