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CORONA — The angry boos of Roosevelt fans echoed throughout Santiago’s football field as the referee called four penalties in a row on the Mustangs, but despite the adversity, Roosevelt handed Santiago its first loss with a 35-26 victory Friday night.
Roosevelt quarterback Blake Nadler completed 21 of 37 passes for 364 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.
Wide receiver Jorge Islas had 89 receiving yards and a touchdown, freshman Darion Rubin had 78 receiving yards and two touchdowns and Shawn Leon had 77 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Nathan Ramirez also finished with 72 receiving yards.
Santiago’s quarterback Clayton Plewe completed 20 of 44 passes for 254 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
The game was balanced in the first quarter with both teams finding the end zone. Roosevelt’s Islas scored a 19-yard touchdown and Santiago’s Carter Ward scored a 23-yard touchdown, tying the game at 7 going into the second quarter.
Roosevelt’s defense suddenly turned it up a notch, stopping Santiago (3-1) multiple times.
“They (the defense) weren’t listening to what their job responsibility was, they weren’t doing their job that first quarter,” Roosevelt head coach Aaron Crone said. “They were trying to figure out whatever it was, but once we made some adjustments and we hammered home the details of doing their job, it seemed like it was clicking and they started getting some big fourth down stops.”
After Roosevelt (3-2) fumbled a punt return, Santiago recovered it on the 9-yard line. Christian Horton scored a 9-yard rushing touchdown to put the Sharks up 14-7.
Which would ultimately be their first and last lead of the game.
“It wasn’t our best game,” Santiago head coach Scott Morrison said. “Our guys don’t lack for effort. We played our tails off … we just didn’t execute. We didn’t tackle very well in the first half, had a couple blown coverages (that) kind of put us behind the sticks and they did a good job on defense. And we had plenty of opportunities to make plays and didn’t.
Roosevelt put in Matthew Ochoa at quarterback for a few plays, mostly for his mobility and versatility, according to Crone.
Ochoa’s one passing attempt was a completion for a 10-yard touchdown to Rubin, tying the game up once again.
Leon scored back-to-back touchdowns for the Mustangs, his first being a 20-yarder and his second for 17 yards, giving his team the 28-14 lead.
When asked how Leon felt about contributing to his team’s win, all he could do was smile and say:
“Joy, joy – that’s it.”
Santiago’s offense was able to get a field goal in before halftime, resulting in a 28-17 score and the defense forced a safety.
Ben Tapley scored a 5-yard touchdown to put the Sharks within two points, with an entire quarter left to play. But on the next drive, Roosevelt’s Rubin scored his second touchdown of the night.
“We’ve been on a steady incline,” Morrison said. “We’ve played better every week. This is the first real hiccup, so I think the real question isn’t what we have to do better, the real question is how are we going to respond to this, and if we respond appropriately, this will turn out to be a good thing for us.”
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