Moorpark High School product Aaron Stanton scored four touchdowns to lead the Pirate football team to a convincing 48-21 victory over his hometown's Moorpark College Raiders Saturday night at the VC Sportsplex. With the win, the Pirates claim the Citrus Cup for the intra-county rivalry for the seventh consecutive year.
Ventura (3-2, 2-0) got out to a fast start, scoring a defensive topuchdown on the second play from scrimmage. Defensive lineman Dylan Boyce, who also hails fro the east county, picked off a Raider pass and returned it 15 yards to paydirt to get the party started. Jake Lanski's extra point gave Ventura a 7-0 lead 42 seconds into the game.
The Raiders seemed unphased, however, marching 80 yards in 13 plays to tie the score with 9:14 left in the frst quarter.
The teams traded punts for much of the rest of the period before VC quarterback Marc Evans hit Josh Holderfield for a 58 yard pass and run for VC's second touchdown. A bad snap on the PAT led to an incomplete pass, leaving the score at 13-7 with 12 seconds left in the stanza.
The Pirate defense held fast once again on the next possession, leading to another Raider punt. Ventura turned that into another score with Stanton's first trip to the end zone, a 20-yard scamper. Lanski's kick made it 20-7 with 12:36 remainning in the first half.
Moorpark answered with a touchdown and PAT at the 10:37 mark to pull back to within 20-14.
Lat in the quarter, a Moorpark drive past midfield stalled on penalties, forcing the Raiders to punt. VC took over with 1:11 on the clock and went 82 yards in three plays, a pair of passed from Evans to Stanton for 16 and 64 yards, respectively, and a one yard Stanton rush for the touchdown. Lanski's kick gave the Pirates a 27-14 halftime advantage.
Ventura began to pull away on their opening drive of the third quarter. After a 23-yard kickoff return by Paul Harris, the Pirates drove 59 yards in seven plays, capped off by another Stanton visit to the end zone, a seven yard run. The extra point made it 34-14 less than three minutes into the second half.
MC tried to climb back into the contest, scoring a touchdown on the first play of the final period, but the Pirates slammed the door shut two possessions later, matriculating 70 yards down the field in seven plays, punctuated by Stanton's fourth score of the ballgame. Lanski converted again to put Ventura ahead 41-21 at the 8:21 mark of the fourth quarter.
Chris Beeson put the icing on the cake with a 3-yard march to paydirt on a drive that was extended by a Moorpark roughing the passer penalty on an unsuccessful third-and-20 play. Lanski added the final touch wit hthe PAT, making the final count 48-21 for VC.
Stanton carrie dthe ball 25 times for 149 yards and his four scores while 14 of 24 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown. Stanton was also the leading receiver with five catches for 83 yards, giving him 232 total yards from scrimmage in the game.
Matt Singleton and Jalen Oats led the defense with eight tackles each and Boyce had a pair of quarterback sacks to go along with his pick-six.
With the win, Ventura sits alone in first place in the Northern Conference of the Southern California Football Association. They are 1/2-game ahead of Hancock, and a full game ahead of Cerritos and Pasadena.
The Pirates host SoCal No. 4 Golden West on Saturday Oct. 11 in their final non-conference game of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm at the VC Sportsplex.