After 60 minutes of tenacious defense, the Ventura College Pirates put the one-two punch on the Moorpark College Raiders on the football field with a final score of 35-13.
The Raiders problem was not getting down the field, as on the opening drive of the game they were moving smoothly until the Pirate defense came up with a stop which forced the Pirates to settle for three points of a field goal.
That would be the story of the game as the Raiders only scored one touchdown and had to settle for two field goals to account for all their scoring. Raiders quarterback Donald Senegal was a little shocked at the lack of production inside the red zone from his offense.
“To be honest, I don’t even know why we didn’t score, we were in the red zone like three times,” said Senegal. “Once there was a miscommunication with me and the center, and there was another where a dude came off the edge and just made a lucky tackle, I mean he barely nicked him, but I guess that was enough.”
The Pirates were looking to have fate changed and bring the Citrus Bowl trophy back to Ventura College for the first time in six years. They did just that in an impressive fashion. The Pirates capitalized on what seemed like almost every opportunity they had as they put an impressive 35 points on the board.
The Raiders’ offense was lead by sophomore quarterback Lee Mondel, who threw for 196 yards on the game. The Pirates’ defense got a boost from sophomore running back Semaj Washington as he ran into the end zone twice in the game, one being a 67-yard run.
Washington felt that this game was a great victory for the Pirates’ future, but felt as though the victory was too little too late. “It’s a lot of weight off our shoulders and off our coaches’ shoulders,” said Washington. “Hopefully this gives them momentum going into next year because you know we were a better team than we displayed and out record shows.”
The Pirates, with this victory, end their season off at a perfect .500 (5-5) and according to head coach Jon Mack, they still have a chance to enter a wild card bowl game. Mack also thought that this game showed its dominance in the area despite the Pirates’ record.
“It’s always great to beat your cross-town rivals,” said Mack. “It’s really good to prove to the community how good you are.” For the Raiders, who leave the season with a losing record of 4-6, all they can do is sit and reflect on the season.
“This is my last one here at Moorpark, it felt like we should have had a better outcome as a football team,” said sophomore wide receiver Kylie McCrae. “I just wanted to take a knee and reflect on the season, that’s it for us.”
