Eagles Fall Just Short in Battle With El Camino

The MSJC football team gave themselves opportunities on Saturday night but came up just short of their first league win of the season falling to El Camino 31-27 at HCN Bank Stadium.

The Eagles scored the first points of the night when Sebastian Stapleton hit a forty-yard field goal with 6:04 to play in the opening quarter. El Camino took their first lead of the night with just over two minutes left in the quarter on a two-yard touchdown run by Azeon Nelson. The second quarter started with MSJC paying off a seven play seventy-five-yard drive when William Ford scored on an eleven-yard run giving the Eagles a 10-7 lead. The Warriors answered on the ensuing drive with a long drive of their own to reclaim the lead 14-10 with another short touchdown run.

The first half scoring was far from over, however as Cole Vasquez scored on a twenty-five-yard run for MSJC, a missed extra point made the score 16-14 for the Eagles. The Warriors continued to answer every MSJC score with one of their own as they scored on a forty-six-yard run by Damonte Bias to grab a 21-16 advantage. Stapleton would cut the lead to 21-19 as he connected on his second field goal of the night this time from twenty-six yards out with just thirty seconds to go in the half.

The scoring slowed down in the second half with the only points of the third quarter coming on a twenty-nine-yard interception return by the Warriors pushing their lead to 28-19. Early in the fourth ECC extended their lead to 31-19 on a thirty-three-yard field goal. The Eagles had opportunities to come back late as they drove the ball down to the Warrior five-yard line with just over six and a half minutes left but were intercepted halting the drive. The MSJC defense did make a stop on the next possession forcing an ECC punt to give the Eagles good field position at the Warrior forty-eight. On the first play of that drive Vasquez connected with Dante Sams for a touchdown and after a two-point conversion MSJC cut the lead to 31-27. The Eagles had one last chance with the ball in the final two minutes but could not pick up a first down.

Vasquez finished the night as the Eagles' leading rusher as he gained 103 yards on 16 carries. He also passed for153 yards with a touchdown and he was intercepted twice. Julian Silva went 5 of 11 passing for 62 yards and he also threw two interceptions. Jackson Weng led the receiving corps with six catches for 96 yards while Sams had four receptions.

On defense, Eddie Smith had a career day as he made fifteen total tackles including eleven solo and four and a half for loss. Julian Santoyo had eight tackles and a pass break up for MSJC while Andre Tyler had an interception. Ifeanyi Onye and Carlos Gallegos each had a sack for the Eagles with Onye recording six total tackles and Gallegos recovering a fumble.

In all the Eagles out gained the Warriors on the night 380-341, but four turnovers cost MSJC scoring opportunities.

MSJC now heads into a bye week with an overall record of 2-3, they are 0-2 in the National Southern League. The Eagles will return to action with a special Thursday night Homecoming game on October 9^th when they host Saddleback. Kick off on October 9^th will be at 6 pm.