Owls Fall to Eagles in Home Opener

No. 11 Citrus College Football hosted unranked Mt. San Jacinto College last Friday, September 13th in a close 21-16 loss. 

Citrus moves to 1-1 on the season while Mt. San Jacinto also move to 1-1 on the season. 

The game started as a defensive battle as both offenses struggled to keep drives alive as the first quarter ended with the Owls up 3-0 thanks to a 23-yard field goal from Lucas "Maui" Froemel. 

Mt. San Jacinto scored on their 6th drive of the game to go up 7-3 late in the 2nd quarter. On the following drive, the Owls put their rushing attack on display as Tobin O'Dell and Myion Walker gained good yardage before Jamahl Wilson took a carry 49 yards down to the Eagles one yard line. Hakim Haliburton came in to score his first touchdown of the season on a 1-yard run to put the Owls up 10-7. 

Mt. San Jacinto returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown to go up 14-10. After Braden Austin returned the Eagles kickoff for 38 yards to put the Owls in great field position, Lucas "Maui" Froemel came in to drill his second field goal of the day from 32 yards to make the score 14-13 at halftime. 

Defense took over to start the 3rd quarter as both teams made important stops on critical 3rd downs. Most notably, the Eagles lined up for a 36-yard field goal late in the 3rd quarter which was blocked by Citrus' Sean Persson to set up the offense near midfield. On the following drive Jamahl Wilson picked up a first down on the ground before quarterback Koy Riggin hit tight end Joseph Enriquez in stride down the middle for a 28-yard gain. Ruben Jimenez came in for a 34-yard field goal to put the Owls up 16-14 with just over seven minutes left in the 4th quarter. 

Mt. San Jacinto was able to get the ball back with 5:14 remaining in the game and scored a touchdown to go up 21-16. 

The Owls could not get a scoring drive going with their final two possessions and the game ended after the Eagles' defense stepped up late. 

Citrus College will look to pick up their second win of the season as they host Grossmont College this Saturday, September 21st at 6 p.m. 

Jamah Wilson picked up 120 rushing yards on 18 carries and added three receptions for 38 yards while Hakim Haliburton rushed for 49 yards on four carries. 

Emmanuel Mogbolu gained 41 yards on three receptions and Julian Borrayo had three receptions for 14 yards. 

Defensively Hunter Corbin racked up nine tackles, Jadakiss Vaokakala recorded seven tackles, Christian Sampson had six tackles and a pass breakup, Keenan Eck recorded one sack and two tackles for loss and Kam Forest had three pass breakups down field.