There were plenty of fireworks from both teams Saturday night at La Playa Stadium, but the City College offense failed to launch in the overtime period and fell to East L.A., 46-52.
Pedro Velasquez led the Huskies, throwing for 587 yards on 35-57 passing with six touchdowns and two interceptions.
“Their quarterback did a heck of a job,” SBCC coach Craig Moropoulos said. “They played very well. Give them credit.”
The two-headed monster of Robyn Lawson and Tristan Carter generated an avalanche of offense, but it wasn’t enough to bury the Huskies.
In overtime, the Vaquero offense stumbled and turned the ball over on downs to East L.A.
The Huskies took advantage as Isam Pegues ran the ball on 3 straight plays, the last being a bruising 5-yard touchdown run taking the air out of La Playa Stadium.
After an opening Husky touchdown drive, the Vaqueros would answer when East L.A. muffed a punt that was then recovered by Dewayne Taylor, giving City College new life.
3 plays later, Carter ran the ball in from 2 yards out carrying two Huskies with him to even the score at seven all.
East L.A. responded with another touchdown pass from Velasquez to Anthony Denham on a 40-yard stop-and-go route to begin the second quarter.
The Vaqs countered with a 52-yard touchdown run from Lawson, who put on the afterburners, outrunning the entire Husky defense to even the score once again. He finished with 186 yards on 29 carries.
Perhaps the play of the season came midway through the second quarter when Lawson got the football on a reverse and broke an East L.A. tackle 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, then spun off City College quarterback Cale Carson and bolted down the left side for a Vaquero touchdown.
“It starts with the offensive line,” Lawson said. “I just followed my blockers.”
City College seized its first lead of the game with 4:27 left in the third quarter on a fake reverse give to Lawson for an untouched 12-yard touchdown run making it 35-30.
“He (Lawson) has been steady for us all season,” Moropoulos said. “He really exploded tonight. I’m proud of him.”
It looked like the Vaqueros were going to cruise to victory after Carter started the fourth quarter with an 11-yard scamper up the gut from the wildcat offense. On the ensuing City College drive, Brian Felt booted a 36-yard field goal, giving the Vaqs the biggest lead of the night, 46-36 in the closing minutes.
The Huskies would not go away though.
Velasquez threaded a 52-yard pass over the right shoulder to Denham who was off to the races scoring easily.
After a City College punt, East L.A. responded with a 3 minute, 69-yard drive ending in a 36-yard field goal evening the score at 36 apiece and sending the game into overtime.
“We got to build on this, Moropoulos said. “There is a lot of excitement at this place (La Playa Stadium). There are a lot of positives.”
The Vaqs complete their season with a 3-7 overall record, going 2-5 in the American Pacific Conference.
