Ben Partee set the all-time passing yards record for San Marcos High on Friday night, but it was Lompoc running back Sheldon Canley who stole the show.
The super sophomore rushed for 268 yards on 13 carries with four touchdowns to lead the Braves past the Royals, 48-20, in a Channel League game at Warkentin Stadium.
Lompoc (6-3, 3-1 Channel League) came in with a little added fire after losing to Santa Barbara at home last week. Unfortunately for San Marcos, it just happened to be the team in the middle of the road for the Braves to bowl over.
In the case of Canley, he just ran past the Royals, and didn’t even play the fourth quarter.
“He’s been really fun to coach,” Lompoc coach Andrew Jones said. “I wish I had 50 Sheldon Canley’s. Not just because he’s a great player, but he’s just a great kid.
“He shows up on time, ready to work. His parents have done a great job with him, and he’s just a heck of a player.”
Canley’s shortest touchdown run was 15 yards.
He also had scoring runs of 57, 40 and 21 yards to highlight his finest offensive performance of the season.
“I felt good coming out for the game,” Canley said. “The offensive line did their thing tonight. They opened some big holes and I was able to run through them.”
Partee needed 34 yards passing to pass the late Cameron Ely for first on the school’s all-time list. The senior signal caller did it on a 41-yard connection to senior wide receiver Josh Brown late in the second quarter.
Partee was trying to rally the Royals (3-6, 1-3 Channel League), who trailed 28-0 at the time of his record-breaking throw. He ended up 15-for-31 for 165 yards and three touchdown passes — two of them to Brown.
“I worked my butt off for it,” Partee said. “I thank the receiving corps that I have, they’ve done a great job. My offensive line has done a great job allowing me to get to this goal.
Coach (Jason) Fowle with his offense giving me a shot to throw the ball, trusting in me, believing in me since my freshman year.
“It’s just an accumulation of everything.”
For a brief time in the first quarter, it didn’t look like Partee was going to get a chance to break Ely’s all-time record.
He injured his right hand, his throwing hand, when he was sacked by Lompoc senior linebacker Bryan Espinosa. Partee came out of the game, but returned after missing just one play.
“We know that’s who he is. He’s a competitor at heart,” Fowle said. “He wants to win, and he does everything he can to will this team to win. He does a good job playing quarterback.”
It’s safe to say Partee might have been a little scared after his hand slammed off the facemask of Espinosa as the Brave’s defender was taking him to the turf.
“That’s actually what happened my sophomore year when I broke my finger,” Partee said. “It took me out for the whole year, so a little scared there for a second. It was the same sort of feeling.”
Lompoc led 42-0 when Partee connected on his three touchdown passes.
While it was too little too late, Fowle was pleased with his team’s desire to succeed on every play.
“We fought tooth and nail to try to scrape some points together and make it respectable,” Fowle said. “Hey, (Lompoc) is going to pile up points and bring pressure and hit hard. We knew that. We knew that’s how the game was going to be.
“We just had to try to keep fighting.”
San Marcos concludes its regular season next Friday at Santa Ynez, while Lompoc plays rival Cabrillo.
email: gfall@newspress.com
