Eagle Football Team Set to Start 2019 Season at Home Saturday

MSJC's offense returns #4 wide out C.J. Sullivan and quarterback #2 Brett Virgil from a 2018 team that averaged over 36 points per game. (DeeAnn Bradley/MSJC)
MSJC's offense returns #4 wide out C.J. Sullivan and quarterback #2 Brett Virgil from a 2018 team that averaged over 36 points per game. (DeeAnn Bradley/MSJC)

The MSJC football team will begin their season at home on Saturday afternoon at Carl Quandt Stadium as they take on visiting L.A. Pierce College at 1 pm.

The Eagles are coming off a 7-3 season in which they narrowly missed an opportunity to earn a Bowl bid.  MSJC started the 2018 campaign quickly as they jumped out to a record of 6-0, before losing 3 of their final 4 games of the year.  The Eagles went unbeaten in non-league games and ended the season averaging an impressive 36.4 points per game on offense.  MSJC will play the same 10 teams as a year ago with just the home field for each contest changed.  The Eagles open with two in a row at home as LA Southwest will visit Carl Quandt Stadium on September 14th, before going on the road to Grossmont September 21st.

MSJC returns some key pieces on offense for 2019 including quarterback Brett Virgil and wide out C.J. Sullivan.  Virgil was an All-League and All-Region performer a year ago as he combined for 37 touchdowns.  The Menifee Heritage HS graduate threw for 24 TDs and 2,622 yards and also got things done with his legs as he rushed for 726 yards and 13 touchdowns.  Sullivan, an alum of Hemet West Valley HS, was the recipient of 11 of Virgil's TD passes and had a total of 28 receptions for 418 yards as a freshman.  Freshman running back Sherod White, also a Heritage grad, will be looked to early in the season as a big part of the Eagles running game.  White rushed for over 1,400 yards as a senior in high school during the 2017 season.

A couple key newcomers on defense for MSJC include another Heritage alum in cornerback Jayden Dawson and former Menifee Paloma Valley HS linebacker Steven Bradshaw.  Dawson spent his freshman season at College of Idaho, an NAIA school, where he recorded 73 tackles and had 3 interceptions.  Bradshaw put up huge numbers in his senior season at Paloma during the 2017 season with 98 solo tackles, 161 total, he also had a sack and a pair of interceptions.

MSJC head coach Casey Mazzotta also feels good about the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, believing the Eagles have more depth than most years on the offensive and defensive lines.

If you can't make it out to a game on any given Saturday, you can catch all of the action home and away live on Twitter @  https://twitter.com/msjcathletics

Coverage will begin each Saturday about 5 minutes prior to kick-off.