FOOTBALL: Palomar 41,
Orange Coast 9
ABOVE:
Saalim Hakim evades a tackle on a 15-yard pass, catch
and run play from Nate Ong on Saturday, his second TD
reception from Ong in a 1-minute, 43-second span in the
second quarter. BELOW LEFT: Ong breaks into the open
on a run. -- Photos by Rick Rowell
With Christian in surgery, Ong
lays the hammer on Pirates
COSTA
MESA (11-7-09)
-- Matt Christian, Palomar's regular starting
quarterback, was coming out of surgery on Saturday when his
replacement, Nate Ong, took out Christian's misfortunes on
Orange Coast.
Ong,
starting against the Pirates on the same day Christian
underwent an operation for a broken collarbone sustained in
a game last week, passed for four touchdowns and ran for
another against the Pirates.
His
performance, and a dominating, opportunistic effort by
Palomar's defense, led the way as the nationally 17th-ranked
Comets rocked the Pirates 41-9 at LeBard Stadium and
clinched a tie for second place in the Southern Conference.
The Comets,
who finished the regular season 8-2 and six points away from
being 10-0, are 4-2 in the conference and will sit back and
await the result of next week's Grossmont-Saddleback game.
Palomar has a bye the final Saturday of the regular season.
Two teams
from the conference will advance to the playoffs, one of
them champion Fullerton. If Saddleback defeats Grossmont,
Palomar will tie the Gauchos for second and will move on to
the playoffs by virtue of the Comets’ win when the teams met
earlier this season. If the Griffins beat Saddleback,
they’ll tie the Comets for second and advance to the
playoffs by virtue of a 29-26 victory over Palomar..
Santa Ana
gave the Comets a boost when the Dons upset Grossmont 13-10
on Saturday on a last-second field goal.
Back on the
field at Orange Coast, Ong
was
21-for-34 passing for 247 yards and four touchdowns, two of
them going for 21 and 15 yards to Saalim Hakim, the brother
of former San Diego State and NFL receiver Az-Zahir Haakim.
Haakim and Martavious Lee each had five receptions. Ong also
rushed for 35 yards on five carries including a 10-yard
touchdown.
Ong overcame
three first-half interceptions when the Comets followed the
picks with field goal blocks by Jeff Voa and James McNally
and Cordell Rodgers intercepted an Orange Coast pass when he
jumped up and reached over the intended receiver to take the
ball away from him. That set up a TD.
The Comets
outgained the Pirates (5-4,1-4) in total yards 446-196 and
limited the Pirates to 39 yards.
Palomar’s
other touchdowns came on Orenzo Davis’ 6-yard run to open
the scoring with 10:53 left in the first quarter and Ong’s
9-yard scoring passes to Alex Davis and Javon Reynolds.
Kevin Ditch kicked five of six extra points.
Matt Segi and Dean Faddis combined
for 15 tackles. Reynolds and Pat Cashman joined Hakim and Lee with multiple receptions.
With Xavier McGinnis running the ball for 51 yards on nine caries
on the drive, Aaron Aegerter came on at quarterback and nearly drove
the Comets to another touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Aegerter
wound up taking a knee as time expired after the Comets got down to
the OCC 18-yard line.
GAME STATS |
SEASON STATS
W.
VOLLEYBALL: Palomar 3, Cuyamaca 0
Yet another sweep moves PC
to 14-4 and 9-1 in conference
EL
CAJON
(11-7-09) -- Visiting Palomar won its seventh
consecutive women's volleyball match, all by sweeps, 25-9,25-16,
25-21 over Cuyamaca on Friday evening.
The Comets, who
are tied for first place as they seek their second straight
Pacific Coast Athletic Conference championship, have won 11 of
their last 12 matches.
Veronica Rooney
(above left) and Aimee Bird (above right) led Palomar (14-4,
9-1). Rooney contributed seven kills. Bird had 27 assists.
MEN'S SOCCER: Comets
2, Olympians 1
First-place Palomar defeats
Mesa to keep PCAC run going
CHULA
VISTA
(11-7-09) -- Palomar, in first place in the Pacific
Coast Athletic Conference in men's soccer, ran its
conference unbeaten streak to 10 games on Friday, defeating
San Diego Mesa 2-1 at Minkoff Field.
Gabriel
DeSilva Duarte (above left) scored a first-half goal and Edgar
Aguilar (right) tallied a second-half goal for the Comets,
who are 8-0-2 in the PCAC in October and November.
Johnny
Topete and Cesar Pacheco had assists. The Comets are 10-6-2
overall, 8-1-2 in the conference.
CROSS COUNTRY: SoCal
Finals
Palomar's men's team heads
to state finals; Avilez 25th
WALNUT
(11-6-09) --
The Palomar men's cross country
team qualified Friday for the CCCAA State championships in two
weeks in Fresno .
The Comets
placed
18th with 446 points in the Southern California finals on Friday
at Mt. SAC..
Alex Avilez was
Palomar's top finisher, running the 4.0-mile course in 21:34.
Brian Burke, Palomar's second finisher, placed 95th in 2:47.
The Palomar
women finished 26th with 658 points. Ana Nabor (1234d in 21:48
for 5 kilometers) and Julie Heuring (135th in 22:09) were the
Comets' top two finishers.
"It was a
surprising performance for us," coach Hugh Gerhardt said.
"Our No. 3 runner is out for the season and our No. 5 has a bad
back and barely finished." performance
W.
WATER POLO: Palomar 11, Southwestern 5
Comets win, to play for PCAC
tournament
championship
SAN
DIEGO
(11-6-09) -- Palomar defeated Southwestern 11-5 in the
Pacific Coast Athletic Conference women's waterpolo tournament
on Friday at the Joan Kroc Center. The Comets will play
Grossmont, a 6-5 upset winner over regular-season champion San
Diego Mesa, for the title today (Saturday) at noon.
Jackie Puccino
(left) scored five goals, Sam Seikkula (right) three goals,
Colette Reid two goals and Nicole Pederson one.
Palomar advanced
to 15-10, 7-2.
WOMEN'S GOLF:
Conference Finals
ABOVE:
Defending Southern California champion Cora Busby follows
through on a shot on Monday. She carded a 78 on Tuesday.
BELOW LEFT: Second-day No. 1, overall tournament No. 1 and
conference Player of the Year Beth Sellers. -- Photos by Hugh Cox. BELOW
RIGHT:
Jessica Milner, Palomar's No. 1 player on Day 1.
Palomar sweeps field again
and heads to Regionals next
SAN
MARCOS
(11-3-09) -- Palomar completed a two-day domination of
the Foothill Conference Women's Golf Championships on Tuesday at
Lake San Marcos Country Club.
The Comets won
by 49 strokes over runner-up Mt. SAC over Tuesday's 18 holes and
finished 106 strokes ahead of the Mounties for the tournament's
full 36 holes. Both teams advance to the Southern California
Regional tournament on Sunday and Monday at Los Serranos Country
Club in Chino Hills.
Palomar's Beth
Sellers took medalist honors on Tuesday, shooting a 76, and was
named conference Player of the Year. The Comets' Mark Eldridge
was Coach of the Year. Cora Busby, with the second lowest
scoring average in the conference behind Sellers on the year,
joined her on the All-Foothill first team along with Jessica
Milner and Meagan Pechner. Lienati Leniu and Kayla Sotelo were
second-team selections.
The Comets
finished at 326 Tuesday, 27 strokes off the Palomar record of
299 they shot on Sept. 21 but plenty good enough to win easily.
Mt. SAC check in at 375, followed by College of the Desert
(415), Long Beach City College (439) and Mt. San Jacinto (no
score).
Behind Sellers'
medalist score on Tuesday, Busby shot a 78 for the Comets,
Pechner 84, Milner 88, Leniu 89, Kaylynn Ward 89, Sotelo 93 and
Hannah Gelormini 102.
Because the conference tournament is technically
two 18-hole events, the Comets picked up four more wins and are
now 45-0 on the season, 44-0 in conference.
Palomar placed second in Southern California and
third in the CCCAA State Championships last season.
-----
Milner leads
Comets to 1st on
Day 1 by 57
strokes over MSAC
SAN
MARCOS
(11-2-09) -- First-place Palomar remained unbeaten for
2009 and finished 57 strokes ahead of Mt. SAC on Day 1 of
the two-day, 36-hole Foothill Conference women's golf finals
on Monday at Lake San Marcos Country Club.
The Comets,
the host team in the tournament on an unfamiliar neutral
course, had a 320 total, followed by the Mounties at 377,
College of the Desert (422), Long Beach City College (435)
and Mt. San Jacinto (no score).
Jessica
Milner led Palomar with a 76. Beth Sellers had a 78, Meagan
Pechner 82, Cora Busby 84, Lienati Leniu 89 and Kayla Sotelo
95.
FOOTBALL:
National, State
Rankings
Comets are ranked 17th,
18th
among nation's CC teams
SEATTLE,
WA / LAKE FOREST, CA -- The J.C. Grid-Wire
of Seattle, Washington ranks Palomar 17th in the nation this
week, while JCFootball.com of Lake Forest ranks the
Comets 18th.
Palomar
dropped from the Grid-Wire's No. 10 to the 17th spot
after losing 20-17 to current No. 4 Fullerton last Saturday.
The Comets (7-2) are six points from being unbeaten.
The
Grid-Wire's Top Ten teams are No. 1 Navarro (Texas), No.
2 Mississippi Gulf Coast, No. 3 East Mississippi, No. 4
Fullerton, No. 5 Fort Scott (Kansas), No. 6 Mt. SAC,
No. 7 Blinn (Texas), No. 8 Cerritos, No. 9 College of San
Mateo and No. 10 Bakersfield.
JCFootball.com's Top Ten are No. 1 Navarro (Texas), No.
2 Fort Scott (Kansas), No. 3 Mt. SAC, No. 4 Mississippi Gulf
Coast, No. 5 El Camino, No. 6 East Mississippi, No. 7
Bakersfield, No. 8 Blinn (Texas), No. 9 Fullerton and No. 10
Cerritos.
-----
Palomar is
fell from sixth to a tie for 11th with Grossmont in the
California Community College Coaches Association state poll.
The state's Top Ten are No. 1 Cerritos, No. 2 Foothill, No.
3 Mt. SAC No. 4 San Mateo, No. 5 Fullerton, No. 6 City
College of San Francisco, No. 7 El Camino, N. 8 Bakersfield,
No. 9 Allan Hancock and No. 10 Butte.
In the
Southern California Coaches poll, Palomar is ranked eighth.
The Top Ten teams are No. 1 Cerritos, No. 2 Mt. SAC, No. 3
Fullerton, No. 4 Bakersfield, No. 5 El Camino, No. 6
Hancock, No. 7 Grossmont, the No. 8 Comets, No. 9 Los
Angeles Harbor and No. 10 Saddleback. Orange Coast, the
Comets' opponent on Saturday afternoon in Costa Mesa, is
13th.
BASEBALL:
Division I commitment
Palomar catcher B.K. Santy
commits to U. of Washington
SAN
MARCOS
(11-2-09) -- Returning
starting catcher B.K. Santy has become the third baseball
player from Palomar's 2010 team to make an early commitment
to a Division I school.
Santy
(left), heading home after a home run against Mt. SAC,
selected the University of Washington.
Santy
(Rancho Bernardo High) batted .291 with nine doubles, a home
run and 22 RBIs last spring as a true freshman as the Comets
won the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference championship and
made it to the finals of one of two Southern California
Super Regional tournaments.
That
Palomar team was ranked No. 11 in the nation (No. 6 in the
nation after the regular seaso) and No. 1 in Southern California and in California /
Oregon / Washington.
Earlier,
pitcher Scott Myers committed to the University of Oklahoma,
first baseman Alfonso Casillas to the University of
the Pacific.
PCAC: Men's Athlete of
the Week
Comets' Gabriel DaSilva Duarte
gets weekly conference honor
SAN
DIEGO
(11-03-09) -- Gabriel DaSilva Duarte, who has helped
lead the way for Palomar's first-place men's soccer team
this season, shares Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Men's
Athlete of the Week honors.
Duarte
(left) shares the honor with Southwestern football receiver
George Bell.
Duarte, a
freshman from Brazil, scored three goals last week as coach
Carlos Hernandez' Comets won twice, defeating Cuyamaca
2-0 and beat MiraCosta 4-1.
He tallied
both of the Comets' goals against the Coyotes and one goal
vs. the Spartans.
