Santa Barbara City College Football fell in the final minutes to Allan Hancock by a score of 33-31 on Saturday at Bulldog Field.
The defeat dropped the Vaqueros to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in conference play following back-to-back losses. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, improved to 4-3 on the year and 3-1 in conference.
The game started all Allan Hancock, as the SBCC offense was forced to punt three times in the first quarter while the Bulldogs scored a pair of rushing touchdowns, both by Caden Harris.
Allan Hancock held that 14-0 lead for the entirety of the opening quarter.
However, the Vaqueros started to turn things around with a 13-play drive to begin the second quarter that was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown pass from Will Doherty to Jake Foye, cutting the Bulldog lead in half with 11:25 left in the second.
Following punts by both teams, Allan Hancock found the endzone once again thanks to a 17-yard touchdown pitch and catch from Jackson Clavel to Elias Martinez.
The extra-point attempt was missed, bringing the Bulldog advantage to 20-7 with just 56 seconds left in the half.
The Vaquero offense then went to work, as Doherty completed a 30-yard pass to Easton Clements and connected with Foye for 19 yards to get down to the 11-yard line.
From there, Doherty found Ryles Buckley for an 11-yard touchdown, cutting the lead to 20-14 heading into the locker room.
SBCC rode the momentum of the quick scoring drive into the third quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 10-0 to take a 24-20 lead heading into the fourth.
To grab that lead in the third, the Vaqueros got a 25-yard field goal by Brandon Bowers and an electrifying 80-yard touchdown catch by Mitchell Northcutt on the first play of an offensive drive.
Allan Hancock swung back in the fourth quarter, ripping off a 14-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Harris to take a 27-24 lead with 6:44 to go.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Vaqueros got those points right back as Kayden Chan flew 99 yards down the field for a kickoff return touchdown. The successful extra point gave SBCC a 31-27 advantage.
The back-and-forth play continued on the very next drive after the Bulldogs got a pair of big runs to get deep into SBCC territory and Ferrari Busby scampered into the endzone from 6 yards out to regain the lead for Allan Hancock at 33-31 with just 3:10 to go.
Following stalled drives by both teams, the SBCC offense got the ball back at their own 24-yard line with 1:17 left in the game.
Doherty connected with Cameron Green for a crucial 23-yard reception to get the Vaqueros down to the 32-yard line of the Bulldogs.
SBCC then turned to Bowers and the kicking unit with 15 seconds left, but Bowers’ kick sailed wide right and handed Allan Hancock the victory. It was Bowers’ second miss of the day.
Despite the loss, Doherty put together one of his highest yardage games of the season, completing 19-of-38 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns.
The Vaqueros will look to snap their losing streak next Saturday against Moorpark at 6 p.m. at La Playa Stadium.