MORRO BAY — It was the kind of start Carpinteria football coach Ben Hallock was hoping to get from his team in Friday’s season opener.
The Warriors completely dominated Morro Bay in the first half and got three touchdowns from Alex Rodriguez in a 22-8 victory.
“We came out and played a great first half,” Hallock said. “We played well from the get-go and controlled the ball on offense. We didn’t let them have a first down in the first half.
“The guys played the way we hoped they would.”
Carpinteria led 22-0 at halftime.
Rodriguez caught touchdown passes of 25 and 60 yards from sophomore quarterback Ian Craddock and ran for a 14-yard score. He also ran for two-point conversion. Jordan Robinson caught a two-point conversion pass from Craddock.
Craddock, making his varsity debut, completed 4 of 9 passes for 100 yards and had one interception.
“He did well,” Hallock said of Craddock. “He has some things to work on but it was a good start.”
The Warriors had the ball for most of the first half, running off 40 plays.
Hallock said seven different players carried the ball.
On defense, the Warriors swarmed Morro Bay ballcarriers. They didn’t allow the Pirates a first down until midway into the third quarter.
“Our defense was great. We were making gang tackles all over the field,” Hallock said. “We had a number of guys play really well.”
Carpinteria made the statement early that it was ready to play football.
“We started the game with an onsides kick,” Hallock said. “We didn’t recover it but we were close. They got the ball at the 50-yard line and they didn’t move an inch. We got the ball back and drove down the field and scored.”
