San Marcos football shook off a slow start and earned its first win of the season with a 35-0 victory over Channel Islands on Friday night in Oxnard.
The victory is the Royals’ (1-2) first of the season and head coach Isaiah Veal’s first at the helm of the program. They will look to keep it rolling on the road against Buena next week.
Friday’s matchup was a defensive struggle in the early stages, as the San Marcos and Channel Islands’ defensive units pitched first-quarter shutouts to keep it at 0-0 heading into the second.
The Royals’ offense woke up in the second quarter, opening the scoring with a touchdown pitch-and-catch from senior Hayden Feleay to sophomore Caden LaPlante for a 7-0 lead.
After a stop by the San Marcos defense, the Feleay-to-LaPlante connection struck again with another passing touchdown to double the advantage to 14-0.
While the Royals continued to shut down the Raiders on the other end, Feleay stayed hot with a touchdown pass to senior Isaac Murillo to take a 21-0 lead into the halftime break.
San Marcos kept rolling out of the locker room, but the potent offensive attack shifted to more of a ground-and-pound scheme.
Senior Tommy Diaz plowed in a pair of rushing touchdowns in the third quarter to help the Royals balloon their lead out to 35-0 with one quarter left to play.
The San Marcos defense continued to stand tall in the fourth quarter, while the offense ran out the clock to put the finishing touches on the 35-0 win.
