Kicking dooms Glendale Community College football
Though there were several positives to take away for the Glendale Community College football team on Saturday afternoon, the one thing that could be not secured was a victory.
Despite rallying from a 20-point deficit, the visiting Vaqueros missed two separate game-winning field goals and a crucial extra point and suffered a bitter 27-26 double-overtime loss at Mt. San Jacinto College on Saturday afternoon in nonconference play.
With the defeat, Glendale dropped to 0-3 this season.
“I feel like Bobbie Bowden right about now,” said Glendale coach John Rome in reference to the former Florida State coach whose Seminoles teams lost a few games, including to top-ranked Miami in 1991, due to missed field goals. “ We fell behind 20, came back and had our chances. We just missed.”
In regards to Bowden, the legendary coach only had his guts twisted once in the Miami loss.
Glendale had a 47-yard field goal try sail wide right as time expired in regulation to send a tie at 20 into overtime.
In the first extra session, Glendale appeared to catch a break when Mt. San Jacinto kicker Coby Perine was wide left on a 31-yard try.
Glendale took over possession and drove its seven-yard line for what seemed like a chip-shot winner.
Again, however, the field goal try was missed wide right, sending the contest into a second overtime.
There, Glendale didn’t fool around with a field goal as quarterback Michael Bonds connected on a four-yard touchdown pass to receiver Tyree O’Neil. Unbelievably, however, the Vaqueros’ point-after try failed as Glendale suddenly owned a precarious 26-20 advantage.
The lead and a grasp on the team’s first victory of 2017 fell through when Mt. San Jacinto quarterback Sheriron Jones connected on a 30-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Lundy. Given a second chance, Perine booted through the extra point which delivered the Eagles a 27-26 triumph.
When asked if the contest was disappointing or encouraging, Bonds chose the middle.
“It’s somewhere in between,” said Bonds, who completed 15 of 21 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns. “First of all, we bounced back from a tough, tough loss last week (49-7 to Southwestern) and had a great week of practice. We feel behind in this game, but we came back. I think we executed very well in this game, it just didn’t happened at the end for us.”
Glendale trailed, 20-0, midway through the first half before Bonds scored his team’s first offensive touchdown in two weeks on a one-yard run with 4:04 left in the first half. A successful point-after try brought Glendale within 20-7 at halftime.
The Vaqueros added a 10-yard touchdown run from Daniel Torres, who carried 24 times for 83 yards, with 7:26 to go in third quarter that brought Glendale within 20-13 after a missed point-after kick.
Glendale’s comeback was complete when Bonds hit O’Neil on the first of two touchdown passes from four yards out at 14:07 in the fourth quarter. An extra point knotted the score at 20.
Tight end Randall Mincy hauled in six catches for 63 yards for Glendale, while defensive back Leon Flintroy, who tied with Augie Saucedo with a team-lead of seven tackles, snagged an interception. Charles Suey also forced a fumble for Glendale.
