Santa Barbara High football battled to a gritty 13-10 win over Westlake High on Friday at Peabody Stadium to move into first place in the Channel League standings.
The Dons (6-3) are now tied atop the league standings at 3-1 with Westlake and Moorpark, but they have the tiebreaker over both teams heading into the last week of the regular season. Santa Barbara High will be on the road against Thousand Oaks for the regular-season finale next week.
“[That’s a] signature win. We’ve got one more to go,” Santa Barbara High head coach Nate Mendoza said. “I don’t think many people were talking about this (game against Westlake) being a league championship game, but we kind of understood that if we won this game, we both have a loss and we beat them head to head.
“We can’t overlook TO by any means. That’s a good team too. We’re going to enjoy it tonight, and watch film tomorrow… Just so proud of the boys. Great crowd tonight. Great win.”
The Dons opened the game with three straight runs by junior Everett Rabb-Preston for 45 yards, but they coughed up a fumble on the ensuing pass play to give the ball to Westlake.
The Warriors marched into Dons’ territory before finding themselves with a fourth-and-eight from the 21-yard line. They went for it, and Santa Barbara junior Tennyson Birkley jumped in front of the pass for an interception to swing the momentum back to the home team.
However, the Dons were stopped in four plays and turned the ball over on downs to give it right back to the Warriors.
Westlake responded with a strong drive as the game transitioned into the second quarter, but the SB defense stood tall once again with a fourth-down stop to keep the game scoreless.
The Dons then quickly faced a fourth-and-two and sent the punt team out to the field, but junior Cade Mault pulled the snap down and ran 8 yards for a first down to keep the drive alive.
The drive got inside the Westlake 15-yard line, but the Warriors came up with a clutch interception that was returned past the 50-yard line and gave the momentum back to the road team with 2:13 left in the half.
The Warriors turned the turnover into the first points of the night, as the Dons got another defensive stop but Gabriel Goroyan drilled a 52-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead. That score held into the halftime locker room.
The SB defense continued to flex its muscles in the second half, forcing a Westlake punt on the first drive of the half thanks in part to a third-down sack by sophomore Willie Ortiz.
“Defense just stuck with it all night,” Mendoza said. “We’re running a brand new defense this year, and if you stick with it and you’re about developing kids, they’ll just get better every week. The kids believed in it.”
The Dons then worked their way into Westlake territory and evened the score on a 43-yard field goal by Mault to make it 3-3 with 6:26 left in the third.
Birkley then took center stage once again for the Dons’ defense, undercutting an underthrown ball for his second interception of the night to halt the Westlake drive.
The interception gave way to a solid Santa Barbara High drive that bled into the fourth quarter. The drive ended with Mault splitting the uprights once again, this time from 49 yards out to take a 6-3 lead with 8:01 remaining.
“Cade Mault knocked down huge field goals for us. Obviously, he’s an offensive star, but those field goals were huge,” Mendoza said.
Westlake answered back with a bang, as a broken play led to an 80-yard touchdown pass from Hendrix Tucker to Jack Tasker on the first play of the next drive. The long score gave the Warriors a 10-6 lead with 7:47 to go.
The Dons then swung back with a haymaker of their own, as junior quarterback Griffin Arnold lofted a deep ball to Mault on third down and Mault came down with it.
The junior then slipped a tackle and took off for an 85-yard touchdown and a 13-10 lead at the 6:32 mark.
Westlake then broke off for a big run play on the first play of the next drive, but the Dons defense forced a fumble at the end of the run and recovered it to send the Peabody Stadium crowd into a frenzy.
“The team deserved it. Our kids played their hearts out. We gave up one big play on a broken play… Other than that, I thought the defense was just outstanding effort all night,” Mendoza said.
The Westlake defense then forced a three-and-out, giving the Warriors a shot to tie the game or take the lead with a drive beginning at their own 35-yard line with 4:34 on the clock.
Westlake worked its way into SB territory thanks to a personal foul by the Dons before facing a fourth and eight from the SB 46-yard line. The Warriors completed a big pass play to keep the drive alive, and an SB pass interference brought the ball inside the 20-yard line with under a minute remaining.
A few plays later, Tucker scrambled out of the pocket and got inside the 5-yard line but was called for a personal foul for hurdling, putting the Warriors back to the 18-yard line with 14 seconds to go.
Westlake ran out the field goal unit to tie the game on fourth down, but the 35-yard attempt sailed wide left and the Dons’ sideline erupted as they clinched the Channel League victory.
Rabb-Preston and the Dons’ offensive line turned in another impressive performance, with Rabb-Preston totaling 147 yards of offense as SB maintained possession for a majority of the game.
“We were up against a really good defense tonight, and we stuck to the game plan of running the ball. Everett was outstanding. The O line was outstanding. That was a great game plan,” Mendoza said.
“That’s a good team over there… We’re happy to be the ones that beat them, but nothing but respect for Westlake and (head coach Rick) Clausen. They run a great deal over there and it was just a great night for our boys.”
