Defense gets it done in Vaquero road victory, 14-10

Bradley Kleven completed 18-of-26 passes for 183 yards and the SBCC defense held Santa Monica to 43 second-half yards as the Vaqueros rallied past the Corsairs 14-10 in an American Pacific League football game at Corsair Stadium.

Santa Barbara got its first road win of the season and improved to 3-6 overall and 2-2 in the APL. Santa Monica dropped its fifth straight game and fell to 2-7 and 0-4.

Trailing 10-7, SBCC drove 47 yards to the Corsair 9 at the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter. On fourth-and-1 from the 9, Kleven passed to tight end Alex Stockton but it was knocked away by a defender.

Santa Monica went five plays and a punt and SBCC took over on its 42. Kleven fired a long pass to Cyrus Wallace and he carried it 53 yards to the 5. On the next play, Kleven rolled to his left, then threw back to the right to a wide-open Will Bayonne for the 5-yard score that put the Vaqueros back on top, 14-10, with 10:41 to play.

SBCC got the ball back with 5:35 to go and got two first downs, moving the ball to the Corsair 23. On fourth-and-2, Forbes fumbled the shotgun snap and SMC took over on its 30. Once again, the Vaquero defense was up to the task, allowing just one yard and forcing the Corsairs to turn it over on downs with 45 seconds to play.

The Vaqueros outgained Santa Monica 144-43 in second-half yardage and 276-207 for the game.

Bayonne ran 19 times for 72 yards and Jahmal Cornwell, the APL's top receiver, caught nine passes for 40 yards.

The Vaqueros got on the board first with a 59-yard drive that culminated in an 11-yard TD run by backup quarterback Scotty Forbes on his first play of the game. Jesse Mollkoy kicked the PAT and SBCC led 7-0 with 4:18 to go in the first quarter.

The defense rose up and stopped Santa Monica inside the 10-yard line to force a 22-yard field goal by Marcelo Navarro. Jacob Shultz and Clarence Dodson Jr. tackled quarterback Jack Feringer for a loss on third-and-1.

It looked like SBCC would take a 14-3 lead at the half when the Vaqueros drove down to the Corsair 14 late in the second quarter. On fourth-and-4 from the 15, Derrese Morganfield sacked Forbes for a 4-yard loss.

The Corsairs took over at their 19 with 37 seconds to go. On third down, quarterback Zack Yanda threw a flat pass to Trevontai Thompson and he sprinted 75 yards for the TD and a 10-7 halftime lead.

The Vaqueros drove 47 yards to the Corsair 9 at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth but couldn't punch it in. They had first-and-10 from the 18 and Bayonne ran to the 10 but the drive stalled after two runs for a yard and an incomplete pass on fourth down.
 
The Vaqueros will play their last game next Saturday at Pasadena City with kickoff at 6 p.m.