The 52nd edition of the Big Game turned out to be a big win for the state No. 18-ranked Pirate football team Saturday night. VC rang up 56 points on overmatched Santa Barbara for a 56-25 triumph to retain the traveling trophy for the eighth consecutive game and the 17th time in the last 18 meetings in the series that dates back to 1963. Spencer McKelligon led a strong defensive effort with 10 tackles, four solo, and quarterback Chris Irvin had his second straight 300-yard passing game for Ventura (3-2, 2-0).
The Pirate offense was dominant from the start, ammasing 734 yards of total offense to set a new program record for a single game, breaking the old mark of 720 yards set in 2016. VC also earned 35 first downs in the game, the fifth most in school history and the most since 2016.
Ventura sandwiched a pair of touchdowns around a missed Vaquero field goal in their first two possessions of the game. Irvin completed a pass for three yards to Caleb Alvary for the first touchdown and for 48 yards to Drew Lopez for the second. Ryan Pimentel' successful PAT after each score gave VC a 14-0 lead.
SBCC managed a score before the end of the first quarter to make it 14-7.
Lamonte James' running and Irvin's passing set up the next Pirate score, Irvin's 5-yard scamper to paydirt less than a minute into the second period.
Ventura scored two more touchdowns before the end of the stanza to take a commanding 35-7 lead into halftime. Jaylen Thompson broke free for a 40-yard touchdown run on the Pirates' next drive and James scored on a 6-yard run on the next. Pimental, who was perfect on the night in extra point kicks, completed each trip to the end zone.
Although the game firmly in Ventura's control, Santa Barbara was able to punch in a couple of scores in the third quarter, each with unsuccessful PATs.
The Pirates answered the Vaqueros' first touchdown with a 20-yard run by Lamonte James. Tyler Woodworth, making his VC debut, raced 72 yards on a pass and catch play from Irvin to reply to SBCC's second score to extend the Ventura lead to 30, 49-19, with 7:38 left in the third.
VC scored a final time in the fourth quarter on Jake Murphy's 5-yard run and were driving for another score when SBCC returned an interception 99 yards for the final touchdown of the game with 6:37 remaining.
Irvin was efficient again at quarterback in posting his second straight 300-yard game. He was 14-19 passing with three touchdowns and one interception. Daniel Duran came on in the fourth quarter and went 8-14 for 11 yards for the Pirates.
James and Thompson had another strong tag-team performance out of the backfield, rushing for 113 and 101 yards, respectively. James had two touchdown runs and Thompson visited the end zone once.
Woodworth totaled 128 yards on three catches with the long touchdown and Lopez also had three catches for 68 yards and a score. A total of 12 Pirates recorded a catch on the evening.
McKelligon led the defensive effort, and Alijah Hamilton had eight tackles for VC. Zane Carter and James Gillespie each had six stops.
At the midway point of the season, Ventura has a bye next weekend before resuming action in a Thursday night affair for the Citrus Cup at Moorpark on Oct. 12. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
VC Head Coach Steve Mooshagian and the Pirates celebrate retaining the Big Game Trophy following the Pirates' 56-25 win over Santa Barbara Saturday.