Shorthanded and trying to hold a slight lead, the Warriors gave up a 38-yard touchdown pass from Citrus College quarterback Bernard Pointer with 10:55 left in the fourth quarter Saturday in a loss, 32-18.

The Warriors had to use backup quarterback Nicholas King due to a pinched nerve shoulder injury that starting quarterback Jesse Scroggins sustained on a touchdown throw last week to Luckner Brady.

“I don’t think that having Jesse or Nick as a quarterback was the reason why we lost,” Ivan McLennan, linebacker, said. “I think losing Pierce Slaughter and Dante Livingston, our left tackle and our right tackle, has had the biggest impact of them all. Those two guys are division one athletes.”

King hasn’t had as much experience as Scroggins and it was evident by the types of incompletions and decisions he made against Citrus College.

“Nick is a lot younger,” Royshaun Lewis, defensive back, said. “As a freshman, he hasn’t dealt with the type of pressure that Jesse has dealt with, so in the heat of the moment he doesn’t react with the ball fast enough.”

King finished the game with 33 yards on three of 18 pass attempts. He completed a 10-play, 77-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Brady that gave the Warriors its first lead of the game.

“Nick had a pretty good week of practice,” Lewis said. “I think it was just more of the receivers getting adjusted to Nick’s playing style.”

The Warriors couldn’t get it going in the passing attack, so they did it on the ground, with 215 rushing yards, led by Johmel Charles with 10 carries for 80 yards and Eric Capacchione with four carries for 76 yards, including a sensational 55-yard run that sent the Warrior faithful into a frenzy.

The Warriors defense gave up 319 passing yards to Citrus, but was able to create some pressure with four tackles for a loss, a sack and an interception by Lewis.

“Being the only sophomore in the secondary hurt us in defending their passing game,” Lewis said. “So because of injuries, we have a lot of young inexperienced players who were nervous and they weren’t able to mentally process their assignments.”

The Warriors will look to avenge a disappointing season with an upset win against the undefeated No. 1 team in the nation Saturday at home against Mt. San Antonio College.

“Football’s, football. You know I never get down on the kids, as long as they play as hard as they can, which they have the whole season,” John Featherstone, coach, said.

Featherstone said that at least 20 injuries this season have definitely made it hard to get more wins.

“This is our bowl game,” McLennan said. “This is our national championship. This is David versus Goliath. This is the last game at Murdock, so excited already.”