Mistakes prove costly in Santa Rosa Academy's 42-6 loss

By Paige Mendez, Correspondent

The Santa Rosa Academy football team lost 42-6 to Grace Brethren in their season opener at home Friday night.

Grace was the first to put points on the board with a touchdown carried into the end zone by their quarterback just under seven minutes into the game. The Rangers answered two drives later with a touchdown of their own on a 41-yard reception just under a minute into the second quarter.

Quarterback Daniel Marlow threw that touchdown pass for over 50 yards -- one of a few key throws on the night. From an offense that has focused on the run game in past years, Marlow said having targets downfield is a gift he doesn’t take for granted.

“It’s big because when you’re running around scrambling, you know where your guys are and know if you throw it up, we’ll make a play,” he said.

Without completing the point after the touchdown, Santa Rosa was still behind 7-6. And another Grace touchdown put the Lancers ahead 14-6 on their following drive.

Their next drive was one of the longest of the game but also included their second delay of game penalty and another holding call that took 20 yards off their otherwise impressive drive. It included a third-down conversion with Marlow running the ball through the line.

The penalties proved critical in taking the momentum away and the Rangers turned it over on downs with just under three minutes to go in the second quarter, allowing Grace to add one more touchdown before the half ended 21-6.

Head coach Perry Jones said he was hoping they could move things around enough to make a comeback after halftime, and he expected to see it happen. But Grace capitalized on their own momentum and scored three plays into the second half, bringing the score to 28-6.

“I think that the second half got muddier because we were playing from behind,” said Jones. “So we had to throw the ball more and they knew that and when they know we have to throw, they’re able to call their defense accordingly, and that leads to more pressure.”

That pressure got to the next two Santa Rosa possessions, which ended in a punt and an interception. The punt led to another Grace touchdown. But the interception ended with the Rangers’ fastest defensive stop on the night, on four quick downs and a forced punt.

Marlow and the Rangers moved the ball nearly into the red zone on their following drive but couldn’t quite convert, leading to a turnover on downs that the Lancers converted into their 42nd point of the night.

Santa Rosa finished their final possession with a total gain of just 17 yards, thanks to more penalties and what Jones said were a few missed catches—something that plagued the team for the whole night.

“We have more targets [this season] and made some clutch catches but we also had some key drops,” he said. “Some nights you can throw it and you catch everything, and some nights you really need to work for it. Tonight we were really working for it but just couldn’t get it to balance out where we could sustain a drive.”

Marlow said his and his team’s lack of focus led to that offensive struggle and the penalties that hurt them in the game—something he takes personal responsibility for.

“At the [beginning], everyone on the offense kind of knew what they were doing and we, as a team, played as a unit, but I feel like most of the game we lacked focus on certain plays and that led to penalties,” he explained. “I feel like that was on me for not making sure everyone knew what the play was, and I didn’t lead as I should have. This is a key learning moment for me as a senior and as the quarterback to build up from this and play better next week.”

Jones said the work now will be to figure out what the players are going to expect of themselves.

“I think it can be a valuable lesson going forward for them to see how they’re going to move forward,” he said. “As a staff we’ll be looking back to make sure we have the right personnel in the right spots, but it really makes you look at a lot of different aspects of it.”

Those aspects they will focus on are simple, said Jones, in spite of what it may have felt or looked like in the big scoring deficit.

“Everybody has things to improve on, but when it happens in a landslide like that it seems like everybody has a bunch of things,” he said. “It’s a new team. I think our leadership has to realize it’s more than just saying you’re a leader, but actually lead by example. I think it’s a good opportunity for them to learn that lesson. It’s a lot of responsibility.”

As one of those leaders, Marlow said he will be looking ahead with optimism to do his part in fixing what went wrong.

“Biggest thing for us is to focus up in practice and know who we are playing,” Marlow said. "We have to build off the energy of a loss—not in a negative way as in beating yourself down, but to fire you up because you know you’re better than that and to come back even stronger.”

The Rangers’ opportunity to come back from this loss will be next Saturday at San Jacinto Valley Academy.