East County Sports

Jaguars fall in SoCal Bowl to Vikings

Southwestern's Terry Wright runs with the ball during the SoCal Bowl. / photo by John Fajardo

2019 COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BOWL

LONG BEACH CITY 20, SOUTHWESTERN 16

 

By Nicholas James

Special to EastCountySports.com

 

LONG BEACH – The Southwestern College Jaguars lost a nail biter to the Long Beach City College Vikings, 20-16, in the Southern California Bowl Game in Long Beach. Both teams scored all of their points in the first half of the game before trading blows in the second half but never finding any points.

The Jaguars came into the game with an 8-4 record after winning last week’s game against Orange Coast College, 41-0. Long Beach came in with a 7-3 record but had lost the week prior to Ventura.

Coach Ed Carberry said before the game that Long Beach was a tough team with gifted players.

Long Beach grabs Southwestern quarterback Josh Owen on Saturday. / photo by John Fajardo

“They have a lot of speed and a pretty big offensive line,” he said before the contest. “They also have a really good defense and very talented linebackers.”

A field goal by Dino Del Fiero but the Jags up 3-0 in the first two minutes of the game.

After a slow back-and-forth by both teams, Jaguar defensive back Braelen Bettles intercepted a pass with 4:35 left in the first quarter.

The Jaguars would capitalize on a 3-yard run by Omari Green two minutes later after a 33-yard catch by wide receiver Davion Johnson put them inside the 5-yard line.

The Vikings scored their first points of the game on a touchdown pass by Derrach West to Julian Woodward, but the Vikings would botch the extra point to make the score 10-6.

Derrach West found Zion Bowens on a 42-yard touchdown pass to put the Vikings up 13-10.

West threw for only 125 yards but threw for two touchdowns.

Talaun Patton led the Vikings in rushing with 119 yards on 24 carries, and Bowens led in receiving with 69 yards on 4 catches.

Johnson would later find the endzone for the Jaguars when he caught a 49-yard touchdown pass from Joshua Owen late in the second quarter to put them up 16-13. The Jaguars would miss the extra point.

Long Beach tackles Southwestern on Saturday night. / photo by John Fajardo

Johnson led the Jaguars with 210 receiving yards on nine catches and would be named player of the game for Southwestern College. West was named player of the game for Long Beach.

The turning point of the game was when Jaguar wide receiver Terry Wright misfielded a punt that bounced off his facemask, and the Vikings would pick it up in the end zone and push the lead to 4 with a 20-16 lead heading into the half.

That would be all the scoring for the rest of the game.

The second half would be a slugfest of missed field goals and stalled-out drives by both teams. Owen would throw two interceptions in the second half, one with two minutes left in the game.

Despite the loss, Carberry was satisfied with the way the season has gone and how the team has played overall.

“One person doesn’t lose the game,” he said.

Johnson was humbled after earning player of the game for the Jaguars.

“I gave it my all out there, but it wasn’t enough,” said the sophomore wide receiver. “They (Long Beach) were the better team, and we couldn’t pull the win.”

The Jaguars had five sacks for the game and 15 tackles for loss in the loss.

Josh McCurty led the team with 12 tackles.

EL CAMINO 54, SAN DIEGO MESA 45 – El Camino College had a big rally in the fourth quarter to defeat San Diego Mesa, 54-45, in the Patriotic Bowl at Merrill Douglas Stadium on Saturday evening.

The Warriors outscored the Olympians, 23-7, in the fourth.

Mesa quarterback Thomas Fishburn passed for 206 yards, as the Olympians threw for 395 yards on the night.

Fishburne also had a 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter which gave the Olympians a 24-14 lead.

Andrew Wimmer rushed for three touchdowns for Mesa. He had 86 yards on 21 carries.

Antoine Ware caught seven passes for 98 yards, including one for a touchdown for Mesa. Ware’s 18-yard catch with seven minutes left in the game gave the Olympians a 45-41 lead.

Cade Hackey had seven receptions for 80 yards, including one for a touchdown for Mesa, as well. Hackey’s 31-yard TD catch made it 38-31 with two minutes and change left in the third quarter.

Former West Hills standout Taj Broomfield finished with four receptions for 77 yards.

Isaiah Sayles had a pair of sacks for San Diego Mesa.

Robert Ferrel, for the Warriors, had seven receptions for 266 yards and three touchdowns. He had scoring receptions of 72, 56, and 61 yards on the night.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Warriors trailed 38-31. A field goal from Campbell Geddes with 13:36 left in the fourth trimmed the deficit to four.

Shawn Prejean then capped off an eight-play, 54-yard drive with a nine-yard touchdown run to put the Warriors up 41-38.

Gotoy ran in for a nine-yard TD run with 28 seconds left to put ECC ahead, 48-45.

The Olympians had one final possession to try and tie or take the lead but Jaylen Stewart picked off a pass and returned it 48 yards for a game-ending touchdown for ECC.

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