Barrick, Palomar Finish in a Bowl of Fame

Any of the fame quarterback Scott Barrick gave up when he left San Diego State’s football team last spring, he earned back Saturday at the fifth Hall of Fame Bowl in Balboa Stadium.

Barrick, a sophomore, had already jumped into a program that hadn’t played one postseason game in Palomar’s 45-year history, and systematically broke national (one), conference (seven) and school (18) records.

On Saturday, the former Fallbrook star led the Mission Conference South Division champion Palomar Comets (7-4) to a 21-20, come-from-behind victory over Ventura (7-4), the third place finisher in the Western State Conference.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better finish,” said Barrick, who passed for the Comets’ two touchdowns, completing 33 of 53 passes for 385 yards. “This is great.”

But for kicker Lino Persi, there was more a feeling of relief than joy after the freshman from Edmonton had won the game with a 38-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining.

Five minutes earlier and trailing 20-18, Persi had missed badly on a 37-yard field goal attempt, after the Comets had driven 66 yards in nine plays.

“I messed up on the last one and I didn’t want to mess up on the second one,” Persi said. “I didn’t want to have to tell my family and friends that I had lost the game. I just wanted to redeem myself.”

Starting on the Palomar 20, Barrick threw passes for 34 and 25 yards to wide receiver Chris Chiarappa to reach Ventura’s 21. The drive stalled on the next three plays and in trotted Persi.

For Ventura, it was perplexing to see a game that it had led for 58 minutes slip away in the last two. The Pirates held on to leads of 7-0 and 17-15 after the first and second quarters, and were ahead, 20-18, going into the fourth.

“The key was that fourth and one when we didn’t get it,” said Ventura Coach Phil Passno.

Ah. That fourth and one. Early in the final quarter, Ventura’s Fernando Green--the game’s leading rusher with 124 yards on 25 carries--ran five times for 42 yards, one short of the team’s 43 on the nine-play drive. Passno elected not to punt on fourth and one at the Comet’s 37, and Ventura quarterback Todd Paffhausen was sacked.

“The quarterback didn’t have time to throw,” Green said.

Not theirs. But Barrick did. Only 74 of Palomar’s 459 yards in total offense came by running. And although they were double covered much of the afternoon, his favorite targets were tight end Eric Hansen (15 catches for 162 yards and touchdowns of 41 and 7 yards) and Chiarappa (16 for 114).

They are the National Community College’s first and third leading receivers and are the first teammates in conference history to each gain more than 1,000 yards receiving in the same season.

“People can look like stars, but if you don’t have a quarterback that can get the ball to you, what good is it?” Chiarappa said. “Eric and I had a lot of catches, but he put the ball there.”