Community College Football Roundup : Santa Barbara Drops Pierce, 28-20

Ted Robison doesn’t come close to resembling former Santa Barbara City College quarterback Randall Cunningham.

He’s not as tall and he’s not as quick.

But Robison does have one thing in common with Cunningham: He can throw the football.

Saturday, Robison threw for 378 yards and two touchdowns--completing 24 of 38 passes--to lead Santa Barbara to a 28-20 victory over Pierce in a Western State Conference opener at Pierce.

His counterpart, Pierce quarterback Jamie Grossman, threw for 226 yards and a touchdown, completing 13 of 32 passes. Seven of those completions went to Chad Zeigler, who accounted for 114 yards as a receiver.

Pierce’s Louis Vann rushed for 98 yards to lead all ballcarriers.

Pierce, putting pressure on Robison, controlled the third period but had only six points to show for it.

The Brahmas sacked Robison three times in the quarter and intercepted a pair of his passes, turning Fred Bryant’s second interception of the game into a touchdown.

Pierce took over at its own 41 after Bryant’s interception and moved to the 10 four plays later when Grossman called an audible and found Carlton Bowen for a 36-yard gain. A penalty moved the ball to the five, then Dominic Mustin ran for a touchdown. Andrew Munoz’s kick was blocked, however, and Pierce led, 20-17, with 9:24 left in the third quarter.

Santa Barbara regained the lead early in the fourth quarter when Robison hit Greg Borgquist with a seven-yard touchdown strike. Patrik Schmidle’s kick was blocked, but he picked the ball up and ran it in for a two-point conversion and a 25-20 Vaquero lead.

Schmidle added a 25-yard field goal with 4:31 to play to account for the final margin.

Santa Barbara moved the ball well in the first half, amassing 273 yards in offense. Robison was 12 of 20 passing for 206 yards--connecting with Borgquist six times for 111 yards.

The Vaqueros dominated the first period and led, 10-0, after a 35-yard field goal by Schmidle and two-yard touchdown run by Robison.

Santa Barbara outgained Pierce, 144-44, in the first period.