SBCC Football struggled to keep up with Citrus College down the stretch for a 56-39 loss on Saturday in Glendora.
The Vaqueros (0-8) found themselves trailing just 35-33 late in the third quarter, but the Owls (4-4) outscored them 21-6 in the fourth to run away with the win.
The Owls opened the scoring early in the first quarter on a 20-yard rushing touchdown by Keyonn Chatmann to take a 7-0 lead.
After the two sides exchanged punts, the Vaqueros got on the board with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Cole Luekinga to Nate Jetter. However, the extra-point attempt was blocked to give Citrus a 7-6 lead with 6:39 left in the first.
The Owls extended their lead at the 3:10 mark of the opening quarter thanks to a 38-yard passing touchdown from Brian Salazar to Cameron Bateman to make it 14-6.
The back-and-forth continued to open the second quarter as the Vaqueros put together a 13-play drive capped off by a 2-yard rushing touchdown from Jayden Tinker.
The two-point conversion attempt came up short, keeping SBCC down 14-12 with 11:24 left in the first half.
The Owls quickly responded with a quick drive down the field that ended with a 30-yard touchdown connection between Salazar and Bateman to bring the lead back up to 21-12.
SBCC continued to fight back, needing just three plays to score on a 44-yard touchdown pass from Leukinga to Kerek Kato to cut the deficit down to 21-19 with 5:36 to go in the half.
Citrus got the last laugh of the first half, however, scoring on a third touchdown pass from Salazar to Bateman to take a 28-19 lead into halftime.
The third quarter featured a quick momentum swing back and forth, as the Owls forced a Vaquero fumble on a strip sack of Leukinga.
However, just one play later, SBCC’s Sebastian Wanji jumped the pass from Salazar and took it back 73 yards for a pick-six to cut the deficit down to 28-26 with 7:56 left in the third.
Salazar immediately made up for it on the next drive, exploding for a 48-yard touchdown run to bring the lead back to nine points at 35-26.
The Vaqueros continued to fight late in the third quarter, scoring on an 18-yard touchdown connection from Leukinga to Kato to get within striking distance at 35-33 with one quarter to play.
However, the Owls dominated the majority of the fourth quarter, including back-to-back big touchdown passes by Salazar to balloon the lead out to 49-33 with 6:41 to play.
SBCC scored once again at the 4:56 mark on a big 45-yard touchdown pass from Leukinga to Luke McNeil.
Citrus finally put the game away with a one-play drive after the Vaquero score as Salazar found Keaton Morales for a 78-yard touchdown and a 56-39 lead, which proved to be the final score.
Leukinga had a great night under center for SBCC, completing 27-of-40 passes for 314 yards and four touchdowns.
Kato was his favorite target, hauling in seven catches for 93 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
The Vaqueros will look to get their first win of the season in their regular-season finale against Santa Ana next Saturday at 6 p.m. at La Playa Field.
