Down 14-0 to visiting West Los Angeles College midway through the first quarter, the Pasadena City College football team mounted one of the great scoring runs in school history Saturday night. The Lancers scored 58 consecutive points on eight touchdowns and a safety before the bewildered Wildcats finally answered for the game's final TD in the fourth quarter.
When it was over, PCC won its third straight, 58-22, setting a Robinson Stadium record for most points by the Lancers since the venue opened in 1999. Pasadena (3-3 under interim head coach Steven Mojarro) made it to .500 and now is in a 2-way tie for first place in the SCFA American Metro League with Santa Ana at 2-0 marks. The 58 points is tied for the ninth highest point total by a PCC team and most in 10 years by a Lancers unit.
Freshman starting quarterback Mario Bobadilla keyed the rally, connecting on TD passes of 17 yards to Kyle Torres and 1 yard to Kaleb Prejean with 29 seconds left in the first quarter. PCC was tied 14-14 after one quarter. A 75-yard kick return by Yusef Muhammad set up the Torres score. Jared Henry forced a fumble on a pass play by WLAC and it resulted in a 36-yard return by Jasper Chavez to the WLAC 14. That set up Prejean's short touchdown catch.
In the second period, the Lancers poured it on. Amad Andrews had a 24-yard carry that helped set up his 2-yard TD run, giving PCC a 21-14 lead with 10 minutes left before halftime. Bobadilla's third touchdown pass of the game, a 13-yard strike to Stevie Williams made it 28-14. Josiah Purchase followed that with a 38-yard interception return that set up a 5-yard TD run by Kevin Thomas for a 35-14 lead. A botched punt snap led to a safety and an ensuing 27-yard free kick return by Torres that gave PCC the ball at midfield. Bobadilla hit Williams for strikes of 24 and 12 yards. Inside the half's final minute, James Shaw capped another quick drive with a 9-yard scoring scamper. Enrique Lozano finished off a 30-point, PCC second quarter with the extra point kick and a Lancers' 44-14 halftime lead.
The scoring bonanza continued in the third quarter as Andrews powered a 9-yard TD run just 2:28 into the second half. The sophomore back keyed his own score with an electrifying 41-yard jaunt to the WLAC 22. Kimani Williams later recovered a fumble at the PCC 23 to start PCC's final scoring series. Thomas blasted for runs of 26 and 19 yards and reached the end zone on a 5-yard carry with 19 seconds left in the quarter. The Lancers had scored an amazing 58 points in a span of 2-1/2 quarters.
Overall. Lozano was 8-for-8 on extra point kicks to tie the school record for most points after by a PCC kicker held by Dan Serrano (1973 v. Cal State Northridge JV) and Grant Runnerstrom (1988 v. Golden West). Lozano, who last week tied the school record for longest field goal of 49 yards, attempted a 56-yarder in the fourth quarter but despite having the distance the kick was just wide left. Also in the fourth quarter, Muhammed had a 63-yard punt return for a TD nullified on a PCC penalty.
A converted cornerback from wide receiver last year, Muhammad had his second straight brilliant performance with four returns for 115 yards, one interception and a pass break-up. Andrews led the team's successful ground game with 107 yards in nine carries and two TDs. Thomas added 77 yards in 12 attempts and two TDs while Shaw totaled 57 yards in 12 touches (one TD). Of the team's 366 total yards, 237 came via the rush (48 carries). Playing only the first half, Bobadilla completed 7-for-13 for 88 yards and three touchdowns. Williams made four catches for 61 yards and scored his team-leading seventh touchdown.
On defense, Tristen Chavarria made an 18-yard interception return and Lionel Humphrey III had a 12-yard sack and forced a fumble. Matt Terlizzi made team-best six tackles and also forced a fumble.
While West LA (1-5, 0-2) committed five turnovers (three interceptions, two fumbles), PCC once again kept mistakes to a minimum (only one interception in the second half) and has made only two turnovers during its 3-game win streak.
LANCERS GRIDIRON NOTES: Veteran referee Larry Diel, who used a wireless game mic for the stadium crowd to hear the penalties, made one of the more hilarious calls, describing one infraction as "offside on the kickoff by West LA...by everyone."...While Lozano was busy with his eight point-afters, nine kickoffs (two touchbacks and four others that were returned from the goal-line) and two punts for 40-yard average, backup punter Derrik Engel finally got a chance. After a shaky short first punt, the freshman Engel nailed a 41-yard boot on his second attempt in the fourth quarter...The last time PCC scored as many as 58 points in a game was 10 years ago in a 65-64 regulation game loss at Santa Ana. Pasadena has averaged 42 points in the last three victories and 32.5 a game after six games...The Lancers will take next Saturday, Oct. 14 as their bye week and return to action on Oct. 28 when it hosts Glendale...Dating back to the start of last season, PCC is 6-2 in its last eight home games...In 1949, PCC set a school record for points in a game in a 76-0 victory over Sterling (Colorado) JC. That's the most unanswered points in a game, but it was the 1973 season opener the last time that the Lancers scored 58 unanswered in a 59-0 win over Cal State Northridge's JV team.