Rustlers return to life, top Comets in 47-27 Southern Conference game
ESCONDIDO (10-21-2017) -- Golden West College, which nearly upset currently No. 2 nationally-ranked Riverside City College back on Sept. 9 when the Tigers had to come from behind with 4:38 left in the game to beat the Rustlers 20-14, finally returned to early-season form on Saturday night.
Unfortunately for Palomar, this came against the Comets. as Golden West came roaring out of a slump that had seen it lose its previous three games by an average score of 42-18.
The Rustlers' sudden return to early September form, along with Palomar's greasing the skids with a mistake-filled performance, proved fatal for the Comets as they dropped a 47-27 National Division Southern Conference decision at Escondido High School's Chick Embrey Field at Wilson Stadium. Golden West upped its record to 3-4, 1-1 in the Southern Conference, while Palomar falls to 4-3, 0-2 in conference.
"We'll find out what each of these kids are made of now with what we've got coming up," said Palomar coach Joe Early, whose Comets will host nationally No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Fullerton next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Chick Embrey Field. The Hornets (7-0, 2-0 in the Southern Conference), who will be seeking their 27th win in a row, rolled up nationally No. 13-ranked Saddleback 56-35 on Saturday afternoon. This was coming off wins of 57-0 (over Moorpark) and 78-9 (over Grossmont) the previous two weeks. Fullerton also put 77 points on the board against Santa Ana in its season opener.
The Comets will be on the road to face Saddleback in two weeks.
Palomar did have some bright spots in defeat Saturday, led defensively by linebacker Chandler Wachholtz (13 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss) who missed last week's game at Orange Coast with a slight concussion, and led on offense by quarterback Matt Romero. Romero threw four more touchdown passes, re-taking the state lead with 22 touchdowns, going to Marquise Williams for 32 yards to tie the game early 7-7, to Nate Johnson for 6 yards, to Bryce Walker for 4 yards and to Currie Thompson for 19 yards.
Romero's TD pass to Thompson came with plenty of time still remaining on the clock to come back with Palomar closing to within 38-27 with 10:49 left in the fourth quarter. But the ensuing extra point attempt was blocked, and Golden West's Avery Jones returned it all the way to the end zone to tack two more points on to the Rustlers' total. The Comets, who stopped and started several comebacks during the evening, never were able to recover.
Also on the bright side in the loss, Williams and Johnson combined for 106 yards in receptions, Issiah Aguero returned three kickoffs for 73 yards, Brian Nieves had a 50-yard kickoff return, and Maxwell Scott (11 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss), Jake Ambrose (11 tackles, 0.5 tackle for loss) and J.D. Fox (9 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss) also made large contributions to Palomar's defensive effort. Anthony Zuninga contributed 2.5 tackles for loss. Tyson Dyer pinned Golden West at the 1-yard line with his first punt of the game.
A big difference in third-down and fourth-down conversions (9-of-15 for Golden West, only 2-of-13 for Palomar, zero-for-6 in the first half) helped lead to the Comets' downfall. So did costly penalties, one an offsides infraction when Golden West's Saul Rodriguez missed a field goal from 45 yards but was given another opportunity from 40 yards out after the mark-off and made that attempt, and the second missed field goal by Palomar in two weeks.