Never stop fighting.
That was the mindset of the Ventura football team Friday night at Fullerton High.
The Cougars drove 99 yards in eight plays and scored on a 12-yard pass from Derek Garcia to fourth-down Tristan Phillips for a touchdown with 2:40 left, but San Francisco's St. Ignatius College Prep recovered the ensuing punt and got a first down to run out the clock and hold on for a 42-35 win in the game. CIF State Division 3-AA bowl.
“You are real competitors,” Derek's father and head coach Tim Garcia told his dejected players a few minutes later. “We fought, we kept fighting, but let's not forget what you guys accomplished. You won the Channel League, you won the CIF, you won regionals and you finished second in the state.”
Ventura defensive backs Nathan Redwich and Tristan Phillips will take on San Francisco Saint Ignatius wide receiver Ty Hicks in the first half Friday.
(Steve Galluzzo/For The Times)
Garcia, who is headed to Nevada Las Vegas, entered the game having thrown for 3,369 yards, 36 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He added to that impressive total by completing 15 of 26 passes for 208 yards and two scores.
James Watson had 10 carries for 152 yards and two touchdowns, and Western Colorado receiver Jack Cunningham, who entered with a Ventura Country record of 116 catches for 2,041 yards and 26 touchdowns, had seven catches for 67 yards.
St. Ignatius (9-6) finished the season on a seven-game winning streak, thanks in large part to senior running back Kadon Afsharipour, who scored a touchdown and ran for the winning score.
The Cougars (13-3) had their 10-game winning streak snapped. During the first half, the lead changed hands five times.
Ventura quarterback Derek Garcia passes the ball against St. Ignatius College Prep on Friday night.
(Steve Galluzzo/For The Times)
James Watson scored on consecutive runs of 13 and 31 yards to give Ventura its first lead, 14-7, with 2:33 left in the first quarter.
Steve Malone rushed 44 yards on the first play of the second quarter and scored 27 yards to put the Wildcats up 20-14, but the extra point was blocked.
Tristan Savage's one-yard run capped an eight-play, 69-yard drive that put Ventura back on top 21-20, but St. Ignatius responded with a 61-yard touchdown run by Luke Tribolet and a two-point pass from Afsharipour to Hawks Packard to take a 28-21 lead at halftime.
Packard caught a 65-yard pass to extend the North Region winners' lead to 35-21 on the first play of the second half.
Garcia hit Cunningham on the run for a 31-yard touchdown to give the Cougars a 35-28 lead at the 3:49 mark of the third quarter. However, Afsharipour's 27-yard touchdown run brought the Wildcats' lead back to two points early in the fourth quarter.
“We've done it a couple times already this season … we fought back and came out on top,” Derek Garcia said as reality set in that his high school career was over. “I tried to stay in the present. I'm done being a Ventura Cougar, but now I'm looking forward to the next chapter.”
