Two of Ventura County’s high schools, Ventura High School (Ventura) and Buena High School (Buena), met in Buena’s stadium and geared up for their much-anticipated rivalry matchup on the evening of Oct. 4, 2024. Ventura, having only lost twice against Buena in the last 14 years, defeated the Bulldogs with ease, 34-20.
Buena student, Kaelan Davis ‘25 spoke on what the game meant for the school, “It’s a lot of our senior years … our football team is mainly seniors … why not end our year off with a win?”
Ventura took the lead in the first drive of the game with a touchdown run by Jack Cunningham ‘26 and continued this with an extra point to put the Cougars in the lead 7-0 in only the first two minutes of the first quarter.
Despite conceding a touchdown early, Buena was determined to bounce back. With this drive, Buena’s quarterback, Blake Eberhard ’26 passed a dime for a touchdown allowing the Bulldogs to tie the game 7-7.
Buena kept striving towards excellence with a tackle by James Blanks ’25 on an attempted run by the Cougars. Ventura’s drive was not broken though as Derek Garcia ’26 went for a 35-yard pass to Josh Woodworth ’25 for the touchdown, as well as an extra point to take the lead 14-7.
Despite having received a penalty, Ventura gained a first down at the 19-yard line. On third down Garcia attempted to make the pass to the end zone which was intercepted by Tyler Hoff ‘25 to turnover the ball to the Bulldogs.
The game was temporarily stopped in the second quarter due to an injury sustained by Blanks. Buena rallied around their teammate, taking a knee until an ambulance arrived on scene and he was taken to the hospital.
Once the game resumed, Ventura gained possession of the ball again, and following a timeout by the Bulldogs, Garcia marked a pass to Woodworth to put the Cougars into scoring position at the 15-yard line. Garcia didn’t waste time as he followed this with a throw to Tristan Savage ’28 in the endzone for a touchdown to bring the first half to a close at 20-7.
After the halftime break, the two teams prepared to kick off the second half of the game.
Ventura, with momentum from a dominant first half, pounced on another opportunity to widen their lead as their first drive of the half was capped off with a quick goal line pass from Garcia to Cunningham for a touchdown. Ventura secured the extra point to bring their lead to 27-7.
Buena found some daylight after a pass interference penalty downfield, which gave the Bulldogs a much-needed first down in scoring position to end the third quarter.
Buena’s decision to go for it on fourth down paid off as Eberhard lofted a pass to Aaron Cesario ‘25 to score a needed touchdown. The extra point was spot on to bring Ventura’s lead down to 27-14.
A failed onside kick by Buena granted Ventura a great field position for their next drive. Gage Kushner ‘26 easily marched up the field with seven straight carries concluded with a push into the end zone for another Ventura touchdown and extra point to finalize their score at 34-14.
Garcia reflected on Ventura’s success, “I think we established something, a lot of things came together today, so it was exciting for us.”
With one last push by Buena, Eberhard completed a pass to Hoff for their final touchdown of the night to make the final score 34-20.
Eberhard spoke on the team’s progress despite the loss, “Overall, we improved when we started week one to where we are now … and that’s what I’m happy to see.
“The way that our guys came together tonight, more as a team and less as individuals, really grasped the whole evening and what it meant to be a football team,” remarked Ventura’s head coach, Tim Garcia.
With the win, Ventura secured not only their first league win but also another win in the history books of the historic crosstown rivalry.
Mike • Oct 5, 2024 at 6:00 pm
I was at the game on Ventura side and was surprised to see Ventura did not take a knee during a major injury of a Buena player, requiring and ambulance.
The spectators were yelling and chanting “take a knee” but no response. Ventura players continued as if nothing happened.
It’s a sign of respect and concern when someone is hurt, but more than that putting players in that position means they’re not moving, chattering, or doing anything else than could look disrespectful. It also sends a signal to the stands that the injury is serious, and everyone should be concerned.