Owls Light Up Scoreboard on Sophomore Night, Defeat SBCC 56-39

No. 20 in the state ranked Citrus College Football closed out its regular season home slate in style on Sophomore Night, earning an exciting 56-39 win over Santa Barbara City College on Saturday night, November 1 at Citrus Stadium in Glendora.

With the win, Citrus improves to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in conference, while SBCC falls to 0-9 and 0-6.

Prior to kickoff, Citrus honored its 16 sophomores, and the game resulted in a shootout between the two National League Northern programs.

After forcing a punt on the Vaqueros' opening drive, the Owls needed just four plays to strike first as Keyonn Chatmann broke through the middle for a 20-yard rushing touchdown, his fourth of the year. SBCC answered late in the quarter, but after their PAT was blocked, Citrus still led 7-6. The Owls extended the lead before the end of the first when Brian Salazar Jr. found Cameron Bateman for a 38-yard catch-and-run score to make it 14-6 after one.

SBCC opened the second quarter with a touchdown, but failed on a two-point try. Citrus responded immediately, set up by a 42-yard return from Lorenzo Simmons, as Salazar connected with Bateman again — this time from 30 yards out — to make it 21-12. After an Elijah Ybanez interception gave Citrus great field position, the Owls couldn't convert, and SBCC capitalized to close within 21-19. Citrus closed the half with a seven-play, 53-yard scoring drive capped by Salazar's third TD strike to Bateman, this one from 14 yards, sending Citrus into the locker room up 28-19.

SBCC opened the second half with a pick-six to cut the lead to 28-26, but Salazar answered on the next drive with a 48-yard quarterback draw to push the lead to 35-26. SBCC scored again late in the third to make it 35-33 heading into the fourth.

Early in the fourth, sophomores Jarrel Comer and Jadakiss Vaokakala teamed up for a critical sack before Comer stuffed a 4th-and-1 run for a three-yard loss to get the ball back to the offense. On the very next possession, Salazar hit Simmons for a 35-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 42-33. Citrus forced another stop and with eight minutes to play, Salazar found Keaton Morales over the middle — the sophomore tight end broke free and took it 67 yards to the house for a 49-33 advantage. After SBCC scored a deep touchdown to make it 49-39, the Owls slammed the door as Salazar again connected with Morales — this time a 78-yard play-action strike — to put the game out of reach and seal the 56-39 win.

Citrus racked up 609 yards of total offense. Salazar Jr. was electric, going 21-for-33 for 432 yards with six touchdown passes and one interception, while adding 64 rushing yards and another score. Chatmann rushed for a career-best 107 yards on 12 carries with a touchdown. Morales turned two receptions into 145 yards and two TDs. Bateman continued his 2025 season surge with five catches for 107 yards and a season-high three touchdowns, his nine receiving touchdowns on the season leads the conference and Bateman has tied the single-season program receiving touchdown record. Simmons added five catches for 62 yards and a score, Jalen Thompson had four grabs for 47 yards, Drew Tapley had two for 41 yards, and Jojo Enriquez made two key receptions for 18 yards.

Defensively, sophomore Thomas White was disruptive all night with nine tackles and constant pressure up front. Curlee Kirkpatrick Jr. added six tackles and a pass breakup. Vaokakala totaled five tackles with a sack and QB hurry. Kareem Esmili and Raymond Esparza each posted four tackles, with Esparza recording two TFLs and Esmili registering one. Ybanez filled the stat sheet with three tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery, and two pass breakups, while Comer totaled one sack and 1.5 TFLs in a dominant performance on the Owls D-Line.

Citrus now heads to Santa Maria next Saturday, November 8 for a pivotal conference matchup at Allan Hancock College. Both teams enter the final week of regular season play 3-3 in conference. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.