Palm Desert, CA (Football) -- After giving up a season high 405 rushing yards to Allan Hancock last week, the Citrus College defense rallied Saturday night as they held the National Conference rushing leaders College of the Desert to just 123 yards rushing. It was all for naught however, as the offense turned the ball over four times and picked up just 251 yards of offense (including two yards rushing) in their 7-28 loss in Saturday night's conference opener.
Both teams would take turns with the ball to open up the game, but neither team found the end zone in the opening quarter. Citrus would take their opening drive all the way to the Desert 27 yard line, but came up empty after a Jonathan Price rush for no-gain when they went for it on fourth and twenty.
With the clock winding down in the second quarter Desert finally took the offensive initiative and got on board thanks to a 13 play, 95 yard drive. The drive would be capped off when Thomas DeMarco took a 12-yard run into the end zone giving the Roadrunners a 7-0 lead with 3:31 to play in the first half.
Desert would turn around and score again before the end of the half, when on Citrus' first play after the COD touchdown, freshman quarterback David Potts threw an interception from their own 31-yard line. With their best field position of the night, the Roadrunners took just six plays to get the ball into the end zone thanks to another Demarco touchdown scamper, that gave Desert a 14-0 lead going into the half.
Things wouldn't get much better in the second half, as the Fighting Owl offense continued to stall. Meanwhile Desert used back to back drives spanning the end of the 3rd quarter and the beginning of the 4th quarter to jump out 28-0 lead thanks to two more touchdowns at the hands of Thomas, this time on back to back TD passes.
Citrus would finally get on board after Thomas' last touchdown on the night, when Austin Goldsmith found Jonathan Price for a 42-yard strike with 10:46 to play in the game, but that would be it for the Fighting Owls as they failed to get things going in their next drive and fumbled in their final drive of the night, putting the final nail in the coffin.
Goldsmith would finish the night for Citrus 6 of 11 for 111 yards and 1 TD, while his counterpart for Desert, DeMarco, tossed the ball for 296 yards and 2 TD's, while rushing for two more. In one of the best defensive games of the season, Citrus was led by Phillip Chase (9 tackles, 1 pass break-up) and as always Bronze Withem (7 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss).
With the loss Citrus falls to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in National Conference play, while the Roadrunners improve to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in National Conference play. Citrus will try and bounce back next week as they play host to Mt. San Antonio College. The Mounties are currently ranked #1 in the nation by JCGridewire.com and are #1 in the California State Coaches Poll. Kick-off is set for 1:00 PM.
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