Valencia football falls to Santa Barbara

SANTA CLARITA – The Santa Barbara High football team took down Valencia, 47-23, in a non-league matchup on Friday. The Vikings are now 0-2 for the first time since 2015.

“We obviously did not play well at all,” said Valencia head coach Larry Muir. “Our guys didn’t play well and that starts and stops with me. All the credit to Santa Barbara. We didn’t play well and they played with a lot of passion and they were tough.”

The Viking’s first drive was spearheaded by a 39-yard catch from Nick Seymour and a 24-yard catch from Matthew Steen. Valencia settled for a 27-yard field goal from Joey Gray to make the score 3-0.

The Vikings answered with a defensive stop and their first home touchdown of the season, an 11-yard score from Brian Bonner Jr. to make the score 10-0.

Santa Barbara set up for a 42-yard field goal before Valencia committed a personal foul. The Dons scored on a 12-yard touchdown from Monty Lopez the next play to make the score 10-7.

Valencia answered on its next drive after a huge 56-yard rush from Bonner Jr. put them at the Santa Barbara 2-yard line. The next play Brady Bretthauer sneaked to give Valencia a 17-7 lead.

Bonner Jr. ended his night with 157 rushing yards and two touchdowns, but that was not enough to put away Santa Barbara.

“We made some mistakes, but we just got to keep working on it,” said Bonner Jr. “We’re going to make sure we recover. Come back Monday feeling well, watch film and have a good week of practice.”

Santa Barbara’s Bode Fausker ran for a 2-yard score to finish a long drive, but Santa Barbara was stopped on a two-point conversion attempt and Valencia led 17-13.

The fireworks of the first half ended with a bang as Santa Barbara intercepted with less than 20 seconds in the first half and tossed a 54-yard pass to Kai Mault. The Vikings managed to hold the Dons to a 22-yard field goal and still led at halftime 17-16.

Santa Barbara took over in the second half. Valencia fumbled on its first possession and Santa Barbara recovered for a 10-yard score to make the game 23-17.

After another forced turnover, Santa Barbara scored on a 27-yard field goal to make the game 26-17. The Vikings continued to battle with a 4-yard score from Bonner Jr to close the gap to 26-23.

Another fumble resulted in a 40-yard touchdown pass from Laird Finkel to Carter Debusk for the Dons to push the score to 40-23. After a Vikings three-and-out, the Dons scored on an 80-yard touchdown to Mault to make the score 47-23 and ultimately seal the game.

“We had a rough night on offense,” said Muir. “There were times where we kind of had it going, but we struggled in a lot of areas. If you struggle with blocking and tackling like we did tonight, that’s the results you’re going to get.”