San Diego County’s community college football derby is over and the Southwestern College Jaguars finished a respectable 2-1 in games against Palomar, San Diego Mesa and Grossmont colleges following last Saturday’s 40-37 non-conference victory over the latter team.
SWC coach Ed Carberry called the decision over the Griffins a “great win for the Jags.”
“We dominated the majority of the game and controlled the clock,” he said. “We beat our two recruiting rivals Mesa and Grossmont in consecutive weeks. It is the second time in the last four years that we have beaten Grossmont and the third year in a row we have beaten Mesa.”
Southwestern, which improved to 2-1 on the season, overcame a 17-7 first quarter deficit by out-scoring host Grossmont 26-0 over the middle two quarters of the game.
Aaron Harris (Granite Hills) scored on two short runs and Marquise Deadwiler (Helix) scored touchdowns on two passes from quarterback Brett Nelson (St. Francis) to key the Jaguars’ victory.
Jovan Gonzales (Olympian) kicked field goals of 48 and 33 yards to further boost SWC while Nelson scored on a nine-yard run with 1:41 left in the game to record what proved to be the decisive points of the contest.
Harris, who scored on runs of four and five yards, accumulated 36 yards on 15 carries. Patrick Mitchell (Morse) led all SWC ground-gainers with 72 yards on 14 carries while Cass White (San Diego) rushed eight times for 58 net yards.
Nelson completed 26 of 39 passing attempts for 275 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He was sacked once.
Deadwiler led the Jags with 10 catches for 110 yards.
Nick Floyd (Grossmont) led SWC’s defense with eight tackles while Tyrone Richardson (Chula Vista) made seven defensive stops. The Griffins (0-3) were held to 68 net rushing yards but passed for 309 yards against the Southwestern secondary.
But ball control proved pivotal in the outcome. The Jags rolled up 27 first downs to Grossmont’s 13 in the game and out-gained the Griffins 471-377 in total net offensive yards.
Southwestern enters a bye week and will host Mt. San Jacinto on Oct. 1 at 6 p.m.
