Things weren’t looking very good for SBCC with 1:25 to go in Saturday’s American Pacific Conference football opener at La Playa Stadium. The Vaqueros were trailing L.A. Southwest 21-19 and John Uribe’s pass had just been tipped and intercepted, then returned to the Vaqueros’ 10-yard line.
Twenty-four seconds later, SBCC running back Michael Douglas danced into the end zone for a 16-yard TD that capped an amazing comeback and secured a 26-21 victory.
“In 26 years, I’ve never been involved in anything like that,” said Santa Barbara coach Craig Moropoulos. “I’ve been involved in marching down the field and kicking winning field goals, marching down the field and scoring a touchdown and marching down the field and failing.
“But never anything like that. I’m just glad I called timeout. Because if I don’t do that, they would have kneeled down again and it was over.”
Following the timeout, Cougar quarterback Shashaun Alexander fumbled the snap and SBCC linebacker Manny Hernandez pounced on the ball at his own 12.
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Hernandez, a former San Marcos High star, had a season-best 19 tackles, including seven solo and 3.5 for loss. Sam Shipley, another ex-Royal who leads the state in tackles, finished with 16.
“In our previous games, we’ve had moments of greatness,” said Shipley. “Tonight when it seemed like it couldn’t get any worse, we found a way to win.
“The greatest feeling for me was after we threw that last interception and they were getting ready to kneel on the ball, I can remember gathering the defense and you could see the fire in everyone’s eyes.
“No one thought it was over. We knew we were going to make a play.”
On first down, Uribe hit Art Gonzalez in stride up the right sideline and he sprinted 72 yards to the Southwest 16. On the next play, Douglas took a pitch to the left side and weaved through the defense for the decisive 16-yard score.
Just like that, the Vaqueros (2-3, 1-0) covered 88 yards in 19 seconds to pull out an unlikely victory.
SBCC trailed 7-6 at the half and 21-14 early in the fourth quarter. The Vaqueros got within two (21-19) on a 31-yard field goal by Shane Rogers and a Cougar snap that sailed over the punter’s head for a safety with three minutes left.
Douglas gained 123 yards on 24 rushes with two TDs. The Vaqueros enjoyed their best offensive night of the year with 516 yards.
And Santa Barbara managed to win despite committing six turnovers, including four interceptions. One of those came on a halfback option pass that was picked off near the goal line with 6:23 to play.
Uribe completed 21-of-33 passes for a career-high 330 yards. He had three interceptions, but two of those were tipped. Gonzalez caught seven passes for 140 yards and Chad Toocheck hauled in seven for 119 yards.
Ezekiel Graham led the Cougars (1-4, 0-1) with 184 yards and two TDs on 21 rushing attempts.
The Vaqueros have made 14 turnovers in the last three games.
“We’ve got to find a way to stop making dumb mistakes in the special teams,” said Moropoulos, whose club fumbled away two first-quarter kickoffs. “We have to find a way to get better there.
“Our defense did a great job tonight. We talked about finding a way to win the game and they did that.”
SBCC travels to Santa Monica on Saturday for a 6 p.m. game
