Fresno City Hands Ventura Its First Loss

It seemed like old times Saturday night:

Times the Ventura College football team would just as soon forget.

Fresno City’s potent offense was too much for Ventura to handle and the Pirates suffered a 42-16 nonconference loss at Ventura High before 3,500 fans--their largest crowd of the season.

Ventura (3-1) entered the game ranked No. 21 in the nation by USA Today. But the Pirates had not met a team as talented as Fresno (4-1), ranked No. 20 in the same poll.

Daimon Shelton and Frankie Sinclair combined for 358 yards rushing and Josh Bravo passed for 170 yards as Fresno rolled up 548 total yards.

Ventura Coach George Rosales was disappointed with the result, but not with his team’s effort. “That’s the best team we’ll see all year,” he said.

Ventura, which finished with 235 total yards, scored first, capping a 72-yard drive with a two-yard run by Gordy Abellera.

But Fresno scored the next 35 points. Sinclair did much of the damage, scoring touchdowns on runs of 15 and 85 yards and a 30-yard screen-pass play.

Sinclair finished with 155 yards rushing and Shelton had 203.