On Oct. 3, 2025, the Ventura High School (Ventura) Cougars and Buena High School (Buena) Bulldogs football teams met at Ventura’s Larrabee Stadium, where they faced off in the long-awaited, annual cross-town rival match. Ventura, for the second year in a row, defeated the Bulldogs with a final score of 62-13.
Ventura took the lead at the start of the game, with help from quarterback Derek Garcia ’26, placing a 40-yard throw to advance the Cougars to the 10-yard line. The Cougars hit the end zone soon after, and received the first touchdown of the game within the first minute, followed by a kick from Paul Iniguez ’26 to secure the extra point.
Buena, after receiving possession of the ball, failed to advance 10 yards in four downs and punted the ball down the field, where Ventura gained possession at the 47-yard line.
“This [rivalry] has been going on for years … it brings the community together, for both sides. It’s a friendly match-up, and it’s a fun time to be outside and be with your community,” said Alex Orrantia ’26, a Buena student.
Garcia continued to push his team towards the end zone, succeeded with a 30-yard pass to Jack Cunningham ’26. On the second down, Garcia ran the ball to the end zone, achieving the second touchdown of the game, followed by a kick for the extra point.
Buena, determined to gain ground, caught the punt by the Cougars and advanced 26 yards. Although the Bulldogs had a collective effort to move the ball down the field, they were unable to advance past 10 yards and chose to punt on fourth down.
Despite the inability to advance, Bulldog Kaleb Alarcon ’27 intercepted a pass by Garcia, which gave Buena a second chance. The Bulldogs were able to gain three yards, but ultimately could not run over Ventura’s defensive line.
With collective efforts from Garcia, Cunningham and Tristan Savage ’28, the Cougars moved on from the 42-yard line to the 11-yard line, where Savage received the fourth down in the end zone, followed by a kick, ending the first quarter with a score of 21-0, in favor of the Cougars.
The Cougars quickly advanced in the second quarter, with their first down at the four-yard line. Michael Ramirez ’27 then ran the ball through the Bulldog’s defensive line for the fourth touchdown of the game. The Bulldogs defended the following kick by Iniguez, preventing the Cougars from receiving an extra point.
Buena, unfortunately, was unable to advance and turned the ball over to the Cougars. Savage covered a lot of ground for the Cougars, proceeding to the three-yard line before being taken down by the Bulldogs. A pass was executed to Cunningham into the endzone, but Ventura received a penalty, which pushed them back 10 yards. A touchdown by Tristan Phillips ’26 was achieved soon after, followed by a successful kick from Iniguez, which advanced the score for the Cougars 34-0.
Despite two penalties against the Cougars in the second quarter, they were able to complete two more touchdowns, both by Savage, in the last four minutes of the quarter. Completing the first half of the game, with a score of 48-0, the Cougars.
After half time, which offered Buena a chance to regroup after a rough two quarters of play, the ball was kicked off to Buena by Iniguez.
The Bulldogs’ first possession of the half saw an increase in momentum as they tried to shrink the dominant lead that Ventura had over them. On second down, Buena Quarterback Blake Eberhard ‘26 sent a deep pass to wide receiver Tyler Jaitt ‘26 for a huge gain in yardage and to put them within the 15-yard line of Ventura’s end zone.
In the next play, a handoff from Eberhard to teammate Jaxon Roberts ‘26 would help secure Buena’s first points of the game, but unfortunately, they missed the field goal, resulting in no extra points being awarded, bringing the score to 48-6.
After a change in possession through an unsuccessful onside kick by the Bulldogs, Ventura’s Gavin Scarlett ‘27 threw an incomplete pass into deep right field as a result of a pass interference penalty from Buena, giving Ventura the first down. This would allow, on the same possession, a handoff to Cougar, Miller Glasgow ‘27, for a 35-yard run for another Cougar touchdown, 55-6.
“We’ve been preparing for quite a few months for this. Our off-season starts in January and we take it week by week … We’re excited to have the opportunity to play hard at home and the guys really stepped up and played every snap hard and got the job done,” said Ventura Head Coach Tim Garcia. To conclude the quarter, Ventura kicked off to Buena, who returned the ball to their own 25-yard line before the clock expired.
The top of the fourth began with a first down for the Bulldogs, and despite their struggle early on to string plays together, Jaxon Roberts ‘26 from Buena would have back-to-back strong plays, catching a throw from Robert Martinez ‘27 to take them down to first and goal. Followed by a handoff to Roberts to drive in for their second touchdown of the game, 55-13.
Later in the quarter, Scarlett would be able to get two solid passes to Aiden Hernandez ‘27 for 5 yards and Glasgow for 17 yards before an offensive foul pushed them back to second and 18.
This wouldn’t discourage Ventura, as Scarlett connected with wide receiver Walker Bullard ’27 on the very next play from the 30-yard line, sending Bullard into the end zone to seal this year’s crosstown rivalry with a 62-13 victory for Ventura.
