Santa Barbara is shutout in the second half in road playoff loss to El Modena

ORANGE, Calif. - Santa Barbara came out strong in the first half of their CIF-SS Division 4 Round 1 road playoff game.

But Santa Barbara's offense stalled in the second half in a 28-21 loss to El Modena.

Kai Mault scored on an 8-yard touchdown run as he took a direct snap and sprinted around the corner in the opening minutes of the game.

It stayed 7-0 until Laird Finkel found Moses Morales on an 8-yard touchdown pass and the Golden Tornado(Dons transform into Golden Tornado in the playoffs) led 14-0 with 9 minutes left in the half.

El Modena cut the deficit in half but Santa Barbara responded with a 38-yard touchdown pass from Finkel to Sammie Congdon and they led 21-7.

El Modena scored before half and trailed 21-14 at the break.

Santa Barbara was blanked in the second half and El Modena scored what proved to be the winning touchdown with about 9 minutes left in the game.

With the loss Santa Barbara finishes the season 6-4-1.