College of the Desert Falls to Mt Sac

Things were not looking very good for the Mt. SAC Football team's 25 consecutive game winning streak late in their contest against visiting Saturday.

The Mounties (3-0) easily handled the Roadrunners (2-1) last season with a 36-10 road win at College of the Desert. But in this year's contest, after falling behind 21-20, the Mounties found themselves staring at a four-point deficit after Desert tacked on another three points on the strength of kicker Brett Symonds' 28-yard field goal with 4:27 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Despite outscoring Desert 17-7 through the first two quarters of play, the Mounties were on the short end of the scoreboard, even with quarterback Cameron Deen having another solid performance under center.

Deen, a sophomore bounceback transfer from Northern Colorado and former South Hills standout, hooked up with wide reciever Alonzo Agwuenu twice in the first half on touchdowns of 15 and 26 yards after College of the Desert had scored first on Jai Steib's two-yard run.

Following the field goal that gave Desert a 24-20 lead, the Mounties were the beneficiaries of a great kick-off return and found themselves near midfield with less than five minutes to save their winning streak and the game.

Sophomore running back Matthew Botello gave Mt. SAC the big offensive play they needed, picking up 19 yards and taking the ball inside the 30 yard line.

Two consecutive passes to Agwuenu from Deen resulted in a first and goal situation on the three yard line for Mt. SAC with about 2:38 left in the game. Twelve seconds later, Mark Larmie rumbled three yards up the middle through the heart of Desert's defense for the go-ahead and eventual game winning score.

The Roadrunners, who were 4-6 overall last season, had one more shot at winning the game after freshman running back Nephi Garcia gave them good field position.  But Mt. SAC's defense rose to the challenge, sacking Desert's quarterback Charles Fortis twice with the clock winding down to preserve the 27-24 victory.

"We are a good team, we have a lot of talent and we were very confident," said Deen following the game, adding he wasn't surprised with the defensive effort shown by the visiting team.

"They bring pressure every play," he said.  "They played great in the second half."

Deen said there is really no proper way to prepare against a good defense.

"You see it on film, but on the field it's a little different," he said.  "We made a lot of mistakes, but we still came back, we came together as a team."

Mt. SAC Coach Bob Jastrab, whose Mounties have now won 26 consecutive games and are 29-1 over the past two seasons, praised the play of College of the Desert, as well as that of his defense.

"I can't say enough for the team. They stepped up and got it done," Jastrab said.  "It could have gone either way. That's a great football team, and they did a great job.  We were fortunate again to have a found a way to win in the end."

Larmie said he wasn't surprised his team hung tough at the end of the game.

"It was a matter of the defense coming together," he said. "It feels wonderful to walk away with the W, but we still have a lot of work to do. But with God's help, anything is possible."

BOX SCORE

School Name

     1          

2

     3           

4         

Final

Mt SAC

     3

14

     3

7

27

Desert

     7

0       

    14

3

24

Scoring summary:

1st 6:40 MSAC- Torres, Abraham 37 yd FG

4:39 COD- Steib, Jai 2 yd run (Symonds, Brett kick)

2nd 7:46 MSAC- Agweunu, Alonzo 15 yd pass from Deen, Cameron (Coons Travis kick)

3:10 MSAC- Agweunu, Alonzon 26 yd pass from Deen (Coons kick)

3rd 13:07 COD- Brewer, Jordan 53 yd pass from Fortis, Charles (Symonds kick)

5:44 MSAC- Torres, Abraham 26 yd field goal

1:01 COD- Steib, Jai 6 yd run (Symonds kick)

4th 4:27 COD- Symonds, 28-yd field goal

2:26 MSAC- Larmie, Mark 4 yd run (Coons kick)