With Halloween just days away, there were plenty of tricks and treats in Saturday night's first-place football showdown between No. 20 SBCC and No. 24 L.A. Pierce.
Nick Arbuckle threw for 393 yards and five touchdowns, leading the Brahmas (6-1, 4-0 APC) to a wild 53-42 victory in Woodland Hills. It was the first loss of the year for the Vaqueros (6-1, 3-1), who started the night as the No. 1 scoring defense in Southern California, giving up just 15.7 points per game.
Arbuckle completed 20-of-32 passes for 393 yards with one interception. The Brahmas dominated in total yards (561 to 310) and won despite committing 22 penalties for 185 yards.
"They're a very explosive offense and that QB is very good," said SBCC coach Craig Moropoulos. "Give him credit, he's a hard guy to stop. I don't how many third-down conversions they made but it was a lot."
The Vaqueros fell behind 21-0 on a 3-yard TD run by Arbuckle, then rallied behind quarterback Jarred Evans, who returned after missing the last two games. Evans scored the Vaqueros' first TD on a 10-yard run with 3:07 to go in the second quarter and threw a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Evans completed 14-of-24 for 188 yards but also had two interceptions for the Vaqueros, who trailed 21-14 at the half.
Evans led the Vaqueros on three TD drives in 5½ minutes, capped by a trick play that tied the game at 21 with 12:40 to go in the third period. Connor Hustead took a handoff and ran to his left, then pitched the ball to receiver Giovanni Sanders on a reverse. Sanders tossed a 34-yard TD to Jacob Arnell, who caught it at the 10 and eluded two defenders.
But Pierce responded with TD passes of 54 and 24 yards in the next seven minutes to regain the upper hand at 34-21. Marquis Cobb blocked a PAT kick after Bryson Martinez caught a short pass and spun away from a defender to complete the 54-yard score.
Cornerback Tavonte Jackson scored on a 69-yard interception return – his third pick in the last two games – on the last play of the third quarter and Santa Barbara trailed by just six points at 34-28.
"When we got the Pick 6, I thought 'OK , here we go,' " said Moropoulos. "Then they came right back and scored."
The Brahmas struck again on the very next play with Arbuckle hitting Martinez for a 65-yard score. Mike Lockwood blocked the PAT kick and Pierce led 40-28.
After a bad snap led to a fumble that Pierce recovered at their 45, the Brahmas went 55 yards in five plays, capped by Arbuckle's fifth TD pass, a 19-yard fade to Michael Gilliam that made it 46-28 with 9:53 to play.
"Jarred was rusty and made some mistakes," said Moropoulos. "There was a bad snap that we fumbled and lost and he threw two interceptions. That's just trying to do too much. He just has to play within himself and when he does, he's a very, very good quarterback.
"I love how we came back. We scored 42 points but in a big game like this, you have to take care of the ball and we didn't do that."
The deficit grew to 25 points (53-28) on a 52-yard TD run by DeShawn Jones with 8:23 to play. Jones gained 109 yards on 15 carries. SBCC went 75 yards in seven plays on its next possession, capped by a 23-yard pass from Evans to Sanders on a crossing route. Sterling Cash, listed as a quarterback on the roster, made a spectacular diving catch in traffic to complete a 33-yard pass for the Vaqueros' final TD with 1:48 remaining.
SBCC will face its third straight unbeaten first-place team when Santa Monica (5-2, 4-0) visits La Playa Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m.
