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The Jaguar alumni players came to watch San Jose City College break its losing streak with a huge win for their homecoming game against the Gavilan Rams, 41-0, on Oct. 15.
“I’m definitely excited for this win, it is hard to get the first win of the season, but we got it,” Jaguar head coach Carlton Conner said.
The Jags put their first points on the board when Isiah Harris ran 40 yards untouched into the end zone.
Halfway into the first quarter Jags defensive lineman Kevin Smalls already had two sacks, and the Jags’ defense caused the Rams to stay out of rhythm and consistently turn the ball over.
The Jaguar offense kept taking advantage of the Rams’ defensive mistakes, and by the end of the first quarter Jaymason Lee had thrown two touchdowns and handed two off to put the Jaguars up 26-0.
Going into the second quarter, the Jags had run fourteen plays for 140 yards with eight runs and six passes.
Lee threw another touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter, and the Jaguars capitalized by punching in the 2-point conversion with a run by CJ Carter to put the Jags up 34-0.
It wasn’t just the Jags offense that was executed with ease, but the defense held the Rams from scoring every time they had the ball.
“We’re looking pretty good, a little bit sloppy in the second quarter, but overall good for the first half,” said Brandon Lattimore, a 31-year-old psychology major student and SJCC alumni player. Lattimore played for the Jaguars in the ’98 and ’99 seasons.
“If they can capitalize on Gavilan’s mistakes and minimize their own personal fouls and penalties they should be good for the second half,” Lattimore said.
Late in the second quarter a series of SJCC penalties put Gavilan in scoring position, that’s when the SJCC defense stopped Gavilan’s only opportunity to score.
At halftime the score was 34-0.
“We still have too many penalties, and that’s hurting us. We’re still not executing at a high level,” Conner said.
The second half started with the Gavilan defense forcing the Jaguar offense to punt on more than one occasion.
Although the SJCC offense was end-zone restricted during the third quarter, Lee was still 60 percent passing with 22 attempts, thirteen completions and one interception.
“The injury bug has affected us. We need to increase our running game and finish in the red (zone),” said offensive coordinator Jody Carrosco. “What we really need is for our offensive line to stay healthy.”
It was the Jags defensive aggressiveness that made the strongest impact in the second half of the game, when they stripped Gavilan of its morale with an interception to close the third quarter.
The Jaguars issued their final blow when Lee connected with Kelechi Nwabidia on a 37-yard pass virtually closing the game out, 41-0.
“Props to the O-line! Without them I wouldn’t have my numbers and time in the pocket. The biggest impact was when the running backs made big runs to open up our passing game,” Lee said.
At the end of the day, the Jags offense had 121 yards rushing with 234 yards passing,” Smalls said. “It feels good to be on the winning side. Let’s hope we can keep this up for the remainder of the season.”
