The Southwestern College football team closed out its 2014 season as champions by claiming last Saturday’s American Division Championship Bowl, 40-23, over the visiting Santa Monica Corsairs.
The bowl game victory was the third consecutive for Southwestern, which set a school record. Jaguars head coach Ed Carberry called the bowl game win “an incredible finish to the season.”
“This game was a microcosm of our entire season,” said Carberry, whose team won its seventh straight game to finish with a 10-1 record. “We did some things wrong, we did some weird things a few times. But when we did things right, we went right down the field … boom, boom, boom.”
Montgomery High School alumnus Diego Rodriguez carried the Jaguars on his back by rushing for 132 yards on 25 carries and scoring four touchdowns.
“It took hard work, it took the whole team,” he said. “We wanted this more than the other team. We gave it all we had.”
Rodriguez scored on runs of 22, seven, four and three yards. His final touchdown, with 2:12 to play, gave the Jags a 17-point lead to secure the victory.
The outcome of the game was in doubt until the final minutes, however.
The Corsairs took a 23-21 lead by scoring on the opening possession of the second half. But the SWC defense shut out Santa Monica thereafter as the hosts made a determined comeback, often hurdling major mistakes of their own creation.
Isaiah Young, Aaron Leon and Kevin Brown all intercepted passes to negate scoring opportunities by the visitors and Xavier Tuitele recovered a fumble to ignite a Jaguars’ scoring drive.
“We wanted to finish strong,” said Chula Vista High alumnus Mike Molina, who earned honors as the Defensive Player of the Game with two of his team’s four sacks. “My brothers stepped up and pulled together. We overcame some obstacles. We won.”
Southwestern’s 560 total yards in offense was just too much for Santa Monica (7-4). SWC quarterback Luis Perez finished with 290 passing yards.
The Jags led 21-16 at halftime but the Corsairs, led by Offensive Player of the Game Steven Hamm (182 passing yards, two touchdowns), controlled the game throughout most of the second half until the hosts scored three touchdowns in the span of 11:34 in the fourth quarter.
Malik Kimbrough returned a punt 69 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter and Chris Kelly caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Tofi Paopao to help the Jags build their first-half lead.
The game featured some crazy plays.
Jaguar sophomore Blake Wilson rumbled 36 yards on a fake punt in the first quarter. He said the play was unscripted.
“I called that on my own,” said Wilson, an Eastlake High School alumnus, who was serving as pass protector on the punt. “Coach Carberry was happy that it worked. If it didn’t, I know I would have gotten an earful.
“I just felt we needed a little field position change and a play to get us going.”
This was Wilson’s second bowl game victory in as many seasons.
“It’s awesome,” the EHS grad said. “This was a goal from the start of the season — to three-peat and do something that had never been done in school history. I’m so proud of these guys.”
Stat attack
Chris Kelly had two catches for 35 yards, including one touchdown while Rodriguez also had three receptions for 22 yards.
Zack Kozlik had seven punts for a 38.4 average, including a longest effort of 58 yards. Kimbrough had four punt returns for 74 yards.
Young returned his pick for 20 yards. Molina led SWC with eight tackles while Young had six, including five solo stops.
Southwestern fumbled four times, losing two balls; Santa Monica’s Hamm fumbled twice, losing one to the Jaguars.
