The MSJC football team fell behind 7-0 early Saturday night in Escondido, but then took control of the game to methodically pull away from Palomar and earn a 37-14 road win against the Comets.
The Eagles gave up a touchdown midway through the first quarter before scoring the next 20 points of the game. Mason Krause got MSJC on the scoreboard with 3:12 to play in the opening quarter when he connected on a 25 yard field goal. Then just three minutes later Zach Zella hooked up with Elijah Simley on a 14 yard TD pass after a Tyler Martin interception to give the Eagles a lead of 10-7 after one period. Martin would pick off two more passes in the first half to keep the Comets off the scoreboard. Matthew Caldera would then push the Eagle lead to 17-7 when he caught a 7 yard scoring strike from Zella to give MSJC the advantage headed to halftime.
Krause pushed the Eagle lead to 20-7 with a field goal of 29 yards with 8:42 to play in the third, before Palomar scored their only other touchdown of the night to stay within reach at 20-14 with just over five and a half minutes to play in the quarter. MSJC answered with a 45 yard touchdown run by Caldera, a third field goal by Krause, and a 38 yard touchdown reception by Christian Kretz to pull away in the final 17 minutes.
Zella was 24 of 45 for 284 yards in the contest through the air, he had 3 TD passes and was picked off once. Caldera rushed the ball 14 times for 96 yards, he also had a pair of receptions. Simley caught 10 passes on the night for 136 yards while Kretz finished with 7 receptions for 75.
Martin, who set the tone for the Eagle defense with his 3 interceptions also made 4 tackles on the night. Tyrone Oloa led the way in tackles for the Eagles with 8, including a sack and 2.5 total stops for negative yardage. Quentin Evans added 7 tackles for MSJC and DeShawn Brooks had 5.
The Eagles as a team out gained the Comets on the night 405 to 259 and held the Comets to just 50 passing yards in the game.
The win improves the Eagles record to 2-6 on the season and 2-3 in National Division Southern League games. MSJC will finish the year with back to back home games at HCN Bank Stadium the next two Saturdays as they host Grossmont on November 4th and Saddleback on November 11th. Both games kick off at 6 pm.