Palomar to Play State’s Top Team in Bowl

Palomar College’s football team announced Sunday that it has decided not to take the favorable odds, the home crowd or that short drive to Chula Vista this December. Instead, the Comets will shoot for No. 1.

No. 1, as in best in the state and perhaps the country.

Rather than return to the Hall Of Fame Bowl, the annual game played at Southwestern College that Palomar has won the past two years, the Comets--ranked No. 1 in Southern California and No. 2 in the state--accepted a bid from the Elks Bowl in Merced. They will face the state’s top-ranked team, Chabot College.

The game is at 1 p.m. Dec. 7. Both teams are 9-1. Palomar Coach Tom Craft says the Elks Bowl will provide the showdown about which he’s spent most of the season dreaming.

“This is a state-title game with national implications,” Craft said. “I think there’s a strong possibility the winner could be crowned the national champion.”

The Comets, champions of the Mission Conference, are ranked fourth in the nation, one spot higher than Chabot, Golden Gate Conference champion. The national poll service, based in Southern California, might also be watching the Mid-American Bowl, which will pit No. 1 Northeastern Oklahoma against No. 2 Northwest Mississippi.

“Normally we would be just locked into the Hall of Fame Bowl,” said Craft, Palomar’s coach since 1983. “But the Elks Bowl people got real aggressive to get this matchup. For our players, you get a chance like this once in a lifetime.

“And we wanted a chance to get the No. 1 team. But we gotta go up there. That’s a partisan crowd up there, that’s more or less their back yard.”

Palomar is coming off Hall Of Fame Bowl victories over Ventura, 21-20, in 1989 and Antelope Valley, 28-24, in 1990. Until 1989, the Comets never had won a league title or appeared in a bowl game.

Palomar boasts quarterback Andy Loveland, the state leader with 3,227 passing yards who has a 60% completion average and 29 touchdowns. Receivers Jerry Garrett (state leading 82 catches for 1,303 yards) and Myron Wise (62-1,037) became only the second tandem in state history to each have 1,000-yard seasons. The defense features preseason All-American lineman Tamasi Amituanai (6-feet-3, 340 pounds).

“This is might be the best team that we’ve had in 47 years,” Craft said. “This is our best record. From an exposure standpoint, this is an important game.”