SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The SBCC football team enjoyed one of its most dominant wins of the year Saturday afternoon at La Playa Stadium, blowing out Santa Monica 52-7.
The conference finale win brings Santa Barbara to a record of 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the American Pacific League.
Led by the sharp passing of quarterback Alex Johnson and a bruising team running attack, the Vaqueros scored at will in the opening half, putting up 28 points before their offense had spent even seven minutes on the field. Johnson started his day with seven straight completions and finished a super efficient 19-of-25 (76%) for 196 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
"Alex is really coming into his own. He's playing really well and he's blossoming right before our eyes," head coach Craig Moropoulos said. "I'm very pleased with him, along with a lot of other players. We've got some runningbacks that run the ball extremely hard, and our offensive line up front, defense and special teams have been electric all season."
After giving up a 72-yard touchdown on the Corsairs' (3-5 overall, 1-3 APL) first offensive play, it turned into a complete shutdown. SBCC ended the game with 45 unanswered points, starting with a short kickoff returned 56 yards for a touchdown by kicker Nate Miskella.
"Our guys are playing at a really high level and I'm really pleased with that," Moropoulos said. "But the biggest thing was to kind of take a shot like that and then bounce right back with a return for a touchdown."
"That's really a tale of what this team's like. We're 6-3 right now, and the three games that we've lost were all close, winnable games. We are capable. We just have to stay focused and persevere a little bit and today we did."
The Vaquero defense held Santa Monica to 2-of-13 (15%) on third down and -12 rushing yards. Four different Vaqueros intercepted a pass, including an absolute highlight from Jakobie Seaborn who rose high over the intended receiver to snatch one out of the air in the second quarter.
It was the complete opposite story on the other end, as SBCC averaged 4.5 yards per carry for 174 yards. Runningback Mekhi Norfleet capped off the game's opening drive with a 15-yard run right up the middle to the end zone.
Wide receiver Chase Wells was fed early and often, pulling in all nine of his targets for 64 yards and two touchdowns. His back shoulder catch from eight yards out made it 21-7. He now has 23 catches over his last three games, with his nine receptions on Saturday setting a new season-high.
Marcus Bellon provided another first quarter special teams touchdown with a 46-yard punt return. In the first minute of the second quarter, he pulled in a 14-yard pass from Johnson for another score to make it 35-7. The Truckee, Calif. native had a team-high 82 receiving yards on six grabs and leads the team with seven touchdowns this year.
After a 42-7 first half, Santa Barbara scored the only points of the second half. Kicker Jorge Figueroa knocked down a 23-yard chip shot early in the fourth and runningback Omari Taylor scored from six yards out with 8:16 remaining.
Figueroa is now 11-of-14 (78.6%) on field goal attempts this year, moving him past Steve Sherritt (1996) for sole possession of No. 2 all-time for a single-season in the SBCC record books. With one game remaining in the regular season, one more field goal will move Figueroa into a tie with Jeremy Ybarra (12 in 2007) for the school record.
"We're gonna get that next week," Moropoulos said. "We're gonna make sure we get that. Jorge has just been just nails all season, really pleased with him."
Jerry Martin led the rushing attack with 89 yards on 17 carries (5.2 Y/rush). Taylor went for 40 yards on seven attempts (5.7).
Jamari Cannon, Cole Hernandez and Gary McGowan all had interceptions. Linebacker Taylor Hiatt led the team with 1.5 sacks and four tackles. Owen Garber and Jake Lambden also had 1.5 tackles for a loss.
The Vaqueros will be back at home next Friday, Nov. 19 for a rescheduled game against Orange Coast to close out their regular season slate.
