Eagles Drop Conference Opener

The MSJC football team fell short in their conference opener on the road Saturday as they lost at Southwestern 31-10.

The Eagles had some success moving the ball early in the game, but a pair of fumbles led to two first quarter touchdowns by Southwestern giving the Jaguars a lead they would not relinquish all afternoon. MSJC failed to put any points on the board in the opening fifteen minutes but did score the first points of the second quarter when Sebastian Stapleton connected on a thirty-one-yard field goal. Southwestern would tack on one more score with under a minute to play before halftime giving them a commanding 21-3 lead at the break.

The Jaguars continued to take advantage of every Eagle mistake, big or small, in the third quarter to build the lead to 31-3. MSJC pushed across their only touchdown of the day with 4:55 left in the fourth on a two-yard run by Cole Vasquez.

The Eagles did put up 374 yards of total offense but multiple offensive penalties along with three turnovers stalled many of their drives. Julian Silva completed fifteen of thirty passes for 194 yards and Vasquez was seven of ten throwing it for 78 yards. Dante Sams was credited with nine receptions for 128 yards while Jackson Weng had 96 receiving yards. Donovan Harvey led the ground game with twelve carries for forty-six yards.

The MSJC defense was led by Eddie Smith and Ifeanyi Onye with both recording six total tackles. Onye made three of those tackles for loss and Smith added a blocked punt. Drew-Sene Amisone had five total tackles including one for loss and broke up a pass in the loss.

The Eagles who were coming off a commanding 42-14 win over Orange Coast in their final non-league game of the season slip to 2-2 overall on the year and are now 0-1 in the National Southern League.

MSJC will return home this Saturday when they look to bounce back against El Camino. Saturday night's game at HCN Bank Stadium will kick off at 6 pm.