Oxnard, CA — Rio Mesa hosted Buena on its own Ventura campus Thursday night and the riveting and dramatic football game that followed made even less sense as it unfolded. “I don’t understand,” Rio Mesa coach Jim Bitter laughed after his Spartans survived, 34-33, despite allowing a touchdown and an onside kick recovery in the final minute. “These things shouldn’t happen. But it all worked out.” Rio Mesa did pile up the rushing yards and possession. Senior Shilo Tili ran for 168 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries as the Spartans amassed 293 yards rushing, despite Buena’s physical front seven. “You learn a long time ago that, if you can run the football and you can control the clock, it should work in your favor,” Bittner said. Despite the Spartans’ physical dominance, the Bulldogs managed to repeatedly wriggle free with big play after big play, which extended the game into the final, dramatic minute. “They did some things offensively that hurt us and they made some plays when they had to on defense,” Bittner said. “They made some big plays.” Quarterback Zane Carter threw for two touchdown passes and ran for two touchdown scores for Buena. “He’s something else,” Bittner said of Carter. “He’s a fantastic athlete. I give him a lot of credit.” Rio Mesa improved to 2-2 with its second straight one-point win by stopping Buena twice in the final minute. First, the Spartans turned away Buena’s attempted go-ahead 2-point conversion attempt, after Carter pulled the Bulldogs within 34-33 with a 25-yard scoring strike to Freddy Martinez with 1:00 left. “I would do that 100 times out of 100,” Buena coach Ryan Bolland said of the 2-point try. “The way we were playing on offense, moving the ball, I’ll bet on the 11 kids who are on the field. “We’re going to put our best situation against theirs. It’s disappointing to come out on the short side.” Buena (2-3) has had three games turn on decisive last-minute conversion attempts. It fell 21-20 at Oak Park on Aug. 20 after Eric Garvin’s conversion pass to Nick Kokenis with 1.9 seconds left. It beat Agoura, 28-27, on Sept. 3 on defensive lineman Manny Mendez’s run stop with 44.6 seconds left. “You have to give them credit for going for 2 at the end,” Bittner said. But this wildly entertaining night was not yet over. “We’re good for those,” Bolland said. “Our attendance should be through the roof.” After Martinez recovered the subsequent onside kick to earn Buena a second chance — and Carter’s 34-yard strike to Jackson Geier moved Buena to the Rio Mesa 19 — sophomore Chance Harrison pulled in the game-clinching interception off a deflection with 21 seconds left. Rio Mesa was hosting at Buena’s stadium because of delays in the renovation of the Spartans’ home field. The Spartans are on schedule to finally host their final two games of the season, against Lompoc on Oct. 8 and Santa Barbara on Oct. 29, according to athletic director Chris Ruffinelli. Buena used a series of big plays to stay even after a first half in which it ran 12 offensive plays and held possession for less than four minutes. Rio Mesa received the opening kickoff and drove 80 yards in 15 plays, taking a 6-0 lead on Tili’s 3-yard TD run. “We tried to run it down their throats … and not let up,” Tili said. Buena pulled even on Payton Hoff’s interception for a touchdown in the right flat. Rio Mesa retook the lead on quarterback Augie Calderon’s 27-yard scoring strike to tight end Jaden Morfin-Washington on fourth-and-4. The Bulldogs replied with Jake Murphy’s 38-yard TD run, which was set up by John Carter’s 54-yard kickoff return. Buena took a 20-13 lead on Zane Carter’s 1-yard TD run, but Calderon’s 3-yard TD pass to Roland Espinoza with four seconds left tied the game, 20-20, at the half. Buena opened the second half with an 11-play scoring drive, taking a 27-20 lead on a 7-yard Zane Carter run. The drive lasted six minutes and six seconds, which was longer than the Bulldogs possessed the ball the entire first half, when Buena only ran 12 offensive plays. Rio Mesa tied it 27-27 on Tili’s 24-yard TD run, which capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive with 1:15 left in the third quarter. Jayden Jones had runs of 16, 15 and 10 yards to set up the score. “Shilo’s a beast,” Bittner said. The Spartans retook the lead, 34-27, with 5:28 to play on Tili’s 1-yard TD, which came six snaps after he converted a fourth and 3 with a 9-yard run. The Bulldogs responded with their best drive of the night, an 11-play, 66-yard march, extended by Murphy’s fourth-and-2 conversion, that set up the wild final minute. “In this game, we showed a lot of fight,” Bolland said. “We had a hard time against their front, getting stops, but we’d get negative plays here and there. We made them earn every yard tonight. “Hopefully, we’re really well prepared. We’ve certainly been in a lot of tight games.” The night may not have made much sense to Bittner, but the way forward for the Spartans has become much clearer after back-to-back wins. “We’re trying to find our identity and I think that’s where we’re going,” said Bittner. “I think we’re a physical team. We want to smash it down your throat and throw it when we have to. “Hopefully we can sustain that. The offensive line played great.”