The VC football team jumped out to a 20-0 lead through one-plus quarters of play before holding off a second half charge by Canyons in the Pirates' 23-13 Northern Conference win at the Sportsplex Saturday night. The Pirate defense allowed just 190 yards, 63 on the ground, holding back the Cougars despite six Ventura turnovers in the contest. Adrian Soracco, Jalen Cooper and CJ Hodgdon led the defense with nine, eight and seven tackles, respectively, while VC quarterback Samuel Marquez passed for 266 yards and three touchdowns.
With the victory, the Pirates (6-3, 2-2) move in to a six-way tie for first place in the SCFA's Northern Conference headed into the final week of the regular season.
It was an eventful first 16 minutes for the Pirates. On their second drive of the game, Marquez led the crew 55 yards in seven plays, culminating in a 34-yard pass completion to Chris Reaves, who made a leaping catch, taking the ball out of the Cougar defender's hands, at the goal line for the score. LJ Harm converted the PAT and VC led 7-0 midway through the first period.
After the Ventura defense forced its second straight three-and-out, the Pirates started their next drive at the CoC 46-yard line. Marquez was perfect again, completing three passes, including a 13-yard strike to Ja'ron Glenn who lunged across the goal line for the score. Harm's kick extended the lead to 14-0 with 2:28 to play in the stanza.
On the next Cougar possession, Dzjon Hal came up with the big play, an interception at midfield that he returned 25 yards to set up another short field for the offense.
The Pirates took complete advantage. Two plays later Marques hit a wide open Kevin Tate on the left size of the end zone for another score on the first play of the second quarter. A bad snap led to an unsuccessful PAT and the Pirated advantage was 20-0 with 14:54 left in the first half.
At this point, Pirate miscues began to rear their ugly head, keeping Canyons in the game.
Midway through the period on a 4th-and-23 play, a short Cougar punt hit a VC blocker, and the ball was recovered by CoC. VC's defense held fast, however, stopping the Cougars at the Pirate 10-yard line. The fumble recovery did set up a 27-yard Canyons field goal, and Ventura went into halftime leading 20-3.
After a CoC punt to start the second half, Marquez, who had been nearly perfect in the first half, threw an interception on VC's second play from scrimmage. The ball was returned to the Ventura 23, and Canyons took advantage of the short field with a touchdown two minutes later.
On the ensuing kickoff, Ventura fumbled during the return with the Cougars recovering for another short field. After an initial 19-yard pass completion,the VC defense held once again, and Canyons missed a 37-yard field goal.
Ventura was moving the ball on the next drive with Jesse Valenzuela making runs of 16 and 12 yards, respectively. Marquez hit Tate, who made a nice catch in the middle of the field to the Cougar 39 before the Pirates committed their third turnover in as many possessions in the quarter.
Canyons took advantage, driving for a 24-yard field goal to pull to within one score, 20-13, as the game moved into the fourth quarter.
On the first play of the final stanza, Marquez was intercepted for the second time of the half, VC's fourth turnover in 16 minutes, but the Pirate defense stiffened to force a Cougar punt.
VC took over on their own 8-yard line with 12:35 remaining in the game, clinging to a seven-point lead. Desperately needing to give the defense a rest, the Pirates put together a 16-play, 86-yard drive that used up 8:48 off the clock. Unfortunately, VC could not put the game away as the drive ended in another fumble at the CoC 6-yard line.
After an untimely 15-yard penalty on VC, Angelo Jewell recaptured the momentum for the Pirate defense with his third quarterback sack of the game. Three incomplete passes followed as the Cougars gave up the ball on downs, deep in their own territory.
VC responded with a 38-yard field goal by Harm to put the game on ice with 1:41 left to play.
The Pirates moved back into an ultra-rare six-team first place tie with the 23-13 victory.
Canyons held the ball for over 33 minutes during the game, running 83 offensive plays to Ventura's 60. The Pirate defense limited the Cougars to 2.6 yards per play, however, in their stellar performance, including 1.8 yards per rush. VC also forced six CoC punts in the contest.
Valenzuela led the Ventura running backs with 41 yards on 14 carries and Tate pulled in six catches for 80 yards and a touchdown to lead the receivers. Harm, who has led the Pirate special teams all season, had a pair of punts for a 42.5-yard average.
With all six teams in the conference tied heading into the final week of the regular season, there will be a lot of scoreboard watching next Saturday, Nov. 12. Hancock visits Bakersfield for a 6:00 pm game while Long Beach visits Canyons, also at 6:00 pm. Ventura travels to East Los Angeles for its final regular season tilt, taking on the Huskies with kickoff at 6:00 pm.