Whereas the Southwestern College football team finished the regular season portion of its 2018 season in somewhat tumultuous fashion, the reward is nevertheless in sight.
The Jaguars will host the Palomar College on Saturday, Nov. 17, in this year’s California community college Beach Bowl.
Kick-off is 1 p.m. at DeVore Stadium. Gates open at 11 a.m.
The game is a rematch of the teams’ Sept. 8 non-conference game at Escondido High School that Southwestern College won 42-6.
The Jaguars enter Saturday’s bowl game with an overall record of 7-3 while the Comets are 6-4.
Southwestern finished 2-3 in National Southern Conference play this season after opening the 2018 pigskin campaign 5-0, including a subsequent forfeit win against two-time defending state champion Fullerton College.
The Jaguars dropped their opening game in conference play, 39-20, to visiting Saddleback College on Oct. 13. Southwestern defeated host Grossmont College, 37-20, on Oct. 20 to become bowl eligible.
However, SWC lost, 36-6, at Riverside on Oct. 27 to drop to 1-2 in conference play. Riverside (10-0) defeated Saddleback (6-4) by a score of 28-7 last Saturday to claim the conference championship and an automatic berth in the state playoffs.
The Jaguars wrapped up regular season play with a 42-21 conference win at Orange Coast College last Saturday. The win came after Southwestern suffered its worst loss of the season, 24-20, to visiting Golden West College on Nov. 3 to dip to 1-3 in conference play.
The Jaguars rallied from a 17-6 deficit against Golden West to lead 20-17 on an 18-yard scoring pass from Marcus Hernandez-Torrez to Paden Hazuga and a nine-yard touchdown run by Deandre Daniels with 4:02 to play in the game.
However, a fumbled snap led to the nightmare ending for the hosts as Golden West recovered the ball in the shadow of the SWC goalposts.
Beau Kalbacher fired an 18-yard scoring pass to Jonathan Earl with 1:04 to play to stand up as the game-winner. The scoring drive took two plays and 28 seconds to complete.
In the loss, Jaime Medina and Mark Alejandre each missed field goals while the hosts coughed up two fumbles.
Hernandez-Torrez accumulated 177 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception in the setback while DeAngelo Howard had four carries for 65 yards, including one burst of 30 yards.
The setback to Golden West meant the Jaguars needed to defeat Orange Coast in the teams’ final regular season game to allow Southwestern to host a bowl game.
“Totally do-able,” Jags head coach Ed Carberry said.
Southwestern built a 21-0 first quarter lead on the Pirates and tacked on 21 second-half points to secure the key victory.
The Jaguars led, 35-15, early in the fourth quarter.
The teams combined for 839 yards in total offense though Southwestern scored the lions’ share of points.
Daniels rushed 15 times for 110 yards and scored two touchdowns while Howard (three carries, 64 yards), Sean Davie (one carry, 34 yards) and quarterback Demonte Morris (eight carries, 32 yards) each scored one rushing touchdown.
Morris completed nine of 20 passing attempts for 139 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Hazuga had four catches for 54 yards and one touchdown while Andre Randolph had two catches for 42 yards.
Howard had two catches for 34 yards while Terrell Johnson had seven carries for 52 yards.
The Jaguars piled up 293 net rushing yards to 208 for OCC.
Mark Alejandre was five-for-five on extra-point conversions while Jaime Medina was one-for-one with one missed field goal.
Medina fared better with three punts for a 47.0-yard average with three balls dropped inside the opponent’s 20-yard line while averaging 55.1 yards on seven kickoffs.
Howard also had two punt returns for 34 yards.
Defensively, Southwestern recorded three interceptions — one each by Devin Washington (20 yards), Will Havird (zero yards) and Noah Berry (23 yards). The Jaguars also recorded two sacks (Isaac Wright and Quentin Walker) and two fumble recoveries (Berry and Daelyn Moses-Dunn).
Logan Darby led SWC in the game with nine tackles.
Daniels scored on runs of nine and two yards while Howard broke loose for a 63-yard touchdown run. Morris scored on a 16-yard run while tossing a 25-yard scoring pass to Hazuga.
Season leaders
On the season, Morris has thrown for 692 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions while Hernandez-Torrez has thrown for 503 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions.
Daniels has rushed for 939 yards with 15 touchdowns while Johnson (235 rushing yards) and Morris (209 rushing yards) have each scored two rushing touchdowns. Morris has fumbled seven times, losing four fumbles.
Hazuga (22 catches, 311 yards) leads the Jaguars with three receiving touchdowns. Howard (27 catches, 344 yards, Tyler Adderley (10 catches, 70 yards), Davie (eight catches, 121 yards), Josh Mason (seven catches, 39 yards), Jesse Leasau (three catches, 39 yards) and Nicholas Bailey (one catch, 13 yards) each have caught one touchdown pass.
Howard has 421 yards in punt returns with one touchdown.
Daniels leads Southwestern with 1,072 all-purpose yards while Howard has 1,036 all-purpose yards.
Darby leads the SWC defense with 56 tackles while Moses-Dunn tops the team with 13.5 tackles for a loss. Angelo Trujillo leads the Jags with five interceptions while Isaac Wright and Washington each have three picks.
Southwestern has recovered 17 fumbles, recorded 41 sacks and logged 19 interceptions overall. Alexis Quinones leads the team with 7.5 sacks.
The Jaguars have allowed only 15 sacks this season and eight interceptions.
Palomar, which finished 3-2 in National Central Conference play, is coming off last Saturday’s 41-21 loss at San Diego Mesa.
Connor Curry tossed three touchdown passes and was intercepted twice in the loss to Mesa. He has thrown for 1,875 yards with 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season while rushing for 325 yards and five touchdowns.
Former Olympian High School multi-sport standout Isaiah Williams caught a 24-yard touchdown pass for Mesa (4-6) in last weekend’s win over the Comets. He has caught five touchdowns on the season.
Riverside will host National Central Conference champion El Camino (8-2) in the opening round of the state championship playoffs this Saturday. The winner advances to the second round of the state playoff bracket on Nov. 24.
Southern California Regional playoffs/Nov. 17
(4) Ventura (9-1) at (1) Canyons (10-0), 6 p.m.
(3) El Camino (8-2) at (2) Riverside (10-0). 6 p.m.
Note: winners advance to SCFA championship game on Nov. 24 at higher seed
Bowl games/Nov. 17
Beach Bowl: (8) Palomar (6-4) at (5) Southwestern (7-3). 1 p.m.
Patriotic Bowl: (9) Bakersfield (6-4) at (6) Saddleback (6-4). 5 p.m.
Southern California Bowl: (7) Golden West (6-4) at (10) Cerritos (6-4), 6 p.m.
American Championship Bowl: (2) San Bernardino Valley (9-1) at (1) Allan Hancock (9-1), 6 p.m.
Western State Bowl: (4) Citrus (7-3) at (3) Chaffey (9-1), 1 p.m.
Former Eastlake High School football standouts headed to Division II NCAA playoffs
A pair of former Eastlake High School football standouts are headed for this Saturday’s Division II NCAA playoffs.
Junior Isaiah Strayhorn, also a graduate of Southwestern College, ended the regular season as the leading rusher on perennial Division II power Northeast Missouri State. The Bearcats (9-2) are currently nationally ranked at No. 18, and will engage No. 7-ranked Grand Valley State in a first-round match-up.
Azusa Pacific’s late surge to capture the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Football title coincided with senior running back Aaron Baltazar’s return from an ankle injury. The Cougars (7-3) ended the regular season ranked 24th nationally and earned a berth in the Division II NCAA playoffs and will play at sixth-ranked Tarleton State on Saturday, Nov 17. Baltazar gained 120 yards during the last three-game rush to the title.
