Valley Stadium erupted with noise tonight — joyous noise — as the 2008 San Marcos football Royals opened their season with a rollicking 10 – 8 victory over the visiting Spartans of Oxnard’s Rio Mesa High. An Alvaro Garcia field goal with 28 seconds remaining in the game provided the winning margin, but the ebb and flow of the game included sharp peaks and valleys in the fortunes of each team until the outcome was finally decided. Rio Mesa had enough time after the San Marcos go-ahead score to unnerve the home crowd as their offense threatened to march into field goal range. As time expired, the Royals’ Kirk Renga cradled his first interception of the season, and the student section of the home stands emptied onto the field as Head Coach Dare Holdren accepted the congratulations of his staff on the long-sought result.
The Spartans had gone ahead 8 – 7 after successfully executing a two-point conversion on a fake from kick formation. They had scored their first six points on a breakaway run by running back Jamaal Perkins to answer the Royals, who had gone ahead 7 – 0 after a sustained third quarter drive capped by a gorgeous completion from QB James Crook to a leaping Max Cavalier in the right corner of the South end zone.
The Royals offense failed to mount serious threats thereafter, but repeatedly gained new life courtesy of defensive takeaways, including a recovery by Junior DL Shawn Harvey close to the Royals’ goal line with about 8 minutes left. The San Marcos offense couldn’t capitalize. But on the ensuing Rio Mesa possession, Senior DB Parker Carroll jarred the ball loose from a Spartan receiver after a short completion in front of the Royals’ bench. Again, the critical takeaway did not result in San Marcos points, as a field goal attempt failed. With about 2:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, things looked bleak indeed for San Marcos. Almost miraculously, the “D” wasn’t through, as Junior DE Bennie Kirkwood crushed the Rio Mesa running back as he took the handoff. With another fumble recovered by San Marcos, the winning march was finally on.
