Football to host Santa Barbara in Chick-Fil-A Winter Festi-Bowl

SAN MARCOS, CA (11/29/2021) -- Palomar football will once again be playing football in December as they host Santa Barbara City College in the Chick-Fil-A Winter Festi-Bowl on December 4th at Escondido High School. 

The Comets finished the regular season 5-5 and 3-2 in conference play, losing to Riverside City College and Mt. San Antonio College. After a 2-3 start to the season, Palomar pulled together and rallied the last half of the season, taking down Cerritos College on a walk-off field goal by freshman Landon Ogles and showing adversity against El Camino College on the road. 

Leading the Comet offense this season was freshman quarterback Zeke Payne, the Co-Offensive Player of the Year for the National Central Conference. Payne threw for 2471 yards and had a pass completion rate of 57.4%. He threw for 22 touchdowns. Freshman running back Tawee Walker was a heavy hitter for the Comets, rushing for 761 yards on 166 carries and seven rushing touchdowns. The Payne-Walker combination helped execute the two-minute drill against Cerritos to set up the game-winning field goal. Freshmen Tyler Pye and Brandon Johnson and sophomore Malachi Russell make up the core receiving group. Pye had 350 yards on 24 receptions, Johnson had 544 on 33 receptions and Russell had 409 on 25 receptions this season. 

On the defensive side of the ball, freshman Luke Manos led the Comets with 55 tackles this season, including 11.5 tackles-for-loss. Rickie Davis Jr. proved he can play this season as he had four interceptions, three pass breakups, a forced fumble and fumble recovery, and 37 tackles. 

Santa Barbara finished their season 7-3 in the American League. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. The game will be live-streamed and radio broadcasted (KZSB News Press Radio).