It would be easy for anyone dissecting Saturday’s 34-31 Southwestern College loss to visiting Victor Valley to point to the inordinate amount of penalty yards, plus two defensive player ejections, assessed against the host team as determining the outcome of the game, the American Mountain Division opener for both teams.
But SWC head coach Ed Carberry pointed to a goal-line stand made by the Rams early in the third quarter as being the actual determining factor.
“It came down to the one-yard line,” Carberry noted. “They stopped us. We had opportunities to score and we couldn’t. They deserved to win the game.”
The game pitted a pair of unbeaten teams; the match-up proved to be as close as the team’s respective 3-0 records.
The Jaguars scored the opening touchdown on a 25-yard pass reception by Sergio Bailey to lead 7-0 and, after Victor Valley scored to tie the contest on a three-yard run by Jason Knowles, went up 14-7 on a 20-yard scoring run by Diego Rodriguez and led 17-10 with 6:24 remaining in the first half on an ensuing 49-yard field goal by Anthony Herrera.
But the balance of the game belonged to the visitors, who after scoring just one touchdown in the opening quarter-and-a-half, scored three touchdowns while adding a field goal to out-score the hosts 24-14 down the stretch.
One has to wonder how the two player ejections – both called on targeting penalties – affected the play of the SWC defense.
The Jaguars’ strength in the early going of the season had been on the defensive side.
With the game tied 17-17, it appeared that Southwestern – alternately driven throughout the game by quarterbacks Tofi Paopao and Luis Perez – had a golden opportunity to take a touchdown lead after moving the ball to the three-yard line on a long pass completion.
But on three successive plays, the Jaguars could only advance the ball to the one-yard line. Electing not to attempt a chip-shot field goal to take the lead, the hosts instead chose to call a run play on fourth-and-goal. The SWC ball-carrier actually lost a yard on the play as the hosts begrudgingly turned the ball over on downs to the Rams and prolific passer Paul Mroz.
The game turned around completely two plays later as Mroz scrambled away from swarming Jaguar defenders to hit receiver Diamonte Luna on the sideline for a first down and more. The Victor Valley player caught the pass and weaved his way through holes in the SWC defense to score on a 98-yard catch-and-carry play to stun the home crowd.
Instead of going up by a score, the Jaguars suddenly found themselves trailing 24-17.
There was still plenty of time left in the game and Southwestern quickly was knocking on the door again until Ram defender Jay Knowles intercepted a pass in the endzone to thwart another potential scoring drive.
The hosts twice tied the score before the visitors finally put out the win on a 29-yard field goal by James Liker with 1:55 to play to snap a 31-31 deadlock on the scoreboard.
David Eguiza caught a ball in the endzone that slipped through the hands of a Victor Valley defender as the Jags fought back to tie the game, 24-24, still in the third quarter. Perez lofted the 27-yard pass into the endzone that ultimately landed fortuitously in Eguiza’s grasp.
But the Rams would not be denied in taking a 31-24 lead in the early moments of the fourth quarter as Mroz completed his third touchdown pass of the game.
Southwestern stormed back, however, as Rodriguez scored on a 13-yard run to knot the score at 31 points apiece.
But the visitors promptly moved down the field once again on the arm of Mroz. Only a pick by SWC’s Ty Stevens on the five-yard line prevented the visitors from going up by another touchdown.
Steven’s interception came with 6:19 left in the game, and the stage was set for a ball-control drive to eat up the clock. After gaining one first down, the Jags’ offense stalled, however, and the hosts were forced to turn the ball over.
But the fourth-down punt by Zack Kozlik went awry and the Rams took over on downs on the SWC 34-yard line with 3:40 to play. Victor Valley wisely ran the clock down at this point, positioning the ball for a short field goal that stunned the large SWC crowd into silence.
The Jaguars got the ball back with 1:46 to play. However, with no time-outs remaining and backed-up to their own 13-yard line, the hosts faced a fourth-and-two play. The Rams stuffed the play for no gain and once again took over on downs to end the game.
Southwestern (0-1, 3-1) will attempt to get back in the win column with a game next Saturday at division rival San Diego Mesa (0-1, 2-2); the Jaguars will host division rival East Los Angeles (1-0, 1-2) in their next home game on Oct. 18.
Mesa dropped a 21-14 decision to College of the Desert (1-0, 2-2) in its division opener while Mt. San Jacinto (1-0, 2-2) stunned San Bernardino (0-1, 2-2) by a 30-24 score in another key American Mountain match-up.
Victor Valley will put its undefeated record on the line Oct. 4 in a battle of division unbeatens; the Rams will host San Bernardino on Oct. 18 and travel to Mt. San Jacinto on Nov. 1 in an upcoming pair of important contests.
Southwestern will host San Bernardino on Nov. 8 in a game that could determine state bowl bids.
Extra points
Southwestern out-gained Victory Valley 512-408 in total yards in absorbing the loss.
Paopao and Perez combined for 367 passing yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Perez completed 28 of 39 attempts for 280 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while Paopao completed 11 of 15 attempts for 87 yards.
Rodriguez led the SWC rushing attack with 72 yards on 11 carries, scoring twice, while Charles Westbrook gained 67 yards on 19 carries.
Chris Kelly led the Jaguars with 103 receiving yards on six catches while Kevin Mills caught 11 passes for 89 yards and Bailey had eight catches for 85 yards. Malik Kimbrough had12 catches for 51 yards while Westbrook had one catch for 12 yards.
Defensively, Kevin Brown also registered an interception for the hosts while Michael Fuga recovered one fumble. The Jags rolled up four sacks and seven tackles for losses in the game.
Ray Clapper was credited with one-and-a-half sacks while Trevor Kemp was credited with one sack. Each sharing a half-sack were Messai Small, Sean Fuimaono and Estevan Rodriguez.
Mroz led the Rams with 266 passing yards by completing 13 of 23 attempts. Shaun Williams Jr. rushed 21 times for 99 yards to lead the winners while Luna accumulated 128 receiving yards on four catches.
Tyler Hatch and Jay Knowles led Victor Valley with eight tackles each; the Rams out-defended the Jaguars with 10 tackles for losses.
The Rams also managed to control the clock with 41:50 time of possession to 33:10 for the hosts.
The ultimate tale of the tape? Southwestern was whistled 13 times for 127 yards in penalties while Victor Valley was called for just five infractions for a total of 25 yards.
American Mountain Division
Saturday, Sept. 27
Victor Valley 34, Southwestern 31
College of the Desert 21, San Diego Mesa 14
Mt. San Jacinto 30, San Bernardino 24
East Los Angeles 48, El-Camino Compton Center 21
Division standings:
Victor Valley 1-0, 4-0
College of the Desert 1-0, 2-2
Mt. San Jacinto 1-0, 2-2
East Los Angeles 1-0, 1-2
Southwestern 0-1, 3-1
San Bernardino 0-1, 2-2
San Diego Mesa 0-1, 2-2
El Camino-Compton Center 0-1, 0-4
