Glendale college football stumbles in loss to Pasadena City College
PASADENA — The running game was the engine that powered the Glendale Community College football team’s drive early in a nonconference game against Pasadena City College on Saturday.
Then, the Vaqueros offense stalled at the most inopportune time, and eventually, gravity played its part and flipped momentum over to the Lancers.
Pasadena scored four touchdowns in the second half to defeat Glendale, 35-7, at Robinson Stadium to extend its winning streak over the Vaqueros to three games.
“It was like we had the ball for 12 minutes in the first quarter and then we ended up with 15 minutes for the whole half,” Glendale coach John Rome said. “It’s hard to explain. Everything we could seemingly did well in the first quarter, we stopped doing that not really based on their adjustments very much.”
It was the perfect start to the second quarter when Vaqueros running back and St. Francis grad Elijah Washington capped a 17-play, 80-yard drive with a three-yard scoring run to give the Vaqueros a 7-0 lead with 13:35 remaining in the second.
From there, Glendale (0-2) had just 10 plays to finish the half with just 2 minutes, 19 seconds of time on possession.
“All of the credit has to go to our defense allowing them only seven points,” Pasadena coach Steven Mojarro said. “Coach Marc Paramo, coach Addison Hawthorne, coach Antyone Sims and coach Louie Corona did a great job game-planning. I think all the credit needs to go to our defense again this game. They’ve been saving us.”
Pasadena starting quarterback Kade Wentz finished the first half on eight-of-14 passing for 51 yards to go with nine carries for 48 yards and one touchdown run.
Lancers substitute quarterback Edward Norton, who played the entire second half, dealt the most damage to the Vaqueros, passing on four-of-eight attempts for 144 yards and a touchdown alongside nine carries for 112 yards and three touchdowns.
“We tried to wear him out by missing tackles and letting him run, hoping heat exhaustion would slow him down,” Rome said.
For the Vaqueros, starting quarterback Nathan Eldridge completed 10 of 15 passes for 57 yards and quarterback Jorge Amaya completed eight of 20 passes for 85 yards, mostly in the second half.
Washington finished with 14 carries for 36 yards and a touchdown, while Adayus Robertson tallied five carries for 21 yards, but was sidelined with a sprained ankle at the half.
“We had a hard time getting the ball off; we had a hard time stretching the field, which I think we need to do if we’re going to have success.” Rome said.
After the Vaqueros’ touchdown run, the Lancers benefited from a 70-yard run from Jabari Kindle to spot the hosts at the Glendale 6-yard line. With 11:04 on the clock, Pasadena saw a 35-yard field goal attempt fall short as the Glendale lead stood at 7-0.
After a Glendale three-and-out, Pasadena made its way down to the Vaqueros 6-yard line, where Wentz scored with 4:48 left. The Vaqueros suffered a penalty on defense on the extra-point attempt, and the Lancers regrouped and ran in for the two-point conversion and an 8-7 lead.
Norton began his scoring spurt with a 19-yard run down the middle to extend the Lancers’ lead to 15-7 on the host’s first drive of the half at 10:22 in the third.
Glendale had a lengthy, five-minute drive before the third quarter ended, but the Vaqueros turned the ball over on downs with 1:49 left in the frame.
“I don’t think our quarterback play was especially good tonight by either quarterback,” Rome said. “I don’t think our running backs did a particularly good job, but Elijah Washington sure did. The offensive line looked so good early.”
Norton took just two plays to score on a 68-yard pass to Ahmad Lipscomb for a 22-7 lead 24 seconds later.
At 11:44 in the final quarter, Norton ran it home for a two-yard score and the 29-7 advantage.
The Vaqueros turned over the ball on downs again with 8:31 left, and Norton took the opportunity to score on an 83-yard run on the first play of the Lancers’ drive to take a 35-7 lead after the missed extra point.