Santa Barbara High football had its four-game win streak snapped with a 24-21 loss to Ventura High on Friday night at Larrabee Stadium in Ventura.
The Dons (4-3, 1-1 Channel League) and Cougars (6-1, 2-0 CL) battled throughout the matchup, but Ventura ultimately defended its home field.
The opening half was a back-and-forth battle, with the Dons heading into the break clinging to a 14-12 lead.
Ventura scored a pair of touchdowns in the first half but missed the extra-point attempts both times. Meanwhile, SB scored on a touchdown pass from Griffin Arnold to Keegan Roessler and a 7-yard rushing touchdown by Everett Rabb-Preston.
Cade Mault knocked the extra-point attempts through both times to help his team to the two-point halftime lead.
The two defenses took center stage in the third quarter, as they each pitched shutouts to maintain the 14-12 Santa Barbara High lead with one quarter to play.
The Cougars regained the lead with a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to go up 18-14. On the next drive, the Dons fumbled and Ventura’s offense turned it into another touchdown to make it a 24-14 lead with 9:45 on the clock.
Santa Barbara High answered back with a scoring drive capped off by a 35-yard touchdown connection from Arnold to Roessler, the duo’s second score of the night to trim the deficit to 24-21 with 8:23 left.
The Ventura offense responded by leaning on its run game and the Dons were unable to string together a scoring drive down the stretch, giving the Cougars the win.
Santa Barbara High will look to get back into the win column at home against Rio Mesa next Friday at 7 p.m.
