In one of the biggest games of the season against the No. 1 team in the nation, the Warriors were up against the wall. Down 10-0 in the middle of the second quarter, quarterback Jimmy Coy tried to boost the morale of his team.
His efforts were not enough as EC lost to the Mt. San Antonio College Mounties 26-21.
The Warriors (7-1, 3-1) will travel Saturday to take on Citrus College (2-6, 1-3) at 1 p.m.
Nearing the end of the second quarter, Coy threw a 20-yard pass to receiver Kellen VanAmersfort to put the Warriors at the Mountie nine-yard line. Running back Isaac Williams scored a nine-yard touchdown on the next play.
Throughout the game, a pattern was established where the Mounties (8-0, 4-0) scored and the Warriors (7-1, 3-1) tried to keep up.
“I thought for a major part of the game we outplayed them, but we didn’t convert the plays we need to convert at crunch time,” coach John Featherstone said.
With seconds left in the second quarter, Mountie quarterback Nick Lamaison threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to receiver Michael Edwards. EC’s defense called a seven-man blitz, leaving Edwards wide open.
“The strong safety was up pressing the receiver and the receiver just got past him a little bit and beat him over the top,” Featherstone said.
Coy was busy throwing the ball, completing 32 of 41 pass attempts for 355 yards.
The Mounties stayed more conservative in the passing game, as Lamaison completed only nine of his 18 pass attempts against a very good Warrior defensive unit.
“We are the No. 1 pass defense in the state,” Featherstone said. “I think they tried to throw on us early and they didn’t have a lot of success.”
The Warrior defense limited the Mounties to 243 passing yards as they also forced two turnovers, as they recovered a Mountie fumble and also intercepted Lamaison once.
In the third quarter, EC fought to get close driving 72 yards in nine plays. Coy completed two passes to Warrior reciever William Bullock-the first for 17 yards and the second for 18 yards. Running back Andre Harris ended the drive with a six-yard touchdown run, bringing the Warriors to within five points.
Bullock led the Warriors with eight catches for 124 yards.
“They never stopped us and if they ever did, it was because we turned it over,” Bullock said. “We just gave them the ball.”
An untimely fumble by Warrior receiver Ken McRoyal in the fourth quarter set the Warriors back again.
McRoyal had been out for the last four games with a deep thigh bruise.
Mountie defensive lineman Vincent Federico recovered the fumble by McRoyal. Federico had also recovered an earlier fumble by Warrior running back Isaac Williams.
The Mountie defense forced two Warrior fumbles, and also kept the pressure on Coy, sacking him three times throughout the game.
“I thought we played very well on offense, but we just had twenty-one points to show for it,” Featherstone said. “We just convert one of those three turnovers offensively and we’re in the game or winning the game. But you can’t say it, you got to do it.”
Late in the fourth quarter, the Warriors drove the ball 82 yards in seven plays. Coy ended the drive with a 22-yard run for a touchdown. Coy was scrambling, but was unable to find an open receiver. Having no open target, Coy decided to pull the ball down and run.
Coy was pleased with the play, but was displeased with the game as a whole.
“We didn’t finish when we needed to finish,” Coy said. “We had dumb penalties and turnovers at the wrong time.”
The Warriors gained more yardage than the Mounties, but were unable to close the deal. Due to some fumbles and loose play, the Warriors did not put enough points on the board.
“We just had a lot of little things that hurt us,” Featherstone said.
“We made a lot of little mistakes that you can’t do against a good football team.”
