Glendale falls to Santa Barbara 30-14 and falls to 2-3; Starts Metro League play Oct. 15

pc:  Glenn Cooper

After almost 50 years of competition on the gridiron, Glendale College and Santa Barbara City College came into Saturday's meeting with 23 wins each and one tie and the Oct. 1 contest at Sartoris Field started off as a balanced contest. Both teams moved up and down the field with neither team gaining an early advantage until the visitors eked out a 9-7 halftime lead on the way to a 30-14 victory in the battle of the Vaqueros.

Now 2-3, Glendale was stymied with its inability to establish consistency on the ground or in the air as they totaled just 208 yards of total offense, 34 on the ground and 174 in the air while the visitors doubled that amount with 456 yards while punishing the GCC defense with 356 yards on the ground in 51 attempts. Another factor was the limited amount of time the home offense spent on the field running 45 plays in 24:17 compared to 73 huddles for the visitors and 35:31 in time of possession.

GCC quarterback Nick Garcia, the Southern California Football Association Offensive Player of the Week last week, passed for 174 yards on 14 of 24 and one touchdown as well as one scoring once on the ground. Nick Johnson caught five balls for 78 yards and Jahrique Lowe caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Garcia to cut the lead to 23-14 in the fourth quarter. Percy Jackson led the defensive effort with 12 tackles, six solo, and one sack and one tackle for a loss. Sebastian DeLeon had seven tackles and Asa Roberson had a pass interception and four tackles.

Glendale has a bye on Oct. 8 and starts American Division Metro League play Oct. 15 at West Los Angeles College at 1 pm.