Unbeaten Nordhoff faced its stiffest challenge of the season on Friday night.
“We worked for it tonight. I’ve got to tell you, that’s the best football team we’ve played all year,” said coach Tony Henney.
The host Carpinteria Warriors were up 14-7 early in the second quarter and it was a one-possession game until the final nine minutes, but Rangers running back Isaac Seymour kept gobbling up yards and the Warriors kept turning it over as Nordhoff remained perfect with a 27-14 win at Memorial Stadium.
Seymour was a workhorse, rushing a whopping 35 times for 213 yards and three touchdowns. During one drive in the third quarter he carried the ball 11 times in 13 plays.
“I didn’t really expect to get that many carries tonight. In the first quarter we were getting pretty nervous because we weren’t playing well and they scored first. It hasn’t been like that, so we were kinda worried,” said the junior.
Carpinteria quarterback Paul Aguilar was on fire with his feet in the first half, scoring on long, weaving runs of 37 and 43 yards and accumulating 101 total yards on just eight carries before the intermission. He finished with 126 on 20 carries, but the Warriors simply couldn’t hold on to the ball. They fumbled seven times in the game, and Nordhoff recovered the final four. The last recovery went for a touchdown as Eric White fell on a wayward snap in the end zone with 9:42 to play.
“We just didn’t take care of the football, and you have to do that… We had plenty of opportunities to change the nature of the game and we just didn’t capitalize on that,” said Warriors coach Ben Hallock.
Perhaps the biggest opportunity came just before the half. Nordhoff (9-0, 3-0) had the ball in its own territory, and quarterback Jake Logsdon was being pressured by the Carpinteria (6-3, 2-2) defense. He threw a pass as he was running backwards and it went right into the chest of Warrior defender Andrew Sova. The surprised lineman couldn’t grab it, however, for what would have been a sure pick-six touchdown. Instead, the Rangers kept the ball and marched down the field on three consecutive completions before Seymour scored his third touchdown from three yard out to make it 21-14 heading into halftime.
Logsdon finished 17-for-27, throwing for 168 yards with an interception.
“We wanted to make this a league championship game. This was our chance to win the league, so everybody was fired up,” said Hallock. “We just needed to take care of the football a little better.”
The Warriors host Bishop Diego in “The Little Big Game” next week.
NORDHOFF 27, CARPINTERIA 14
Nordhoff………………..0 21 0 6– 27
Carpinteria………………….7 7 0 0 – 14
FIRST QUARTER
C — Aguilar 37 run (Maya kick), 3:44.
SECOND QUARTER
N — Seymour 2 run (#18 kick), 11:55.
C — Aguilar 43 run (Maya kick), 10:25.
N — Seymour 5 run (#18 kick), 3:31.
N — Seymour 3 run (#18 kick), 0:19.
FOURTH QUARTER
N — White Fumble Rec (Kick failed), 9:42.
TEAM TOTALS N C
First Downs……..25 11
Rushes-Yards 45-217 38-209
Comp-Att-Int 17-27-1 6-8-0
Passing Yds 168 48
Total Yds 385 259
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 7-4
Pen-Yds 8-55 2-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING– N: Seymour 35-213, Bettles 4-23, Logsdon 4-(-30), Johnson 1-8, Perron 1-3. C: Aguilar 20-126, Saenz 6-29, Rodriguez 6-23, Mendoza 4-28, Estrada 1-4.
PASSING– N: Logsdon 17-27-1-168. C: Aguilar 6-8-0-48.
RECEIVING– N: Morrison 2-18, Bettles 5-58, Seymour 3-16, #27 1-13, Thornton 6-63. C — Rodriguez 3-21, Blum 1-6, Estrada 1-15, #21 1-6.
