No. 2 El Camino Routs Southwestern, 52-20

On occasion, El Camino College football Coach John Featherstone has been asked to compare this year’s team with the national championship team he had two years ago that went 11-0 and won the Pony Bowl championship.

Featherstone hasn’t wanted to commit yet, but if this year’s team continues to play like it did Saturday night in its 52-20 rout of Southwestern College, Featherstone may have to commit himself after all.

El Camino, currently ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Today, could have left here at halftime, because it held a 31-7 lead and there was no doubt who would win. Of course, Southwestern can’t be put in the same category as, say, a Fullerton College, which battled El Camino before losing by a touchdown two weeks ago.

These two teams are going in opposite directions in the Mission Conference. Southwestern (1-4) has lost four straight Mission Conference games. El Camino is 5-0 overall, 4-0 in the conference and has a state-leading 12-game winning streak.

El Camino rode the passing of sophomore quarterback Frank Dolce. Dolce completed 19 of 25 passes for 256 yards and four touchdowns in a little more than three quarters.

He had 225 of those yards and three TD passes in the first 30 minutes as El Camino opened a 28-0 lead. The first score went 23 yards to Marlon McBride with 10:51 left in the first quarter. Niu Sale returned a punt 47 yards for another score two minutes later, and in another two minutes, Dolce threw to Shannon Thompson on a 49-yard fly pattern.