Consistency, efficiency, dominance.
After last week’s 61-10 thrashing of Mt. San Antonio College, the football team will take a division leading 4-0 record into Murdock Stadium Saturday as it takes on the Palomar College Comets.
Palomar is coming from one of its worst performances in recent history, as Santa Ana handed the Comets their first shutout in nearly 24 years.
Despite Palomar’s hiccup last Saturday, the Warriors know that the Comets are not the type of team to take lightly.
“They’re a very scary team. Until Santa Ana beat them, they were undefeated,” coach John Featherstone said. “They are always one of the best teams in the country.”
The Warriors will look to avoid complacency while the Comets will undoubtedly be hungry to get back into the win column during Saturday’s home game with the kickoff set for 6 p.m.
“We have got to stay level-headed this week and we cannot be looking past anyone,” Featherstone said. “It’s just business as usual for us this week. We are just going to set our sights on winning our fifth game.”
Whether or not the Warriors will win their fifth game is not known, however, victory in last weekend’s game against Mt. SAC seemed to be certain even before the end of the first half.
The Warriors got on the board early in the first quarter as quarterback Don Poole connected with sophomore Devin Adair on a 60-yard pass and run to open the scoring.
“We have always been somewhat of a big play offense,” Featherstone said. “I thought we played a real fine football game on both sides of the ball.”
After a quick turnover by each team, Mt. SAC drove down the field for three points as last week’s hero Brian Giambustiani put the ball through the uprights to make it 8-3 in favor of the Warriors at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter belonged to sophomore free safety Nate Ness and the Warriors’ defense, which held Mt. SAC to only 21 yards of offense while generating three turnovers.
Ness returned a blocked punt and an interception for touchdowns. He later intercepted a second pass and ran the ball back to the Mounties 3-yard line, setting up another quick score.
“Our defense is improving every week,” Ness said. “The linebackers are making calls, the defensive backs are making plays, the defensive linemen are getting into the backfield. We are just looking to keep it going.”
Sophomore linebacker Tyler Flack patrolled the middle of the field and led the Warriors’ defense with 10.5 in tackles.
“We were around the ball a lot,” Flack said. “I think we’ve come together and gotten stronger as a group.”
Featherstone also noticed the play of his young defense, which was the first team this season to hold Mt. SAC to under 200 yards of total offense.
“I was very impressed with how our defense played Saturday night against a pretty big, physical, fast and athletic Mount SAC team,” Featherstone said.
EC’s offense matched its defense step for step as it put up more than 500 yards for the first time this season.
Freshman quarterback Lyle Moevao, who came into the game near the end of the first quarter, completed 80 percent of his passes en route to throwing for two touchdowns and running for a third.
“It all starts up front in the trenches with the offensive line,” Moevao said. “I’m just glad to have so many athletes on my team.”
Freshman wide receiver Kayne Farquharson scored for the third straight week, while sophomore running back Brian Flowers extended his scoring streak to four games.
Sophomore wide receiver Marcel Reece made the most of his extended playing time by hauling in six catches for 148 yards including a long 66-yard touchdown catch early in the second quarter.
“We’ve got a lot of weapons on offense and we’re switching off every week,” Reece said. “Coach Featherstone told us on Thursday night that we had to give one to the old man and we gave him one. We should have done a lot more, but we’re content right now.”
