Glendale college football hits snag after promising start
It was a lengthy roller-coaster ride for the Glendale Community College football team in its latest game Saturday afternoon.
The Vaqueros enjoyed success early in their nonconference game on the road at Mount San Jacinto, jumping out to a lead in the first quarter.
But things went sour for Glendale college in the second quarter, as the Eagles went on a huge scoring binge that carried over into the second half.
Although the Vaqueros ended the game with an offensive flurry, it wasn’t enough to erase an early deficit, as Glendale lost the game that featured 108 points, 59-49.
The loss keeps the Vaqueros (0-4) winless on the season, as they will open American Metro Conference play at 1 p.m. Saturday at West L.A.
Mt. San Jacinto improved to 4-0.
There was offense aplenty in Saturday’s contest, as the teams combined for 1,133 yards of total offense (630 for Mt. San Jacinto, 503 for Glendale college).
“I think both teams’ defensive coordinators are going to be on suicide watch after this game,” Glendale coach John Rome said.
The up-and-down adventure for the Vaqueros began in the first quarter when they fell behind, 6-0, after the Eagles returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown.
But that deficit was erased quickly and Glendale college took one of its three leads of the contest, 7-6, after Nate Degraffinreaidt hauled in a 45-yard scoring pass from quarterback Nathan Eldridge with 7:42 remaining in the opening quarter.
Eldridge had a productive day, completing 10 of 25 passes for 204 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Mt. San Jacinto’s quarterback, Brett Virgil, completed 16 of 32 passes for 341 yards, four touchdowns and no picks.
Virgil was also effective on the ground, carrying 14 times for 193 yards and three additional scores.
Again the pendulum swung in favor of the Eagles, which went in front, 12-7.
Once again the Vaqueros battled back, scoring a touchdown when Eldridge hooked up with Jalen Lawrence on a 61-yard scoring strike with 2:54 left in the first to jump in front and take a 14-12 advantage after one quarter.
Following an Eagles score, the Vaqueros again grabbed the lead, 21-20, with 9:37 left in the second quarter on a 15-yard touchdown scamper from Adayus Robertson
However, from that point on things went south in a big way for Glendale.
“In the beginning of the game, we were both kind of trading scores left and right,” Rome said. “They we stalled out offensively late in that second quarter and their momentum kept going.
“When they made that move in the second quarter, that kind of deflated us. They were very good offensively and when they went on the run that they did we weren’t able to step up and stop them.”
Mt. San Jacinto reeled off 28 straight points and went into halftime with a 40-21 advantage.
Things didn’t get much better in the second half for Glendale, which saw Mt. San Jacinto increase its scoring onslaught to 32 straight points, taking a commanding 52-21 lead with 9:06 remaining in the third.
The Vaqueros’ offense then woke up, going on a 21-7 run that carried into the fourth quarter.
In what would be the final points of the contest, Glendale cut the deficit to 59-49 when quarterback Marcus Matchie threw a two-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Lawrence with 12 seconds remaining.
“I was happy with the way that we played in the fourth and we still could have been in it with five minutes left,” Rome said. “But we just didn’t have that much left in the tank. We just couldn’t overcome falling behind by that much.”
Degraffinreaidt scored touchdowns on his two catches of the afternoon, totaling 70 yards. Lawrence had four catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns and Christopher Lee had three grabs for 44 yards and two scores.
Degraffinreaidt also led the Glendale ground attack, carrying the ball 19 times for 75 yards.
Matchie had a six-for-12 performance for 82 yards and two touchdowns.
“There are some definite things that were positive that we can take away from this game,” Rome said. “I think we have been growing as a team the last few weeks. We have a young team and it’s just a process to get better … but we’re getting there.”
Twitter: @jefftsports
