It was a happy homecoming for Brahmas football, rallying back to get the win over the Pasadena City College Lancers Saturday.
The team came into the game getting the win over Santa Barbara City College 23-7 in their conference opener.
The Lancers on the other had lost to conference leaders Allan Hancock 27-21 in overtime.
Prior to the game, head coach Carlos Woods practiced with Brahmas with many different situational techniques and drills in order to prep the team for the game.
“Well we’re always constantly making adjustments in practice, that’s one thing we stress,” Woods said. “Situational football. At the end of the day, that’s what football is all about. Each day of practice we start of with a different situation. We might start backed up, we might start our punt team backed up, this an aerial offence and you got to score. You have to put those guys in those stressful situations so when they are in the game and in those situations they’ll know how to perform.”
PCC scored the first touchdown as Mario Bobadilla connected with David Telles for 56 yards giving the Lancers the lead.
Doma Morris put the Brahmas on the board, but a bad snap on the extra point attempt prevented the team from tying the game.
Woods was aware of his opponent team’s strengths, especially during the first half of the game when Lancers were holding the winning score by a large margin.
“They have a very balanced attack and do a lot of things well,” Woods said. “Their number two is a heck of a running back, and their quarterback, number 11, he’s a playmaker and he always keeps his eye on the field as you could see in the first half. But we called the perfect blitz, we got home, we got two guys to wrap him up and he still threw the ball over us and got a touchdown. But that’s what we saw on tape, so I said we need to stay on coverage and stay on sound because their record didn’t reflect how good they were.”
Later in the first quarter, Forest Fajardo extended the Lancers’ lead to 13-6.
Quarterback Jonathan Saavedra went down with an injury and Cameron Perry had to take his place for the rest of the game.
Kobe Quiroga would score on a fumble and return it for two yards making the score 23-6.
Marcus Johnson scored two touchdowns and the Brahmas trailed 26-20 at halftime.
At the start of the second half, the Lancers would score a field goal to extend their lead to nine, but Marcus Johnson scored his third touchdown of the game making the score 29-27.
Hernandel Johnson would score on a 34-yard pass from Bobadilla to extend their lead by nine points.
Erik Castro would score a field goal to keep the deficit at six points.
Fernando Murillo raced after a bad punt snap over his head and before he could get to the Dimetri King appeared to kick the ball and then recovered it in the end zone.
Instead of being a recovered punt by King or a touchdown, the referees called a rare illegal touching of the ball which resulted on a 15-yard penalty on the Brahmas.
Jordan Palmer extended the Lancers’ lead scoring on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Bobadilla.
Perry would score on a one-yard touchdown run and he would connect with Cherrod Joe who would tie the game at 43.
Castro would score the extra point to give the Brahmas the lead.
With 11 seconds left in the game, Mosiah Brame got the sack on Bobadilla which gave the team the win.
Jamal McDowell, offensive lineman, said that it was the teams resilience in the face of the adversity that pushed them to actually surpass the Lancers by the fourth quarter.
“We had to over to the next guy and ask ‘are you ready’,” McDowell said. “That’s about it. We were in the trenches but we just had to fight. So when your about to get knocked down, you just really have to get up.”
Anthony Smith, defensive lineman, believes that despite the teams smaller size and the start of the year, they were able to make up for it in terms of sheer strength and will power.
“There’s just something about us,” Smith said. “We had the fewest amount of players in the Juco, and we’ve been through a lot. When the program started there was only around 11 or 12 people, but we have some people that are some really over-the-top athletes who make up for that so we are able to go out there with pure athleticism where they don’t quit. They’ve all been through it, so they know how to fight for 60 minutes.”
The Brahmas are on the road when they face LA Harbor College on Oct. 27. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
