After building a 27-7 halftime lead on Saturday night, SBCC lost a pair of key offensive players and held on for a 27-21 football victory at Glendale.
Quarterback John Uribe completed 10-of-13 passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. He finished with 236 yards on 14-22 passing for the Vaqueros (4-5, 3-2), who snapped a two-game losing streak.
SBCC is third in the American Pacific Conference behind L.A. Valley (4-0) and L.A. Pierce (3-1). The Vaqueros have one game left while the others have two.
It was the first “Battle of the Vaqueros” in eight years (both teams use the nickname) and SBCC evened the series at 20-20.
“We lost Alonzo Winn and Chad Toocheck, two big parts of our offense,“ said fourth-year coach Craig Moropoulos. “That was tough. We’re down to low levels already and losing those guys hurt because both had big first halves.”
Winn carried 14 times for 103 yards and scored his team’s third TD on a 38-yard run with 5:16 to go in the half. He suffered a high ankle sprain in the last minute of the second quarter and never returned.
Toocheck caught six passes for 125 yards and two TD s in the first half. The 6-3 freshman finished with eight catches for 157 yards and two TD s. He separated his right shoulder after a 13-yard grab with 9:10 to play in the third quarter. No other SBCC receiver had more than one catch.
Uribe directed a 55-yard march on the opening drive, capped by a 3-yard toss to Toocheck. On its third possession, SBCC went 90 yards in 3:16 with Uribe finding Anthony Fullman on a 34-yard TD strike for a 14-0 lead. Fullman has two receptions this year and both were TDs in the last two games.
Winn scampered 38 yards after a fake pass for his sixth rushing TD of the year at the 5:16 mark, boosting the lead to 21-7. Collin Olsson recovered a fumble at his own 40 and Uribe hit Toocheck for a 30-yard gain on first down.
Five plays later, it was Uribe-to-Toocheck again for an 18-yard score and a 27-7 halftime advantage. Uribe has 20 TDs this year and only seven interceptions.
After getting outgained 279-110 in first-half yardage, Glendale dominated the second half, 300 yards to 55.
Santa Barbara lost one of its top receivers, Art Gonzalez, to a knee injury two weeks ago and this year’s leading rusher, Michael Douglas, didn’t suit up Saturday due to a concussion.
“When you lose guys like that and the ones we lost tonight, it makes things tough,” said Moropoulos. “Obviously the win was big but the biggest thing was no turnovers. You can throw out their record. Glendale is a big, physical team that fights and scraps and plays hard.”
Glendale (0-8, 0-4) has lost its last four games by a total of 16 points.
Manny Hernandez, the state leader in tackles, added 14 more (5 solo), including two for losses. Cam Humphrey had a season-high 13 tackles and Sam Shipley added 10. Olsson and Chris Hoose had fumble recoveries.
James Damour, who was filling in for starting cornerback Enrique Thomas (migraine headaches), had eight tackles in his first start and broke up a long fourth-down pass in the end zone on Glendale’s second-to-last possession.
Glendale got the ball back at its own 22 with 1:38 to play and moved it to the SBCC 43 before Matt Arve intercepted a Steven Batista pass at the 31 and returned it to the 39, sealing the win. It was the fifth interception for Arve, who grabbed the ball after teammate Cam Humphrey tipped it in the air.
Hernandez punted seven times for a 39.4 average, including a season-best 62-yard boomer just before halftime.
SBCC completes its season on Saturday with a 7 p.m. home date against West L.A.
