GETTING BACK IN GEAR

Coming off the bye week, the No. 4 Hornets journeyed down south to San Diego Mesa College for some Thursday Night Football and got past the Olympians 27-14.

FC and San Diego Mesa have played each other 29 times since 1968 with the biggest margin of victory happening in 2019, a 71-14 road-victory. After tonight's big win, the Hornets own the series with a 24-5 record.

San Diego Mesa opened the game with the ball and kept the FC defense off balance with a couple of nice runs by quarterback James Odom. Odom wound up scoring the game's first touchdown on a 17-yard run at 10:36 in the first quarter.

After a few offensive sputters breaking off the bye-week rust, Fullerton got back on track after a big 30-yard throw and catch from Brandon Nunez to Leland Smith put the Hornets on the Olympian 10-yardline. Two plays later, Nunez hit Fox Haugen for a 5-yard touchdown. At 9:17, Jonathan Fobear kicked in the PAT tying the game up at 7-7.

At the start of the third quarter, the Hornet's Branson Tita-Nwa intercepted the ball after jumping the Olympian receiver's route. The FC offense made it count scoring on the very next play when quarterback Brandon Nunez hit Leland Smith on a 10-yard slant with Smith taking it the rest of the way for a 50-yard touchdown. Jonathan Fobear's point-after kick was good putting Fullerton up 14-7.

With 4:16 left in the third quarter, FC went up 17-7 thanks to a 21-yard field goal by Fobear.

Fullerton added to its lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter when Fobear hit another field goal from 24 yards out giving the Hornets a 20-7 edge at 14:51. 

San Diego Mesa was not going down without a fight as they scored on their next offensive drive- a 54-yard TD pass from Odom to Jordin Young. Young caught the ball from 10-yards out and then took off up the middle of the field for the score.

Holding a slim 20-14 lead in the middle of the fourth, FC put the nail in the coffin when CJ Broy caught a 18-yard dart in the endzone from Brandon Nunez. The four-play 75-yard drive lifted the Hornets up 27-14 after the Fobear extra point at 11:12. 

The FC defense kept San Diego out of the endzone for the remainder of the game with the help of 3 breakups and 2 sacks by Brandon Harris and Ryan Alamo. In all, the Hornet D had 9 sacks on the night.

After stopping Mesa's final drive with a minute left in regulation, the FC offense went into victory formation and burned the rest of the time off the clock.

Up Next - The Blue Gold Game: No. 4 in state Fullerton (6-0 overall, 3-0 conference) plays another team from the San Diego area in Palomar College on Saturday, October 21st on Sherbeck Field for another Southern Conference game. Kickoff is at 12:00 pm. FC students get free entry to the game with a valid fall 2023 student ID.