By Megan Perry
The gridiron gang from East Los Angeles College battled the Santa Monica College Corsairs in a hotly contested game that featured four lead changes losing 26 – 20 on Sept. 10.
During the last few moments of the game, Quarterback Mike Oliver worked hard at moving the ball down the field and into the end zone. It didn’t happen quite that way.
A few complete passes, negative rushing yards and a hand off from Oliver to Marquel Booker that resulted in a loss of 5 yards doomed the Huskies falling short of a victory. The game went into overtime with a tie score of 13-13.
The Huskies had played strong defense up to this point keeping their opponents out of the end zone for the most part. At the end of regulation the referees called for overtime and the crowd went wild.
Students, faculty, family and friends were on their feet cheering, chanting and supporting their home team, the Huskies.
Overtime is not another timed quarter that would be played as a fifth quarter. Overtime is played on the 25-yard line of one half of the field, and each team gets a chance to make a first-down. If the team scores, the game turns over and the other team gets a chance. This continues until one of the teams do not make a first-down.
Overtime on Saturday started with ELAC having the ball. ELAC converted a fourth-down opportunity and Lanny Delgado scored making the score 20- 13 Huskies.
SMC got their chance and Daniel Pipken rushed from the 1-yard line to score a touchdown tying the score keeping the game alive.
SMC got another turn to make a first-down and Myles Johnson scored another touchdown. SMC Trevor Dionne extra point kick was blocked by ELAC’s Nasir Moore.
The crowd went crazy, yelling and cheering for their team.
The players on the field were waving their arms up and down, attempting to pump up the crowd and the stadium was full of excitment.
The score was 26-20, and it was ELAC’s turn with the ball.
The crowd could feel the tension on the field, and knew ELAC needed to score to win the game. The pressure was on and everyone was watching anxiously.
The crowd was no longer sitting in the bleachers, but standing on top of them. It was a very exciting moment and the final plays determined the outcome of the game.
Although the Huskies lost, the team did statistically well.
Oliver had a total of 218 passing yards, which included three touchdowns, one interception and was only sacked once. His longest completion was to Chris Clark for 56 yards, which resulted in a touchdown. Overall, Oliver completed 17 out of 38 passes.
The ELAC offense totalled 379 yards, while SMC gained only 259 yards.
Carlos Arredondo had the highest number of receptions with a total of 86 yards in six attempts and the longest at 28 yards.
Clark had the highest number of receiving yards at 129, with his longest reception at 56 yards. Two of Clark’s four receptions were for touchdowns.
Booker had the highest number of rushes at 14, with a net total of 32 yards.
Preston Oliver had the highest net total of rushing yards with four rushes for 40 yards, averaging 10 yards per carry and his longest rush at 25 yards.
ELAC’s passing game netted 312 yards which was a more than double SMC that finished with 150 total net passing yards. Although ELAC dominated the passing game, SMC rushed for 109 yards in 43 attempts while ELAC managed just 67 yards in 26 carries.
The game showed how rusty the teams were as they combined for 22 penalties totaling nearly 200 yards.
Coach Lynn Cain said he felt the Huskies played a strong game. To prepare for next week’s game, Cain said the strategy never changes and they will need to keep working on the fundamentals, such as tackling, catching, blocking and running.