Carpinteria’s defense held Viewpoint without a touchdown, and quarterback Vance Keiser ran for two touchdowns in a 17-2 football victory on Friday night at Calabasas High.
It was quite a turnaround on the road for the Warriors, who were coming off a 56-7 drubbing at Nordhoff last week.
“We play defense every other game,” cracked coach Rick Candaele.
The game was scoreless until Tito Arroyo booted a 42-yard field goal with nine minutes left in the second quarter.
The Warriors’ defense held the lead. They stopped Viewpoint after an interception, and the Patriots missed wide on a field-goal attempt.
A short punt gave Viewpoint the ball at the Carpinteria 45, but the Warriors (2-2) again came up big, forcing the Patriots to punt after three downs.
Carpinteria’s Chris Ramirez intercepted a pass in the end zone in the third period. The Warriors, however, couldn’t move the ball and were forced to punt. The snap went through the end zone, giving Viewpoint a safety. That made it a 3-2 game with six minutes to go in the third quarter.
The Patriots returned Carpinteria’s free kick to the 20. The Warriors defense rose to the occasion again, stopping the drive and then Christian Guzman blocked a field-goal attempt.
“We put him in there specifically to do that,” Candaele said. “It was good substitution called by Van Latham.”
The Carpinteria offense finally put together a good drive and Keiser capped it with an 8-yard run on a draw play for the first touchdown of the game at 5:55 of the fourth quarter. Arroyo made the PAT for a 10-2 lead.
Luis Vasquez intercepted a fourth-down pass and ran it back to the Viewpoint 39.
On third and 7, Keiser ran a quarterback keeper and bolted 30 yards for the touchdown for a 17-2 lead with 2:46 left in the game.
Carpinteria’s next game is against rival Bishop Diego on Friday at La Playa Stadium
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.