The Channel League football opener got away from Santa Barbara High in the second half Friday, as Ventura scored 28 unanswered points and blew out the Dons, 44-7, on homecoming night at Peabody Stadium.
Running back Tyler Peralta rushed for two scores, quarterback Tyler Smith passed for a pair of touchdowns and the defending champion Cougars returned two interceptions for TDs. The Ventura defense made it a tough night for Santa Barbara quarterback Brent Peus, sacking him five times and holding him to 103 yards passing.
While the final score was lopsided, Santa Barbara was actually in the game and had an opportunity to lead at halftime. The Dons twice came up empty deep in the red zone. Down 9-7, they had a drive stopped at the Ventura 7 and then missed a 23-yard field goal. An interception by Jeremiah Nicholson gave them the ball at the Cougars’30 with 2:25 to go in the half. They got the ball down to the 1 and Peus tried to run it in. But he was stopped short and fumbled the ball as time ran out.
Santa Barbara went three and out on its first possession of the second half and Ventura rolled down the field behind the running of Peralta. The Cougars scored on a 9-yard Peralta run to go up 23-7. Peralta finished with 55 yards on 15 carries.
The Cougars kept the pressure on the Dons on both sides of the ball and their lead kept growing. The last 11:50 were played with a running clock.
“Our guys stepped up and played a great second half,” said Ventura coach Tim Garcia.
Santa Barbara coach JT Stone called the game a “gut check” for his team.
“Football has to mean something; it has to mean something when you’re out there,” said Stone following a lengthy postgame talk with the team. “That’s one of the biggest things my kids have to understand here at Santa Barbara High School. It has to mean something; it has to be important. Every down is valuable; have a little bit more pride. This is a heavyweight championship fight and you have got to fight. It’s as simple as that.
“Scott O’Leary (his football coach at Dos Pueblos) told me a long time ago you don’t let somebody come in and take your lunch money. And we got our lunch money taken today.”
The Cougars stunned Santa Barbara with a flea flicker on the opening play of the game. Peralta took a handoff from Smith and then pitched the ball back to the quarterback, who fired a long pass to a wide open Tommy Grossman for a 61-yard touchdown play. The PAT failed, leaving the score 6-0.
“You always have tricks in the bag; it keeps things fun for the kids,” Garcia said. “They respond well to things like that.”
Ventura tried to surprise the Dons again with an onsides kick, but Carter Soto fielded the kick and ran it back to the Ventura 39. Five plays later, Peus ran around the block of Danny Vallin and scored. Hugo Ronces kicked the PAT for a 7-6 Santa Barbara lead.
Smith utilized 6-5 receiver Zach Sourwine and Grossman to move the Cougars down field on their next possession. The Dons stopped them at the 12 and Tristan Kanthack came in and booted a 28-yard field goal for a 9-7 advantage.
Smith completed 9 of 16 passes for 174 yards, and Grossman caught four of them of 133 yards
On defense, the Cougars overwhelmed Santa Barbara’s line and put heavy pressure on Peus all night.
“We thought all week we can pressure him with a three-man rush and I thought guys like Alex Hurlbut came off the edge really strong for us and played an exceptional game,” Garcia said of the defensive end. “They had to double team him quite a bit which opened up other guys to put pressure on him.”
The pressure forced interceptions by Josh Januska and Keenan Moran, who returned them for touchdowns. Januska’s 16-yard pick-6 gave the Cougars a 16-7 lead at 7:28 of the second quarter. Keenan returned his interception 34 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“Our defense made some big plays with a couple of key interceptions for runbacks. Any time your defense is scoring great things are going to happen,” said Garcia.
Perhaps the biggest play of the game was the stop on Peus at the 1 just before halftime.
“Any time you have a big play just before the half it definitely carries over,” Garcia said. “We went in at halftime and our guys had a lot of confidence. We knew we’d come out in the second half and play a good game.”
It was the second straight game in which Dons failed to score from the 1. They were stopped twice last week in a loss to Pacifica.
“We had the right play call,” Stone said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t go through the proper read and hand the ball off as we should have. Brent tried to keep it. Again, the same thing last week. We don’t want to be in a situation where it’s left up to the ref. He’s got to get in.”
But that play wasn’t the biggest issue for his team, Stone noted. “We let our guard down. We hung with them, we just got hit in the mouth and it was OK. And that just can’t be.”
Santa Barbara falls to 3-4 overall while Ventura improves to 6-1.
