Carpinteria’s backfield was back to full strength on Friday night, and the Warriors needed the work of every running back to grind out a 21-7 non-league football win over St. Monica at Carpinteria Valley Memorial Stadium.
Oscar Garcia and Tim Jimenez returned from injuries and combined for 157 yards on the ground and a touchdown to lead the Warriors (3-2) to the hard-earned victory.
Jimenez was making his season debut after rehabbing an injured Achilles tendon. Garcia was back on the field for the first time since suffering a back injury in the second game against Nipomo.
Carpinteria coach Ben Hallock was happy to have them back.
“Timmy is so enthusiastic and he’s been dying to play the whole time,” Hallock said. “He did a great job to get ready. He was always at practice and getting ready to go. It’s a credit to him that he was ready to walk on the field tonight and play.”
On Garcia, “We’ve been waiting on Oscar,” Hallock said. “Oscar hasn’t played since the third play of our second game. It’s nice to have those guys back.”
Quarterback Jimmy Graves concurred. “I definitely feel more confident as a quarterback having them behind me,” he said.
Garcia rushed for 84 yards on 11 carries and Jimenez compiled 73 yards on 11 rushes.
Garcia gave Carpinteria a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 12-yard scoring run. Jason Martinez kicked the first of his three PATS. The 45-yard touchdown drive was set up by a stellar defensive play by linebacker Greg Elizararaz. He made a shoestring tackle on St. Monica’s standout running back Jason Thomas for a 1-yard loss on a fourth and two.
The Warriors moved the ball behind the running of Garcia, Jimenez, Richie Gallardo and Graves, but they couldn’t score again in the first half. They missed a 33-yard field goal at the end of the half.
The defense, meanwhile, kept St. Monica in check.
“Our guys played great patiently,” Hallock said. “They kept getting back into assignments. When we played good assignment football, we played pretty well. We tried to have a simple game plan against these guys. Last week we tried to do too much.”
The Warriors got a scare in the second half when Graves took a knock in the head after handing off the ball. He came out for couple of plays, replaced by Noah Reed. When Graves returned, Carpinteria fumbled the ball and St. Monica recovered at the 48.
The Mariners (3-3) capitalized on the turnover. Quarterback Cameron Nuslein hit Drew Davis on a 31-yard pass and Thomas ran four yards for the tying touchdown with 3:35 left in the third quarter.
Carpinteria responded with an impressive drive engineered by Graves. He took the team 65 yards on 13 plays and finished the drive with a 4-yard run for the go-ahead touchdown with 8:52 left in the fourth quarter. The Warriors threw only two passes on the drive.
“We definitely were run dependent,” Graves said. “I really didn’t bring it as much as I could have with the pass, but we got the job done. That’s what we needed to do.”
The Mariners suffered a big blow on their next series when Thomas suffered an injury to his elbow and had to leave the game. He ran for 87 yards on 19 carries. St. Monica went three and out, and Carpinteria took over at the Mariners’ 38-yard line.
The Warriors took advantage of the short field. Richie Gallardo scored on 1-yard run to make it 21-7 with five minutes left in the game.
Hallock said he was pleased how his Warriors responded in the second half.
St. Monica took to the air in effort to get back in the game. Nuslein hit Davis on a 33-yard pass play to put the Mariners at the 9. Elizararaz and Jimenez stuffed Pedro Lopez for no gain on first down and second-down pass fell incomplete. On third down, Gallardo intercepted a pass in the end zone to ice the victory.
