Weapons Galore Lead To Football's 55-35 Win In Opener Over Santa Ana

The new and improved 2023 Pasadena City College football team features an excitement that lacked in the big play department last season. This year's Lancers have standouts that will make the squad hard to beat in the SCFA American Division. 

The list was large in PCC's season-opening 55-35 victory over Santa Ana played Friday night before an energetic crowd at Robinson Stadium.

• Returning kicker/punter Justin Vergara put on a clinic with an impressive 21 kicks overall, including booting 2-for-2 on first-quarter field goals of 35 and 48 yards and a perfect 3-for-3 on extra point kicks. He made 10 kickoffs, four that reached the end zone for touchbacks and a few others that were returned from the goal-line. Vergara also averaged 37.2 yards on six punts, two that landed inside the 20 and a long of 47 yards. 
• Freshman safety Eli Moulton had an electric college debut, making two interceptions and returning a fumble 15 yards for a touchdown. Moulton, from Norman, Oklahoma, stepped in front of SAC quarterback Dallen Engemann's pass and nearly returned it 65 yards for a score in the first quarter, but stepped out of bounds at the Dons' 43 yard-line. That led to a PCC touchdown. He later made a 36-yard interception return in the second half. 
• Lefty frosh starting quarterback Kekahi Graham (from Honolulu, Hawaii) showed a strong and accurate arm by passing for three touchdowns, including scoring throws of 15 yards to LeMonte Holmes, 16 yards to Daniel Schwam and a 40 yards to Drushun Phillips. Graham shared playing duties with two others and finished 13 of 22 attempts for 162 yards. He added a 2-point conversion pass to Jordan Rodriguez.
• Letterman running back Isaac Glover, who led the team in rushing last season, scampered for 96 yards in 12 carries (8 yards per touch), including TD romps of 27 and 13 yards. With his kick returns, he totaled 281 all-purpose yards. 
• Frosh inside linebacker Kyden Bailey (Clarkston, Washington) led the team with nine tackles plus an interception. 
• First-year defensive lineman Julius Ray (Inglewood HS) was a brick wall as he made six tackles, including three from behind the line of scrimmage. 
• Transfer Israel Duncan, a rugby player from Western Washington, made back-to-back sacks (1.5) while Pasadena High product/linebacker Torriq Brumfield made four tackles, including a 12-yard sack. Another newcomer from PHS is cornerback Idrique Carmichael, who had one of the team's five interceptions (41-yard return) and broke up two passes

Director of Football Operations/Head Coach Robert Tucker, in his third season in charge of the program, was pleased with his team's efforts. 

"A lot of guys played their first college game," he said. "So I'm looking forward going through the evaluation process with them to process with them to emphasize the things done well while making corrections to the things that didn't go so well. We have a lot of room for growth. It was a good start and I'm proud of both the players and staff."

The Lancers took control by taking a 24-0 lead by the eight-minute mark of the opening quarter. PCC led by as much as 41-7 with 5:38 left in the first half. 

Santa Ana rallied behind the arm of Engemann, who passed for five touchdowns (three to Malachi Pierce) and 381 yards. A 76-yard TD short pass and jaunt to Jackson Smith got the Dons as close as 12 at 47-35 early in the fourth quarter. 

PCC responded on the ensuing kickoff as Glover broke loose for a 70-yard return. Sophomore running back Armando Guardado followed with a 22-yard carry, then Graham scored on a 2-yard TD keeper. His 2-point conversion pass to Rodriguez put the game away.

PCC's veteran offensive line returns All-State right tackle Guadalupe Cedillo, All-SCFA Second Teamer Bernardo Brito, the team's new center, left guard Francisco Guerrero, left tackle Jacen Guerra, and tackle Erick Contreras, who did not play due to injury. Breaking into the starting unit was frosh right guard Julian Navarrete, from San Marino High, (who got credited with a reception on a deflected pass). 

Tucker talked about the game-changing abilities of his kicker/punter Vergara. "Everyone trusts Justin and we know he can hit them past 50 yards. But I'm most proud of him for working on his punting this past off-season. He had a few directional punts that flipped the field v. SAC. Along with field goals and kickoffs into the end zone, Justin had a very solid game and keeps getting better every day."

Vergara has a chance this season to break the program's record for longest field goal, held by Enrique Lozano and his 50-yard made attempt in 2017 v. Glendale.

On Glover, the coach said: "Isaac has really grown into a great leader on and off the field. His vision is elite. His ability to see holes open at returner and running back is as good as I've seen. Also, he is very strong and has the ability to make the first tackle miss. Although we are throwing the ball much more this year, our run game is still a number one priority and it starts with Glover."

PCC FOOTBALL GRID NOTES: The Lancers now carry a 23-20-4 record over Santa Ana in the all-time series that started with the very first year of then Pasadena Junior College sports in 1925 (6-0 win)...Reserve running back Micah Mendoza (PHS) broke off the longest rush for PCC with a 39-yard attempt with a nifty spin move and finished with 51 yards in four carries..The freshmen Muir High linebacker pair of Adrian Ramirez and Jachai Pulley impressed the coaches. Martinez made four tackles, a sack and knocked down a pass while Pulley totaled seven tackles.....The game started 30 minutes late due to bus issues with Santa Ana while short rainfall hit the stadium prior to the start...The school took a moment of silence prior to kickoff in honor of Bob McQueen, a long-time supervisor of officials in the CIF Southern Section and PCC's play-clock operator from 2016-2022. He passed away on Monday after complications of a stroke suffered earlier this year. The play clock was counted down from 15 seconds in his memory...It was Tucker's PCC first season-opening win after the team started the 2021 and '22 seasons with close defeats v. Cerritos College...Backup frosh kicker Nico Raza (Bishop Amat) was 2-for-3 on extra point attempts...The 41 points in the first half is not a PCC record at Robinson Stadium. In 2017, the Lancers scored 44 points in the opening half of a 58-22 win over West LA. Ironically, the teams meet for the first time since that game next Saturday, Sept. 9 at WLAC, a 2 p.m. kickoff.