After a strong first half the San Marcos High football team couldn’t keep up with visiting Ventura as the game progressed and dropped its fifth consecutive game, 30-10, on Friday night at Wartkenin Stadium.
The Royals tied the score at 10-10 with 4:36 remaining in the first half, but Ventura responded with 20 unanswered points to secure the Channel League victory.
“I thought defensively we played pretty tough, even the whole game defensively we played tough, but we got worn down,” said San Marcos coach Ralph Molina. “We’re not moving the chains {offensively}.”
The first play of the game was a bad omen for San Marcos as Ventura recovered a pooch kick to take over possession deep in Royals’ territory.
However, the San Marcos defense held at the goal line and the Cougars were forced to settle for a 19-yard field goal that was converted by Donovan Chappell.
On their third drive of the game Ventura marched 71 yards on ten plays and Derek Garcia dropped a beautiful pass into the outstretched arms of Liam Robinson for an 18-yard touchdown pass that increased the Cougars’ lead to 10-0 with 8:10 remaining in the second quarter.
Garcia took over the starting quarterback position this season as a sophomore and played well against San Marcos, passing for two touchdowns and running for another.
“Derek has proven that he will stay in the pocket and deliver when he’s got to do that, but also can orchestrate running an offense,” said Ventura coach Tim Garcia. “I was impressed with our O-line how they stepped up and ran the football for us tonight and everything just kind of rolled from there.”
With all the momentum on the Ventura sideline, junior Nathan Jones infused life into San Marcos with a 70-yard touchdown run. Jones took a toss, made one cut and exploded up field, cutting the Royals’ deficit to 10-7.
Ventura went three-and-out on its ensuing possession and followed that up with a zero-yard punt. San Marcos took over at the Cougars’ 31-yard line, advanced 17 yards and settled for a 31-yard field goal to even the score at 10-10 with 4:36 remaining in the second quarter.
The tie score seemed to wake up Ventura as the Cougars responded with a two-play, 63-yard drive that was aided by a late-hit penalty on the sideline. Garcia capped off the drive and put Ventura back in front, 17-10, with a 24-yard touchdown run.
In the third quarter, an interception by Mylan Walker set up Ventura deep in San Marcos territory. A 26-yard pass from Garcia to Daylin Hunter advanced Ventura to the one-yard line and Gage Kushner finished off the drive with a plunge into the end zone, increasing the Cougars’ lead to 24-10. Ventura closed the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Garcia to Robinson with 8:03 remaining in the fourth quarter to take a 30-10 lead.
“We’re playing six more games. That’s our outlook,” said Garcia of Ventura’s aspirations to win a CIF championship this season.
With the loss, San Marcos dropped to 2-5 and 0-5 in Channel League play.