Comets hang tough with Tigers

ESCONDIDO, CA (9/23/2023) -- The Palomar College Comets came up just short against No 2 Riverside City College on Saturday in a 45-44 loss. 

Riverside got the ball rolling with a field goal to put them on the board early in the first quarter, but Palomar responded with a 65-yard run by sophomore De'Marcus Carr to give the Comets the lead just before the quarter ended. After a failed PAT, the Comets led 6-3. Riverside came back and scored their first touchdown of the day to give them the lead back. The Comets immediately responded with a 77-yard pass from sophomore Clay Omohundro to sophomore Kyri Shoels to give the lead back to Palomar. The game continued to go back and forth between the two. At halftime, the Tigers led 24-19. 

The Comets won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. On their opening drive, Omohundro hit freshman Amari Derby for a 70-yard touchdown pass to give the Comets a 2-point lead. For the first time that day, the Comets went back-to-back on scores, this time a 24-yard pass from Omohundro to Derby to make the score 33-24, Palomar. Riverside responded with a touchdown of their own, but the Comets still maintained the lead and added on to the score on an Omarion Ireland 9-yard run. The Comets decided to go for the two-point conversion and converted to give them a 10-point lead with three minutes to go in the third quarter. The Comets didn't let up though.

Riverside was driving down the field early in the fourth quarter, but linebacker Joe Matthews picked off a pass from veteran Tiger quarterback and ran it back 73 yards to set up the Comet offense for another score. After failing to find the end zone, Palomar settled for a field goal to make it a 13-point game with 10 minutes to go. In the end, it was Riverside who had the ball last and scored 14 points in the final eight minutes of the game to edge out the Comets. 

Despite the loss, the Comets had their best game of the season. The Comet offense recorded 512 yards, 322 in the air and 190 on the ground. Omohundro finished 12-24 with three touchdowns and had 18 rushing yards on nine carries and one touchdown. Carr finished with 90 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown. Shoels led the receivers with 108 yards. Derby finished with 103 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman Jake Whitehead finished with 96 yards on three receptions. 

Defensively, the Comet defensive backs came to play. Sophomore Jadon Bowen finished with five pass breakups, a career-high for him. Jayden Ireland had three pass breakups and six tackles on the day. Matthews finished with two pass breakups and was the leading tackler with eight tackles and the 73-yard interception return. Palomar recorded one sack for six yards and three tackles-for-loss for 16 yards. The defense held the Tigers to 449 yards. The Comets held them to 20 rushing yards in the first half and 89 total. 

Palomar moves to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play. They will host Grossmont College on Saturday night for a 6 p.m. kickoff at Escondido High School.