Cheroke Cunningham may only be a sophomore, but the Santa Barbara football player performed like a veteran on the field Friday in Ojai, where he led the visiting Dons to a 38-24 upset of Nordhoff.
Cheroke Cunningham rushed for 185 yards and scored three touchdowns.
Cunningham carried the ball 27 times for 185 yards and three touchdowns, including an electrifying 60-yard run early in the fourth quarter that gave the visitors a three-touchdown lead and had Ranger fans heading for the exits.
“He’s special, and that was a big run,” said Santa Barbara head coach Jamie Melgoza, “but give our defense credit, too, because they played a good game.”
Santa Barbara’s defense was particularly good after intermission, holding the Rangers scoreless in the third quarter and without a first down (except by penalty) until less than four minutes remained in the game. In addition, the Dons (now 2-3) held Nordhoff running back Isaac Seymour to 60 yards on 21 carries, limited quarterback Andy Drifka to 11 of 29 and 107 yards passing and forced three turnovers.
Santa Barbara converted two of those fumbles into touchdowns. The first, at the Nordhoff 14 late in the first period, resulted in a six-yard TD run by Cunningham. The second, at midfield with 6:03 left in the third, led to a 30-yard TD pass from Shawn Ramos (9 for 15, 151 yards passing) to 6-5 tight end Emilio Gonzalez (5 catches, 108 yards), who made a nice catch in traffic.
Nordhoff, which scored its 17 first-half points on two short runs by Seymour and a 30-yard field goal and two extra point kicks by Eric Lara, cut the lead to 14 with 5:31 to play on a 27-yard TD pass from Drifka to Lara and another Lara kick.
Two minutes later, after forcing the Dons into a three-and-out, Nordhoff was threatening again, but Fernando Arellano intercepted a pass to secure the win for the visitors.
“We had chances but didn’t do what we needed to do,” said Nordhoff head coach Tony Henney, whose team falls to 1-4. “We still have a couple of weeks until league but really have got to look and see what we can do better as coaches.”
–Ted Cotti, Ventura County Star
Santa Barbara 38, Nordhoff 24
Santa Barbara 7 7 10 14
Nordhoff 3 14 0 7
First quarter
N: FG, Lara 30, 5:16
SB: Cunningham 6 run (Hale kick), 1:13
Second quarter
N: Seymour 3 run (Lara kick), 10:45
SB: Cunningham 6 run (Hale kick), 5:30
N: Seymour 5 run (Lara kick), 0:54
Third quarter
SB: FG, Hale 28, 7:03
SB: Gonzales 30 pass from Ramos (Hale kick), 3:39
Fourth quarter
SB: Jimenez 2 run (Hale kick), 8:21
SB: Cunningham 60 run (Hale kick), 7:40
N: Lara 27 pass from Drifka (Lara kick), 5:31
SB N
First Downs 14 14
Rushes-Yards 48-272 34-140
Passing Yards 151 122
Sacks-Yards lost 1-10 1-9
Total Yards 423 262
Comp-Att-Int 9-15-1 12-31-1
Punts-Avg. 4-45.5 3-29.0
Fumbles-Lost 3-0 3-2
Penalties-Yards 19-195 4-25
Individual statistics
RUSHING:
SB: Cunningham 28-185, Corrales 1- -2, Ramos 8-55 , Arango 4-7, Jellison 3-25, Jimenez 1-2
N: Seymour 21-60, Drifka 6-19, DeAlba 3-31, Lara 4-30
PASSING:
SB: Ramos 9-15-151. N: Drifka 11-29-107, Workman 1-2-15
RECEIVING:
SB: Cunningham 1-17, Arellano 1-12, Jimenez 1-3, Gonzales 5-108, , Stevens 2-10
N: Thornton 4-59, DeAlba 1-0, Morrison 4-34, Lara 3-28
MISSED FIELD GOALS: none
TEAM RECORDS: SB 2-3, N 1-4
