The old sports phrase, “You learn more from losing,” can apply to Carpinteria High’s football team after Friday night’s game against visiting San Gabriel.
The Warriors learned they have a lot of work to do after getting run over by the Matadors, 32-7, in a non-league game before a big home-opener crowd at Carpinteria Valley Memorial Stadium.
After scoring a 52-7 win last week at Santa Clara, Carpinteria (1-1) struggled offensively and defensively against an undefeated team that returned many of its skilled players from last year’s squad that finished as the CIF-SS Division 14 runner-up.
San Gabriel senior quarterback Ricky Garcia passed for three touchdowns, running back Adam Mascorro ran for a score, and the 4-0 Matadors were successful on four two-point conversion runs. On their third TD, they converted on three fourth-down plays, including the touchdown — a swing pass that Mascorro turned into a 23-yard score.
“It’s a good team, they got a good quarterback and they just played tougher than we did. And that’s the lesson we got to learn: How to play tough against a good football team,” said Carpinteria coach Van Latham. “We gave up six fourth-down plays. You just can’t do that.”
The Matadors scored on their first possession, with Garcia hitting Noah Osorio on a 20-yard post pattern for the TD at 7:23 of the first quarter. Hard-running Louie Navarro ran for the first two-point conversion.
Navarro broke off a 28-yard run on a third-and-4 to help set up San Gabriel’s second score of the first quarter. Garcia hit Aaron Rojas on an 18-yard touchdown pass and Dylan Cortes ran for the extra points for a 16-0 lead.
A 49-yard kickoff return by Richie Renteria provided a spark for Carpinteria. The hard running of Drew Filippini and Chris Jaimes moved the ball to the 3, and Jaimes finished the drive with a touchdown. Peter Casas kicked the PAT to make it 16-7 at 9:33 of the second quarter.
The momentum generated from that drive quickly evaporated as the quick-footed and savvy Garcia led San Gabriel down the field. He completed a clutch pass to Osorio for 17 yards on a fourth-and-6 from the Matadors’ 24, an 18-yarder to Rojas and the swing pass to Mascorro for the touchdown with 38 seconds left in the second quarter.
Carpinteria’s Gabriel Chung and Isaac Sanchez intercepted Garcia in the third quarter, but the Warriors were unable to capitalize on the turnovers.
“You know, last week was a little bit of false bravado,” said Latham. “I don’t know if the kids thought they were better than they were, but I told them, ‘This is a lesson. We can take it two ways from here. We can can decide, okay, this is what we need to do to step up and play against good football teams, or we can just continue to play like that and have a season.’
“We’re young, so hopefully they take it to heart. It’s going to be a tough road ahead.”
The Warriors next two non-league games are against old rivals Fillmore and Santa Paula before they begin Citrus Coast League play.