St. Bonaventure Makes a Meal Out of 23-0 Victory

It was late in the game and the St. Bonaventure High defense was getting hungry.

The Seraphs made one last stand to finish off a 23-0 victory over Carpinteria on Saturday at Ventura High and clinch a tie for the Tri-Valley League football championship.

If St. Bonaventure (7-1, 3-0 in league play) beats Oak Park, which is winless in league play, on Nov. 13, the Seraphs will win their third league title in eight years.

The Seraphs’ defense, which blanked an opponent for a school-record fourth time this season, will get a more immediate reward: pizza from Coach Jon Mack.

“Fourth quarter, we said we were smelling the pizza,” said inside linebacker Ben Baumer, who ended a Carpinteria scoring threat by intercepting a pass at the Seraph 20-yard line with under two minutes to play.

The Seraphs smothered Carpinteria’s ground-oriented offense.

Carpinteria (5-3, 1-1) had minus-eight rushing yards after the first quarter and eight at halftime. The Warriors finished with 130 yards, 25 on the ground.

“It was beautiful to see [the defense] do it,” Mack said.

St. Bonaventure has allowed 10 points in the past 18 quarters.

Carpinteria’s inept offense set up short drives for St. Bonaventure.

The Seraphs had a 3-0 lead in the first quarter on the first of three field goals by Chris Lombardo from 22 yards.

The lead grew to 14-0 after St. Bonaventure’s next two possessions began in Carpinteria territory.

The first drive went 45 yards in five plays and was completed on a two-yard run by Jesse Kirk, who added a two-point conversion run.

Baumer partially blocked a punt on Carpinteria’s next series, giving the Seraphs the ball on the Warriors’ 31-yard line.

Lombardo kicked a 29-yard field goal seven plays later with 10:55 left in the half.

“Their defense played well enough to give their offense short drives,” Carpinteria Coach Coley Candaele said. “We gave them a short field.”

Baumer set up another touchdown when he recovered a fumbled pitch at the Carpinteria one-yard line. Lombardo, the Seraph quarterback, scored on the next play for a 23-0 lead with 5:20 left in the third quarter.

Kirk played despite a heavily-taped sprained ankle that kept him out of last week’s victory over Fillmore. He had 104 yards and a touchdown in 26 carries.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to play,” Kirk said. “I wasn’t even going to suit up until Coach [Mack] told me I was going to play.”

Lombardo, a sophomore, completed 13 of 24 passes for 126 yards.