By Jimmy Friery
SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Santa Barbara City College football team (2-4, 1-2) demolished Antelope Valley at home on Saturday night, 52-7.
With 390 yards of total offense, a balanced attack of 184 passing and 206 rushing yards saw the Vaqueros through the blowout victory.
Four plays into the Vaqueros' first drive, Amir Dendy opened the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run. The SBCC defense then forced a three-and-out, and a second consecutive short punt resulted in favorable field position once again.
Will Doherty completed a 23-yard pass to Luke Collins before a 12-yarder to Dendy resulted in 1st-and-goal from the 7. Dendy carried it the rest of the way, converting on 4th down from the 1 for his, and the Vaqueros', second touchdown.
On the ensuing Antelope Valley possession, the Vaqueros forced another three-and-out. After a 29-yard pass to Easton Clements, Doherty connected with Antonio Trone for a 15-yard touchdown. After the extra point, it was 21-0 Vaqueros still in the first quarter.
That was not it, either. Antelope Valley fumbled on their first offensive play after the kickoff, giving SBCC the ball 33 yards from the endzone once again. Benni Collins came in to play quarterback and got on the books with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Jackson on the first play of the second quarter.
The defense remained impenetrable, getting a sack on 3rd-and-8 to force another punt. Tyreke Fortney's 9-yard return spotted the ball at the SBCC 49-yard-line, the first play in Vaquero territory—for either team—of the game. It would be the only play of the entire first half on the Vaquero side of midfield, as Trone rushed for 14 yards on the next play. Dendy ran for 25 yards before his third touchdown, a 3-yard rush, made it 35-0 still early in the second quarter.
Left without much of a choice, Antelope Valley went for it on 4th-and-1 from their own 34, but failed to convert. A missed 41-yard field goal from SBCC meant it would result in their first non-scoring, and non-touchdown-scoring, drive of the game.
Antelope Valley went three-and-out, giving the Vaqueros the ball back at the 36-yard-line with 1:02 remaining. Jackson Smith's 27-yard field goal ended the half with a 38-0 score.
Out of the break, the Vaqueros' 10-play drive ended in a missed 38-yard field goal. The defense promptly had two sacks on the ensuing Antelope Valley possession, which naturally resulted in a punt. Dendy capped off a 35-yard touchdown drive with his fourth time finding the end zone, now 45-nothing.
Into the fourth, after stalled drives from both teams, Antelope Valley rushed for positive yardage on all six plays of their lone touchdown drive, including a 42-yarder from touchdown scorer Sharmon Rester II.
Midway through the final quarter, Collins linked with Ali Joseph Jr. for a 39-yard reception.
Antelope Valley's final drive took off nearly all of the remaining 4:17 on the clock, converting a 4th-and-3 to keep possession, but not the later 4th-and-16. The score of 52-7 went final.
Quarterbacks Will Doherty and Benni Collins threw for 130 with a touchdown and 54 with two touchdowns, respectively.
Amir Dendy's four rushing touchdowns also allowed him to be the lead rusher with 66 yards. Donovan Harris had 47.
Ali Joseph Jr. caught the final touchdown which also gave him the title of most receiving yards on the day (48). Luke Collins had 37, and Antonio Trone had 31 receiving—plus a touchdown—and 30 rushing. Nine different SBCC receivers accounted for all 13 receptions.
Jackson Smith made all of 7 of his extra point attempts and added on a field goal.
Jack Myers led the team with 9 total tackles, including 2 sacks and a third tackle for loss. Joseph Nanai was second with 5 total tackles, including 3 sacks.
The Vaqueros look ahead to next Saturday's matchup at El Camino (4-2, 3-0). Interestingly, El Camino is coming off back-to-back 27-26 wins against both Bakersfield and Canyons.
