A scrappy effort by the Santa Barbara High football team to capture an elusive Conejo Coast League victory fell short.
The Dons clawed within a touchdown of Rio Mesa in the final minutes and had the ball with a chance to even the score, but couldn’t pull off the comeback and suffered a 41-28 loss on Thursday night.
“Two games in a row, the last game was a little tougher as far as not being in the game, but fighting the entire game and we demanded that at halftime,” said Santa Barbara coach Nate Mendoza. “The guys just continue to show heart. That’s the word that comes to my mind, just a ton of heart and a ton of fight.”
With starting quarterback Laird Finkel still recovering from an injury suffered on September 20 against San Marcos, the Dons once again relied heavily on the ground game and racked up 314 yards rushing.
Stand-in quarterback Kai Mault led the rushing attack with a game-high 154 yards on 11 carries, including touchdown runs of 70 yards and 30 yards.
The Dons marched down the field on the opening drive of the game and took a 7-0 lead on an eight-yard touchdown run by Bode Fauskee with 9:54 remaining in the first quarter.
However, the normally stout Santa Barbara pass defense had no answer for Rio Mesa’s senior standout JJ Bittner as the host Spartans scored 21 unanswered points.
Overall, Bittner completed 13 of 18 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown. He also added 40 rushing yards on eight carries.
A 62-yard pass from Bittner to Alec Fontyn gave Rio Mesa a 21-7 lead with 6:55 remaining in the second quarter.
With the game seemingly slipping away from Santa Barbara, the Dons mounted a nine-play 67 yards drive and cut the deficit to 21-14 on a three-yard touchdown run by Aaron Baizan with 2:47 remaining in the first half.
On the opening drive of the second half, Rio Mesa marched 83 yards on 10 plays and increased its lead to 28-14 on a three-yard run by Isaiah Bautista with 7:20 remaining in the third quarter.
Santa Barbara responded with a quick three-play drive capped off by Mault’s 70-yard touchdown run, in which he weaved across the field, criss-crossing through the Rio Mesa defense, to cut the Dons’ deficit to 28-21.
The shootout continued as Bautista powered into the end zone from two yards out to put Rio Mesa ahead 35-21 with 2:55 remaining in the third quarter.
After both teams had drives stalled early in the fourth quarter, Mault struck again, this time with a 30-yard touchdown run that brought the Dons within 35-28 with a little more than six minutes remaining in the game.
The Santa Barbara defense stood tall on the ensuing Rio Mesa possession, and the Spartans tried a fake punt from their own 36-yard line that was stuffed. The Dons took over with excellent field position with a chance to tie with 2:47 remaining, but one two-yard run by Fauskee and three Mault incompletions later and Santa Barbara turned the ball over on downs.
After Rio Mesa kneeled three times and punted, Santa Barbara got the ball back at their own 30-yard line with eight seconds to play, but after several laterals, Rio Mesa recovered the ball in the end zone as time expired to claim a 41-28 victory.
With the loss, Santa Barbara drops to 4-2-1 overall and 0-2 in the Conejo Coast League. Rio Mesa improves to 5-2 and 2-0 in the Conejo Coast League.