Glendale Community College football streaks past West L.A.

WEST LOS ANGELES — For the third time in as many weeks, the Glendale Community College football team faced another member school of the American Conference Pacific Division still searching for its first interdivisional win of the season. The Vaqueros went on the road to face West Los Angeles College looking to win their second game in a row for the first time this season.

Despite some rocky patches, the Vaqueros got the running game going, while playing strong defense inside the red zone, to garner a 35-21 victory over the host Oilers Saturday afternoon and now have themselves a two-game win streak.

“It was a nice victory,” GCC Coach John Rome, who now has 29 wins at the school, said. “I thought we played just a little bit flat. We looked at their record and said, ‘We’re better than that.’ ...We were the better football team and the things we did execute we executed well. I’m pretty happy right now.”

In the fourth quarter, Glendale (3-5, 2-3), with the lead over West Los Angeles (1-7, 0-5) reduced to a single touchdown, saw Vaquero Travis Custis burst through the line on the left side and rumble 59 yards for his second touchdown of the contest.

“Custis was sick all week,” Rome said. “We kept him out two days of practice because he was running a high fever. We asked him how he felt in the locker room and he said crummy. We asked him how he felt after the run and he said a lot better. I said so did I.”

It was the ground game of the Vaqueros that found the most success, generating four touchdowns. Vaquero Josh Martinez, a product of Bellarmine-Jefferson High, had a game-high 100 yards on 13 carries, including a 46-yard gain on his first touch. The sophomore reached the century mark with 1:10 left in the fourth, gaining a first down on the carry that allowed his team to kneel down the rest of the way.

“We attack them straight on. That is Glendale football,” Martinez said. “We go straight on with power and strength and we just hope to pound the ball every single time.”

Custis finished with nine carries for 88 yards, all in the second half. His final two touches went for touchdowns. The 59-yard score preceded a two-yard rushing touchdown, set up by a fumble recovery by defensive back Deamon Thompson, near the midway point of the third quarter that extended the advantage to 28-13 going into the final period.

Glendale quarterback David Arriaga, in his third game as the starter, had 13 carries for 69 yards and two scores. His rushing touchdowns came on option plays and were on back-to-back carries. His first came with 2:00 left in the first quarter and covered 12 yards to tie the game. His second came on the first play of the second quarter from eight yards out to give the Vaqueros their first lead of the contest, which they would not relinquish.

“We played as a team today and blew up the score a little bit,” Arriaga said.

Through the air, Arriaga was six of 13 for 83 yards with one score and one interception by Oiler Chris Lewis in the third quarter. In the second quarter, with 11:28 left and facing a fourth down, Arriaga tipped one of several high shotgun snaps down to himself and then threw to Deondre Dunn for a 27-yard touchdown. Robert Jones was the only Glendale player to catch multiple passes, hauling in two for a team-high 35 yards.

The Vaqueros defense was stout against the Oilers, especially against the run. Oilers lead back Michael James carried the ball 21 times but was able to gain just 50 yards and four times was tackled for a loss. In the first, Vaquero Johndely Mena tackled James three yards behind the line of scrimmage to bring to a halt West Los Angeles’s 13-play opening drive without giving up any points.

In the second half, the Oilers turned the ball over on downs three times after driving into the redzone. The first was at the nine-yard line as a mass of Vaqueros stopped the Oilers runner at the line on fourth and one to go. The next time, Vaquero Josh Benson tackled Oilers quarterback Jorge Reyna at the one-yard line on fourth and goal from the three. Finally, on the possession after the long Custis touchdown run, the Vaqueros defense stopped West Los Angeles at the six-yard line with 2:34 left in the contest.

Reyna, a product of Pasadena High, was 20 of 41 passing for 250 yards. Oiler Larry Sparks had 10 catches for 50 yards. Sparks also had a 60-yard punt-return touchdown to pull the hosts within 28-21 with 13:43 to go in the game.

It was a tough start for Glendale. The Vaqueros’ first possession of the contest ended when Andrew Benn fumbled the ball away after a reception. Then, after the defense got a stop, Kev’n Farmer muffed the punt return to give the ball back to the hosts. The ensuing drive ended with a one-yard touchdown run by James to give West Los Angeles a 7-0 lead with 3:17 left in the first.

Up next for Glendale will be another road trip, this time to Los Angeles Valley College on Saturday at 6 p.m., where the Vaqueros will look to make it three wins in a row.

“I’ve always said the best days of this team are ahead of it,” Rome said.