It was an amazing sight at the renovated Peabody Stadium on the first Friday night of high school football for the 2021-22 school year.
Under a full moon, the stadium lights shined bright, the band was playing, the student section cheering and the grandstand topped by the Mission-style press box was filled from end to end.
“It’s just what I ordered,” cracked Santa Barbara Athletic Director Todd Heil.
The festive night, however, didn’t go well on the football field for the Dons as they were outmatched by a solid Saugus team, 35-0.
Saugus quarterback Sebastian Dallaire passed for three touchdowns and the Centurions got rushing scores from Jacob Faraldo and Vinny Gallagher.
Santa Barbara mustered just 89 yards in total offense in sophomore quarterback Abel Renteria’s varsity debut.
Santa Barbara coach JT Stone said the performance was a reflection of the team’s week of practice.
“It wasn’t a bad week, we just haven’t figured some things out as a team,” he said. “Again, it’s not winning the game, it’s winning at practice.
“We’re a talented team. I’m not discouraged by any means. We played a good football team tonight. But we got a lot of things to fix at practice and hopefully we can get the ball rolling.”
Despite their offensive struggles, the Dons had a chance to score first as Makai Trimble blocked a punt and recovered it at the Saugus 32. A penalty on the Centurions moved the ball to the 17.
Renteria ran for 7 yards on first down, but was dropped for a 1-yard loss and held to no gain on the next two run plays. On fourth down, a pass for Ben Gordiner was out of his reach.
Saugus intercepted a pass on Santa Barbara’s next possession, but the Dons’ defense stepped up and held the Centurions to three and out.
As Santa Barbara’s offense continued to sputter, Saugus found its rhythm. The Centurions drove 52 yards on seven plays and scored on an 8-yard pass from Dallaire to Austin Treahy at 11:09 of the second quarter. Evan Molina kicked the first of his five PATs.
The Centurions made it 14-0 a little over three minutes later. They tackled Trimble for a 6-yard loss as he tried a rugby-style punt and took over at the Dons’ 15. After a penalty nullified a touchdown, Dallaire hit Dylan Hampsten for 23-yard strike in the end zone.
Saugus quickly got the ball back as linebacker Jacob Viger recovered a bad snap at the 1. Faraldo scored on the next play for a 21-0 lead with 6:53 left in the first half.
Santa Barbara’s offense finally put a drive together and recorded its first first down of the game at 5:46 of the second quarter. Koa Herrera ran for 4 yards and Renteria completed a 6-yard pass to Winston Bartley.
With the offensive line taking charge, Renteria did a nice job of mixing his plays. He hit Blake Switzer for 9 yards, handed off to Herrera for a couple of runs and then called his own number. He took the Dons down to the Saugus 30 before the drive was stopped by the Centurions.
“We’re not good enough to make mistakes right now,” said Stone. “I told the kids we have a sophomore quarterback. He played OK but he made a lot of mistakes. So did our receivers.
“The whole thing is about team. If collectively we don’t play well and everybody’s not working together, bad things are going to happen. And that’s what happened tonight.”
Down 21-0, Santa Barbara’s offense started the second half with a good drive but couldn’t finish it and punted the ball to Saugus.
The Centurions drove 52 yards and Gallagher scored on a 1-yard run to make it 28-0 at 4:45 of the third quarter
Dallaire fired a 27-yard pass to a wide open Khai Ky-Yeith for the final score.
While the night didn’t go well on the field for the Dons, Stone said it was great to see a full Santa Barbara grandstand on a Friday night.
“I think the best thing about tonight was seeing everybody here watching our football game. Unfortunately, we didn’t come out with a win, but the atmosphere was great.
“This was definitely needed for the soul.”
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.