Eagles Win Second Straight Conference Title, Beat Pasadena

The Eagle football team used a 14-0 third quarter on Saturday to earn a comeback victory over visiting Pasadena City College to wrap up their regular season unbeaten in league play as they earned their second straight conference title.

MSJC finishes the season with an overall record of 9-1, they were 5-0 in American Mountain League play.  The expectation is that the Eagles will be awarded a birth in the American Division Championship Bowl for the second consecutive year, the official announcement will be made in the next few days.

On Saturday the Eagle offense was stuck in first gear during the first half as the Lancer defense proved to be a test for a team that entered the contest averaging over 40 points per game.  The Eagles fell behind 3-0 late in the first quarter after a 35 yard PCC field goal.  MSJC would earn their first points of the day with 7:56 to play before half when Jaylen Magee capped off a 9 play 54 yard drive with a 2 yard touchdown run, a failed extra point left the score at 6-3.  Just before halftime the Lancers retook the lead as they put together a 14 play 87 yard drive that took 6:38 off the clock and ended with a 1 yard TD run by Caleb Gardner.  MSJC blocked the extra point and sent the game to halftime at 9-6.

The Eagles finally took the lead for good with 2:23 to play in the third period when Magee scored his second touchdown of the day on a 7 yard run, this time the extra point was good and MSJC led 13-9.  On the ensuing Pasadena possession, Naisir Morrow recovered a Lancer fumble on their 10 yard line to set up a short field.  It took just two plays for MSJC to score as Robert Coleman hooked up with Jevin Dorsey on a 4 yard touchdown pass that extended the lead to 20-9.  Pasadena would make one more run at it as they scored with 11:26 to play in the game to cut the lead to 20-17, but the Eagle defense stiffened the rest of the way and MSJC finally put the game away with 1:15 to go when Magee scored his third TD of the day on a 5 yard run after a key 9 play 83 yard drive took over four and a half minutes off the clock.

Coleman finished his day throwing for 175 yards and rushing for a team best 74, Magee had 43 total yards on the ground and 36 receiving yards to go along with his three touchdowns,

On defense another huge game by Steven Bradshaw led the way as he finished with 12 total tackles.  Quentin Evans had his best game of the season as he made 11 tackles and Demond Young made 9 stops.  Nathan Ortiz had a sack for the Eagles as they made 7.5 total plays for negative yardage.

The league championship was the second in a row for the Eagles, who last year shared the title with Pasadena and Grossmont, Saturday also avenged a 28-26 loss last season to the Lancers.  MSJC will be making their third straight Bowl appearance.

Stay tuned to MSJC Athletics.com as well as our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts for announcements regarding the Bowl game.