Local colleges: VC comes from behind in Santa Maria; MC and CLU drop conference openers
After another riveting fourth-quarter comeback in Santa Maria, Steve Mooshagian introduced himself to his team.
“The team I thought we could be showed up in the second half,” the Ventura College football head coach said. “I was waiting for it. … I told them it was nice to meet them.”
Chris Irvin hit Eli Aragon with a 37-yard go-ahead strike with 4:21 left as Ventura College came from behind to win its SCFA Northern Conference opener against Hancock, 32-28, on Saturday afternoon in Santa Maria.
“Trying to play up there is always tough,” Mooshagian said. “It seems like we’ve always had to win that game on our last drive.
“They’re a very physical football team. I was a little worried on how we would match up. It was a great team win against a quality opponent.”
VC has now beaten Hancock 10 straight times dating back to 2010, taking a 30-18 lead in the series.
Irvin, the Washington State transfer, completed 34 of 41 passes for 307 yards and four touchdowns as the Pirates improved to 2-2, 1-0.
Mooshagian said he hadn’t planned to give Irvin the entire game, rather than splitting with co-starter Daniel Duran.
“He was on a pretty good roll, so we stayed with him,” Mooshagian said. “We still have confidence in Daniel, too.”
Aragon (Oxnard High) caught nine passes for 137 yards and two TDs. Tight end Cody Hoffman (St. Bonaventure High) also caught two TD passes.
Running back Lamonte James rushed for 120 yards on 17 carries and Jaylen Thompson ran for 97 yards and a TD on 13 carries.
“We were moving the ball really well,” Mooshagian said. “Chris was doing a good job and I didn’t want to change the flow of the game.”
Trailing 28-19 in the fourth quarter, VC used a 10-play, 76-yard drive to pull within 28-26 on Irvin’s 7-yard TD pass to Hoffman with 8:51 to play.
After a Hancock three-and-out, the Pirates used a seven-play, 74-yard march to take a 32-28 lead on Irvin’s 37-yard strike to Aragon with 4:21 left.
Hancock drove inside Ventura territory with under three minutes to play, but defensive tackle Larry Avila (St. Bonaventure High) forced and recovered a fumble on the 31-yard line with 2:25 left to clinch the win.
Powered by J’syon Joseph’s 86-yard return of a blocked field goal, Hancock scored three straight TDs to take a 20-6 lead in the second quarter.
“It’s four trips in a row now when we’ve (allowed) a defensive or special teams touchdown,” Mooshagian said. “I said we should just give them seven points and then start the game.”
Irvin’s 6-yard TD pass to Hoffman and 24-yard TD pass to Aragon pulled VC within 21-19 at the half.
Jackson Clavel’s 31-yard TD pass to Joey Garza pushed Hancock’s lead to 28-19 with 12:07 to play, setting up the late heroics.
Linebacker Anthony Albanez (St. Bonaventure High) had a team-high 11 tackles. Safety Zane Carter (Buena High) had eight tackles.
Ventura hosts Santa Barbara City this Saturday night in a resumption of the Central Coast rivalry that dates back to 1968, but hasn’t been played in six years. VC has won 15 of the past 16 in the series since 1998.
El Camino College 65, Moorpark College 29
The Raiders jumped out to a 10-0 lead in its SCFA Northern Conference opener in Torrance.
Host El Camino scored 51 of the next 58 points to build a 51-17 stranglehold early in the third quarter, piling up 667 yards of total offense.
Macloud Crowton completed 25 of 50 passes for 283 yards, three TDs and an interception for Moorpark (2-2, 0-1).
Noah Cronquist (Moorpark High) caught TD passes of 16 and 15 yards. Charlie Simmons (Newbury Park High) caught eight passes for 89 yards and River Stout caught a 68-yard TD pass.
Curtis Jackson and Marcus Arthur had interceptions and defensive end Payton Castillas (Thousand Oaks High) recovered a fumble. Casillas and linebacker Niko Narez (Pacifica High) and had sacks.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 49, Cal Lutheran University 28
The Kingsmen took the lead in their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener on a 8-yard TD pass from JP Andrade to Ventura’s Jadon Cline.
But unbeaten host CMS answered with three straight touchdowns and rolled in Claremont.
Andrade was 23-of-38 passing for 264 yards and two TDs and a TD run.
Camarillo High graduate James McNamara came off the bench and hit Tyler Shimomura with an 11-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.
Diego Serrano had 10 tackles and an interception to lead the CLU defense. Arthur Orta had seven tackles.
CLU (1-2, 0-1) hosts Chapman this Saturday night.
Joe Curley covers high school, collegiate and professional football for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Local college football roundup: VC comes from behind in Santa Maria
