The Southwestern College football team will meet Allan Hancock College in the American Division Championship Bowl on Saturday, Nov. 18.
Kick-off is at 4 p.m. at Santa Maria High School.
The Jaguars (8-2) qualified for the division championship game after winning the American Mountain Conference title with an intrepid 19-14 win at San Diego Mesa last Saturday.
Mesa had led the conference rankings all season long and took an 8-1 overall record into the conference championship game.
Allan Hancock, the American Pacific Conference champion, is 8-2 and riding the momentum of a five-game winning streak.
Southwestern is riding the momentum of a six-game winning streak.
“We will be leaving early on Saturday morning (for Santa Barbara County),” SWC head coach Ed Carberry said. “We’re excited to represent our college and our community.”
This is the sixth bowl game for the Jaguars since 2008 and the 12th in school history. Carberry and his coaching staff are 3-3 in bowl games over the past 10 years.
Prior to their recent string of six bowl game appearances, the Jaguars last won a conference title in 1988.
For Carberry & Co. this is the fifth league championship and second American Mountain Conference title.
Carberry called last Saturday’s conference championship game “a backyard brawl” between the two cross-town rivals.
“It was a great game … one of our biggest wins since we have been here,” Carberry said. “The players re-grouped at halftime and came out battling.
“Mesa was tough on defense; with eight sophomores they gave us everything we could handle. Two to three plays makes a difference in who wins. We out ‘big-played’ them with three interceptions and a fumble recovery. A trick play and a long touchdown run were the difference in the game.”
Former Eastlake High School standout Isaiah Strayhorn drew first blood for the Jaguars after scoring on a four-yard run with 4:17 left in the opening quarter.
The extra-point conversion by Alexander Nixon gave Southwestern a 7-0 lead.
However, the Olympians tied the score 7-all when Logan Vallo scored on a three-yard run with five seconds elapsed in the second quarter. Ronnie Ochoa supplied the successful kick-conversion to tie the game.
Southwestern took a 13-7 lead with 6:45 to play in the second quarter when Strayhorn broke loose on a 50-yard scoring run. Nixon’s extra-point attempt was blocked, however.
The Olympians took the lead, 14-13, when Vallo scored on an eight-yard run with 1:21 left in the first half. The 37-yard scoring drive took three plays in just 39 seconds.
Ochoa’s successful PAT conversion gave the hosts a one-point lead at halftime.
The Jaguars scored the game-winning touchdown with 3:29 remaining in the third quarter. Nick Sexton took a pass and then passed 59 yards to fellow receiver Camron Lewis for a touchdown.
The two-play scoring drive took just 38 seconds. Strayhorn was stopped short of the goal line on a two-point conversion attempt.
Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.
“Our defense shut them out in the second half,” Carberry said.
Lewis was the team’s big player on offense with eight catches for 148 yards and one touchdown. Strayhorn rushed 16 times for 83 yards and scored three touchdowns.
Safety Ricky Barfield keyed the defense with two interceptions. His pick on the final play of the game sealed the win for SWC.
Freshman cornerback Jalen Nelson (Horizon) led the Jaguars with seven tackles and a key pass breakup at the end of the game.
Carberry said sophomore long snapper Manny Machado was “money all night and all season.”
Southwestern out-gained Mesa 322-303 in total yards; the Olympians committed four turnovers to two for the Jags.
SWC quarterback Demonte Morris completed 15 of 21 passing attempts for 132 yards; he also rushed 13 times for 62 yards.
Sexton completed his only pass of the game for a touchdown; he also caught two passes for nine yards. Strayhorn also caught one pass for nine yards.
Patrick Jean-Charles had two pass receptions for 13 yards while Chris Mack had three catches for 12 yards.
The teams combined for three missed field goals — two by the Jaguars and one by Mesa.
Spencer Moyer (West Hills) led the Olympians with 203 passing yards and was intercepted twice. Jeremiah Henderson completed three of seven passing attempts for 13 yards and one pick.
Neither Olympian signal-caller completed a touchdown pass in the game.
Vallo rushed 23 times for 90 yards and racked up two TDs.
Antwoine Ware had seven catches for 115 yards.
Stat sheet
Southwestern is averaging 36.6 points per game this season and 374.6 offensive yards per game. The Jags remain fairly balanced with 196.6 passing yards per game and 178.0 rushing yards per game.
Morris has passed for 957 yards with 10 touchdowns and two interceptions in eight games.
Strayhorn has rushed 133 times for 791 yards and 12 touchdowns. He’s fumbled just once this season.
Morris has rushed 56 times for 343 yards with one touchdown, and has fumbled twice.
Mack leads the team with 46 receptions for 502 yards while Sexton has caught 29 passes for 309 yards.
Lewis has 26 catches for 519 yards while Ryan Stokes has 26 catches for 477 yards.
Mack, Sexton and Stokes are sophomores; Lewis is a freshman.
Stokes leads the group with six touchdown catches while Lewis has four TD receptions. Mack and Sexton each have caught three touchdown passes.
Nixon has collected 43 kicking points this season while Dean Smith has averaged 32.3 yards on 43 punts.
Adrian Petty tops SWC with 493 yards on 17 kickoff returns (29.0 average) and 378 yards on 23 punt returns (16.4 average). He’s scored touchdowns on two kickoff returns and three punt returns.
Petty leads the team with 883 all-purpose yards; Strayhorn is next up with 806 all-purpose yards.
Strayhorn leads the Jaguars with 74 scoring points.
Defensively, Sergio Ayon tops Southwestern with 61 tackles while Duran Miller has recorded 9.5 sacks. Shaquez Bond has eight interceptions to his credit, followed by Barfield with four and Nelson with three.
Miller ranks second on the team with 45 tackles.
Carberry said everyone on the team’s coaching staff is scrambling to find out everything they can about Allan Hancock’s football team.
“On video, they look like a solid team with a big physical offensive line,” the SWC head coach said.
Hancock defeated visiting Citrus, 29-24, in the teams’ regular season final game on Nov. 11. Prior to that, the Bulldogs beat host Antelope Valley, 21-7, and L.A. Pierce, 44-34. Hancock’s five-game winning streak also includes victories against L.A. Valley (46-7) and Santa Barbara (31-3).
Southwestern has defeated both Citrus (16-3) and L.A. Pierce (51-13).
Against other common opponents, the Bulldogs defeated Pasadena City, 37-26, and lost to San Bernardino Valley by a 24-18 score.
The Jaguars have beaten San Bernardino Valley (60-28) but lost to Pasadena City (38-34).
Hancock is averaging 372.5 offensive yards per game — 241.5 rushing and 131 passing.
Team leaders for Hancock include sophomore quarterback Jimmy Kelleher with 12,69 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions; freshman running back Ryheem Skinner with 709 rushing yards and seven touchdowns; and sophomore receiver Nick Kimball with 365 receiving yards.
Jordan Pollard has made 10 of 11 field goal attempts and leads his team with 60 kicking points.
Osa Omokaro leads the Bulldog defense with 12 sacks and three forced fumbles.
Extra points
Carberry needs three more win to tie Bob Mears for most wins as head coach at SWC. Mears collected 74 wins from 1976-89; Carberry has 71 wins, including last week’s win over Mesa.
Carberry has collected 192 career coaching wins – 102 as a high school head coach and 90 as a community college head coach.
He has 101 wins at Monte Vista High School.
“I wouldn’t still be doing this if I didn’t love it,” he said when asked what keeps him motivated at the start of each season.
American Mountain
Conference Standings
Southwestern 5-0
San Diego Mesa 4-1
Mt. San Jacinto 2-3
San Bernardino Valley 2-3
Victor Valley 1-4
College of the Desert 1-4
Overall records: Southwestern 8-2, San Diego Mesa 8-2, Mt. San Jacinto 5-5, San Bernardino Valley 5-5, Victor Valley 5-5, College of the Desert 4-6
Southwestern College
Bowl Game History
1982: South Bay Bowl champions
1983: South Bay Bowl champions
1985: Community College Bowl
1986: National Foundation Bowl
1988: Hall of Fame Bowl
1999: South County Bowl
2000: South County Bowl
2008: Santa Barbara Bowl
2012: American Bowl champions
2013: Patriotic Bowl champions
2014: American Bowl champions
2016: American Bowl
