SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE — In their first game on the road and under night lights, the Grossmont Griffins lit up the field with a high-scoring 45-31 victory over Southwestern College Saturday evening, Sept. 18, at Chet Devore Stadium.
Quarterback Ryan Woods tied a school record with six touchdown passes. The sophomore completed 31 of 41 passes for 452 yards.
Woods was quick to give credit to his teammates. “I actually threw some non-great balls” he said in a postgame interview with KCBS Sports, “but my receivers were making acrobatic catches left and right.”
Teammates were quick to reciprocate. “Hell of a game by our quarterback,” said right guard Joshua Spence to The GC Summit afterwards. “Made us look good.”
Jedon Mathews (Horizon High) caught five passes for 113 yards and three touchdowns. Tommy Alexander, Patrick Arize, and Roland Brookes caught the other three scoring balls. Alex McLeland did not catch a touchdown pass, but was the game’s leading receiver with 10 receptions for 163 yards.
The strong passing attack made up for a weak running game that produced only 39 yards out of 29 attempts.
The Griffins got off to a very quick start. Nine minutes in, or by the time many of the visiting fans for Grossmont had just settled in their seats, the score was already 21-0. By halftime the score was 28-7, with Southwest’s touchdown the result of a luckily-tipped pass.
In the second half the Jaguars tried to close the gap, and were helped by some big plays on special teams, including a 77-yard kickoff return by Eugene Simmons. But Grossmont was able to maintain a fourteen point lead throughout. Grossmont’s defense sacked Southwestern quarterback Victor Perez four times. Joshua Udey contributed a goal line interception in the fourth quarter that ended Southwestern’s last hopes of comeback.
Grossmont improved its league record to 2-0, and its overall record to 2-1.
The next game will be at Grossmont at 1 pm Saturday September 25, against Orange Coast College.
Highlights of the game and of Wood’s record QB performance can be seen here.
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Dudley is a student in Media Communications 132, the class that publishes the GC Summit.
