Glendora, CA - The 2006 Citrus College Football schedule is filled with huge obstacles. Their season began with a trip to El Camino the #1 ranked team in Southern California and the #2 ranked team in the state. The Owls came home empty handed with a 7-34 loss. The Owls were hoping to turn things around this week, when San Gabriel Valley rival Mt. SAC (who beat #1 ranked Grossmont last week) came calling. Without starting quarterback Bryan Weggener (out due to illness), the Owls never really got their offense going, and were unable to get a score when it mattered most, in their 7-14 loss to pre-season #9 Mt. SAC.
The Mounties struck first in the 2nd quarter when they scored on 15 yard reception from Jake Fadden to Michael Waller, with 1:18 left on the clock. Citrus ran out the clock and going into the half the score was 0-7 in favor of Mt. SAC.
In the 3rd quarter when Mountie running back Greg Williams fumbled the ball on his own 35, the Owl’s Nick Williams was there to recover and give his team good field position. Owls back-up QB John Garcia capitalized getting the Owls only score on a 6 yard pass to Phillip Kerber with 11:33 to go in the 3rd quarter. “I thought he [Garcia] played great,” said Head Coach Kevin Emerson. “John went out and did exactly what we asked him to do. He gave us a chance to win it, but we just came up short.”
It was a game more of defense rather than offense as Citrus was held to 46 yards rushing and 116 yards passing. Citrus’ defense did their part in the loss holding the Mounties to 227 total yards (149 passing & 78 yards rushing). “The defense played in a grinding game,” Emerson said. “The linebackers were stepping up in holes, getting off blocks and making plays. The defense definitely made an improvement over the last week.”
While the Owls defense was stout most of the night, they couldn’t stop a 14 play 80 yard drive in the 4th quarter that became the last score of the night with 3:36 left on the clock. The touchdown came via the air from Jake Fadden to Michael Waller for the 7 yard score, putting the Mounties up 7-14.
On the ensuing kickoff the Owls got the ball on their own 37. The Owls offense took the ball driving all the way to the Mt. SAC 34, but on 4th and 8 Garcia was unable to complete a pass intended for Charles Lewis. Mt. SAC got the ball back and ran the clock down to 9 seconds, but on the punt Damian James was unable to make any headway on the return as the clock ran out.
The tough pre-conference schedule comes to an end, but the Owls (0-2) will be back in the saddle next week when they host their first WSC match-up against Santa Monica College. “We’re looking forward to starting league and getting a win,” Emerson said. “We are 0-0 in league and we are starting over.” The game starts at 7:00 pm at Citrus Stadium. “We played a tough pre-season schedule,” Emerson said. “That is what is getting us prepared for league and we’ll be ready.”
Box Score