Cuesta, Rio Hondo, Santa Ana and West Hills-Lemoore rounded out the seven-team field. West Hills-Lemoore downed Santa Ana 36-12 for third place.

While Mt. SAC will face the Northern California champion later in the season for the state dual-match title, Palomar will host Cerritos in a Southwest Conference match on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Comets will get a rematch with Mt. SAC in another conference match a week from Wednesday evening, also at The Dome.

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FOOTBALL: Fullerton 33, Palomar 32

Lamb throws for 355 yards, 2 TDs; Comets edged in wild one

FULLERTON (10-20-2012) (10-21-2012) -- Freshman quarterback Ryan Lamb (left) went 25-for-39 passing for 355 yards, including two touchdowns to tight end Ryan Ena (right), and Chad Dobbins added 126 yards rushing on Saturday night.

But Palomar dropped a wild 33-32 shootout to Fullerton in a Southern Conference football game at Fullerton Union High School District Stadium.

Lamb left the game with an undetermined injury late in the fourth quarter as the Comets, leading 32-26, were driving for what would have been a victory-clinching touchdown. Lamb was injured amidst a crowd scrambling on the turf for the ball following a bad snap on second down on a play that began at the Fullerton 19.

He got possession of the ball but sustained the injury on the play.

Palomar was flagged with back-to-back 15-yard penalties at the end of the play and wound up back at its own 45-yard line. Tyler Bergman replaced Lamb at quarterback.

The Comets wound up punting the ball away, and the Hornets tied the game 32-32 on a 35-yard screen pass from Conor Bednarski to Eli Pleasant with 1:42 remaining. Jesse Aguilar' tacked on the deciding PAT kick.

The above came after safety Stephen Parks accelerated in the open field to haul down Fullerton's Ryan Bird from behind on a 48-yard run to the Comets' 35.

Austin Dennis returned the kickoff 27 yards to the Comets' 28-yard line. Bergman completed two straight passes to M.J. Bailey for 4 and 32 yards, giving Palomar a first-and-10 at the Fullerton 36 with the clock running down. But the Comets never got in range to attempt a winning field goal in the closing seconds as the Hornets stopped them on an incomplete pass and a 4-yard sack, setting up a fourth-down interception by Alex Bernstein at the Fullerton 15 with 1:07 left.

Lamb's touchdown passes went for 12 yards to Ena in the first quarter and 2 yards to Ena in the fourth quarter. Lamb also completed passes to Dennis for 49 yards on a catch-and-run play and 47 yards to Mount. Lamb scored a TD himself on a 1-yard quarterback sneak.

Ena finished with six catches for 82 yards and the two TDs. Mount had six receptions for 130 yards, while Bailey (five catches) and Mike Hodges (three) also had multiple receptions. Austin returned four kickoffs for 144 yards, including a 59-yarder. Tim Tahti averaged 40.3 yards for three punts, while Jonathan Leiva put two kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks.

Dobbins put Palomar in front 32-19 on a 4-yard run early in the fourth quarter. The Comets' other scoring came on two Jon Halliday field goals, from 38 and 30 yards, and two PAT kicks.

Halliday, missing his regular holder, never had a chance on two other point-after attempts, depositing the ball wide left on one of them when he had to rush the kick and having another try blocked. Bernstein returned the block all the way to the end zone for what turned out to be the deciding two points.

(Video of the game viewed on Sunday showed four Fullerton violations on the play: Using one's hands on players'  backs as leverage to vault over the line to block the kick, plus three more on the return -- a forward lateral and two clips in the open. No penalties were called and the return and two points stood.)

The Comets rolled up 497 yards in their best offensive performance of the season.

On the other side of the ball, iddle linebacker Ofisa Kose had 11 tackles, six of them solo, and broke up two passes.

Safety Chris Lee made the defensive play of the night for the Comets when he intercepted a pass at the goal line and returned it out 27 yards, setting up a drive that culminated with Halliday's second field goal with one second remaining in the first half. Lee also had seven tackles.

Eric Robertson also had seven tackles, including a half-tackle for a loss. And Parks likewise contributed seven tackles. Donovan Thurman intercepted a pass.

The Comets (3-4, 1-2) now must win their final three games, beginning Saturday night against Saddleback at Escondido's Wilson Stadium, to end the regular season 6-4 and become bowl eligible.

The Hornets advanced to 3-4, 2-1.

GAME STATS | SEASON STATS

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WRESTLING: Palomar 24, Rio Hondo 16

Dunning, Joseph turn match around as PC stays unbeaten

WHITTIER (10-17-2012) -- Palomar's wrestlers stayed undefeated by coming from behind Wednesday night to take a 24-16 road win over Rio Hondo.

Kyle Vexler remained unbeaten at 125, but the Roadrunners won three straight bouts before Jacob Dunning shifted the momentum with a last-second takedown to win 4-2 at 157 pounds, and Michael Joseph (left) stole the momentum completely with a second-period pin at 165 in a Southwest Conference opener.

Palomar (5-0 plus two tournament championships) clinched the victory with a major decision from Chris Bascon at 174, a 6-4 decision from Wes Burreisci at 184 and a major decision from Matt Reed at 197. John Castle took Rio Hondo's heavyweight to overtime before losing.