SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara City College Football team celebrated Sophomore Night on Saturday, with 15 student-athletes playing their final game at La Playa Stadium. The Vaqueros were dropped by Citrus 45-21 on a rainy end to the 2026 home schedule.

Levi Cavalli was the standout player of the night, though. The speedy freshman ran for a season-high 143 yards and two touchdowns, including a 68-yarder, and—as the primary kick returner—averaged 20 yards per return. Altogether, he accounted for 262 all-purpose yards, beating his previous best of 216 against Cerritos on Sept. 12.

Saturday’s game was a rematch of last year’s 56-39 Citrus victory. It looked like it was going to be similarly high-scoring when the first four drives of the game resulted in touchdowns.

After a solid defensive effort last week against Allan Hancock’s run-heavy offense, it was unfortunately a different story against Citrus’ pass-heavy offense. Just over two minutes into the game, a 27-yard touchdown pass gave the Owls a 7-0 lead.

But the Vaqueros matched it. A few plays into their opening possession, on third-and-two, Cavalli’s 11-yard rush extended the drive. Fellow freshman running back Oscar Anoai later had a 14-yard rush to set up Cavalli’s one-yard touchdown to tie the game. With quarterback Tua Rojas out, sophomore Brooks Trimmer was also three-for-three on the drive with 31 yards through the air and six more on the ground.

The ensuing kickoff was returned by the Owls 57 yards to the Santa Barbara 33-yard-line. Three plays later, another touchdown pass made it 14-7 Citrus.

The Vaqueros were then forced to punt, but it was muffed and recovered by Ryan Cory at the Citrus 18-yard-line. On fourth-and-one, Trimmer scrambled and ran in a nine-yard touchdown to once again tie the game at 14-14.

Both teams punted to give Citrus the ball back early in the second quarter. The first third down of the drive came on third-and-goal at the one, which they punched in for a touchdown. It would be the first of four straight touchdown drives for the Owls and 31 unanswered points.

The Vaqueros were stopped on fourth-and-two, missed a 44-yard field goal, and had a pass intercepted on their final three drives of the first half. It would be 45-14 with five minutes left in the third quarter.

Halfway through the fourth quarter, a muffed punt gave Citrus decent field position in Santa Barbara territory. They only got two yards before attempting a 50-yard field goal which, especially on the wet turf, was a surprise.

It missed wide right, and Cavalli ran 68 yards on the very next play for his longest touchdown of the year. That made it 45-21 Citrus, which was the final score.

Overall, Trimmer threw for 90 yards, with 37 and 34 of them going to fellow sophomores Luke McNeil and Kerek Kato, respectively.

On the defensive side, Mason Eagal earned a whopping 13 tackles and forced a fumble. Linebacker Dominic Herrera had nine tackles—two and a half for loss—and had a pass breakup.

The Vaqueros will end their season on the road at Santa Ana (2-7), with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. at Eddie West Field on Saturday.