The Carpinteria Warriors scored 22 unanswered fourth quarter points to rally past the Malibu Sharks, 29-14, on a windy Friday night at Carpinteria Valley Memorial Stadium in both teams’ Frontier League opener.
Defensive back Christian Ramirez intercepted Malibu quarterback Jake Friedman twice in the fourth, and Carpinteria quarterback Vance Keiser connected with Brady Sturdivan for a 52-yard touchdown to highlight the period.
“We talk about being a fourth-quarter team and today we actually got that done,” said Carpinteria head coach Rick Candaele, whose Warriors have won three in a row for the first time since 2015.
Carpinteria (5-3, 1-0) got on the board first when Keiser connected with receiver Terrell Richardson for a 9-yard score late in the first quarter.
The two teams traded possessions throughout the second quarter, but Malibu (5-3, 0-1) finally broke through with :36 left in the first half when Friedman found Daniel Rafeedie in the end zone to even the score heading into halftime.
Much of the third quarter was a tight defensive battle. The Sharks drove to the Carpinteria 3-yard line but turned the ball over on downs as Rafeedie was stuffed at the line of scrimmage.
After the Warriors punted the ball away from their own end zone, the Sharks took their first lead of the game when running back Elijah Bryant punched the ball in from one yard out to give Malibu a 14-7 lead with 2:06 left in the third quarter.
It appeared Carpinteria would answer quickly as the Warriors drove 65 yards down the field, only to fumble into the end zone.
After Malibu failed to get things going on the next possession, the Warriors turned on their fourth-quarter magic.
Keiser found Sturdivan on a crossing route that went 52 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 14. On the ensuing Sharks possession, Ramirez intercepted Friedman and returned the ball 30 yards for a touchdown and give the Warriors their first lead since before halftime.
Malibu’s offense stalled again, and after punting to Carpinteria, Leo Vargas strung together a few long runs, including a 14-yard touchdown with 2:35 remaining that essentially iced the game.
Ramirez ran the ball into the end zone for the 2-point conversion that completed the scoring. On the next drive, Ramirez intercepted Friedman again, and the Warriors kneeled the ball out to end the game.
“Ramirez made two big picks for us,” claimed Candaele. “He’s a great athlete.”
With the victory, the Warriors can clinch a league title tie with either a win at Fillmore (0-8, 0-1) next week and a Santa Clara (6-2, 1-0) loss to Malibu, or in two weeks, with a win at Santa Clara.
“Now we’ve got to go be road warriors,” explained Candaele.
— Noozhawk sports reporter Christian Eckert can be reached at ceckert@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports and @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.