PASADENA—The Grossmont Griffins used a balanced offense highlighted by a punishing running game, while allowing zero second half points to knock off the Pasadena City College Lancers 42-13 on Saturday. Grossmont improved to 4-5 (2-2 in conference) and the Lancers fell to 3-6 (1-3).
The Griffins ran the ball 51 times for 264 yards and were complimented with 254 yards through the air. Grossmont ran a season high 88 plays. Mike Karls
returned to midseason form throwing for four touchdown passes and rushing for 65 yards on seven carries with a long run of 50. Karls finished the game going 11-29 for 185 yards.
The Grossmont rushing attack was composed of a season-high 10 different ball carriers combining to average 5.1 yards a carry. “That’s our philosophy; we have a
lot of guys (ball carriers) that are capable of playing and playing well. We‘re a team built on longevity and depth,” said Coach Jordan. Tucker Spruill led
the Griffins with 86 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. Tim Patrick led a well balanced receiving core with five receptions for 69 yards and the Griffins first two touchdowns of the game. Patrick’s second touchdown put the Griffins up 14-13 in the second quarter and they never looked back.
The Griffins played in disciplined fashion drawing only six penalties. Offensively the Griffins committed no turnovers for the second consecutive week. “That’s a testament to our coaching staff,” said Coach Jordan, “We keep staying with the basics such as ball security.” Defensively the Griffins held the Lancers to 65 yards rushing on 29 carries. With 8:54 left in the second quarter with PCC driving down 13-14, starting quarterback Zeek Julian was knocked out the game and the
Lancers couldn’t get on track. Grossmont took advantage of PCC back-up quarterback Leonardo Vaal holding him to a meager 4-25 for 17 yards the rest of the game. “The other guy (Vaal) wasn’t very good; I’m not sure what happened to (Julian). Our defense was flying around out there.”
The Griffin defense registered 13 tackles for loss. Shane Pennix was the defensive player of the game with six tackles, 4 for loss and a sack.
The Griffins’ final regular season game will have playoff ramifications “Mathematically if you look at it, if Fullerton beats Saddleback and we beat Palomar then we’re in, it’s crazy” said Coach Mike Jordan when asked about the Griffins chance of sneaking into the playoffs. The game against Palomar is at home on Saturday, November 12th. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
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Hurst is managing editor of the GC Summit. He may be contacted at [email protected]
