Jaguars leap past Griffins, 52-10, advance record to 2-0

The community college football season continued into its second week last Saturday as the Southwestern College Jaguars hosted the rival Grossmont College Griffins. Both teams entered the non-conference games with 1-0 records after winning their respective season openers on the road a week earlier.

The Jaguars entered the crosstown matchup ranked 16th in the state and 36th in the nation. They improved to 2-0 with a 52-10 breakaway victory in front of 426 sun-drenched fans at DeVore Stadium.

“It’s always nice being 2-0 but we know we can play better,” said Southwestern College defensive lineman Hunter Hamilton, a Granite Hills High School alumnus with three CIF championships on his resume  (two with the Eagles and one with Foothills Christian). “We have a lot more games ahead of us. We’re hopeful of getting more wins to build on.”

It took one quarter for the teams to find any type of rhythm as an inordinate amount of penalties wiped out both modest and big play gains,

The hosts were the first two strike for a 3-0 lead on a 36-yard field goal by Daniel Meadows with 10:31 to play in the second quarter. SWC took a 10-0 lead on a 39-yard scoring pass from quarterback Dom Duran to A.J. Perry II with 7:16 left in the quarter.

The scoring rapidly escalated from there as the Jags built a comfortable 31-7 halftime lead.

A 55-yard strike from Duran to Robby Cameron with 1:41 left in the quarter made it 17-0 after Southwestern blocked a field goal attempt and took over possession at the 45-yard line.

Another defensive play led to the Jags’ next touchdown after Kylan Studebaker converted a pick-six down the sideline for 39 yards for a 24-0 advantage with 1:14 remaining in the half.

Myles Norman (Bishop Gorman) put the Griffins on the scoreboard with a 90-yard kickoff return with 1:03 to play in the first half. SWC’s Kiram Dallas appeared to immediately follow with a 90-yard kickoff return of his own before the play was negated because of a penalty.

Untimely penalties continued to plague the Jaguars throughout the game despite the convincing margin of victory.

One play that was not called back was a 49-yard touchdown pass to Malachi Bean Seay in the end zone for the 24-point SWC halftime lead.

Altogether there were four touchdowns – three by the Jags – in a span of 1:26 to close the first half of play.

The Jags were unlucky not to keep piling up points when Lawrence Taylor appeared diving for the end zone on a wide open pass but was caught by a Grossmont defender at the last minute and had the ball stripped and roll through the end zone for a touch back.

But the hosts quickly went back at it on a four-yard run by Elias Johnson with 8:51 left in the third quarter for a 38-7 lead. It was Johnson’s third TD in two games.

The Griffs narrowed the deficit somewhat to 38-10 on a 41-yard field goal by Lucas Mora (Imperial) with 3:25 to play in the quarter.

But the Jags had the last word with the game’s final two touchdowns. Titus White made an 25-yard TD catch with 1:56 to play in the third quarter to push the hosts up 45-10 and caught another 25-yard pass from Duran for the only touchdown in the fourth quarter.

52-10 final.

Southwestern out-gained Grossmont 603 to 186 in total yards. The Jags had the passing edge 447-103 while the Giffins had the advantage on the turf 156-83.

Duran completed 19 of 24 passes for 434 yards with five touchdowns; Brandt Barker (El Capitan) completed one of three attempts for 13 yards. 

Duran has passed for 642 yards with five touchdowns an no interceptions in two games.

Returner Caleb Blocker led the hosts on the ground with nine carries for 69 yards while Johnson rushed eight times for 28 yards with one score. Elijah Dennis had two carries for 19 yards.

White caught three passes for 78 yards while Cameron had two catches for 64 yards. Perry had two catches for 51 yards while Bean-Seay had five catches for 54 yards. 

Blocker has rushed for 129 yards in two games while Johnson has 81 rushing yards to his credit.

Perry has logged 179 receiving yards while Bean-Seay has 168 and White has 165.

Aaron Lee (Pt. Loma) had two punts for 94 yards, including a 57-yard roller and another dropped inside the 10-yard line. Meadows racked up 10 kicking points on one field goal and seven extra-point conversions. Meadows also averaged 58.5 yards on two kickoffs. Steven Benson (Christian) averaged 55.9 yards on seven kickoffs.

 Joseph Stephens returned one kickoff 49 yards while Dallas had one return for 14 yards.

Studebaker and Jamil Kassab both recorded interceptions on defense. Niko Ta’a (Lincoln), Brady Eads (Christian) and Haneef Bilal all logged five tackles. Eads also had one sack for 10 yards.

The Jags racked up six sacks overall in the victory. David Peevy (Lincoln), Carson Curtis and Blake Lauritzen each added one sack while Damarrion White (Granite Hills) and Mylik Brooks shared one sack.

The hosts notched 10 tackles for losses.

“I think we have a tough defense,” Eads said. “Everyone makes contributions. When we make a mistake, we make up for it.”

Grossmont punted seven times in the game for a 38.1-yard average and returned eight SWC kickoffs for 155 yards.

Quarterback Melvin Spicer IV (Bishop Gorman) completed 14 of 23 passing attempts for 103 yards with two interceptions. Michael Kearns III was 0-for-1 behind center.

Chris Williams was the leading ball-carrier for the Griffins with four carries for 24 yards while Ladarrione Perkins (Chula Vista Spartans) broke one run for 19 yards. Spicer rushed 14 times for 16 yards.

In the receiving department, Trence Cook had six catches for29 yards while Deereal Beverly had four catches for 26 yards, Norman had four catches for 22 yards, Elijah Smith had one catch for 16 yards and Dvonta Peoples had one catch for 10 yards.

Norman averaged 53.0 yards on two kickoff returns, including one touchdown.

Jirah Savaiinaea (Helix) collected seven tackles on defense for Grossmont.

Jasper Brandenburg (Maranatha) boomed one kickoff 68 yards while Mora and Philipa Trakas (Helix) each had one kickoff go 58 yards.

Southwestern remains at home for this Saturday’s 2 p.m. non-conference game against Long Beach City (0-2) while Grossmont hosts Antelope Valley (1-1) at 3 p.m.

The Griffins opened the season with a 57-6 non-conference win over Compton. Spicer has passed for 271 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in Grossmont’s opening two games.

In other community college games involving San Diego County teams, Palomar College (2-0) defeated East Los Angeles, 21-7 while San Diego Mesa College edged Mt. San Antonio College, 20-19, for a likewise 2-0 season start.

Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents