Costly interceptions proved a deal-killer for Santa Barbara City College in a season-opening 21-10 football loss to traditional rival Allan Hancock College at La Playa Stadium on Saturday.
Vaquero starting quarterback Alex Johnson led the team to the red zone three times in the first half — once to the 1-yard line — only to surrender the ball in the air on two of those occasions.
SBCC subsequently surrendered a 14-0 halftime deficit. A third Johnson interception killed a fourth-quarter SBCC drive.
Trenton Luera replaced Johnson and connected on 7 of 10 passes for 85 yards and a late-game touchdown.
“Trent’s a player,” said SBCC coach Craig Moropolous, in his 16th year at the Vaquero helm.
“It’s going to create a little competition, but sometimes that’s a good thing. We’ve got to play the guy that takes care of the ball the best, and today, Alex, who’s had a great camp, and I expect him to do some great things, but today he just didn’t take care of the ball.”
SBCC’s start was promising. On the Vaqueros’ first possession, Johnson’s first pass attempt to sophomore wide receiver Chase Wells resulted in a 31-yard gain. Two plays later, Wells caught the second pass attempt for another 17 yards, to the Hancock 19-yard line.
That started to look like a repeat from last year, when Johnson took over the starting QB duties midseason and, with favorite receiver Wells, led the Vaqueros to a 7-3 finish and a bowl appearance.
That first SBCC drive stalled, however, and the team up empty when kicker Joe Bowman hooked a 32-yard field goal attempt to the left.
The next Vaquero drive started on the Hancock 44 after a 21-yard punt return by freshman Kayden Chan. Johnson completed a 10-yard pass to Ryles Buckley to the 34. After a penalty moved the ball back to the 39, Brandon Smith ran 15 yards to the 24, followed by an 11-yard gain by Mekhi Norfleet to the 13.
Passes and runs by Norfleet and Smith got the Vaqueros to the 1-yard line. On third-and-goal, Johnson was intercepted by the Bulldogs’ Sidney Jefferies at the goal line, and he returned the ball to the Hancock 45.
That drive stalled, and after trading 3-and-outs, Hancock took over at its own 29. In a two-play scoring drive, sophomore running back Dior Kennedy rushed for 41 yards and then JP Luketu went the remaining 30 yards. After the extra point, Hancock led 7-0 with 5:40 left in the half.
The Vaqueros drove from their own 29 to the Bulldogs’ 17, as Johnson took off on runs of 21 and 11 yards, and completed passes to Wells and Chan. A penalty backed SBCC to the 26 before the Bulldogs’ Syre’ Lewis, picked off Johnson and returned the ball to the Hancock 37.
On the next play, Bulldog quarterback Esekielu Storer threw a 63-yard TD strike to Jaleel Walker for a 14-0 halftime lead.
The Vaqueros got on the board on their first drive of the second, as Bowman made a 43-yard field goal.
Hancock expanded its lead to 21-3 in the fourth quarter on a 20-yard pass from quarterback Logan Mortensen, a Righetti graduate, to Raymond Paulo.
Johnson ended his day completing 15 of 30 passes for 168 yards. Smith led SBCC in rushing with 45 yards on 16 attempts, and Johnson added 30 yards on seven attempts.
The Bulldogs “did exactly what we expected from them,” Moropolous said “They’re physical, they run the football. Then when you commit to stopping the run, they try to go over the top of you.”
But, “They did a better job of taking care of the ball than we did.”
In spite of that, “There was a lot of good things,” the coach noted “Kayden Chan did some good things. There were some guys on defense that really stepped it up.
“You just can’t get them in for two downs and then give one up over the top. Things like that hurt you. But we’ll be OK. We’ll get in tomorrow and watch the film and get better from it. We had a nice field goal from Joe Bowman and there were a lot of good punts. Just a lot of good things.”
And next week’s starting QB?
“I don’t know that right now,” Moropolous said. “Like I said, it’s a very competitive room, the quarterback room, and that’s a good thing. We’ll compete, and see who’s in the best position next week to get out there against Orange Coast.”