Eldrin Jones passed for two touchdowns and ran for another Saturday night in the Tremblay Financial Services Bowl as Pasadena piled up the points in a 45-14 victory over Southwestern.
Jones, a 5-foot-8, 155-pound freshman from Miami amassed 348 total yards to win MVP honors on the inaugural Community College football game. He rushed 12 times for 90 yards, completed 14-of-27 passes for 215 yards and returned two kickoffs for 43 yards.
“Coming into the season, I wanted to be an athlete,” said Jones, who started the year at wide receiver. “Due to my height, it really shouldn’t be a disadvantage, but at the next level, they want you to be 6-3 and all that to play quarterback. I just want to do everything to the best of my ability so I can earn a scholarship in the future.”
Pasadena, which tied for second in the National Northern Conference, improved to 7-4. It was the first bowl win since 2001 for the Lancers, who outgained Southwestern in total yardage 511-306, including 263-29 in rushing. Pasadena is 8-1 all-time vs. the Jaguars and 12-4 in bowl games.
In the first bowl game at La Playa Stadium since 1982, the Lancers struck first on an 83-yard TD pass from Jones to Titus Mack. “They were playing Cover 4 but on that big play, we knew they would be in man on the crossing route,” said Jones, who hit Titus in stride at the Jaguar 45-yard line. “We figured that would be open.”
Southwestern (7-4), the co-champion of the American Mountain Conference, tied it at 7-7 on an 80-yard drive, capped by Alvino Duncan’s 12-yard run.
The Lancers needed just two plays to regain the lead with Joshua Morgan running for 31 yards and Jones starting up the middle, then sprinting to his right on a 42-yard TD run that made it 14-7 with 1:50 left in the opening quarter. Anthony Bermudes’ 27-yard field goal extended the lead to 10 on the fourth play of the second quarter.
Morgan led all rushers with 94 yards on 12 carries for a healthy 7.8-yard average.
Southwestern had a first-and-goal at the 10 early in the second quarter but Eugene Palmer intercepted a Ryan Palmer pass in the end zone. It was the sixth pick of the year for Palmer.
The Lancers drove 80 yards in nine plays, capped by a 5-yard TD run by linebacker/fullback Roman Pula. That boosted the lead to 24-7 with 5:38 to go in the first half.
Mack finished with nine catches for 179 yards and returned three punts for 89 more, giving him 268 total yards. Nelson, the fifth-rated QB in Southern Cal, completed 26-44 for Southwestern for 268 yards with 1 TD and two interceptions. Sheldon Galloway caught 10 passes for 112 yards while Jaguar teammate George Bell had nine catches for 103 yards.
Each team had nine penalties in the contest, which lasted nearly 3 1/2 hours. The world-famous Kilgore College Rangerettes of Texas wowed the crowd of 750 at halftime.
Defensive coordinator James Kuk, who took over as Pasadena’s acting head coach in Week 3, was asked about his defense, which held the Jaguars scoreless in the second half.
“It all started a week ago when we put together our game plan,” said Kuk. “We saw some glaring tendencies on what they do offensively. Once we had a bead on that, we kept it very simple and we emphasized executing and trying to take away the things they do well.
“They use a spread offense and they’re a high-scoring team. … We didn’t know how we’d match up speed-wise. Once we got out there, as far as the speed, the size and the strength goes, I think it was in our favor quite a bit.”
Cordell Robinson paced the Lancer defense with 10 tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss. Julius Harris made his sixth interception in the third quarter.
