By Miguel Dominguez
The football team lost to Ventura College 21-27 in a must-win game on Saturday night. East Los Angeles College needed to win for a chance at the conference title.
They also needed to have College of the Canyons or Allan Hancock College lose their games over the weekend.
Penalties hurt the Huskies offensively and defensively. They had 13 penalties for a total of 125 yards.
The final penalty came on defense when they were called for an offside and third down with less than two minutes to go.
That penalty gave Ventura a fresh set of downs, and the Huskies had no timeouts to stop the clock.
Husky quarterback Frank Alvarez finished the night 25 for 38 for a total of 295 yards completed and a touchdown.
Ventura quarterback Samuel Marquez finished the night with 13 for 26 for a total of 194 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Ventura running back Jesse Valenzuela had a total of 140 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 attempts.
Most of his yards came in the first half, and his longest was a 72-yard touchdown. His running game helped set up the two other touchdowns in the game.
In the second half Valenzuela did not have the same game as he did in the first half.
Ventura only scored three points in the second half.
Husky receiver Trejan Bridges had a big night.
He was targeted 10 times and had a total of 163 receiving yards and a touchdown.
His longest reception was for 76 yards.
The first half was owned by Ventura as the Huskies didn’t score in the first quarter.
The first touchdown came from the kickoff, as wide receiver Rene Zaldivar picked up the ball and found a hole toward his left side, beating the kicker to score a 88-yard kick return touchdown. This was the only score for the Huskies in the first half.
They had a good drive in the middle of the second quarter as they were at Ventura’s 11-yard line.
Two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on wide receiver Jaylen Brown, pushed the Huskies back 30 yards to the Ventura 41-yard line.
The first penalty seemed to be a physical altercation with one of the defenders.
The second was something that might have been said to one of the officials about the ruling of the first call.
The end of the drive resulted in a missed field goal. The Huskies trailed 24-7 at the half.
The first play of the half came from the Huskies and resulted in a 72-yard touchdown pass to Bridges from Alvarez.
They trailed 14-24. A couple of drives later, the Huskies intercepted Marquez at their 42-yard line and Quincy Ivory scored a two-yard rushing touchdown.
The Huskies trailed 21-24. A couple of drives later, the Huskies intercepted Marquez at their 42-yard line and Quincy Ivory scored a two-yard rushing touchdown.