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Marquise Williams catches a Matt Romero and leaves Fullerton's Bryan Terry behind. -- Photo by Charlie Neuman
Marquise Williams catches a Matt Romero and leaves Fullerton's Bryan Terry behind. -- Photo by Charlie Neuman
Posted: Oct 28, 2017

PC latest to fall to defending national champion, top-ranked Hornets

ESCONDIDO (10-28-2017) -- Palomar became the latest team to fall to defending national community college champion and nationally No. 1-ranked Fullerton on Saturday at Escondido High School's Chick Embrey Field at Wilson Stadium, losing to the Hornets 56-10. It was one of Fullerton's closer games.

The Hornets advanced to 8-0 on the season, 3-0 in the Southern Conference while running their winning streak to 28 games. Palomar is now 4-4 and 0-3 in the Southern Conference with games remaining against Saddleback next week on the road and Grossmont back home in the final game of the regular season on Nov. 11. The Comets need five wins to become bowl eligible.

The Comets battled gamely to stay with the Hornets early but, after Fullerton went on top 14-0, the Comets had two Matt Romero touchdown passes called back, for 60 yards to Nate Johnson and for 26 yards to Bryce Walker, as the first quarter wore on and, late in the quarter, also missed a field goal.

"You don't take those points off the board and it's a different game. You can't take 17 points off the board like that," Palomar coach Joe Early said. "We had opportunities but didn't take advantage of them."

Against Fullerton, that proved fatal early on.

"They're the No. 1 team and the No. 1 program in the nation for a reason," Early said. "They're very good on offense and very stingy defensively. We wanted to keep their offense off the field and did a pretty good job of it in the first half. But then they drew away."

Romero wound up 20-for-33 passing for 233 yards and one touchdown that counted, a 54-yard strike to Marquise Williams. Tyler Vargas added a 24-yard field goal and an extra point. Williams caught four passes for 86 yards.But Palomar wasn't as sharp offensively in the second half, and the Hornets are proficient at capitalizing on other teams' mistakes.

"And (the Hornets) don't do things to beat themselves," Early said.

Punter Tyson Dyer had another big day for the Comets, averaging 42.5 yards for six kicks with a long of 50 yards. Issiah Aguero returned four kickoffs for 87 yards. 

Orion Diaz had a big day defensively for Palomar with 9 tackles, 8 of them solo. Maxwell Scott had 7 tackles, 5 for losses. Brandon Price contributed 7 tackles, and both forced a fumble and recovered it. Danny Wood had 7 solo tackles.

Jake Ambros intercepted a pass and returned it 14 yards.

Johnson, the Comets' leading receiver on the year, and receiver Rashad Harper both sustained broken collar bones in the game and are lost for the remainder of the season.