The Peabody Stadium crowd was getting restless early in Santa Barbara High’s football game against Oxnard.
Oxnard capitalized on a turnover with a touchdown and the Dons dropped a couple of passes on first and second down on their next possession.
“Come on boys, wake up!” yelled a fan after the second drop.
The Dons responded with three touchdowns and a field goal, and held off a late Oxnard drive to gut out a 24-17 victory on Friday night to stay in the Channel League title hunt.
Santa Barbara improved to 2-1 in league and 6-2 overall. Oxnard fell to 1-2, 3-5.
Nathan Barrios ran for a touchdown and recovered a bad punt snap by Oxnard in the end zone for defensive score; Trent Williams made a beautiful catch on 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Abel Renteria and Jeffrey Lechuga kicked 38-yard field goal, enabling Santa Barbara to escape with the win.
Defensive back Makai Trimble sealed the victory with interception at the Santa Barbara 27-yard line with 1:21 left in the game.
Oxnard had rolled down the field behind the running of Diego Velasco in the last four minutes. The Yellowjackets got to the Santa Barbara 41 before being pushed back by holding penalty. Barrios then made a huge play for the Dons, tackling Velasco for no gain on second and 20 from the Oxnard 40.
On the next play, Oxnard sophomore quarterback Josiah Sanchez threw deep for wide receiver Jonathan Garcia. Trimble stayed right with Garcia and picked off the pass.
The Dons then ran out the clock.
“Big time,” said Santa Barbara coach JT Stone of Trimble’s interception. “We were worried about (Sanchez) going to the other side (for Eli Aragon), so we needed that. I was proud of Makai. He was actually owed that because there were a couple he should of had. But we’ll take it.”
The Dons weren’t sharp in the early going of the game. Renteria was sacked and fumbled and Oxnard linebacker Antonio Solis recovered at the Santa Barbara 39.
On first down, Sanchez, who was called up from the JV team because of injuries to the Yellowjackets’ starting and backup quarterbacks, fired a perfect pass to outstanding receiver Eli Arargon for a 39-yard touchdown. Female kicker Jaemi Toledo kicked the PAT for a 7-0 lead.
The Dons dropped Renteria’s next two passes before Williams caught a wide receiver screen and bolted 31 yards to the Oxnard 38. He then hit Winston Bartley for 12 yards and scrambled for 13 yards down to the 13.
After three more Renteria runs to the 1, Barrios got the ball, bounced off a stack of linemen and ran into the end zone. Lechuga kick the PAT to tie the score at 7-7.
Stone said a limited week of practice due to the unhealthy air caused by the Alisal Fire caused his team to be a little rusty on Friday night.
“We really couldn’t get a solid workout,” he said. “We went to Santa Paula on Wednesday and practiced at 7 o’clock and that was the only practice we had.
“I told the kids we had all these distractions and those are the things that, if we didn’t figure it out, they were going to play a factor in the game, and they did. We weren’t prepared the way we should have been, but I’ll take the W.”
Oxnard’s Sanchez guided his team to a field goal. Toledo converted from 23 yards to put the Yellowjackets ahead 10-7 at 8:05 of the second quarter.
Renteria, who completed 15 of 28 passes for 150 yards, brought the Dons back on their next possession. He threw to Williams in the end zone and the senior made a spectacular catch, falling backwards in the corner of the end zone to give Santa Barbara a 14-10 lead at 4:25 of the second quarter.
Williams caught six passes for 80 yards.
“He’s an amazing talent and he’s got a bum leg,” said Stone. “But he has stepped up big for us, and I’m extremely proud of his efforts. He’s playing the way a senior should.”
Oxnard had center snap problems on its next possession. A bad snap on second down resulted in an 11-yard loss. Then on fourth down, the punt snap was on the ground and Barrios jumped on the loose ball in the end zone for a Santa Barbara touchdown. That gave the Dons a 21-10 lead at 2:31 of the second quarter.
“Our long snapper got hurt,” said Oxnard coach Jaime Moreno. “He was finishing his tape job and as soon as the punt went he’s behind me, saying, ‘Coach, I can go.’ And I’m just like…
“Your backup gets maybe one long snap a week, and he’s our starting left tackle, and he wasn’t expecting to do it. It just happened to be that one play.”
The Dons, however, couldn’t put the Yellowjackets away.
Sanchez again hooked up with the sure-handed Aragon, who made a superb diving catch for a 35-yard touchdown, cutting the Santa Barbara lead to 21-17 with 8:57 left in the third quarter.
“He’s our dude,” said Moreno of Aragon. “Everybody knows we’re going to get double coverage on him all the time. And (Sanchez) found him.”
Aragon caught six passes for 117 yards and Sanchez completed 10 of 18 passes for 151 yards.
Santa Barbara got a 38-yard field goal from Lechuga at 11:45 in the fourth quarter go up 24-17.
The Dons attempted another field goal with 5:49 to go, but Oxnard blocked it.
The Yellowjackets used their big offensive line and the running of Velasco to pound the ball down the field. Velasco, who rushed for 144 yards on 27 carries, had 102 yards in the second half.
The Dons absorbed the blows but didn’t break.
“You know there’s a will to want to win and Oxnard came out and made adjustments,” said Stone of the Yellowjackets’ play in the second half. “Those guys are beat up, they’re really beat up, but it was good coaching on their part.
“I told our defense it’s never going to be pretty. All I asked from them is just get a stop. I’m proud of them, I’m proud of the way they played, I’m proud by the way our coaches coached. And on a short week.”
Next up for the Dons is Dos Pueblos.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.