Nikita Jegers silenced any doubt people had in him filling in for the injured starting quarterback Timothy Evitt last Saturday.

Coming into this game, the Mustangs knew they had to set the tempo right from the beginning, but by the end of the game the magic was gone. The Mustangs fell to the Dons 34-25. The Mustangs current record falls to a 2-3 overall and an 0-2 in conference play.

“Jegers’ specialty is the deep ball. He’s really good at throwing the deep ball,” said head coach Chris Shipe.

This proved to be true when Jegers showed off the canon he had on the second play of the game when he threw a 60 yard pass to wide receiver Tre Pierce. Then on the following play, Jegers took it in himself with a 4-yard rush to score for the Mustangs.

“Our offense needed to be really good, to keep putting on points, to keep driving,” said Nikita Jegers. “As soon as I threw that ball, as soon as we scored, I listened to the [Dons] defense the next drive and they started to argue with each other and that’s what we wanted them to do. We did our job.”

The Don’s offense finally recomposed after being shutout in the first quarter and managed to score on the Mustangs defense in the beginning of the second. Cornerback Pierce, who went down injured in the first quarter, allowed the first Don’s score and eventually the second score.

“I had to go into concussion protocol, but it turned out to be okay,” Pierce said “It was just a lapse of concentration. Just a mistake I made but you know I had to bounce back from it.”

All the tempo and the momentum was lost for the Mustangs going into halftime. At this time, the De Anza Dons were up 13-12 against the Mustangs and both sides combined had a total of 15 penalties.

The Dons manage to strike on their opening drive back from halftime with a 13-yard rush to extend their lead. The Don’s rushing game were attacks for the rest of the second half and the Mustangs could not find a solution to stop their rushing offense. De Anza even hinted they were going to stick with the run game by switching out quarterbacks. But when you don’t pass in football, you will get stopped and that’s what the Mustangs did at the end of the third quarter. A muffed punt return for the Dons gave the ball right back to the Mustangs and led Jegers to throw his second passing touchdown to begin the Mustangs’ comeback.

Dons killed the clock and left 3:48 left for the Mustangs after linebacker Dalton Taylor recovered a red zone fumble. Jegers then threw another 60+ yard touchdown to get the score to a close 27-25. The Mustangs attempted the two point conversion to tie the game up, however, they were forced to reattempt it after a holding penalty was called on offensive linemen Andy Palacious.

The Mustangs left the game in heartbreak as the final against the De Anza Dons 34-25 with a combined total of 34 penalties. Nineteen of these penalties were called against LMC. The Mustangs hit the road next week to take on the Redwoods in Eureka, CA.