The San Marcos High School football team knew that if a win was destined for them Friday night at Warkentin Stadium against Buena of Ventura, it would need to come out of the gates ready for action.
Unfortunately for the Royals and their fans, that wasn’t the case. San Marcos fell behind early, and though the team caught its breath and made the contest competitive, the visiting Bulldogs ultimately pulled away with a 32-13 win.
“We can’t spot 10 points to these guys, that’s what I told the players,” San Marcos coach Ralph Molina said after the game. “It’s frustrating because we had our best week of practice, so I don’t know if they were just a little too wound up or what, but once we settled down, I mean we made a game out of it for a while there.”
With the loss, San Marcos falls to 2-3 overall and 0-3 in Channel League play. The team has a bye next week before finishing the season with its final five contests, hoping to finish at least 5-5 and sneak into the playoffs, Molina said.
Buena improved to 3-2 overall and 3-0 in Channel League play having already beaten two Santa Barbara schools, San Marcos and Dos Pueblos.
The game could not have started any worse for the Royals.
Following a three-and-out on the offense’s first drive, Buena went all out to block the ensuing punt. Buena senior Ahmad Samra did just that, blocking the punt into the back of the endzone for a safety.
The Bulldogs then took the kickoff to the 47-yard line, and in four plays managed to drive the necessary 53 yards to score a touchdown.
Senior quarterback Zane Carter found fellow senior Colin Guenther on a deep bomb, 41 yards, to give his team an 8-0 lead. He then followed that up with a 2-point conversion run, giving the Bulldogs a 10-0 advantage just four minutes into the contest.
“I think defensively we kind of came in a little bit stronger. I think we were expecting something that didn’t happen and that led to us just not getting the greatest start and giving them that early lead,” senior running back Andre McCullough told Noozhawk after the game.
Following that shaky start, San Marcos seemed to settle in, thanks in large part to the running of McCullough.
On the following offensive drive, the Royals drove the ball into Buena’s 35-yard line where the drive ultimately stalled. On that drive, McCullough, who has been battling a sprained ankle, took three carries for 25 yards, giving his team confidence that they could compete with Buena.
For the game, McCullough was a stud, ripping off 128 yards on 18 carries and one touchdown.
“Andre ran hard considering he’s running with a bad ankle, and we didn’t know if he would even play. He missed the last three days of practice getting treatment,” Molina said. “But, we took a chance and he ran hard.”
Following a San Marcos punt that was downed at the 6-yard-line, Buena drove the ball 94 yards on 17 plays taking nearly 8 minutes of the clock with them to take a 17-0 lead.
Trailing by those two scores in the middle of the second quarter, McCullough broke through for his longest gain of the contest, ripping off a 49 yard run down the sideline to put San Marcos at the Buena 20 yard line.
The drive resulted in no points, however, as Buena forced and recovered a fumble.
“If he’s normal, he’s gone,” Molina said about that long run. “If he’s not hurt, that’s a touchdown and he probably breaks a couple more, but I’m proud of him, he wanted to play and he’s worked real hard for that.”
Helping pick up the pace, the Royals defense finally made a play as senior Luke Crawford came up with an interception with just over two minutes left in the half setting the Royals up at their own 18-yard line.
After a couple of McCullough runs, it was senior quarterback Josh Engel who made a great play, stepping up in the pocket and delivering a dart to senior Patrick Kelly.
Kelly caught the ball, then took off, breaking a tackle along the way, to score on a 68-yard-touchdown with 1:10 left before the half to bring San Marcos within 10 at the break.
“At halftime we talked about how we spotted them 10 points, our guys knew that. They knew this isn’t Rio Mesa, this isn’t Pacifica. We knew we could play with them, but I think after we spotted those 10 points, you just kind of saw us deflate. Then, all of a sudden second quarter kicks in and the guys are playing, and I could see the confidence building,” Molina said.
Buena opened the second half with yet another long drive, taking over 7:30 of the clock with them. The Bulldogs drove the ball 81 yards on 14 plays, capped off by a Carter touchdown run, his second of the contest, followed by a 2-point conversion to give them a 25-7 lead.
But the Royals still had one last run in them.
In the fourth quarter, following a Buena missed field goal, Engel handed the ball off to McCullough, who then handed the ball right off to Kelly, catching the Bulldogs defense completely off guard, and gaining 47 yards to drive San Marcos down to the 33 yard line.
“Kelly stepped up and played really hard. He’s another one who was out last week when we had so many kids out with the flu and we missed him last week. He’s a speedster and I personally think we got to get him the ball more,” Molina said.
McCullough then did the rest, accounting for 25 of the final 33 yards of the drive, including the score that brought San Marcos within two scores, even after the missed point-after try, 25-13.
On defense, San Marcos did its job, getting the ball back to the offense with just under five minutes starting at their own 6-yard line.
Unfortunately, the Royals offense was out of juice from there, going three-and-out.
Buena would score on the next drive — an 11-yard run by Stevie Plahn — to put the game out of reach with 2:33 left in the contest, 32-13.
“They just wore us down by the end. I was proud that we didn’t quit, the score doesn’t indicate how close it was for a while. My guys are battling,” Molina said. “I’ve been saying it from from the get go, we’re in this league, we shouldn’t be in this league but we’re in it so we have to prepare every week. … Our goal is we want to get in the playoffs, we got a lot to play for and our guys know that and we aren’t quitting.”
San Marcos has a bye next week before they take on Dos Pueblos away at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 7.