The Warriors had a punt go over the head of Wide Receiver Andre Buford and Mt. San Antonio College turned that into a touchdown and on the next possession the team fumbled the ball.
This would go on throughout the game, as EC would lose 42-26 Saturday Night.
The Warriors next game is Saturday against Citrus College at 6 p.m. at EC’s Murdock Stadium. The Fighting Owls come into the game at 2-6, while the Warriors are ranked No.5 in the nation, according to JCGridiron.com.
“Sometimes a lot of the time we play great coming off a bye, but two year’s in a row, we started pretty slow against Mt. SAC coming out of the bye week. We had a great week of practice and we were fired up,” coach John Featherstone said.
This wasn’t the best game of the season for EC, because they struggled offensively and on special teams, especially with their mistakes.
“You win seven in a row and you get use to winning. We just didn’t play a very good game, we didn’t start out well and every chance we had to get back in the game, we would stumble a bit or they made a big play to stay on top of us. Of the 42 point’s, we gave them 40 of the 42. With our turnover’s and special team’s miscues, fumble exchange and pick for a touchdown and you can’t have as many mistake’s, especially against a good team like Mt. SAC,” Featherstone said.
The team will look to rebound from this and get a victory on Saturday night against Citrus.
“We have to win only because we are a good enough team to make the playoffs. Our defense is playing well enough to help us make the playoffs and it will be a tragedy if this team doesn’t make it. We are a good football team,” Featherstone said.
The Warriors aren’t use to losing football games at any point of the season and expect to win every time.
“There a completely different feeling between a win and a loss. We are not custom to losing around here and we don’t expect it to happen again. We will do anything in our power to avenge our poor performance from Saturday night,” Featherstone said.
“I felt like being that it’s our first loss, we have to send a message to everyone that we are still alive and we aren’t going to let this loss slow us down. We will meet again and when we do, it’s not going to be pretty,” running back Tony Sekona said.
This week is the last home game of the regular season, which mean’s Homecoming, and the Warriors are looking forward to it.
“They will be fired up. I didn’t get on the player’s after the game. We just had a bad game against a good football team,” Featherstone said.
The team will look to rebound from last week’s loss.
“We have to rebound, that’s the key. We have to play a stealthy game at home and rebound and get a victory and go into the last game of the year at 8-1. We need to feel good about the season we are having,” Featherstone said.
On offense, the Warriors gain 336 yards, 96 coming on the ground and 240 through the air, while holding Mt. SAC to 270.
Quarterback Matt Simms went 16-37 for 240 yards with two touchdowns but threw two interceptions.
Ashley had 12 carries for 78 yards and a touchdown score.
Wide Receiver Kenbrell Thompkins had six receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown score.