Tough Weekend on College Grid, But in Hoops...

BOO

BOO JACKSON’s season has ended. Saturday night in the American Bowl Moorpark upset El Camino 42-41 in overtime. Boo struggled, completing only 10 of 31 for 188 yards with no touchdowns nor interceptions.

Here’s the story from Dave Thorpe of the Torrance Daily Breeze.

There were hoots and hollers from Moorpark's football players on the other side of the field. El Camino players stood in disbelief after minutes earlier believing they had won the game.
El Camino, which won the state championship last season, went into the season ranked No. 1 in the state, went 8-1 during the regular season and was a solid No. 2. The Warriors expected to be back in the state title game, but No. 7 Moorpark ruined its plans with a 42-41 victory that ended on a stunning turn of events in overtime.


Moorpark, pulling out all the stops, was down by seven points in overtime when a 15-yard run by James Walker set up his own 5-yard touchdown run. Instead of kicking the extra point and sending the game into a second overtime, Coach Jim Bittner decided his team would go for it.
The first try was a pass that fell incomplete, setting off a brief celebration by some of El Camino's players, but it turned out they had not seen a pass interference call that gave Moorpark another try from the 1-yard line.
Marcus Hunt then took a handoff and leaped over the goal line. The ball appeared to pop out, but Hunt landed on it in the end zone to give Moorpark an improbable American Bowl victory Saturday night at El Camino. The bowls serve as the first round of the Southern California Regional playoffs.
"This is not real," said El Camino captain Brent McNeil in the aftermath, with Moorpark celebrating in the background. "It's not real."
McNeil's comment summed up the feeling on El Camino's side of the field.
Moorpark (9-2) took a 34-27 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter, when quarterback Bryan Randolph hit Conrad Meadows deep for an 83-yard touchdown. Nico Grasu made the extra point, but barely, as it was a line-drive kick that barely cleared the post. It only took two plays for El Camino to tie the score. Quarterback Boo Jackson, who struggled most of the night, found Corey Surrency wide open for a 59-yard pass to the Raiders 2-yard line, then Jeremy Francis plunged in to tie the score, 34-34.
Then the defenses of both teams stepped up. A pair of Wes Racht sacks helped stymie the Moorpark offense, and El Camino couldn't find its rhythm until its first possession of overtime.
Starting at the 25-yard line in overtime, El Camino stuck to the ground, and Francis' 8-yard run helped set up Kenny Ashley's 4-yard touchdown. James Cullen made the extra point to put El Camino ahead, 41-34.
After Moorpark scored, its field-goal unit came out, then the Raiders called a timeout. Afterward, the offense trotted out onto the field and the rest is history.
"Did you see how our kicker was kicking our extra points?" Bittner said. "They were going in sideways, so we decided to go for it."
Last week, in El Camino's conference-title clinching win over Fullerton, Jackson had perhaps his finest game of the season, passing for 320 yards and five touchdowns and running for another score. Against Moorpark, Jackson had one of his worst outings, going 10-for-27 for 187 yards and no TDs.

Recognizing Jackson was having an off game, El Camino decided to pound the ball and had success doing it. The Warriors had 58 carries for 352 yards. Tavares Pressley led the way with 13 rushes for 135 yards and a touchdown.


The Warriors were in a 14-3 hole when Pressley busted a 51-yard touchdown run with 4:14 left in the first quarter to cut Moorpark's lead to 14-10.
El Camino took a brief 17-14 lead when it embarked on a 10-play, 72-yard drive that was highlighted by Jackson's 37-yard pass to Surrency and capped by fullback Pat Hill's 2-yard TD run. Hill had 11 rushes for 40 yards and two TDs.
But Moorpark answered with a seven-play, 67-yard drive, highlighted by Randolph's 30-yard pass to Daniel Wolverton and capped by Hunt's 1-yard touchdown run. Moorpark led, 21-17, and later took a 24-20 lead into halftime.
"Every chance we had, Moorpark kept responding with another big play," El Camino coach John Featherstone said. "I told the kids they were a good 8-2 team, but yeah, I'd say this was the best game Moorpark has played all year."
Ashley had nine carries for 73 yards, Francis had 12 carries for 45 yards and a touchdown and Jackson ran the ball five times for 46 yards for El Camino. Surrency had four catches for 104 yards.
"Good football teams have bad days," Featherstone said. "We played hard tonight. That team just played a little harder."
Randolph was 13-for-25 for 246 yards and two touchdowns for Moorpark and Walker led the running game with 19 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown.
The win avenges last year's 31-29 loss to El Camino in the National Bowl.
dave.thorpe@dailybreeze.com
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LYDELL

Penn State fell at Michigan State 35-31 Saturday as the Nittany Lions relinquished a 24-7 lead. MSU scored the final two touchdowns. LYDELL SARGEANT was replaced in the starting lineup at left cornerback by A.J. Wallace. Lydell did see action but recorded no tackles nor assists. It was the second straight game Sargeant has not started, the first time this season he has not started back-to-back games. He has started eight of PSU’s 12 games and ranks third on the team in tackles with 65. The Nittany Lions are now 8-4 and await a bowl bid.

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VAI

VAI TAUA saw action but did not start nor get a carry Friday night as Hawaii nipped Nevada 28-26 at Reno. The Wolfpack, 5-5, visits San Jose State Saturday.

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MATT

At Salt Lake City Saturday Utah rolled over New Mexico 28-10. Junior Colt Sampson started at tight end instead of senior MATT SIMS who did not play. Sims had played in every game until last week. He started twice. The Utes (8-3) finish up at BYU Saturday.

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BASKETBALL

In Seattle JOEL SMITH (pictured) was in the starting lineup at a guard spot and went 3-for-3 from the field and 1-for-1 from the line in 18 minutes tonight as the Washington Huskies rolled over Eastern Washington 82-68. The Huskies are now 3-0. They next take the floor Nov. 21 at the Great Alaska Shootout vs. Virginia Tech.

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In St. Cloud, Minnesota the University of Mary Marauders fell to their second defeat Saturday, this time at the hands of Minnesota-St. Cloud. The score was 77-61. GEOFF WEST was second leading scorer for UM with 12 points including two three-pointers. U-M is next in action at Mayville State on November 20.