By Anthony Merjanoff
The football team, ranked 20th statewide, scored a wild come from behind victory by scoring 15 points in the last 8:20 minutes over Santa Barbara City College, 28-27, last Saturday at Weingart Stadium.
The comeback began with a 62-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Aaron Cantu to Willie Udofia , which cut the Vaqueros’s lead to 27-19, in front of a vocal crowd.
Hector Cazales tackled Jared Evans, SBCC’s quarterback, scoring a safety for East Los Angeles College. As a result, the Huskies scored a safety cutting the lead to 27-21, with 7:23 remaining in the game.
Aaron Cantu quickly marched the Huskies down the field. Facing fourth and two at 3:29, Cantu converted a seven-yard pass for a first down to receiver Carlos Portillo.
The big first down play set up a rushing touchdown for running back Preston Oliver who scored his second touchdown of the game. It was up to kicker Allan Infante to kick the PAT and give the Huskies the lead.
Infante was on one out of three PAT’s during the game at that point. The PAT was good giving the Huskies their first lead of the game, 28-27. “Feels good to get that kick in, we needed it to win,” Infante said.
SBCC had time to come back for one last drive when quarterback Evans marched them down the field. A big 22-yard pass from Evans tight-end Tyson Heller near the end of the game, left the Vaqueros in field goal range.
Evans stepped back and got swarmed by the Huskies defense. Cornerback Breeon Moreno forced a fumble, which was recovered by defensive back Kenneth Moore. With 47 seconds remaining ELAC had this game wrapped up.
“Our kids deserve all the credit. They didn’t give up and it just goes to show that they are hungry and they have a lot of heart,” Head Coach Steve Mojarro said.
SBCC Head Coach Craig Moropoulos said that the game left the Vaqueros heartbroken. Despite winning, the Huskies see room for improvement according to Cantu and Mojarro.
“The win is definitely great for us because we overcame a lot of adversity. Just the feeling of getting that ‘W’ in front of your home crowd definitely means a lot to us.
“We are looking to get better. It definitely was not out best game,” Cantu said. ELAC will travel to West Los Angeles College Saturday. Game time is 1:00 p.m.
“I think West L.A. is going to be very tough team. We need to work harder and correct all the mistakes that we did today in order to beat a team like West L.A.,” Mojarro said.