Ross Gains 214 Yards, Scores 5 Times in Palomar Victory

A year ago about this time, Palomar College was playing for an unofficial national title.

The stakes weren’t quite so high this season, but the Comets didn’t treat Saturday night’s subject as any less significant.

In the Simple Green Classic at Orange Coast College’s LeBard Stadium, Mission South Conference champion Palomar dismissed Mission North Conference champion Mt. San Antonio College, 45-28, in what will be remembered as one of the classic performances in the 11-year history of the bowl game.

Palomar’s Markeith Ross, the San Diego Section’s career leading rusher when he was at Rancho Buena Vista, set a bowl scoring record with five touchdowns and rushing record with 214 yards.

Ross’ playing time increased two-fold when running back Tony Burton went out early in the game with a mild neck injury. To give Ross sufficient rest, Comet Coach Tom Craft would take out Ross and send in four wideouts until Ross was ready to re-enter the game.

“That way I never really got tired,” he said.

Tired no, surprised, yes.

No one was caught off-guard more than Ross when quarterback Tom Luginbill found the running back on a long pass play on Palomar’s first touchdown drive.

“He never even throws it to me in practice,” said Ross, who rushed 32 times and scored on runs of 32, 1, 5 and 2 yards. “These aren’t the best hands in Texas.”

Luginbill, who was 16 of 33 for 250 yards and one touchdown, was equally surprised.

“When we run that pattern, there’s always a (defensive back) on him,” he said. “But this guy was 6-3, 240. No way he was going to keep up with (Ross).”

For having the best pass defense--and third overall--in the Mission Conference, the Mounties (13-3) were ineffective against Palomar (10-1). The Comets gained 503 yards to Mt. SAC’s 241.

“We really wanted to play Saddleback,” Luginbill said in reference to the earlier game between Saddleback and City College of San Francisco--Saddleback won, 24-12--in what was possibly for the national community college title.

“We wanted to beat Mt. San Antonio to prove that we deserved to play Saddleback,” he said. “Maybe we could set up a deal to play them next week.”

The Comets handled the football like a precious metal throughout the first half. Every possession--Palomar scored five of the first six times it had the ball--turned into gold and the Comets took a 31-7 halftime lead.

After David Napier’s 34-yard field goal, Ross scored three of Palomar’s four first-half touchdowns.

Running back Tony Burton broke up Ross’ scoring binge with a 5-yard run, but Ross scored on a 32-yard burst and on one-yard leap in the second quarter.