Dunninway, Mesa end Comets’ title shot
- Updated: November 11, 2018
Palomar's Lamar Raboteau returns a fourth-quarter kickoff to midfield after Mesa's last TD. (Hugh Cox Photo)
2018 COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL
SAN DIEGO MESA 41, PALOMAR 21
By Tom Saxe
Special to EastCountySports.com
SAN DIEGO (11-10-2018) / (UPDATED 11-11-2018) – The scoring in the regular-season football finale between visiting Palomar and San Diego Mesa on Saturday night began with a 77-yard touchdown bomb from Comet quarterback Connor Curry to Mikel Barkley with 6:20 left in the first quarter and ended late in the fourth quarter with two more Curry TD strikes, to Barkley for 45 yards and Malachi Russell for 40 yards.
In between, however, the game was overwhelmingly the Jake Dunninway Show. Mesa’s quarterback passed for 463 yards and six touchdowns, leading the Olympians to a stunning 41-21 victory at Merrill Douglas Stadium that, along with El Camino’s come-from-behind 21-20 upset Cerritos after trailing the Falcons 20-7, blew up the Comets’ Central Conference championship hopes and their automatic seed out of the conference in the four-team Southern California playoffs.
While Palomar fell to 3-2 for a third-place finish in the Central Conference and to 5-4 overall and has to settle for bid to the Beach Bowl against Southwestern (6-4, 2-3 for fourth in the Southern League) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Jaguars’ Chet DeVore Stadium.
U.C. Davis transfer Dunninway’s and Mesa’s season came to an end despite the Olympians’ biggest win. Earlier Saturday, Southern California Football Association and the CCCAA announced that the Olympians’ forfeit victory over Fullerton was erased earlier in the day, meaning Mesa finished 4-6 on the year and 1-4 in the conference — and is now bowl ineligible.
“Give Mesa credit. They played hard and they played really well,” said Palomar coach Joe Early, who was frustrated by his team’s performance on a night that Curry had difficulty spotting his receivers and Palomar’s defense was unable to slow down Dunninway and his receivers.
“We had our opportunities early but couldn’t capitalize. Their quarterback (Dunninway) was the difference in the game. He had an extremely good game,” Early added. “For us, Curry threw the early TD bomb to Barkley and the late touchdowns to Barkley, who got past their defense again and Russell, but had trouble spotting his receivers. And we also didn’t block for him. Our defense was on the field way too much and helped Mesa with over-aggressive penalties at the end of plays.”
Dunninway’s TD passes went to Rashaun Brown for 56 yards, Dejon Smith (213 yards on 12 receptions) for 19 yards, Austin Rumbo (9 catches, 108 yards) for 12 yards, Smith again for 71 yards, Dominic McManus for 2 yards and Isaiah Williams for 24 yards.
The Olympians limited Curry to his least effective appearance of the season. He wound up completing 17-of-33 pass attempts for 246 yards and three touchdowns – and was intercepted twice.
Palomar punter Jacob Stepanek had a big night in defeat, averaging 44.4 yards for five punts, with a long of 50 yards, and deposited four punts inside the 20-yard line, one of them at the Mesa 2-yard line. But he also was intercepted on a fake punt in the fourth quarter.
On the night, Barkley caught three passes for 124 yards and his two touchdowns, while Russell contributed three receptions for 64 yards and his TD and Johnny Armentrout had four catches.
Chris Calhoun (11 tackles and a sack), Spencer Kaoanga (10 tackles), Orion Diaz (9 tackles) and Josh Bernard (8 tackles and a sack) led Palomar defensively. Kaaina Lewis contributed an interception and Jayson Pace added a sack.
Playoff matchups
The Southern California playoff first-round matchups will be played Saturday, with No. 4 seed Ventura (9-1, 4-1 in the National Division Northern League) at No. 1 seed College of the Canyons (10-0, 5-0 in the National Division Northern League); and No. 3 seed El Camino (8-2, 5-0 in the National Division Central League) at No. 2 seed Riverside City College (10-0 including a forfeit over Fullerton, 5-0 in the Southern League also including the forfeit win.
The Northern California first-round match-ups: No. 4 seed Fresno City College (8-2, 5-0 in the National Division Valley League at No. 1 seed Butte (9-1, 5-0 in the National Division NorCal Conference) – Game moved to Shasta College because of fire; and No. 3 seed College of San Mateo (8-2, 5-0 in the National Division Bay 6 League) at No. 2 seed Laney (8-2, 4-1 in the National Division Bay 6 League).
| Palomar vs. San Diego Mesa at San Diego Mesa 11/10/2018 at 6:00 PM |
|
| Palomar 21 |
San Diego Mesa 41 |
| SCORING | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palomar (6-4, 3-2) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 21 |
| San Diego Mesa (4-6, 1-4) | 0 | 14 | 21 | 6 | 41 |
| San Diego Mesa | Merrill Douglas Stad | |||||
| PRD | TIME | SCORING SUMMARY | PALOMAR – SAN DIEGO MESA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 06:30 | Palomar – Mikel Barkley 77 yd pass from Connor Curry. (Mark Meader kick is good). Drive: 1 plays, 77 yards in 0:12. |
7 – 0 |
| 2 | 07:26 | San Diego Mesa – Rashaun Brown 56 yd pass from Jake Dunninway. (Justin Kaplan kick is good). Drive: 4 plays, 82 yards in 1:55. |
7 – 7 |
| 2 | 05:03 | San Diego Mesa – Dejon Smith 19 yd pass from Jake Dunninway. (Justin Kaplan kick is good). Drive: 5 plays, 42 yards in 2:23. |
7 – 14 |
| 3 | 11:47 | San Diego Mesa – Austin Rumbo 12 yd pass from Jake Dunninway. (Justin Kaplan kick is good). Drive: 3 plays, 12 yards in 0:16. |
7 – 21 |
| 3 | 09:15 | San Diego Mesa – Dejon Smith 71 yd pass from Jake Dunninway. (Justin Kaplan kick is good). Drive: 3 plays, 78 yards in 0:54. |
7 – 28 |
| 3 | 00:33 | San Diego Mesa – Dominic McManus 2 yd pass from Jake Dunninway. (Justin Kaplan kick is good). Drive: 14 plays, 80 yards in 8:35. |
7 – 35 |
| 4 | 11:55 | San Diego Mesa – Isaiah Williams 24 yd pass from Jake Dunninway. (2pt conversion rush by Christian Zamudio failed). Drive: 5 plays, 30 yards in 2:11. |
7 – 41 |
| 4 | 05:13 | Palomar – Mikel Barkley 44 yd pass from Connor Curry. (Mark Meader kick is good). Drive: 1 plays, 44 yards in 3:12. |
14 – 41 |
| 4 | 00:17 | Palomar – Malachi Russell 40 yd pass from Connor Curry. (Mark Meader kick is good). Drive: 3 plays, 46 yards in 2:21. |
21 – 41 |
| PALOMAR | STATISTICS | SAN DIEGO MESA |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | FIRST DOWNS | 24 |
| 7 3 4 |
Passing Rushing Penalty |
20 2 2 |
| 33% (5 of 15) | THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY | 50% (9 of 18) |
| 0% (0 of 3) | FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY | 50% (1 of 2) |
| 291 | TOTAL OFFENSE | 516 |
| 56 5.2 |
Total Offensive Plays Average gain per play |
79 6.5 |
| 246 | NET YARDS PASSING | 463 |
| 17-34 7.2 5-25 3 |
Completions-Attempts Net yards per pass play Sacked: Number-Yards Had intercepted |
31-47 9.9 3-12 1 |
| 45 | NET YARDS RUSHING | 53 |
| 22 2.0 |
Rushing Attempts Average gain per rush |
32 1.7 |
| 5-222 | PUNTS: Number-Yards | 4-103 |
| 44.4 | Average | 25.8 |
| 146 | TOTAL RETURN YARDS | 46 |
| 1-13 7-127 1-6 |
Punt Returns: Number-Yards Kickoff Returns: Number-Yards Interception Returns: Number-Yards |
1-3 2-13 3-30 |
| 6-70 | PENALTIES: Number-Yards | 16-152 |
| 1-1 | FUMBLES: Number-Lost | 2-1 |
| 3-12 | SACKS: Number-Yards | 5-25 |
| 1-6 | INTERCEPTIONS: Number-Yards | 3-30 |
| 22:38 | TIME OF POSSESSION | 37:22 |
Palomar |
San Diego Mesa |
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| DEFENSIVE STATISTICS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | PALOMAR | SOLO | AST | TOTAL | SACKS-YDS | TFL-YDS | FF | FR-YDS | INT-YDS | BRUP | BLKS | QBH |
| 43 | Chris Calhoun | 7 | 4 | 11 | 1 – 4 | 2 – 5 | – | – | ||||
| 45 | Spencer Kaoanga | 2 | 8 | 10 | – | 1 – 1 | – | – | ||||
| 49 | Orion Diaz | 6 | 3 | 9 | – | – | – | – | 2 | |||
| 29 | Josh Bernard | 4 | 4 | 8 | 1 – 5 | 1.5 – 7 | – | – | 2 | |||
| 1 | Jay Craft | 3 | 2 | 5 | – | – | 1-0 | – | ||||
| 42 | Kaaina Lewis | 2 | 3 | 5 | – | 0.5 – 1 | – | 1-6 | ||||
| 98 | Mason Simeta | 1 | 4 | 5 | – | 1 – 3 | – | – | ||||
| 21 | Louie Flores | 1 | 3 | 4 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 31 | Jonathon Segi | 1 | 2 | 3 | – | 1 – 3 | – | – | ||||
| 91 | Jayson Pace | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 – 3 | 2 – 4 | – | – | ||||
| 9 | Jihad Hightower | 2 | 0 | 2 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 51 | Yasuf Leigh | 1 | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 92 | Koa Evalu-Robinson | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | 0.5 – 0 | – | – | ||||
| 96 | Jordan Duson | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | 0.5 – 1 | – | – | ||||
| 8 | Shea Morales | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 14 | Johnny Armentrout | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 38 | Quest Smith | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 41 | Efrain Contreras | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 93 | Martin Bonacci | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 94 | Nick So’oto | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| TM | Team | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| TOTALS | 34 | 44 | 78 | 3 – 12 | 10 – 25 | 1-0 | 1-6 | 4 | 1 | |||
| # | SAN DIEGO MESA | SOLO | AST | TOTAL | SACKS-YDS | TFL-YDS | FF | FR-YDS | INT-YDS | BRUP | BLKS | QBH |
| 6 | Reginald Prince | 3 | 8 | 11 | – | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| 99 | Hugh Anthony | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 – 8 | 1.5 – 9 | – | 1-20 | ||||
| 30 | Havani Makihele | 1 | 6 | 7 | 2 – 8 | 2 – 8 | – | – | 1 | |||
| 58 | Devin Sanders | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 – 1 | 1 – 1 | 1-0 | – | 1 | |||
| 22 | Darriel Weathers | 1 | 3 | 4 | – | 0.5 – 1 | – | – | ||||
| 1D | Matt Cain | 1 | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 3D | Anthony Barksdale | 3 | 0 | 3 | – | – | – | 1-0 | ||||
| 17 | Joel Bracomontes | 1 | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 20 | Brendan Torrance | 0 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 23 | Damurier Palmer | 1 | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | 1-10 | 1 | |||
| 2E | Alex Lemon | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| 14 | Sammy Muniz | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 19 | Santino Pacheco | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 21 | Hunter Allen | 1 | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 28 | D.J. Dotson | 2 | 0 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| 54 | Isaiah Mitchell | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 – 8 | 1 – 8 | – | – | ||||
| 8 | Dominic McManus | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 12 | Isaiah Williams | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| TM | Team | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| TOTALS | 21 | 44 | 65 | 5 – 25 | 6 – 27 | 1-0 | 3-30 | 6 | ||||
| OTHER INFORMATION | |
|---|---|
| Location: San Diego Mesa Stadium: Merrill Douglas Stad Attendance: 202 Weather: Clear Temperature: 65 |
|
