Ventura’s Chase Gardner gets stopped in his tracks by Dos Pueblos safety Tyler Welch. (Wade Carr Photos)
Mistakes and a stout Ventura defense prevented Dos Pueblos from clinching a CIF football playoff berth on its Homecoming night.
The Chargers turned the ball over three times and gave up a huge pass play for the eventual winning touchdown in a 14-7 loss to Ventura on Friday night at Scott O’Leary Stadium.
It was DP’s first loss in Channel League play and leaves it at 2-1 (4-5 overall) with one game remaining at Buena in two weeks. Ventura, which entered league play with a 1-5 record, is now 3-5 and 2-0 in league.
Barrett Burnes of Dos Pueblos High School looks to connect with the running back and struggles to find his footing during the first half.
The Cougars took a 7-0 lead in the first half with the help of two DP miscues: a pass interception and a facemask penalty. From the 7, sophomore quarterback Tyler Smith passed to Colby Hays for the touchdown.
Ventura’s defense, led by lineman Tevin Krall, stuffed DP’s running game and put heavy pressure on quarterback Barrett Burnes. The next time the Chargers got the ball, the Cougars sacked Burnes and forced a fumble.
“Our defense was exceptional,” said Ventura coach Tim Garcia.
“We pride ourselves on playing mistake-free footbal and winning the turnover game, and we did not win that game tonight whatsoever,” said DP coach Nate Mendoza.
Yet, despite the turnovers, DP was down by just one touchdown at halftime.
A couple of big pass plays from Burnes to Matt Sessler and Leshon Bell had DP on the move on its first possession of the second half. The Chargers got down to the Ventura 18 after converting on a third and seven. But the play was nullified by a back-breaking 15-yard personal foul penalty. They never recovered and punted the ball away.
“We had big plays that put us in the red zone and we couldn’t come up with any big plays in the red zone. We shot ourselves in the foot,” said Mendoza.
Pinned back at its 5, Ventura pounded the DP defense with running back Tyler Peralta and moved the ball to the 28. Smith threw long to Jack Peterson, who made a spectacular diving catch at midfield, but it was called back by a holding penalty.
Dos Pueblos’ defense stiffened and had the Cougars faced with a third-and-22 from their 17.
Smith stepped up to the challenge and fired a pass over the middle to Zach Sourwine, who took it 78 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead with 1:16 left in the third quarter.
Bell got DP back in the game with an electrifying 91-yard punt return for a touchdown with 4:28 left in the game.
A penalty and some big plays by DP’s defense put Ventura at third and 12. Once again, Smith rescued the Cougars. This time, he lofted a 26-yard pass to Sourwine, who made an over-the-shoulder catch before stepping out of bounds.
By the time DP got the ball again, it had one time out left and 85 yards to go for a tying touchdown. The drive ended at its 32 and Ventura ran out the clock.
