The Pirate football team opened Northern Conference play Saturday with a 48-25 victory at College of the Canyons Saturday in Santa Clarita. Quarterback Jake Luton passed for 294 yards and five touchdowns and ran for another score while Isaiah Brown rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown in the victory. Kalaii Griffin led the defense with seven tackles in the game.
The Pirates, ranked No. 7 in Southern California, opened the game with an impressive 13-play, 88-yard drive. Luton capped off the drive with a 9-yard pass to Kendric Mallory for the score and a 6-0 lead.
After the defense stopped Canyons on a fourth-down play at the VC 32 on the ensuing possession, the Pirates took just 3:05 to score again. VC chewed up chunks of yards in the nine-play drive, punctuated by Logan Javernick's 2-yard pass reception from Luton. After the kick by Collin Root, Ventura led 13-0 with 2;14 remaining in the opening period.
In the second quarter, the Pirates' old nemesis, the pass interception, returned. Luton was picked off on VC's next possession deep in Pirate territory, but two plays later Canyons fumbled the ball on the 1-yard line. The Pirates recovered and subsequently drove 96 yards on eight plays, capped by a 49-yard pass and run play from Luton to Cam Taylor. Root's kick completed the 14-point turnaround and VC led 20-0.
Luton threw two more picks in the quarter, but the VC defense held fast, limiting Canyons to just a field goal with 2:04 left in the half. Ventura went into halftime with a 20-3 lead.
Linebacker Darrian McIntyre forced a CoC fumble on the second half kickoff and Latrae Lofton recovered giving Ventura a short field to begin the half. Luton made the most of the opportunity, hitting Elijah Alexander for a 19-yard scoring strike down the left sideline four plays later.
From that point forward, VC answered every Canyons attempt at a comeback. The Cougars scored with 46 seconds remaining in the third quarter to make it 27-10 and Luton scored on a quarterback sneak less than two minutes later.
Following a VC fumble, Canyons scored again with 10:47 remaining. The Pirates wasted little time in answering, driving 79 yards in four plays to paydirt. The big play was a 49-yard pass play from Luton to Kezio Snelling, and Luton capped the drive with a 4-yard strike to Brandon Jordan. Root's kick made the score 41-17.
Canyons, who entered the contest ranked No. 10 in SoCal, got their final score at the 6:36 mark and once again, the Pirates had an answer. Behind the second-team offensive line, Ventura drove 78-yards in eight plays before Brown scampered into the end zone from five yards out. The PAT set the final margin at 48-25.
Ventura amassed 30 first downs and 546 yards of total offense in the game, while the defense limited CoC to 342 yards on offense. Luton completed 29 of 40 passes and hit 11 different receivers. Taylor had five receptions for 74 yards to lead the way while Alexander had seven catches for 59 yards. While Brown topped the 100-yard rushing mark for the first time this season, Noah Siegrist had 63 yards on nine carries.
Vosean Crumbie, McIntyre and Mark Zavala all had five tackles defensively.
The Pirates return home on Saturday Oct. 24 to take on Santa Monica College. Kickoff is slated for 6:00 pm at the Sportsplex and the game can also be seen live on the VC Sports Network.