Football players at all levels like to refer to their teams as a family.
And, sometimes, that’s just the boost you need.
In what was mostly a methodical, grinding down of visiting Channel Islands Friday night, Carpinteria High sophomore Chris Jaimes added a special flourish with a 76-yard touchdown dash around left end to cap a dominant 35-6 non-league victory and give the Warriors a 2-0 start to the season.
But Jaimes’ big moment required a significant push from family and friends. First, he got a perfect sealing block on the edge from Troy Zimmerman and then he got a coup-de-grace block some 40 yards downfield from a hustling lineman, senior Dominic Castillo.
“Chris is Dom’s cousin, and he was going to make sure he scored,’’ noted Carpinteria coach Mario Robinson. “He was determined to take him to the house.”
To be sure, it was the longest and most exciting play of the game, but, to indulge another cliché, the Warriors had already spent most the contest taking the Raiders to the proverbial woodshed
Overcoming a somewhat listless start, Carpinteria put up four scores in the second quarter for a 28-0 lead, while its defense completely dominated the line of scrimmage and, for good measure, picked off a couple of passes.
Channel Islands did not get a first down, except from a 15-yard penalty, until barely a minute remained in the third quarter. Mercifully for all, the Raiders followed Jaimes’ long run, which made the score 35-0, by putting together a 77-yard touchdown drive that ate up most of the fourth quarter and ended with a 6-yard run by Estevan Campos.
Carpinteria quarterback Talon Trumble ran for 90 yards and two scores, and threw for 88 yards, including a TD pass of 25 yards to Judah Torres, who also found the end zone on a 35-yard run.
But, in fairness, this game really belonged to the offensive and defensive lines, which for Carpinteria, pretty much means the same players. Seniors Nathan Mata, Anthony Ybarra, Dylan Gonzales and Castillo were joined by junior Christopher Medina in playing virtually the entire game on offense, with Mata, Gonzales David Alvarez doing most of the work up front on defense.
“Our line had a lot of energy on both sides of the ball,’’ said Trumble. “They were like a lot of animals out there tonight and they were just feeding off that energy.”
Trumble did his part as well with a high energy performance at middle linebacker as the Warriors held Channel Islands to a mere 23 yards in offense in the first half.
“Each game is going to be different,” said Robinson. “Sometimes you have to grind it out. So far, our defense has been very physical and very disciplined. We have a lot of seniors, guys who have been together four years and they know their assignments. We always tell them, you have to do your job.’’
Carpinteria opened the scoring with 11:52 to go in the first half on a 6-yard run by Trumble after a short punt gave the Warriors the ball at the CI 35. Trumble had scored earlier on the drive but it was negated by a holding penalty, one of 10 yellow flags collected by the Warriors at a cost of 100 yards in the first half.
“The teams we play are going to get tougher,” said Robinson. “We do have some things to clean up and that starts with how we practice.”
Torres capped another short drive with a 35-yard run that required three broken tackles.
After an interception by Luke Fancher, Trumble finished off an 11-play, 58-yard drive with a 9-yard run that also required him to slip a few tackles. But, in truth, Trumble runs as much like a middle linebacker as he does a quarterback and that can create some unfair matchups once he gets into the open field.
Trumble, a middle of the field blocker on punt returns, then got into the act in the kicking game, catching a very short punt and returning it to the CI 25. He hit Torres on the next play for a 25-yard catch and run through a shellshocked Raiders defense. Raul Reyes kicked the fourth of his five PATs.
Trumble completed 5-of-10 passes while six Warriors combined for 274 yards rushing on 32 carries.
Channel Islands quarterback Aaron Byrd completed 10 of 18 passes for 76 yards and led the Raiders in rushing with 10 yards on nine carries.