Vaqs Stumble in Home Opener to Pasadena City College

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Vaquero faithful showed up to a lively La Playa stadium on Saturday night as the Santa Barbara City College football team (0-2) suffered a 62-3 loss to Pasadena City College (1-1).

The first half saw some notable drives from the offense, led by quarterback Cole Luekinga. 

At the end of the first quarter, Luekinga led the Vaqs down the field and connected twice with Nate Jetter for 15-yard and 31-yard receptions. The drive resulted in a 28-yard field goal from Jacob Riser early in the second quarter.

Down 28-3 late in the first half, the Vaqueros were charging down the field. Dyson Fields broke off a 17-yard run, and Luekinga connected on 5-6 attempts. With about eight seconds remaining in the half, Kerek Kato hauled in a pass near the goal line. Unfortunately, Kato's helmet came off, resulting in a 10-second clock runoff ending the half and the Santa Barbara scoring threat.

The second half opened with a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by the Lancers, making it a 35-3 game.

The Vaqs went three-and-out on four of their first five drives in the second half. 

"In a very tough night, it would be very easy to focus on the negatives, but I won't do that," said head coach Cragig Moropolous. "Cole Luekenga played well at QB, Nate Jetter had some big catches along with Quinn Donnell at WR. There were some defensive players who responded when it would have been easy not to. Those were Carter Hubbard and Carson Nye."

Luekinga finished the game with a 63.4 completion percentage and 289 passing yards. Jetter hauled in five passes for 91 yards while Donnell grabbed four receptions for 53 yards. 

Linebacker Carson Nye led the defense with 12 tackles and a pass breakup, while Nelson Smith added eight tackles, including a 13-yard sack and another tackle for loss. 

This is the toughest two-game stretch of Moropolous' tenure since a 6-56 loss to Canyons and a 49-0 loss to Ventura in 2008. However, the Vaqs would bounce back and go 6-1 the rest of the year to finish tied atop the conference standings.

SBCC looks to begin its bounce back on Saturday at Cerritos (1-1).