SBART Press Luncheon: Halle Rillie and Kai Mault Named Athletes of the Week

Kai Mault of Santa Barbara High football and Halle Rillie of Dos Pueblos High girls’ volleyball were honored as the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Athletes of the Week on Monday at Harry’s Cafe.

The Dons picked up a hard-fought 28-21 victory over Moorpark and Mault was in rare form. He finished with seven catches for 189 yards and two touchdowns on offense. In addition Mault electrified the Peabody stadium crowd with an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown. 

“He just put on a show on Friday night. I don’t know how they lost track of him on the first touchdown he just got behind the corner on our first touchdown,” said Santa Barbara High coach Nate Mendoza of Mault. “Right before half, we had seven seconds left and we threw up a 45-yard bomb.He somehow got behind the defensive backs and then he had the best play of the game at the end of the fourth quarter on an 80-yard interception return. He probably ran 140 yards on the play, not exaggerating he ran from left to right to left.”

Halle Rillie did everything for Dos Pueblos High girls volleyball last week. She finished with 26 assists, 10 digs and eight kills in a sweep of Buena and added 25 assists, 17 digs and six kills in a 3-1 win over Oxnard.

UCSB vs Westmont Men’s Soccer

The 61^st Community Shield match between the Gauchos and Warriors ended in a 2-2 draw on Saturday night at Harder Stadium.

UC Santa Barbara gave extended minutes to players not usually in the regular rotation. Freshman Zac Siebenlist made the most of his opportunity, scoring both of the Gaucho goals.

For the first time since 2005, the Warriors played the game as a countable game while the Gauchos considered it an exhibition. Westmont has nine players, who developed locally at Santa Barbara Soccer Club.

The Warriors received goals from Luis Cortes and Connor Lynch.

Carpinteria Football Wins Thriller

Trailing 20-7 in the fourth quarter, the Carpinteria football team rallied with two late touchdowns to secure a 21-20 victory over San Gabriel.

Sawyer Kelly accounted for all three Carpinteria touchdowns including two rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown to Isaya Gonzalez.

Gonzalez also came up with the game-clinching interception at the goal line. with the win Carpinteria improves to 2-0 and will host Viewpoint of Calabasas on Friday.