While an 11-win season now appears out of reach, the Southwestern College football team still has plenty to play for.
Following an 8-0 start to the 2016 season, the Jaguars’ quest for an undefeated campaign ended with a thud after dropping a 51-34 decision to College of the Desert last Saturday in Palmdale.
Southwestern (3-1 in conference, 8-1 overall) is now tied with both Victor Valley (3-1, 6-3) and Desert (3-1, 5-4) for the lead in the conference standings entering the final week of regular season play.
The Jaguars host San Diego Mesa on Saturday, Nov. 12, needing a win to solidify no worse than a co-championship. Mesa is 1-3 in conference play, 3-6 overall.
Victor Valley will play at Desert this Saturday, with the winner earning a share of the conference title or outright possession of it should Southwester drop its final regular season game to the Olympians.
Desert opened up a lethal 20-0 advantage on the Jaguars last Saturday as Darius Hulsey threw a pair of scoring passes and Corey Dalton returned an intercepted pass 36 yards for a touchdown.
Desert led 34-16 at halftime. Southwestern narrowed the score to 34-22 midway through the third quarter but Desert responded with a 39-yard field goal by Ethan Skarmas and a three-yard touchdown run by Anthony Ellison to assume a 44-22 lead.
The Jaguars scored their points on a 98-yard extra point return by Donell Pleasant (good for two points), two touchdown passes each by Mike Glass and Joe Joe Hudson and a five-yard scoring run by Hudson.
Hudson threw a pair of TD passes to Davin Reynolds while Glass hit Tajon Mondy twice for touchdowns.
The game featured 915 yards in total offense between the two teams. SWC generated 465 yards in total offense in the loss while Desert racked up 450 yards in total offense.
Hudson completed 15 of 35 passes for 202 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions while Glass completed seven of 12 passes for 78 yards for two TDs and no picks. Hudson also lost one fumble.
Hudson led the visitors with 61 yards on 11 carries while Isaiah Strayhorn rushed 12 times for 54 yards. Reynolds finished the game with nine catches for 122 yards while Monday caught five passes for 95 yards. Strayhorn had two catches for 29 yards.
Andrew Raffe led the Jaguars defense with 12 tackles, including two for losses. Davelle Fox had one interception.
Ellison led Desert with 140 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.
Kayden Clements leads Mesa with 332 rushing yards and six touchdowns while quarterback Nick Plum has passed for seven touchdowns but has thrown nine interceptions.
Hudson (16 touchdowns) and Glass (13 touchdowns) rank first and second in the conference. Hudson has thrown for 1,255 yards while Glass has thrown for 1,213 yards.
Following the loss to Desert, Southwestern slipped to No. 3 in the American Division rankings behind L.A. Valley (9-0) and East Los Angeles (7-2). Santa Barbara is ranked fourth ahead of Victor Valley (fifth) and Desert (sixth).
Red and Black on the attack as Aztecs clinch berth in MW championship game
San Diego State University’s football team thumped the University of Hawaii, 55-0, in the Aztecs’; annual homecoming game Nov. 5 in front of 41,644 fans at Qualcomm Stadium to officially clinch a berth in the Mountain West conference’s upcoming championship game. It marks the second consecutive year the Aztecs will make an appearance in the conference championship game after defeating Air Force to win last year’s MW title game.
SDSU improved to 5-0 in Mountain West conference play, 8-1 overall, while the Rainbow Warriors dropped to 3-3 in conference, 4-6 overall. The Aztecs clinched the conference’s West Division title by owning a three-game advantage in the loss column with one more division game remaining on the team’s regular season schedule.
Wyoming (7-2 overall) leads the MW Mountain Division with a 5-0 conference record and holds a one-game lead over Boise State (4-1 in conference play).
The MW West winner will play the MW Mountain winner in the conference championship game Dec. 3. The higher ranked team will host the game.
Boise State (8-1) is currently ranked 24th in the AP top 25 poll.
Christian Chapman threw three touchdown passes, Ron Smith and Damontae Kazee each returned intercepted passes for touchdowns, Rashaad Penny and Juwan Washington each scored rushing touchdowns and John Baron also kicked field goals of 30 and 45 yards to boost SDSU to its runaway victory.
David Wells, Quest Truxton and Washington each caught scoring passes. Penny’s TD run measured 73 yards while Kazee’s pick six went for 54 yards. Baron converted extra-point attempts on all seven touchdowns.
Donnel Pumphrey, SDSU’s Heisman Trophy candidate, rushed for 112 yards in the victory though he did not score a touchdown.
Pumphrey has rushed for 1,581 net yards with 13 rushing touchdowns this season. He’s also caught a team-high 20 passes for 145 yards.
Chapman has thrown for 1,241 yards with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions while Mikah Holder leads the team with 381 receiving yards and three TDs.
Linebacker Calvin Munson leads SDSU with 74 tackles while Kazee tops the Aztecs with five interceptions. Alex Barrett leads the team with 6.5 sacks.
The win over Hawaii was the Aztecs’ 16th consecutive conference victory – the longest active win streak in the nation. The 55-0 win also marked the largest margin for a shutout victory in SDSU’s Division I history since 1969.
Kazee, Munson, Pumphrey, left guard Nico Siragusa (Mater Dei Catholic) and Malik Smith each started for the 36thconsecutive game, the longest streaks on the team (besides specialists).
Right tackle Daniel Brunskill, Pumphrey and Siragusa each played in their 49th consecutive game, the longest streak on the team.
The Mountain West Conference has tie-ins to six postseason bowl games: New Mexico Bowl (Dec. 17), Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 17), Poinsettia Bowl (Dec. 21), Potato Bowl (Dec. 22), Hawaii Bowl (Dec. 24) and Arizona Bowl (Dec. 30).
SDSU, Boise State, Wyoming, New Mexico (6-3) and Air Force (6-3) are all bowl eligible from the Mountain West while Colorado State (5-4) needs one more win to become bowl eligible.
JC football add
Grossmont College (5-4) is ranked eighth among Southern California’s National Division teams. The Griffins close out regular season play with a home game Saturday, Nov. 12, at 1 p.m. against Palomar College (3-6).
Quarterback Brad Cagle is averaging 228 yards per game and has thrown 18 touchdown passes this season for Grossmont while Keith Fulton leads the Griffins with five rushing touchdowns.
Adrian Tolbert leads the team with 13 touchdown catches and is averaging 99 yards per game.
San Diego bowl games
The San Diego Bowl Game Association’s two college bowl games will take place next month at Qualcomm Stadium.
The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, scheduled Dec. 21, will pit a bowl-eligible BYU against an opponent from the Mountain West conference.
Kick-off is 6 p.m.
BYU defeated Cincinnati, 20-3, on Nov. 5 to improve to 5-4. The Cougars need six wins to become bowl eligible.
The National Funding Holiday Bowl, scheduled Dec. 27, pits teams from the Pac-12 and Bug Ten Conferences.
Kick-off is 4 p.m.
NFL notepad
Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, the 2014 Heisman Trophy award-winner, had a rough day against the host Chargers on Nov. 6. Mariota scored on a 14-yard run to put the Titans up 21-19 to early in the third quarter, but committed two costly turnovers that led to a 43-35 loss in front of 52,281 fans at Qualcomm Stadium.
Dwight Lowery returned a Mariota fumble for a touchdown and teammate Brandon Flowers later returned an intercepted pass 33 yards for a touchdown. Mariota threw two picks in the game, including one to Casey Hayward, to finish the AFC non-division contest with an 88.6 quarterback rating.
On the season, Mariota has thrown for 2,187 yards with 17 touchdowns and eight interceptions to go with an overall 92.6 rating.
Mariota recorded a 148.1 rating in an Oct. 27 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars when he passed for 270 yards and two touchdowns in a 36-22 win.
Melvin Gordon rushed for 196 yards and scored one touchdown for San Diego (4-5) in the win over Tennessee (4-5).
Helix High grad Alex Smith, the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs but currently out with a concussion, has thrown for 1,638 with eight touchdowns and two interceptions this season to earn a 94.3 quarterback rating.
Smith is in his fourth season with Kansas City. He passed for 3,486 yards and 20 touchdowns last season as the Chiefs advanced to the second round of the AFC playoffs.
The NFL no longer boasts any undefeated teams, though Dallas and New England are both currently tied at 7-1 for the league’s best record.
