Eagle Football Beats Desert; Keeps Palms to Pines Trophy

The MSJC football team continued to put up big offensive numbers as they went on the road and beat College of the Desert 56-40 on Saturday night to retain the Palms to Pines Trophy.

The Eagles fell behind 7-0 and then again 15-14, before they were able to  score 21 straight points to take control of the game.  Javier Luna scored the Eagles first touchdown of the game on a 41 yard pass from Robert Coleman with 11:18 to play in the opening period to even the score at 7-7.  The Eagles took a brief lead late in the first on a 30 yard scoring pass from Coleman to Taliq Brown making the score 14-7.  Desert answered with a 10 play drive to open the second quarter and when they converted on a two point try regained a 15-14 lead.  The Roadrunner lead would only last for 14 seconds however as the Eagles' Doryan Cole returned the ensuing kick off 88 yards for a touchdown.  That seemed to be the spark MSJC needed as they went on to build the lead to 42-18 by halftime.  Taylor Tosches had a 69 TD reception on pass from Devan Freedland and Rashoud Shelton added a 70 yard scoring catch from Coleman as the Eagles turned into a big play offense.  MSJC's final touchdown of the first half came on a five yard run by Jaylen Magee.

Desert made the game a little tighter early in the second half as they scored back to back touchdowns in the third to cut the lead to 42-32.  The Eagles responded with two fourth quarter scores to push the lead back to 24.  Roland Hazard scored his first touchdown of the year on a 7 yard pass from Coleman and Tosches had his second of the day when he and Coleman connected on a 29 yard pass play.  Desert would add the final score of the game with just over a minute left.

The Eagles posted huge passing numbers on the day as Coleman finished going 13 of 16 for 259 yards and 5 touchdowns, and Freedland connected on 14 of 24 passes for 217 yards and a TD.  Shelton had a team high 128 yards receiving on 4 catches while Sherod White made 8 catches out of the backfield for 125 yards to go along with his team high 47 yards on the ground.

Jahiel Blue-Smith made a team high 8 total tackles for the Eagles while Darryl Moody had 7.  Hunter Rapolla had a big day with two sacks and a pair of forced fumbles.  Nazier Morrow came up with an interception for the Eagle defense.  The Eagles out gained the Roadrunners on the night 508 to 328.

The victory kept the Palms to Pines Trophy in San Jacinto for the third straight season.  MSJC is 28-24-1 all time against the Roadrunners and this was the 53rd time the two teams had played for the trophy.

The Eagles also improved to 6-0 on the field this season and are 3-0 in American Mountain Conference play.  MSJC returns to action on Saturday when they host Compton College in their 2021 Homecoming game.  Kick off on Saturday at Carl Quandt Stadium is set for 1 pm.