Loveland, Palomar Get Crucial League Win

As the clouds settled over Excaliber Field, the only thing offering more gloom than the sky was the specter of facing Palomar College without a starting quarterback, yet that was the task facing Southwestern on Saturday.

Palomar is ranked second in Southern California, fifth in the state, sixth in the nation.

Add doom to the gloom.

The Comets (6-1, 1-0) rolled up 464 yards of offense and scored a 35-13 Mission Conference Southern Division victory over Southwestern in the game that, for all practical purposes, should have decided the conference champion.

The Apaches (3-4, 0-1) had no running game against the Palomar defense--they rushed 25 times for no yards--and used three quarterbacks, Derek Chapman (one of three, three yards), Rob Tron (eight of 25, 71 yards) and Pat Aument (10 of 19, 146 yards). Chapman, who bruised a shoulder last week, opened the game with three passes before Coach Bill Kinney pulled him to avoid further injury.

“I’m not going to jeopardize a young man’s career,” Kinney said. “There ain’t a football game in the world that’s worth it. Not even this one.”

So Kinney watched as the state’s leading passer, Andy Loveland, complete 14 of 28 passes for 263 yards to pace the Comets. He completed eight passes for 197 yards to Jerry Garrett, including a 73-yard scoring strike one play after Southwestern had pulled to 20-13 with 7:00 left in the third quarter on a Rufus Dorsey touchdown run. Loveland also added a 23-yard touchdown pass to Choo Choo Walker in the fourth quarter.

Palomar took a 17-0 lead as Loveland and Walker scored touchdowns and David Napier kicked 38-yard field goal. Aument threw a 21-yard scoring pass to pull to 17-7, but Napier’s 36-yard field goal made it 20-7.