The Valencia Vikings played spoiler in Nate Mendoza’s head coaching debut at Peabody Stadium, taking down the Dons 45-18 on Friday.
The loss closes out non-league play for Mendoza and Santa Barbara High, who will open Channel League competition against Pacifica.
“I really do feel like our boys are at [Valencia’s] level, but not tonight,” Mendoza said. “We built it up all week as this is the type of team we’ll play in the playoffs and this is the competition that we want to play.”
The Vikings started fast, taking the opening kickoff down to the Santa Barbara 32-yard line and ripping off a touchdown throw and catch from Jackson Askins to Deandre Kermah on the first play from scrimmage, jumping out to a 7-0 lead just 22 seconds into the game.
However, the Dons struck right back. Set up by a deep ball from Abel Renteria to Tomas Gil that gained 46 yards, Renteria hit Sammie Congdon with a 24-yard touchdown strike to tie it up at 7-7 with 8:15 left in the first.
Congdon led all Santa Barbara receivers with 140 receiving yards on seven catches while Gil ended with six catches for 90 yards.
The Santa Barbara defense kept up the momentum, forcing a punt to give the offense the ball back close to midfield.
Renteria and the offense didn’t spoil the field position, as the senior quarterback found Kai Mault for a 14-yard touchdown pass that gave the Dons their first lead of the game. Renteria rushed in the two-point conversion to go up 15-7.
Mault, a junior, turned seven catches into 74 yards in the loss.
“I felt we played with confidence and we were believing,” Mendoza said of his team in the first quarter.
The ball continued to bounce in Santa Barbara’s favor on the ensuing kickoff when Congdon had his kick ricochet off of a Viking hands team member and the Dons recovered it. However, the offense couldn’t capitalize and gave the ball back to Valencia.
The Vikings turned around and Askins threw his second touchdown of the night following a 10-play drive, cutting the Santa Barbara lead to 15-14 with 10:18 left in the first half.
During their next drive, the Dons worked their way into Valencia territory and Congdon nailed a 33-yard field goal to go up 18-14.
On the third play of the following Vikings drive, Jordan Mitchum came up with an interception on a deep pass attempt, setting the offense up to strike again with just under six minutes left in the half.
It seemed as though the Dons would strike, as Renteria hit Congdon for a 45-yard pass, but a Valencia defender came from behind and forced Congdon to fumble the ball, and the Vikings recovered at their own 23-yard line.
“We drove and made a big pass play, but credit to them, that’s why you never give up,” Mendoza said. “Who knows what would’ve happened if we would have scored that drive.”
From there, it was all Valencia. They took advantage of the turnover, marching down the field and scoring on a one-yard touchdown rush by Brady Bretthauer to recapture the lead at 21-18 with 1:30 left in the first half.
They weren’t done in the half, either, as Jayboe Wilson intercepted a deep ball from Renteria on the first play of the next drive. Feeling the momentum swaying in their favor, Askins hit Luke Cruz on a screen play and Cruz took it 75 yards to the end zone for the score.
After Santa Barbara came up empty on its final drive of the half, the Vikings took a 28-18 lead into halftime in front of a shell-shocked Peabody Stadium crowd.
Coming out of the locker room, the Dons had a chance to steal back the momentum by receiving the ball first. However, a failed quarterback sneak attempt on fourth down deep in Valencia territory turned the ball over on downs.
“That was a huge stop too,” Mendoza said. “We never quite recovered from there.”
Both teams then traded long and unsuccessful drives until there was 5:52 left in the game when Cruz made his second impact play of the day for the Vikings.
The senior linebacker jumped in front of a pass and ran the interception all the way back to the end zone, extending his team’s lead to 35-18.
Four plays into the next Santa Barbara drive, Sam Gieser got in on the turnover party, picking off Renteria off of a deflection. The interception gave the Vikings the chance to extend the lead, which they did with a 44-yard field goal to bring it to 38-18 with three minutes to go.
Geiser and the Valencia defense weren’t done yet, as the senior snagged another interception on the second play of the Dons’ next drive and returned it down to the one-yard line, where Bretthauer punched it in.
With the score at 45-18 with two minutes left, the Santa Barbara offense opted to run out the clock on its home opener.
Renteria ended the night 29-of-55 for 385 passing yards along with two touchdowns and four interceptions. Winston Bartley was his favorite target on the night, leading the team in receptions with eight, going for 81 yards.
Despite the loss, Mendoza was proud of the work done on the defensive side of the ball against one of the stronger teams in the southern section.
“Defense did outstanding, they could have rolled over a bunch of times in that fourth quarter,” Mendoza said. “That’s a big, strong line with big, strong running backs that was playing grown man football.
“If you weren’t at the game you would think our defense got worked but obviously that’s not the way it went.”
The Dons will look to bounce back in a much-anticipated Channel League opener against Pacifica next Friday at Peabody Stadium.
“The most important game of the year is next week,” Mendoza said. “We’ve had Pacifica circled on the calendar since I got hired in January and I’m sure this team’s had it circled since they lost to them last year.”
