When you’re hanging by a thread, and the thread breaks, well, you have a pretty good idea of what happened to Carpinteria High in its 13-0 loss to Oak Park Friday night.
The Warriors fumbled twice on kick returns — setting up both scores by the visiting Eagles — and mishandled a field goal try to lose a game that, despite their winless status, had critical playoff implications.
Playoffs?
Yes, the circumstances of the top-heavy Tri-Valley League allow the merely mortal teams that toil in the shadow of star-studded Oaks Christian to compete on relatively even terms for the remaining playoff spots. So Friday night’s league opener was seen by the Warriors as a chance to secure some important leverage in that regard.
“Absolutely,” said Carpinteria coach Ben Hallock. “We went last year on a tie-breaker of last-not-to-go so that’s out, so we did see this as must-win in terms of potential tiebreakers.”
The problem for the Warriors was that the one area that has been a reliable strength in this trying season, the kicking game, turned into an Achilles heel against the Eagles. And it did so in somewhat spectacular fashion to start the second half as they tried a little razzle-dazzle with a handoff and reverse on the opening kickoff only to fumble and lose the ball on their own 22.
Oak Park, 2-4, hadn’t exactly torn up the turf at Memorial Field in a 0-0 first half but the Eagles knew what to do when opportunity knocked and left a gift on the doorstep. Five runs ended with Aki Zapata running into the end zone and Dillon Porras kicking a PAT for a 7-0 lead.
Carpinteria’s offense, limited to two first downs in the first half, responded with its best drive of the night, taking the ball to the Oak Park 9 before stalling. The Warriors prepared to settle for a field goal but the snap was mishandled and a pass by holder Misa Ayala went incomplete.
“It was not a fake,” said Hallock. “I’m not sure what the problem was, the snap or the hold.”
As bad as the bungled field goal try was, it left the Eagles stranded at their own 9 and when they were forced to punt the Warriors stood to gain good field position. Instead, the punt was fumbled and Oak Park recovered at the Warrior 42. It took nine plays, and two straight pass completions from Connor Hill to overcome three straight illegal procedure penalties, but Oak Park finally banged it in on a 2-yard run by Hill.
“Our kicking game has been our strength,” said Hallock. “Offense, defense, kicking game. The one area where we have beaten other teams, in the things we measure each week, has been the kicking game.”
The Warriors did show a little special teams flair on the next play, blocking the extra point, and Dylan Beaver later blocked a field goal attempt to keep Carpinteria alive in the fourth quarter. A 40-yard pass completion from Paul Aguilar to Robert Thornton made an improbable comeback seem possible but the threat ended at the Oak Park 12 with a lost fumble. A last gasp fueled by a 15-yard pass to Thornton reached the Eagle 30 but died with an interception by Zapata.
Gilad Kilbanov of the Eagles had earlier picked off two passes and the Warrior total of fumbles lost was three, so that’s six if you’re counting. Hallock wasn’t. “I lost count,” he said.
“You can be Pollyanna and say we were only down 13-0 and still had a chance, but you just can’t have that many turnovers and win,” he said.
Aguilar finished with 65 yards passing, ran for 38 yards and also had an interception in the end zone to end Oak Park’s only good offensive drive in the first half. He got some help on offense from Jovan Saenz’s 64 yards on some pad-popping inside runs. But the Eagles stacked the box with defenders and virtually dared Carpinteria to throw. When the Warriors tried, the Eagles flew through the line and stuck their talons in Aguilar’s face. He completed only three passes to his teammates, was sacked three times and forced from the pocket on several other attempts.
“Our ends applied a lot of pressure,” said Oak Park coach Terry Shorten. “They forced some bad throws.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Carpinteria. The Warriors take on nationally ranked Oaks Christian next week.
OAK PARK 13, CARPINTERIA 0
Oak Park…0 0 7 6 — 13
Carpinteria…0 0 0 0 — 0
Third quarter
OP_Zapata 7 run (Porras kick) 9:41
Fourth Quarter
OP_Hill 2 run (kick blocked) 9:45
TEAM TOTALS OP C
First Downs…12, 8
Rushes-yards…34-119, 33-110
Passing yards…100, 65
Total yards…219, 175
Passes…10-22-1, 3-12-3
Fumbles-lost…0-0, 4-3
Punts-Avg…6-28.3, 3-42
Penalties…7-45, 1-12
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: OP, Zapata 14-61, Hill 11-35, Rogers 5-14, Taylor 2-9, Kilbanov 1-minus-2, Montano 2-2. C, Aguilar 18-38, Saenz 10-64, Razo 4-12, Thornton 1-minus-4.
Passing: OP, Hill 10-21-1-100; Taylor 0-1-0-0. C, Aguilar 3-11-3-65; Ayala 0-1-0-0.
Receiving: OP, Carlson 5-54, Bathke 2-15, Zapata 2-19, Lo 1-12. C, Thornton 2-55, Saenz 1-10
Missed FG: OP 40 (blocked).
