Junior College Football Roundup : Glendale Defeats Pierce, 43-15

Excuse the Pierce College football team if it is a little gun-shy about finding out who this week’s opponent is.

It’s not more of those Vaqueros, is it?

Give Pierce some Lions, Tigers or Bears--anything but Vaqueros. They’ve already caused enough damage this season.

Pierce lost its second consecutive Western State Conference game to a team nicknamed Vaqueros, falling, 43-15, Saturday night to the Glendale Vaqueros at Glendale High.

Last week, the Brahmas (1-2 overall, 0-2 in conference play) lost to the Santa Barbara Vaqueros, 28-20.

Pierce, which was allowing an average of 512 yards to opponents going into the game, gave up 469 to Glendale.

It was a night for former Brahmas to shine.

Ex-Pierce quarterback Ronnie Lopez passed for one touchdown and ran for another. Lopez completed seven of eight passes for 131 yards. And former Brahma Wes Bender scored touchdowns on runs of one and 14 yards.

Dominic Mustin scored both Pierce touchdowns on second-half runs of 13 and two yards.

Glendale (1-1-1, 1-0-1) led, 21-0, at halftime and tacked on two third-quarter touchdowns--one a 68-yard pass from quarterback Darren Fitzgerald to Pat Lynch--to turn the game into a runaway. Fitzgerald was five of seven for 130 yards and one touchdown. Lynch caught four passes for 137 yards.

Glendale scored on its first three offensive series. Bender, who transferred to Glendale this season, scored the first two Vaquero touchdowns. Glendale, which stayed primarily on the ground in the first half, increased its advantage to three touchdowns early in the second period when Doug Dragomer went three yards for a touchdown and David Bowen added his third conversion kick.

Pierce was competitive from a statistical standpoint in the first half, gaining 144 yards--92 from quarterback Jamie Grossman, who completed 10 of 18 passes with one interception in the half. Grossman finished 14 of 26 for 148 yards.

Glendale had 192 first-half yards, 137 on the ground. Sean Hampton led all first-half rushers with 75 yards in five carries for the Vaqueros. He finished with a game-leading 92 yards in seven carries.

Pierce twice hurt itself in the first half by committing turnovers on drives inside Glendale territory. Louis Vann fumbled the ball away at the Vaquero 40 in the first period, and a Grossman pass was intercepted at the Glendale 13 by Ron Morgan late in the second quarter.