Brandon Edwards threw two touchdown passes to Osha Washington on Saturday night and SBCC’s defense came up big in a 21-3 football win over L.A. Valley in Van Nuys.
The first-place Vaqueros, ranked No. 17 in Southern Cal, won their fifth straight game to improve to 5-1 and 3-0 in the American Pacific League. Valley, which entered with the No. 1 defense in Southern Cal, fell to 3-3 and 1-2.
The Vaqueros led 14-3 at halftime and put the game away with a 7-play, 74-yard drive, capped by a 2-yard Edwards-to-Washington connection with 2:21 to play. Cedric Cooper had a key 54-yard run on 3rd-and-5 that moved the ball to the Valley 15.
Cooper finished with a game-high 95 yards on 11 carries and the Vaqueros piled up 234 yards on 43 attempts. Orion Prescott added 61 yards on 15 tries.
Safety Zach Arnell, who missed the last two games with an injury, had an immediate impact as he intercepted Collyn Anderson’s pass on the third play of the game. Arnell returned it 35 yards for a 6-0 lead. The PAT try was blocked.
The Vaqueros were held to two first downs in the first 23 minutes. SBCC took over on the Valley 45 with 7:17 to go in the first half and reached the end zone in eight plays, scoring on a 3-yard pass from Edwards to a wide-open Washington on the right side.
Santa Barbara went for a 2-point PAT and Edwards faked a pass right and threw back left to tight end Will Allen for a 14-0 lead with 4:35 to go in the second quarter.
Valley covered 78 yards on the next possession but the Vaquero defense held them to a 20-yard field goal by Ivan Gonzalez with five ticks left.
The Vaqueros will host L.A. Pierce on Saturday at 1 p.m.
