Santa Barbara High had a game plan to dominate San Marcos on the ground and on defense, and the Dons did just that en route to a 35-0 victory in the 63rd Big Game rivalry matchup on Friday night.
Santa Barbara accumulated 169 rushing yards while holding the Royals to 78 total yards of offense in the Channel League win at Peabody Stadium.
“A lot of credit goes to the O-Line we have, they really wanted to run the ball,” Dons head coach Nate Mendoza said. “I was happy with the boys playing some tough football.”
While it was the rushing attack that solidified the victory, it was big plays by Santa Barbara’s standout junior wideout Kai Mault that earned him the Gary Blades Memorial “Big Game” Most Valuable Player Award.
Mault ended the night with an 82-yard punt return touchdown, 32 rushing yards and a touchdown on six attempts and two catches for five yards.
“The atmosphere here is just different, everyone is hyped out and ready to go,” Mault said of the rivalry matchup. “It’s an amazing feeling to be out here playing.”
The game got off to a sloppy start, as San Marcos senior running back Joseph Herrera fumbled the ball on the third play from scrimmage to turn it over to the Dons.
“We fumbled the ball early and that was huge,” Royals head coach Ralph Molina said. “I’ve been saying it over and over again that we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot against good teams because they’ll take advantage of it, and they did.”
Then, Santa Barbara senior quarterback Abel Renteria promptly threw an interception on the very next play to give the ball back to the Royals.
The Dons defense then stood strong and forced a punt. The kick sailed through the air into the waiting arms of Mault, who took off down the field, evading San Marcos tacklers all the way for an 82-yard punt return touchdown for the first score of the game.
“[The punt return] electrified us, everyone was a little concerned (after the interception),” Mendoza said. “Kai is a great athlete and electrified the whole stadium with that play.”
“I got the ball and just started running,” Mault said about his big play. “The blocks lined up and the whole team continued the play until the very end. Downfield blocks made it possible to score on that play.”
After Renteria punched in the two-point conversion, Santa Barbara was up 8-0 with 7:16 left in the first quarter.
From there, the first half was dominated by the Dons.
Following a three-and-out by the San Marcos offense, Renteria led an 11-play drive that included a 27-yard reception to senior wide receiver Winston Bartley on the run. Renteria cashed in the drive himself with a 1-yard quarterback sneak to extend the lead to 14-0 with 2:03 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Dons did not convert the two-point conversion attempt.
The Royals then found themselves moving down the field thanks to a pair of 15-yard penalties by the Santa Barbara defense on the ensuing drive, but they settled for a 45-yard field goal attempt that wound up short of the uprights.
The Dons, despite dominating the scoreboard, racked up seven penalties for 85 yards in the first half alone.
“For a while there it seemed like their best play was a penalty,” Mendoza said. “I wish we played with more discipline with regards to those penalties but anytime you give up 100 yards in penalties and still keep a shutout in the first half, that’s pretty good.”
After a long drive by Santa Barbara was stalled, they punted it back to the Royals. However, San Marcos return man Luke Crawford muffed the punt and it was recovered by the Dons at the San Marcos 22-yard line.
The offense took advantage of the turnover, with Mault rushing in a touchdown from two yards out to expand the Santa Barbara lead to 21-0 with 5:23 to go in the half.
“Right now we’re our worst enemy,” Molina said. “We’re putting ourselves in real tough situations to get out of.”
Another strong stand by the Dons’ defense gave Renteria and the offense another chance to score before heading into the locker room.
They did just that, as Renteria checked a pass down to senior running back Koa Herrera, who scampered 32 yards and found the endzone for the score, giving the Dons a 28-0 lead at halftime.
“It pays to have a third-year starter [at quarterback],” Mendoza said about Renteria. “He’s got so much experience, he’s cool, calm and collected.”
Renteria ended 13-for-20 with 170 yards and one passing touchdown. He also added 24 yards on the ground and a rushing score.
The third quarter was a stalemate, as both defenses forced a three-and-out and the Santa Barbara offense began to chew the clock.
The Dons defense picked up its third turnover of the game with an interception by senior safety Jacobo Nevarez to start the fourth quarter.
“Hats off to the defense,” Mendoza said. “Really proud of the defense, they played outstanding and it was an outstanding job from our defensive coordinator.”
With full control of the game, Santa Barbara continued to wind down the clock, executing a draining 15-play drive that was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run from Herrera, his second of the night.
Herrera led the rushing attack, taking 23 carries for 105 yards and the touchdown.
By the time the Dons handed the ball back to the Royals, there was 3:40 left on the clock.
“Football is a funny sport,” Molina said. “We had a good week of practice and felt good going into this. We prepared for everything we were going to do. We just didn’t execute on both sides of the ball.”
San Marcos couldn’t get anything done in that time and the final horn sounded as Santa Barbara came out on top in the Big Game for the eighth time in a row.
With the Santa Barbara victory, the Dons now hold a 39-24 series lead over the Royals and extended the longest winning streak in the rivalry’s storied history.
“It was awesome,” Mendoza said. “They needed to get this one for the alumni, there’s a lot of proud alumni out there.”
The gauntlet of an opening Channel League schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Royals (2-2, 0-2 Channel League), who will face Pacifica next week on the road.
“We don’t have time to worry about this, we’ve got Pacifica next week,” Molina said. “No looking back, all we can do is look forward.
“It’s time to go back to work, our goal is still there. The second half for us is where we can make our mark and get into a playoff spot, this is preparing us.”
Santa Barbara (2-2, 1-1 Channel League), meanwhile, will host Oxnard on Thursday.
