Jags hammer Eagles, 31-10, for 4-0 season start

The Southwestern College football team is off to a perfect 4-0 start to kick off the 2025 community college season. The team only seems to be getting stronger.

After recording a 26-24 non-conference victory against visiting College of the Canyons on Aug. 30, the Jaguars have defeated, in order, Orange Coast College (71-10 on Sept. 6 on the road), Long Beach City College (38-14 on Sept. 13 on the road) and Mt. San Jacinto College (31-10 last Saturday at home).

The latest win over the visiting Eagles came in the teams’ National Southern Conference opener.

Southwestern entered the game ranked No. 9 in the state while Mt. San Jacinto was No. 21. The Jags improved to No. 6 in the state after the contest.

SWC is ranked No. 18 nationally.

The Southwestern team is a completely different package from previous years with a scope on national-level recruiting under second-year head coach Oscar Rodriguez. 

For instance, redshirt sophomore quarterback Brayton Silbor (Scottsdale, Ariz.) has passed for 853 yards and 10 touchdowns without an interception in four games.

He passed for three touchdowns and rushed for another in last Saturday’s conference opener.

Nic Cline (two catches, 83 yards), Clint Thomas Jr. (four catches, 70 yards) and Dathan Goins (two catches, 37 yards) each had touchdown grabs while kicker Jacob Cuevas logged seven points on a 38-yard field goal and four extra-point conversions.

The Jaguars are averaging 41.5 points per game while allowing 14.5 points per game after being out-scored 39-12 on the average last season with a 2-8 record.

“We’re finding a way to win,” Rodriguez said. “We have high character in this group. We have players who love to ball.”

Southwestern’s recruiting arm has also reached into East County, most notably through sophomore defensive back Dylan Eads (Christian High School) and redshirt freshman defensive back Chance LaChappa (El Capitan High School).

Both East County players were very active – and instrumental – in the Jags’ latest victory.

LaChappa ranked third on the team with six tackles, including five unassisted stops, while Eads contributed three unassisted tackles and one tackle for a loss.

Eads was pretty much “Mr. Everything” while at the El Cajon school with 67 unassisted tackles, 111 total tackles, one interception and 84 points during his four years as a Patriot totaling 25 games.

He logged 893 receiving yards as a junior and senior with 12 touchdowns and accumulated 1,131 all-purpose yards over that time span.

“It was fun at Christian but now I get to be the guy and learn the position I’m in at a high level,” Eads said.

“Christian helped me be a better player on the field and a better person off the field. At Southwestern, I get to focus on the fundamentals of my position. My goal is for us to be the No. 1 team in California.”

LaChappa, who stands 6 feet, 3 inches tall, racked up 1,799 receiving yards in 22 varsity games with 26 touchdowns for the Vaqueros along with 2,087 all-purpose yards.

He is one of five brothers, all of whom played sports at El Capitan. He played his first two seasons at St. Augustine High School before transferring to the Lakeside school. He said family tradition was a motivating factor to returning home to play.

Home remained a draw after high school. He played one season at the NAIA level at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, before transferring to Southwestern.

“Coming back has been a blessing,” LaChappa said.

“Chance is doing great at Southwestern and continues to improve each week,” El Capitan coach Ron Burner said. “He’s just a tremendous young man and hard worker. Was a leader on our team for his career. Going to get better and better and I see him playing for a D1 school soon.”

Around the county

There are four community colleges fielding football teams this year. Besides Southwestern, Grossmont College, San Diego Mesa College and Palomar College are also competing on the gridiron.

Southwestern, Mesa and Palomar are grouped together in the National Southern Conference while Grossmont competes in the American Pacific Conference.

Southwestern, El Camino, Mesa and Saddleback are all 1-0 in conference play. A big game is looming this Saturday as Southwestern plays at Mesa (6 p.m.). Mesa kicked off its league season last Saturday with a 28-21 win over country rival Palomar.

Mt. San Jacinto, Riverside, Chaffey and Palomar are all 0-1 in conference play.

Grossmont is off to a 3-1 start, tied with Santa Monica and West L.A. for best non-league marks in the division. Other conference members include Glendale (2-2), San Bernardino Valley (2-2) and L.A. Pierce (0-4)

Grossmont defeated L.A. Valley, 48-10, last Saturday as freshman quarterback Melvin Spicer IV (Las Vegas) passed for two touchdowns (293 yards) and ran for a pair (11 carries, 92 yards).

Southwestern College receiver Nic Cline celebrates his first quarter touchdown with a Jaguars teammate during last Saturday’s home game.

Southwestern College receiver Clint Thomas Jr. goes up against a Mt. San Jacinto College defender to come down with the football to give the host Jaguars a 21-3 halftime lead.

Aztecs pull off major shocker in 34-0 win over Cal Bears

San Diego State University’s 34-0 non-conference football victory against UC-Berkeley Golden Bears last Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium was positively a wake-up call for the Aztec Nation.

The shutout win marked the largest margin of victory against a team from a Power-Five conference in SDSU’s Division I history and the first shutout against a current team from a Power-Five conference since defeating Oregon State, 25-0, on Sept. 13, 1975.

It was definitely one for the record books.

The Aztecs have posted consecutive home shutout wins to start a season for the first time in its Division I history since 1969.

Cal entered the game 3-0 on the season with SDSU, coming off a 36-13 loss at Washington State on Sept. 6, listed as 14-point underdogs.

But somehow it didn’t matter in front of a near-capacity crowd of 31,369.

“That’s a good team that played well on a good night, and we’re freaking proud for them,” SDSU head coach Sean Lewis said in regard to his squad.

“A lot of great emotional toughness that they’ve shown over the past 14 days to respond to coaching, to respond to the situations and to respond to an incredible opportunity that they had that they really capitalized on,”  

The Aztecs led 13-0 at halftime on a six-yard pass from quarterback Jayden Denegal to Jordan Napier, and 34- and 41-yard field goals from Gabriel Plascencia.

SDSU tacked on 14 points in the third quarter on a 35-yard fumble return by Dwayne McDougle and a 97-yard interception return by Chris Johnson. The Aztecs closed out the memory-making win as Lucky Sutton (12 carries, 61 yards) scored on a three-yard run in the fourth quarter.

The Aztecs out-gained the Bears 321-289 in total yards. Denegal passed for 189 yards with one touchdown and one sack. Napier had nine catches for 154 yards en route to a total of 176 all-purpose yards.

Helix Charter alum Christian Washington rushed nine times for 48 net yards. He also had one catch for 11 yards.

The SDSU defense recorded four sacks (two by August Salvatri and one each by Trey White and Ryan Henderson), one fumble recovery and two interceptions.

The Aztecs (2-1) travel to Northern Illinois (1-2) this Saturday, 12:30 p.m. PT.