Huskies Dominate San Bernardino Valley to Secure First Winning Season in the National Division

by Cerwin D Haynes

Sometimes the simplest things can be the hardest, as in beating a team that by all accounts you should beat. Particularly when you have a stronger opponent to face in the next game.

Thankfully for East LA College football, they took care of business against a 1-win San Bernardino Valley College team that has more punch than their record would indicate. The Wolverines came close to upsetting Golden West two weeks ago, and were competitive against Cerritos last week. An 80-yard game-opening kickoff return for a TD by freshman WR Bryson Corbin gave the Huskies (6-3, 4-2) early control and they did not let up, beating SBVC (1-8, 0-6) 56-25.

The win gives ELAC its first winning season as a member of the National Division, the upper-tier division of football teams that are eligible to compete for a state title. It also gives the Green its first winning conference record as a National Northern League member.

Sophomore QB Jeliun Carter got the start again tonight and played an excellent first half, going 9-15 for 93 yards and a touchdown pass plus one touchdown run. He came out of the game midway through the second quarter with ELAC leading 21-0 to give way to sophomore QB Frank Alvarez, who played the rest of the game. Alvarez, who hadn't seen the field much since the Orange Coast game, simply picked up where Carter left off, completing 13 of 21 passes for 191 yards and four touchdowns.

Aside from the game opening kickoff-return touchdown, East LA scored TDs on three of their first four offensive possessions, mixing short and medium passes with running plays to methodically march down the field and score. The only time it looked as if San Bernardino may have had a shot to get back into the game is when they recovered an onside kick at midfield after scoring a touchdown trailing 35-14. But they would gain one first down before the Huskies' defense stiffened up and forced the Wolverines to punt. ELAC, getting the ball at their eight yard line, put together a 10-play 93-yard drive that culminated in an eight-yard touchdown pass from Alvarez to Corbin to essentially put the game out of reach for SBVC.

HUSKY BITS

• Sophomore DL Jaquez Harvey scored his first TD of the season - on offense. In the second quarter, the Huskies had the ball on the Wolverines' two-yard line with 1st-and-Goal. Reporting as an eligible receiver, Harvey lined up at tight end, and ran a short out route to the middle of the end zone. Using his 6'5, 285-lb frame, he reached up in the air to pull down Carter's throw above the shorter defender.
  
  • He wasn't done with his theatrics: early in fourth quarter, sophomore LB Zack Camarena had a strip-sack of SBVC QB Kohl Meisman. Harvey picked up the fumble and rumbled... 73 yards the other way before finally being dragged down by WR Jayden Woods who caught up the Harvey at the San Bernardino five-yard line.
• Sophomore WR Deandre Knox, who had a huge game last week in the win at Citrus, continued his emergence with three catches for 71 yards, including an impressive 51-yard catch and run for a touchdown.
• Despite the lopsided score, ELAC only outgained SBVC in yardage 417 to 356, though the first half numbers were more in East's favor: 242 to 139.

UP NEXT:

East LA stays on campus to host the Falcons of Cerritos College next Saturday in the regular season finale. Already bowl-eligible, the Huskies will look for win #7 against Cerritos which may give ELAC a shot to host a postseaon bowl game for the first time. Kickoff is at 6pm.