San Marcos Defeats Fillmore 31-17 in Tri-County League Opener

A strong fourth quarter turned the San Marcos High football team’s first foray into Tri-County League play into a success.

The Royals outscored visiting Fillmore 21-7 in the fourth quarter to capture a 31-17 victory on Friday night at Warkentin Stadium in the inaugural Tri-County League contest for both teams.

“We’ve been talking about this since January. We’ve been talking about this since spring and the first day of football,” said San Marcos coach Ralph Molina. “Our goal is simple, we are in a new league, we have a great opportunity here in front of us. This is what we want.”

San Marcos nearly squandered the opportunity to defeat Fillmore with a lackluster first half that was marred by inexplicable penalties at key moments. 

Junior defensive end Max Silva made the first big play of the game for San Marcos with a blocked punt that set the Royals up with first-and-ten at the Fillmore 37-yard line. 

Eight plays later, Nate Jones tumbled into the endzone to give San Marcos a 7-0 lead with 5:52 remaining in the first quarter.

The Flashes responded with a ten-play drive that was aided by three San Marcos personal foul penalties, including a late hit on Fillmore quarterback Anthony Tafoya that wiped out a San Marcos interception. 

Tafoya capped off the drive with a seven-yard pass to Thomas Alamillo that tied the score at 7-7 with 3.5 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Fillmore tacked on a 29-yard field goal by Angel Avila to take a 10-7 lead with 7:02 remaining in the first quarter. It appeared that the Flashes may be able to extend their lead, but San Marcos super sophomore Remi Boykin stepped in front of a Tafoya pass and appeared to return it to the end zone, but an illegal blind side hit by San Marcos brought it back.

San Marcos was forced to settle for a field goal to even the score at 10-10 going into the locker room at halftime.

The two teams were scoreless in the third quarter, but San Marcos found its rhythm early in the final stanza.

After a Fillmore turnover on downs at the 33-yard line set the Royals up with excellent field position, San Marcos quarterback Danny Diaz connected with Quinn Donnell on a post that put the Royals back out in front 17-10 with 9:02 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Less than a minute later Jones snagged an interception and returned it 30-yards for a touchdown, increasing the San Marcos lead to 24-10 at the 8:06  mark of the fourth quarter.. Jones punctuated the play with a stiff arm at the ten-yard line that sent the final Fillmore tackler down to the turf. He also finished with 17 rushes for 85 yards and a touchdown.

On the next Fillmore drive Jacob Murillo came down with an interception on his own and San Marcos quickly capitalized with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Diaz to Donnell with 7:13 remaining in the game. 

“He’s a good athlete. He just kind of gets overshadowed by some of the other guys,” said Molina of Donnel, who finished with seven catches for 104 yards and two touchdowns. “When he’s focused he makes big plays for us.”

Fillmore added a late touchdown on a 22-yard pass from Tafoya to Raymond Curiel with 4:34 remaining in the fourth quarter.

With the victory San Marcos improves to 3-2-1 this season. The Royals will travel to Santa Paula next week.

Bishop Diego, 26; Camarillo, 0

It was the 171st victory for Tom Crawford as head coach of Bishop Diego tying him with legendary former Santa Barbara High coach Clarence Schutte for the most wins in country history. Crawford will  have four more regular season games this season to add to that total. 

Oscar Mauia rushed for 150 yards and three touchdowns and the Bishop Diego defense pitched its first shutout of the season. The Cardinals are now 1-0 in Marmonte League play and 4-1-1 overall this season,

Dos Pueblos, 20; Hueneme, 10

Dos Pueblos quarter Simon Alexander was finally eligible to play after observing the CIF mandatory sit out period as a result of his transfer from Carlsbad.

 The senior tossed three touchdown passes as the Chargers overcame an early deficit to emerge victorious in their first Tri-County League contest.

Whitter, 20; Carpinteria, 6

The Warriors struggled offensively and dropped to 2-3 overall this season.