It was a sea of gold as Dos Pueblos football fans filled the stands at Scott O’Leary Stadium for the Chargers’ long-awaited home opener as they hosted the Ventura Cougars in a non-league game Friday night.
The Chargers came up with big plays on both sides of the ball in the first half, but Ventura capitalized on Dos Pueblos turnovers and pulled away with 32-14 decision.
Ventura went to the air early as quarterback Joe Reynoso found Tyler Woodworth down the right sideline for a 65-yard touchdown on the second play of the game.
The Chargers struggled to find their footing offensively on their first few drives but their defense kept them in it with big plays by Brody Frederickson and Brett Jones. Frederickson had a sack that resulted in a 12-yard loss.
The defense, however, couldn’t rescue the Chargers from the turnovers. Ventura made DP pay in the second quarter with another Reynoso-to-Woodworth score, extending the lead to 14-0.
Dos Pueblos’ offense finally was able to find its rhythm. Quarterback Jordan Rico lobbed a high pass over the defense to wide receiver Dylon Bailey for a 40-yard gain.
After converting on a fourth down play, the Chargers handed the ball to Nathan Bojorquez and he surged in from 6 yards out to put his team on the board. Gregory Tripathi nailed the extra point to make it 14-7.
The Chargers defense stifled the Cougars on the next drive as Jones busted through the line and sacked Reynoso for an 8-yard loss.
On its next possession, DP struck for a 57-yard touchdown pass from Rico to Bailey, tying the score and sending the crowd into a frenzy. Bailey was able to shake his defender at the line and get open behind the Cougars’ defense on a play that looked all too familiar.
“They were pressing him (Bailey) when we were running and we know he’s fast and could get the release on the outside,” Rico said. “We ran this play last week, too, so I just dropped back, stared the safety off, and threw it down field to Dylon.”
Ventura was able to drive down at the end of the second quarter and score, but Dos Pueblos blocked the extra point attempt keeping the score at 20-14 heading into halftime.
The Chargers started with the ball in the third quarter, but a crucial blocked punt set the Cougars up at the Dos Pueblos 16.
A fumble set up another score from close range, as Ventura extended its lead to 32-14
The Cougars extended their lead to 32-14 and never looked back.
DP coach AJ Pateras said the mistakes were too much to overcome.
“I think we played hard the whole night,” he said. “We hit them, we put ourselves in situations, at least defensively, to get our offense going,” Pateras said. “We just made too many mistakes, the turnovers, the punt block. You can’t do that coming out of the half.”
Pateras was coaching against his alma mater and the school where he got his start in coaching.
“With Ventura, coach Tim (Garcia) has been there forever as a player, coach, now head coach,” he said. “They’re an established program, they got a lot of seniors back this week and we had about 90% Jjuniors playing tonight and we’re learning.
“The effort is there and I love the effort.”
Now they have to clean up the mistakes.
The Chargers will look to bounce back Friday night on the road at Buena.