St. Bonaventure Stymied, 21-12

The usually reliable St. Bonaventure High offense sputtered Friday night and the Seraphs lost a Southern Section Division IX quarterfinal to Carpinteria, 21-12, at Ventura High.

St. Bonaventure’s Teohua Sanchez completed only 16 of 36 passes for 145 yards with three interceptions, and St. Bonaventure’s comeback bid stalled when his brother, tailback Topi Sanchez (93 yards in 15 carries), left the game because of a knee injury in the third quarter.

Carpinteria (9-3), which defeated St. Bonaventure, 30-29, in a Tri-Valley League game earlier in the season and won the league championship, pressured Teohua Sanchez throughout.

Carpinteria took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter when quarterback Brian Benza ran 22 yards for a touchdown on fourth and 15. St. Bonaventure (8-4) drove 71 yards in nine plays to pull within 7-6 at halftime. Topi Sanchez capped the march with a nine-yard run.

But in the third quarter Carpinteria drove 64 yards in 10 plays, scoring on a 12-yard run by tailback Doug Burrell.

The Warriors went up, 21-6, when Jeff Shaw caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Benza to cap a four-play, 25-yard drive.

St. Bonaventure scored with three minutes to play on a one-yard run by Teohua Sanchez.

Topi Sanchez finished the season with 1,943 yards and 28 touchdowns in 287 carries. Teohua Sanchez completed 167 of 309 passes for 1,926 yards with 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions.