Bishop Diego football pulled out a thrilling 42-40 victory over Lancaster in the season opener on Friday night in Lancaster.
The win was a historic one for Cardinals’ head coach Tom Crawford, who became the winningest Santa Barbara County football coach in history. His 172nd win on Friday moved him past legendary Santa Barbara High coach Clarence Schutte.
Lancaster got the scoring started on Friday night, taking the opening possession all the way down the field and ending it with a rushing touchdown to take a 7-0 lead with 9:29 left in the first.
Bishop Diego responded on its first drive of the year, marching down the field and scoring on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Tua Rojas to John Michael Flint. The extra-point attempt was missed.
The Eagles maintained their momentum on offense, scoring on their next drive and converting a two-point conversion to bring their lead to 15-6 with 44 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The back-and-forth opening quarter continued as the Cardinals got down the field in a hurry and scored on a touchdown pitch and catch from Rojas to Sam Crawford to make it 15-13 heading into the second.
Following a defensive stop, Bishop Diego jumped in front for the first time all night with 7:15 left in the half on a touchdown rush from Oscar Mauia. Rojas scrambled in the two-point conversion to give his team a 21-15 advantage, which remained into halftime.
Early in the third quarter, Lancaster recovered a Bishop Diego fumble and took advantage of the turnover by scoring on a quarterback keeper. However, the extra-point attempt was no good to keep the game tied at 21-21.
The Cardinal offense bounced back on the next drive as Rojas connected with Gabe Villa for a 30-yard touchdown to go up 28-21. However, Lancaster returned the ensuing kickoff to the Bishop Diego 2-yard line and scored to even the game at 28-28 with 5:27 left in the third.
The Cardinals’ special teams struggles continued on the next kickoff, as Bishop Diego fumbled and the Eagles pounced on it. The Lancaster offense immediately took advantage and scored to jump out in front 34-28 following another missed extra-point attempt.
Bishop Diego got strong field position on its next drive thanks to a Lancaster personal foul penalty, and it leaned on Mauia to move the chains down the field. Mauia came through and punched in a 2-yard rushing touchdown to end the drive. The extra-point attempt was good, giving the Cardinals a 35-34 lead with 2:01 left in the third.
The Cardinals then forced a turnover on downs to give the ball back to the offense, which began a methodical drive down the field. The long drive ended with another 2-yard score by Mauia to take a 42-34 lead with 5:06 remaining in the game.
Lancaster then put together an impressive drive of its own, making its way down the field and scoring to cut the Bishop Diego lead to 42-40 with 45 seconds on the clock.
The Eagles then lined up for the two-point conversion to tie the game and handed the ball off on a reverse play. However, Bishop Diego’s D’Marzy Siaosi and Crawford combined for the tackle to preserve the lead.
The Cardinals then ran out the clock on their final possession to clinch the win.
Bishop Diego will remain on the road for a non-league contest against West Ranch next Friday at 7 p.m.
