GCC wins wild one

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan

Leave it to Glendale Community College football Coach John Cicuto to

describe his team’s 49-48 Western State Conference Southern Division

victory against Citrus College on Saturday.

“That was amazing,” Cicuto said while standing in the Moyse Field

end zone.

The Vaqueros had an up-and-down season, and on Saturday, GCC (4-6,

3-4 in division) capped its 2004 campaign in fitting fashion.

It played well in the first half -- like it has done all year. It

made some mistakes to fall behind in the second half -- nothing new

there.

And it made the game interesting in the final seconds of the

fourth quarter like it only knows how.

But this time, the Vaqueros wrote a different script. Instead of

moaning after another heartbreaking loss, GCC celebrated like it won

the division title after pulling off a 13-point comeback.

Vaquero freshman quarterback Steve Martinez ended a rollercoaster

year by finding Janos Serfozo in the back of the end zone with no

time left on the clock to tie the score at 48.

But the drama didn’t end there.

GCC was called for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty,

forcing Evgeni Mameev to attempt a 35-yard extra point. Mameev made

the game-winning conversion that snapped the Vaqueros’ four-game

losing streak.

“He was not going to miss that,” Cicuto said.

The Vaqueros also weren’t going to be stopped on their final

drive.

After GCC wide receiver Tim Naillieux bobbled the ball a couple of

times while lying on his back, and made an incredible catch to cut

Citrus’ lead to six, the Owls (7-3, 5-2) drove down the field. But

Jared Keating’s 47-yard field goal sailed wide left, giving the ball

to GCC at its own 29-yard line with 1:19 to go.

Martinez then went to work.

“That [situation] was something I’ve been practicing and waiting

for my whole life,” he said.

Martinez got first downs on two third-down situations, and threw a

21-yard pass to Kenneth McDaniel on a fourth-and-10 play.

Two plays later, GCC’s Terrance Watson hauled in a 14-yard pass

that gave the Vaqueros a first down with less than 10 seconds to

play. But the freshman didn’t go out of bounds, and as the referee

spotted the ball with two seconds left, Martinez quickly took the

snap, and ran around the backfield before finding Serfozo wide open.

“It’s really exciting because we had so many heartbreaks,” said

Cicuto, whose team played its final game at Moyse Field, as it will

move to an on-campus site next fall.

GCC sophomore running back Chris Berroud finished with a

career-high 202 rushing yards, and scored on runs of 64, 19 and 22

yards. Sophomore teammate Justin Tyler had 102 rushing yards and a

30-yard touchdown run.