FOOTBALL: 2ND HALF WIN

Palomar's hopes of upsetting the J.C. Grid-Wire's nationally No. 3-ranked team, Fullerton College, lasted for a little over two quarters on Saturday afternoon. Fullerton (7-0, 3-0 in the Southern Conference), leading 17-13 at the half, took advantage of a blocked punt early in the third quarter to stretch its lead to 11 points. The Hornets then blew the game open with a 21-0 run in the quarter and went on to down the Comets 45-20 at Wilson Stadium.

Fullerton led 10-0 after one quarter but the Comets came back to score 13 points in the second period and closed the gap to four points at halftime.

Quarterback Ryan Lamb completed four passes for 45 yards, two of them to tight end Sam Browning, as Palomar drove 73 yards to get on the board midway through the second quarter on a 1-yard run by Justin Harris. Jonathan Leiva's first of two extra-point kicks narrowed the Fullerton lead to 10-7.

The Hornets went back up by 10 points, at 17-10, 2 1/2 minutes later before leiva's 21-yard and 32-yard field goals enabled Palolmar (2-5,1-2) to close to 17-13 at the half. That was as close as the Comets could get.

Palomar RB Aaron Mossbarger tallied the Comets' second touchdown from 4 yards out with 5:28 left in the game.

The Comets turned the ball over on two interceptions, one on an attempted pass to a wide-open Browning in the right corner of the end zone and the other which was returned for a 32-yard touchdown, and a lost fumble.

Offesive standouts for the Hornets were QB Jose Escobar who threw 221 yards (15-22-0 ints.) with 4 TDs, and WR Eli Pleasant caught 8 balls for 158 yards with 2 touchdowns.

On the defensive side, FC leaders were DL Aaron Davis with 7 tackles (4 solo/3 assisted), with 1.5 sacks. DB Darius Lewis, DB Alex Bernstein, and LB Justin Owens had 5 tackles each. 

Up Next: The Hornets will host Grossmont College for another SCFA Southern Conference showdown on Saturday, November 2nd.  Kickoff is at 6:00 pm.  

*Photo courtesy of Hugh Cox