Santa Paula spoils Bishop homecoming

BY PETER DUGRE
DAILY SOUND CORRESPONDENT

Bishop Diego receiver Desmond Vanerfin caught a 38-yard pass from quarterback Anthony Martinez with thirty seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to bring Bishop to the Santa Paula 35, but a 52-yard field goal attempt by Sam Verhasselt with time expiring was blocked, leaving Bishop with a one-point loss and 0-4 start to the season.
The blocked field goal was the second block of the night for Santa Paula who also blocked a punt for their first touchdown with 2:19 left in the third quarter to cut their deficit to 13-6.

“Ultimately that bit us in the rear. The blocked punt for the score,” said coach Tom Crawford.
Bishop went into halftime with a 13-0 lead after Martinez and tight end Art Gonzalez hooked up for two first-half touchdowns. Martinez caught the first one from 20 yards on a streak down the right sideline as the first quarter ended.
The second Martinez to Gonzalez touchdown came on a seven-yard pass with 37 seconds remaining in the second quarter. That came at the end of a seven-play, 69-yard drive orchestrated by Martinez to close out the half. Martinez had an almost impeccable first half, completing eight of nine passes for 121 yards. Gonzalez caught four passes for 67 yards for the game and Vanderfin had five catches for 81-yards.
Santa Paula rushed Martinez out of his rhythm in the second half and kept Bishop Diego deep in their own end of the field throughout the second half while climbing out from the 13-point deficit. Bishop did not pick up a 2nd-half first down until midway through the 4th quarter after they had already fallen behind 13-14.
“We just couldn’t generate anything offensively,” said Crawford. “I think our defense played well. We did look tired and made the mistakes of a tired football team.
Santa Paula went up on a seven-yard quarterback keeper by Max Moreno followed by a two-point conversion pass, and Bishop could not capitalize on either of their final two drives. Bishop appeared to have become fatigued from spending so much time with poor field position and defending the goal line for most of the second half.
“We have a lot of guys and we just wore them down,” said Santa Paul coach Teohua Sanchez.
Santa Paula now has a 2-1 mark and looks to build on early season momentum heading in to league play after losing all of their league games last season. Bishop Diego will have to regroup after dropping their homecoming game to pickup their first win.