Eight yards from the end zone with just 12 seconds on the clock, Mike Montoya had a decision to make.
Santa Paula’s head coach put his faith, and his team’s future, on the foot of kicker Luis Ventura.
The Jones Field crowd detonated when the sophomore’s 25-yard field goal, his first field-goal attempt in his first season as a varsity player, soared straight and true through the uprights to deliver Santa Paula a 17-14 victory over Bellflower in a CIF-Southern Section Division 12 semifinal on Friday, Nov. 21.
The kick sent the Cardinals to their first CIF-SS football final in 62 years.
“I got the nerves on me, I got the anxiety, I’m shaking,” Ventura said, remembering the lead-up to the kick. “Once it came time, the nerves went away. It was pure money.”
Santa Paula (8-5) will face Grace (10-3), which also delivered late heroics in its 49-42 win at Coachella Valley in the other semifinal, in an all-county Division 12 championship game at California Lutheran University either on Friday and Saturday. The Cardinals beat the Lancers in a season-opening thriller, 45-34, on Aug. 22.
“He never gets too up, never gets too down — I knew he was going to dial in,” Montoya said of Ventura. “We put it in his hands and he came through.”
Midseason injuries tore apart the Santa Paula roster, with key players, including quarterback Rene Vega, missing time. After losing their final Tri-County League game to rival Fillmore and falling to 5-5, it was unclear if the Cardinals would even make the playoffs. An at-large bid kept the team playing one more week.
Nearly a month later, the Cardinals are making the most of the second chance.
“They have waded through the bad times and kept their eye on the prize. I can’t say enough about their heart,” Montoya said. “These kids in Santa Paula, they are fighters.”.
Santa Paula’s last trip to a football final was in 1963, when the Cardinals fell to Brea Olinda 21-7 in the Class AA final.
Battling in a defensive slugfest against its second double-wing offense in as many weeks, Santa Paula needed plenty more magic to put Ventura in a position to make his big kick.
The Bellflower secondary intercepted two Vega passes early, including one in the end zone to end the first half. Vega completed 15 for 24 passes for 186 yards. Bellflower also stifled the Cardinals’ run game, holding Santa Paula to just 72 total rushing yards.
Two enormous special teams plays on punt returns gave Santa Paula the spark it needed.
The first score of the game came at the end of a 14-play Bellflower drive, with junior linebacker Aiden Ramirez blocking a punt that was returned 35 yards for a touchdown by Diego Ornelas to put Santa Paula up 7-0 with 10:55 left in the first half.
Defensive end Gael Flores’ punt block to start the fourth quarter was downed at the Bellflower 20-yard line and set up a 1-yard Sebastian Alcantar TD run to tie the game at 14-14.The Cardinals had been stopped on their previous drive after four straight rushing attempts within 7 yards of the end zone ended in a turnover on downs.
“In film, we saw a weakness in their punt protection and we exploited it,” Montoya said. “It was just a matter of film study and execution.”
The Cardinals defense forced two three-and-outs from Bellflower, making up for a fumble with just over three minutes to play.
As the clock wound down, Vega and senior receiver Aaron Renay were nearly perfect.
On third-and-long, Vega threw a 31-yard strike up the left sideline and Renay made a defender miss to secure the key first down. Two plays later, Renay caught a 23-yard pass to get Santa Paula to the 18-yard line. They were Renay’s first two catches since the Cardinals’ first series.
“I didn’t know what to feel, I couldn’t breathe,” Renay said. “I wasn’t getting anything all game. When it came down to it, I did what I had to do.”
Santa Paula players stormed the field as time ran out on Bellflower’s last-second kickoff return. As they left the field for the locker room, Ventura was mobbed by classmates and fans.
From at-large playoff bid to championship contender, the Cardinals are taking nothing for granted.
“We were blessed to get that chance,” Renay said. “Getting that second chance made everyone turn it up a little bit and realize that we have a chance to do something great. We are on our way there.”
Dominic Massimino is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at dominic.massimino@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on Twitter and Instagram.
(This story was updated to because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Late-game heroics lift Santa Paula to first CIF-SS final since 1963
Reporting by Dominic Massimino, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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