Local colleges | VC headed to playoffs despite wild loss to Mt. SAC
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The Ventura College football team let a 23-point lead slip as visiting Mt. San Antonio grabbed a share of the SCFA Northern Conference title with a wild 55-54 win on Nov. 8 at the VC Sportsplex.
Aiden Ramos’ 1-yard touchdown run and Eric Najarro’s two-point conversion run with 16 seconds gave the defending Southern California Football Association champions to its only lead of the game Saturday night.
“Heartbreaking is all I can say,” VC coach Steve Mooshagian said. “The guys played hard until there was no time (left).”
The loss cost No. 2-ranked VC its unbeaten season and first-round bye in the newly expanded six-team SCFA playoffs.
VC (9-1) was seeded No. 4 on Sunday and will host No. 5 Cerritos (8-2) in the quarterfinals on Nov. 22.
No. 3 Mt. SAC (9-1) will host No. 6 El Camino (8-2). No. 1 Golden West (10-0) and No. 2 Saddleback (9-1) have first-round byes.
“So many one play what-ifs, but onto the playoffs and it's not the end of the world,” Mooshagian said. “It's just a really hard pill to swallow.”
VC quarterback Braesen Leon completed 24 of 39 passes for 387 yards, three TDs and an interception and also ran for a TD.
Tayvion McCoy caught six passes for 146 yards and two TDs and Elijah Davis (Oxnard High) caught eight passes for 119 yards and a TD.
Love Adabeyo ran for 82 yards on seven carries, leading a running game that piled up 194 yards on 40 carries. Koen Glover (St. Bonaventure) ran for 47 yards and a TD on 14 carries.
Marcellus Brigham had an interception and Peyton Moise (Camarillo) had a sack to lead the defense.
Javarian Salter’s 2-yard run, Leon’s 31-yard strike to Davis and Glover’s 1-yard rush pushed an early Pirates’ lead out to 37-14 with 27 seconds left in the first half.
After Mt. SAC scored five minutes apart to pull even 47-47 with 10:05 to play, VC answered with Leon’s 24-yard TD pass to McCoy with 6:11 to play.
But Mt. SAC used a 16-play, 61-yard march to set up the decisive conversion.
“We lost the game on the scoreboard, but we really just ran out of time,” Mooshagian said. “We will be back.”
Moorpark College 30, Long Beach City College 13
The Raiders threw for 422 yards and three TDs to win their fifth straight game, clinch third place in the SCFA Northern Conference and earn a bowl berth.
Quarterbacks Aidan Karsh and Sirawn Evans shared the load in MC’s home finale on Saturday afternoon.
Karsh completed 16 of 26 passes for 166 yards. Evans completed 16 of 24 passes for 236 yards and two TDs.
But it was former Grace quarterback Ethan LaSecla, who has been playing running back for the Raiders, who threw a 20-yard scoring strike to Jude Hooks to push MC up 10-0 with 12:03 left in the second quarter.
Hooks caught four passes for 77 yards and three TDs and Angel Urban caught eight passes for 120 yards.
Jaden Mosley (Oak Park), DaVaughn Robinson, Adrian Szabo and Kenny Nevitt had sacks for the Raiders. Nolan Story (Newbury Park) had a team-high eight tackles and a blocked PAT.
Moorpark (6-4) will travel to Chula Vista on Nov. 22 to face host Southwestern (7-3) in the SCFA Patriotic Bowl. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
Pomona-Pitzer College 28, Cal Lutheran University 18
Despite falling behind 28-0 and dropping its regular-season finale Saturday night in Claremont, the Kingsman will advance to the SCIAC Championship Game this Saturday afternoon in Orange.
Cal Lutheran (6-3) will visit Chapman University (7-2) to play for the conference title and an NCAA Division 3 playoff berth.
It is CLU’s first title-game appearance in the conference’s new format. It won four straight SCIAC titles from 2009 to 2012.
CLU advanced out of the Sun division title despite tying Redlands at 4-3. Chapman advanced from the Surf division at 7-0.
CLU quarterback Joe Farley completed 18 of 32 passes for 232 yards, one TD and one interception and also ran for 42 yards and two TDs in Saturday’s loss.
Tyler Woodworth (Ventura High) caught eight passes for 130 yards and a TD.
Joe Curley covers football for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter/X, Instagram/Threads, Facebook and Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Local colleges | VC headed to playoffs despite wild loss to Mt. SAC
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