Behind big-play 'D', bowl-eligible Comets beat G-House
ESCONDIDO -- (11/11/2017) -- In a knock-down, drag-out physical battle between longtime rivals Palomar and Grossmont College, the Comets' big-play defense stepped up and led the way Saturday night in a 17-14 victory at Escondido High's Chick Embrey Field at Wilson Stadium.
With the win, which snapped a four-game losing streak after they started the year off 4-1, the Comets closed out the regular season with a 5-5 record that makes them bowl eligible for next Saturday. The Griffins pack up their gear until next season.
Led by sophomore linebacker Chandler Wachholtz from La Costa Canyon High School with 12 tackles, including a sack and tackle for loss, and by Maxwell Scott, a sophomore from Murrieta Mesa High and transfer from Saddleback who intercepted two passes, the Palomar defensive unit picked a perfect time for its best performance of the season.
"I have to tip my hat to our defense. They played extremely well," coach Joe Early said. "They were resilient. When Grossmont moved the ball, the defense made the plays when they had to. When we couldn't get our running game going, which made it especially tough to pass the ball, it was the defense that came back out and made the plays. They bailed us out tonight."
Whether the result of the game is enough to get the Comets into a bowl game, everyone will have to wait to find out.
"They'll announce the bowl pairings Sunday. We'll find out if we get a bowl invitation, and who we'll play if we get one. But the big thing is that we made ourselves bowl eligible with the win," Early said. "That was the only thing we could control tonight."
Palomar never trailed in the game after the Comets took the opening kickoff and drove right down the field to score. Issiah Aguero returned the kickoff 42 yards, then ran the ball 14 yards for a first down at the Grossmont 44. Romero hooked up with Devin Nilson on a 33-yard pass play to the 11 and, after two more plays, Romero ran an 8-yard quarterback keeper to the 1-yard line from where running back Curry Thomason powered into the end zone to put the Comets in front 3 minutes and 16 seconds into the game.
Romero passed to tight end Blake Adamson for a two-point conversion and Palomar led 8-0. The Griffins could never overcome the two-point conversion.
The G-House would close the gap to 8-7 in the second quarter and, only 36 seconds after Romero hit Ryan Lasua with a 31-yard touchdown pass, to 15-14 just before halftime. But they were unable to pull even. Palomar picked up two more points on a safety in the fourth quarter when a high snap on a Grossmont punt attempt sailed out of the back end of the end zone.
Palomar's punter, Tyson Dyer, had another big night that contributed significantly to the win. After he somehow got the kick away on his first punt of the evening when the snap from center dribbled back to him on the artificial turf and the punt went only 8 yards, he could do nothing wrong. Dyer averaged 44.2 yards for his last five punts, including a 61-yarder that was downed at the 5-yard line. He finished with two punts inside the 20.
Romero and back-up quarterback Ross Ebert passed for 210 yards, with Romero hitting on 12-of-16 pass attempts for 182 yards and Ebert going 4-for-6 for 28 yards. Marquis Williams caught six passes for 65 yards. Nilson had four receptions for 51 yards and Lasua recorded two receptions for 55 yards.
Aguero averaged 15.8 yards for four kickoff returns, and Nilson averaged 22 yards for two punt reurns.
But the Grossmont defense limited the Comets' running game to 33 yards, which kept the G-House in the game.
Defensively, Anthony Zuniga contributed two sacks for Palomar. Orion Diaz had six tackles.