Glendale Community College football survives opener against East Los Angeles

MONTEREY PARK — For all the errors, gaffes, growing pains and for all the reasons the Glendale Community College football team could have lost Saturday evening’s season opener, the Vaqueros responded with grit and determination at the most crucial of junctures.

Resolve late and a brilliant near 500-yard passing effort from freshman quarterback Grant Kraemer helped Glendale rally and eventually hold off upset-minded East Los Angeles for a 35-31 victory on the road.

PHOTOS: Vaqueros football get past East L.A. 35-31

“When we don’t play like we’ve been accustomed to with the offensive line play and all the mistakes we made, it’s a lot better coming away with a win than a loss,” Glendale Coach John Rome said. “If we’d lost, obviously we’d be a lot more angry, seething. At least with a win, you can say, ‘Well, here’s what we can improve on for next week.’”

It will be difficult for Kraemer to top his offensive exploits Saturday, as the Sherman Oaks Notre Dame product completed 27 of 45 passes for 488 yards and four touchdowns against only one interception.

Yet, for all that success, Glendale needed a 37-yard touchdown pass from Kraemer to wide receiver Elonzo Griffen with 57.7 seconds left to give the Vaqueros a 35-31 lead.

“We struggled for sure, but our line stuck with it, our receivers did a great job and our defense held them when we needed to hold them,” Kraemer said. “We still have a lot to improve on, but a win’s a win.”

Kraemer’s game-winning pass came on a third-and-nine situation in which Griffen hauled in the reception, turned upfield, broke a hand tackle from Huskies defensive back Corie Railey at the 15 and scored.

“I just saw a wide-open space and I knew that a play needed to be made,” said Griffen, who was also spectacular in catching six passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns. “I had to do it for my team.”

While Glendale missed a subsequent two-point conversion try, that didn’t matter as East Los Angeles received possession back on its 34 with 50.4 seconds left and did not advance a yard before turning over the ball on downs.

For an East Los Angeles team that was blown out, 41-0, last season at Sartoris Field, there was still little satisfaction in defeat.

“It’s disappointing and crushing to lose,” first-year East Los Angeles Coach Eric Marty said. “We were there at the end and we had some breakdowns that happened in player discipline and team execution and it’s frustrating. We understand how good Glendale is and this would have been the type of win a community could have rallied around.”

Prior to the Glendale’s game-winning score, Marty’s Huskies appeared to have the momentum, as East Los Angeles took a 28-26 lead with 9:54 left in the third on a two-yard run from quarterback Brian Marty (16 for 30 for 182 yards).

It was more than a quarter later before Glendale finally responded with a 19-yard field goal from Kerin Beltran with 3:44 left in the game, which put Glendale ahead, 29-28.

Beltran’s field goal came on a fourth-and-goal decision from the two.

“We missed two extra points and it made me think about chasing points at the time,” Rome said. “He came through when he had to.”

East Los Angeles responded, though, with a 43-yard field goal from Vicente Luis Juan with 1:29 remaining to take its final lead, 31-29.

Outside of the passing numbers, most other stats went against Glendale.

The Vaqueros were penalized 17 times for 168 yards, while the ground game was held to 40 yards in 25 carries and the defense did not create a turnover or get off the field quick enough, losing the time-of-possession battle by 8 minutes, 1 second.

It was a wild first half in which Glendale took a 26-21 advantage into the break.

Kraemer hit receiver Deondre Dunn (seven catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns) on a 13-yard back-shoulder fade with 1:51 left as Glendale took a 26-14 advantage after the Vaqueros missed their second extra-point try of the half.

The touchdown was matched by the Huskies right before the half as sophomore Iheanyi Obinna scored on a four-yard pitch to bring ELAC within 26-21 with 30.5 seconds left.

Kraemer and Dunn had previously hooked up with 6:58 remaining in the second quarter on another corner fade that gave the Vaqueros a 20-14 advantage.

Perhaps the first of Kraemer’s scores was the most embarrassing for ELAC, hitting Griffen on an 87-yard scoring pass play. The play call came with 20 seconds remaining in the first quarter as the Huskies had only 10 men on field and no one covering a wide-open Griffen, resulting in a 13-7 lead.

Glendale’s opening salvo came on a two-yard touchdown run from highly touted prospect Travis Custis at 3:39 in the first quarter that knotted the score at 7.

ELAC kicked off the game’s scoring with a 55-yard touchdown pass from platoon quarterback Levi Wells to receiver Trey Adkins with 8:32 in the first quarter.

The Huskies’ other score came on a 17-yard touchdown run from Shaq Shelton (17 carries for 75 yards) that gave the home team a 14-13 lead with 12:54 left in the second quarter.

Glendale sophomore linebacker JD Mena turned in arguably his team’s best defensive effort with seven tackles, four of which were for a loss.