Santa Barbara High football secured its eighth consecutive Crosstown Showdown win with a 21-10 victory over rival Dos Pueblos on Friday night at Peabody Stadium.
The Chargers (1-2) kept the game close throughout, but the Dons (2-1) pulled away in the fourth quarter to improve their all-time record against their rival to 31-23-1 in the 55th edition of the matchup.
“I’m proud of the coaching staff and the players. We were in that locker room coaching it up,” Santa Barbara High head coach Nate Mendoza said. “[DP] hit us with a left hook tonight and caught us off guard, and we were able to hang tight and respond… Tons of credit to (DP head coach AJ) Pateras and the team.”
Pateras was happy with what he saw from his team on Friday night against a strong Santa Barbara High program, and sees some momentum coming off of this result.
“We lose to Santa Barbara tonight, and that sucks, but Santa Barbara’s been one of the best teams in our area for 10 years,” Pateras said. “I’m just incredibly proud of how hard they played, and the confidence from tonight is going to be electric.
“I told them the only people in our way going forward is ourselves, and if we continue to show up and play for each other and love each other and play hard, we’re going to be fun to watch.”
The Chargers got the game off to an exciting start as senior kicker Tiago Carmona went for the onside kick, and it was recovered by DP senior Caysen Oliver. However, the Dons forced a three-and-out, with junior Everett Rabb-Preston securing a third-down sack.
The SB offense went straight to work, dominating the ground game and completing a pair of passes to get into DP territory before Rabb-Preston exploded for a 35-yard rushing touchdown for a 7-0 lead with 6:04 left in the first.
The two sides then exchanged stalled drives, with the Dons’ one-touchdown lead holding in the second quarter.
The Chargers then opened the second with the longest drive of the night by either side, rattling off a 14-play drive that lasted over six minutes and was capped off by a 4-yard rushing touchdown by junior quarterback Grady Felix to even the score at 7-7 with 5:43 left in the half.
Senior running back Chase Johnson had six carries on the drive, but Felix called his own number on an option run to score the game-tying touchdown.
“We thought we were going to be the bigger, faster, stronger team, and I think that was established throughout the game at times,” Pateras said.
“We knew that we could establish a line of scrimmage. We got a great back (Chase Johnson). We’ve got great linemen. Marcus (Carbajal) and Wyatt (Mitchell) are some of the best around. Hector (Medina) is a heavyweight varsity wrestler. We’ve got some good young kids on the line, and they work hard.”
After the two sides exchanged punts, the Dons had one last chance to jump back in front with a drive starting from their own 47-yard line with less than three minutes on the clock.
Arnold took center stage, leading his team down the field with a nine-play drive consisting of all passing plays. The last of those passes came in the final seconds of the half when he found sophomore Keegan Roessler in the corner of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown.
The Arnold-to-Roessler connection gave Santa Barbara High a 14-7 lead heading into the halftime locker rooms.
“Keegan’s play before half obviously allowed us to breathe a little bit in the locker room,” Mendoza said.
The Chargers put together a strong drive out of the break, aided by 20-yard runs by Felix and Johnson to get into SB territory. A few plays later, Carmona drilled a 26-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 14-10 with 8:09 left in the third quarter.
That margin held for the rest of the quarter, but the Dons found themselves with a first down from the Dos Pueblos 33-yard line when the game flipped to the fourth.
Santa Barbara got into the red zone, but was forced into a 4th-and-3 from the 16-yard line. After three consecutive timeouts, Rabb-Preston earned the first down with a 6-yard rush to keep the drive alive.
“I thought Everett (Rabb-Preston) had an excellent game. We needed to lean on our O-line tonight. That was kind of the message we sent all week,” Mendoza said. “I thought the guys performed when they needed to.”
A few plays later on 3rd and goal, Arnold took the snap and scrambled around in the pocket before lofting a pass over the linebackers and into the waiting hands of junior Nate Meister in the back of the end zone. The score extended the Dons’ lead to 21-10 with 6:19 left in the game.
On the ensuing drive, the Dons’ defense made one final stand by surrendering just 4 yards to the Chargers on their four plays to force a turnover on downs. Rabb-Preston and the SB offense ran out the clock from there to secure the win.
Rabb-Preston ended the night with 15 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown to lead all players in yards from scrimmage. Meanwhile, Arnold completed 17-of-25 passes for 148 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
On the other sideline, Johnson totaled 22 carries in his bell-cow role and accumulated 73 rushing yards.
Santa Barbara High will head up to Righetti, and Dos Pueblos will be on the road against Village Christian next Friday.
