SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara City College Football team took a positive step forward on Saturday night at La Playa Stadium, falling 27-21 to No. 14 Cerritos but ending the game with 21 unanswered points.

The Vaqueros shut out the visitors in the second half while getting sparks offensively from quarterback and local kid Tua Rojas, and emerging star Levi Cavalli. The pair combined for two fourth-quarter touchdowns—the latter being a 63-yarder—to make the game interesting.

“That goes a long way to getting guys to believe,” Head Coach Craig Moropoulos said.

Despite the outcome, the positive signs began on the first drive of the game. Cerritos just about converted two fourth-and-ones to open the scoring with a touchdown, but the Vaqueros’ defense already looked more solid than in the previous two weeks.

On the Vaqueros’ own opening drive, Rojas found Braden Wathen twice on third-and-long to march into Cerritos territory. The drive ended on an unlucky interception that was tipped right to a defender, but again, it showed progress.

Unfortunately, the second-quarter woes continued, though. Cerritos scored again early in the frame, and the Vaqueros turned the ball over on downs in Cerritos territory on the ensuing drive. Cerritos then found the endzone again after converting another fourth down. Right before halftime, they scored a third time, making the score 27-0.

“We need to do better in the first half,” Moropoulos admitted.

Out of halftime, Santa Barbara punted and Cerritos drove into the red zone looking to add to their lead. However, the Vaqueros bent but did not break, forcing a 30-yard field goal attempt which was missed.

That sparked a momentum swing. Rojas linked with Kerek Kato and Dominic Dadkhah on two big third-down conversions, and hard-running Oscar Anoai finished the drive by punching in a two-yard touchdown.

Cerritos’ next drive was a similar story. Driving to the Santa Barbara 21-yard-line, the Vaqueros forced an incompletion on fourth-and-three to get the ball back. About six minutes later, with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter now, Cavalli caught a pass out of the backfield and ran in an 11-yard touchdown to essentially halve the deficit at 27-14.

Another missed field goal from Cerritos kept the game alive. After that, Santa Barbara had to punt, but so did Cerritos.

While time was not on the Vaqueros’ side at this point, neither was the field position as they took over at their own six-yard-line. No problem, though—four plays in, the Rojas-Cavalli connection struck for a second time on the aforementioned 63-yard touchdown. Still with 2:56 on the clock, it was suddenly a one-possession game—27-21.

Naturally, Cerritos tried to run out the clock while the Vaqueros only had one timeout remaining. Right after the two-minute timeout, Cerritos converted a third-and-one to all but end the game. A few plays later, the Vaqueros forced a fourth down, but the game clock and play clock were perfectly synced so that Cerritos did not have to punt or run another play.

While the result was not in their favor, the fight back and performance was a welcome sign for a program that has endured a lot over the past two years. In this same matchup last year, Cerritos won 66-17. It was a much more competitive game this Saturday night, and hopefully will benefit the Vaqueros’ mindset against the other quality opponents on their upcoming schedule.

“In the second half, all of the sudden it’s like, ‘Hey, we can really do that,'” Moropoulos said. “It’s still a loss, and nobody’s happy about the loss, but I am pleased with how hard they played in the second half.”

Rojas went 15-for-27 for 270 yards—more than the three Cerritos’ quarterbacks combined. Not only that, but he was confident throwing the ball downfield and looked up for the occasion.

“He’s so calm—and [fellow quarter Brooks Trimmer] too,” Moropoulos said of his quarterbacks. “His blood pressure doesn’t go up too much, and for a quarterback that’s what you really need.”

Cavalli, a native of Hayfork, California, was the team’s leading rusher (six carries, 30 yards) and receiver (four catches, 111 yards, two touchdowns). Adding in 75 kick-return yards, he amassed 216 all-purpose yards on the night.

Defensively, Mason Eagal led the team with eight tackles and one pass breakup. Dominic Herrera had seven tackles and a pass breakup, and Blake Childreth had six tackles.

The Vaqueros hope that Saturday’s momentum will carry into next Saturday when they travel to Long Beach at 4 p.m. After that, they return home to face Ventura on Saturday, Sept. 26.