Glendale Community College football see bid for upset fall short

MONTEREY PARK — For the Glendale Community College football team, the second half of the season proved to be a major improvement after a rough first half.

Glendale looked to come away with a winning mark in the American Metro Conference, but, in order to complete the task, the Vaqueros had to defeat host East L.A. Saturday.

Glendale put up a valiant effort, but saw their bid for an upset fall short in a 30-24 defeat, despite playing arguably its best game of the season.

Glendale (3-7, 3-3 in conference) had its three-game winning streak snapped by East L.A. (8-2, 6-0). East L.A. won the conference championship outright, though it survived a good performance from Glendale.

“In the end, it came down to the same glaring mistakes,” Glendale Coach John Rome said. “It got us tonight, just like it has throughout most of the season. We put ourselves in too many third-and-long situations and that forced us to pass. It’s a crapshoot when you have to pass in those type of situations.”

Glendale began the season with six straight losses before regrouping to post conference victories against Pasadena City College, El Camino-Compton and L.A. Southwest.

East L.A. began the scoring on a 38-yard field goal by Vicente Luis Juan with 1:44 remaining in the first quarter. The lead lasted 14 seconds, as Anthony McGinnis returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards to give Glendale a 7-3 lead.

The Vaqueros and Huskies swapped interceptions on consecutive possessions in the second quarter.

Glendale’s Samuel O’Beng intercepted a pass by Jonathan Santos in the end zone with 5:40 left. East L.A.’s Anthony Figueroa then picked off an errant pass from David Arriaga at the Glendale 30-yard line and returned it to the 19.

Figueroa’s interception paved the way for the Huskies to score on their ensuing drive. Khamren Davenport hauled in a 34-yard touchdown pass from Santos following a East L.A. penalty to make it 9-7 with 4:37 to go in the first half.

Michael Selsor gave the Vaqueros a 10-9 lead with a 28-yard field goal with 2:05 left in the quarter.

ELAC closed out the first-half scoring when Santos connected with Davenport on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 39.2 seconds left.

The Huskies extended their lead to 23-10 on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Santos to Kenny Allen with 4:29 left in the third quarter.

On its next possession, Glendale got a 50-yard run from Darius Jones on a fake punt and gave the Vaqueros a first-and goal situation. Glendale capitalized on the trick play when Arriaga completed a nine-yard touchdown pass to Randall Mincy to bring the Vaqueros to within 23-17 with 48.2 seconds left in the third quarter.

ELAC made it 30-17 on a seven-yard pass from Santos to Cemaj Douglas with 4:48 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Vaqueros closed out the scoring on a 10-yard pass from Arriaga to Mincy.

Glendale freshman running back TJ Brumfield, who rushed for 77 yards in 14 carries, said the Vaqueros made strides during the second half of the season.

“It’s a tough loss, but we played much better after starting out 0-6,” Brumfield said. “We went out there and had fun the second half of the season. We stayed with [ELAC] almost to the end.”

Arriaga completed nine of 24 passes for 84 yards.

Santos completed 21 of 33 passes for 236 yards, Davenport had eight catches for 109 yards.

“We came out here for pride and we gave it our all,” Rome said. “I’m proud of the way they stayed with it tonight and during the second half of the year.

“We found ourselves in some close games and there are a few I’d like to have back from when we lost. You just want to see them develop.”