Trailing 24-14 with less than five minutes remaining in the game, Nordhoff scored three touchdowns in less than three minutes (two in 10 seconds) and defeated Carpinteria 34-24 to prevent the Warriors from winning the outright Tri-Valley League title on a cold night at Ojai Valley Community Stadium.
The visiting Warriors (7-2, 3-1) grabbed an early 6-0 lead on a pair of 37-yard field goals by Omar Vasquez, but the Rangers (5-4, 3-0) rallied to take a 14-6 lead into the locker room at half on a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Andy Drifka, who finished the night with 25 completions on 50 passing attempts for 304 yards. His first TD was a 29-yard completion to Micah Thornton and the second a 16-yard toss to Eric Lara, each followed by Lara kicks.
Carpinteria, which forced seven turnovers, responded with 18 unanswered third-quarter points. Jordan Robinson opened the scoring with a 47-yard punt return, picking up a ball that bounced a number of times, and running untouched down the right sideline. Vasquez followed that with a 31-yard field goal, and Anthony Graham capped the big quarter with a 32-yard return of his second interception of the game.
Carpinteria had two more chances to put more distance between it and the Rangers with a couple of turnovers early in the fourth quarter. Al Santamaria recovered his second fumble, setting up a 42-yard field goal attempt that was botched on a bad snap. Then Andrew Sova intercepted Drifka for a third time and returned the ball to midfield.
However, Nordhoff’s defense, led by Justin Pearson, Coby Welch, Shane Hersch and Luis Espinosa, which held Carpinteria to 7 first downs and 148 total yards on the night, stiffened again, giving Drifka and the offense
another chance.
Drifka took the Rangers 87 yards in less than 4 minutes for its first score of the second half, a 16-yard pass to Thornton over the middle.
Another three-and-out by Carpinteria set-up the game winning drive. Starting on his own 45 with 2:46 to play, Drifka connected on consecutive throws to Thornton (5 catches, 115 yards), Jordan Morrison (9 for 75) and Isaac Seymour, setting up a first down at the 28. Seconds later, Carpinteria appeared to recover an errant snap, but the officials ruled the ball had not been put into play yet and gave the ball back to Nordhoff and penalized them five yards for delay of game.
Two plays later, officials whistled the Warriors for pass interference, discounting Carpinteria’s contention that the ball was tipped at the line. That gave Nordhoff first down at the 12. One play later, Drifka hit Espinosa in the front right corner of the end zone for the game-winning score.
“In all my years of coaching, I have never criticized the officials,” said Carpinteria head coach Ben Hallock, “but tonight was unbelievably bad. A continuous series of missed calls and misapplied calls literally influenced the outcome of the game.”
Hallock went on to add that his team’s inability to capitalize on turnovers also cost them: “We had chances and just didn’t finish, and they did.”
Nordhoff sealed the victory two plays and 10 seconds later when Connor O’Malley forced a fumble that was recovered by Kevin Crane in the end zone.
“Carpinteria played a great game, but our defense played great, too, and our offense came through at the end,” said Nordhoff head coach Tony Henney. “They did a nice job taking Isaac (Seymour: 12 carries for 39 yards) out of the game, and usually that takes the edge off Andy, but tonight he had to step up and do it himself and did.”
—Ted Cotti, Ventura Star
