Turnovers are costly in 37-21 loss to Santa Monica

Santa Barbara City College turned the ball over five times on Saturday and Santa Monica took advantage to post a 37-21 football victory in a first-place showdown at Corsair Stadium.

SBCC had its seven-game win streak snapped and fell to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the American Pacific League.

The Corsairs (6-3, 6-0) jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter lead on a 25-yard field goal by Emanuel McLean and a 6-yard TD run by Christian Smith. The Vaqueros drove 91 yards in seven plays, capped by Cedric Cooper's 4-yard burst, shaving the deficit to 10-7 with 12:47 to go in the second quarter.

Mitch Wishnowsky pinned SMC deep in its own territory with his sixth punt of the year that was downed at the 1. The Corsairs marched 99 yards in 12 plays, however, aided by pass interference and personal foul penalties. They got into the end zone on a 12-yard pass from Damian Green to Christian Smith with 2:37 to go in the second quarter.

The Vaqueros were flagged 14 times for 132 yards in penalties.

"Santa Monica won the football game," said coach Craig Moropoulos. "We have to play better in big situations. Give credit to them, they did what they had to do and put pressure on us up front. We had opportunities but they forced us to make some mistakes."

The Corsairs led 17-7 at intermission and extended it to 24-7 with a 60-yard drive on their first possession of the second half. Melvin Davis ran it in from 8 yards out for the score.

Santa Monica outrushed the Vaqueros 291 to 42 yards but SBCC passed for 339 yards. The Corsairs won the total yardage battle, 419-381.

SBCC quarterback Brandon Edwards completed 17-of-40 passes for 276 yards but was intercepted four times. He was also sacked five times for 26 yards in losses. Late in the third quarter, Edwards found a wide-open Brenden Lewis at the SMC 25 and he scored easily on a 53-yard pass play that pulled the Vaqueros within 10 at 24-14.

Lewis, a freshman from Larned, Kansas, caught three passes for 128 yards and two TDs.

Santa Monica responded with a 5-play, 75-yard march capped by a 38-yard run by Roger Jones that boosted the lead to 17 points.

"Santa Monica is a good football team, without a doubt," said Moropoulos. "Brandon was getting a lot of pressure on that last fumble (that Santa Monica turned into an 80-yard TD return) and a couple of his choices weren't good. But quarterback is the hardest position to play. We'll go back, look at what we did and get better for next week."

The Vaqueros used trickery to score on the first play of the final quarter. Wide receiver Osha Washington got the ball on a reverse and tossed it to a wide-open Lewis, who scampered into the end zone for a 63-yard score that cut the deficit to 31-21.

SBCC drove to the Corsair 32, 28 and 45 on three successive drives in the fourth quarter but Edwards was intercepted each time with Kevin Johnson getting two of the picks.

The Vaqueros got a big break with 1:42 remaining when Edward Stuart fielded a high snap at the back of the end zone and only got off a 4-yard punt to the Santa Monica 10. On first down, Charlie Koka hit Edwards from the blind side and forced a fumble. Linebacker Delwaun Beard scooped up the ball and ran 80 yards for a TD that put the game out of reach.

Jake Pettit led the defense with a season-high 10 tackles, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. Ezra Taylor and Cameron Gamble had nine tackles apiece.

"They just got the best of us today," said defensive end Brandon Nicastro. "Their offense is tough to read and they prey on mistakes. We made a couple too many mistakes. We just have to come back next week and beat Glendale."

The Vaqueros host Glendale in another key game on Saturday in the regular-season finale at 1 p.m. Glendale defeated L.A. Valley 26-17 on Saturday and is also 5-1 in conference. Saturday's winner will probably finish second in the American Pacific League and likely earn a bowl berth.