Contra Costa College achieved their first win against Los Medanos in a blowout and also made it personal with a few unnecessary late-game scores.

The Mustangs fell apart as the game progressed losing to the Comets 41-6. A rough week of practices, being unable to capitalize crucial moments on offense and a few Mustangs being ejected from the game sums up the Mustangs performance against the Comets.

“We had probably one of our worst couple of practices this week,” said head coach Chris Shipe following the loss to the Comets, “and it carried over into Saturday. In a rivalry game, all the records go out of the window. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t come to play.”

Tim Evitt, who returned last week against College of the Redwoods from injury, gave the Mustangs an early lead with a 6-yard pass to wide receiver Malik Moss. From that point on, the Mustangs would not find the end zone again throughout the game. The entire Mustang offense only gained 140 yards in total.

“It’s hard to win any game when you really can’t run the ball that well,” said Evitt. “They really weren’t respecting our run game which then made it hard to develop our pass game.”

By the end of the second half, the Mustangs would have their first of two ejections in the game, with the ejection of offensive linemen Ryan Vanderwerf. Vanderwerf said at first he didn’t think he was going to get ejected for defending Evitt from a un-called late hit, but the referees ultimately decided to toss him out.

“I obviously wanted to protect our quarterback. I was not pleased that there was no-call,” said Vanderwerf, “so I had some choice words to the opposing player.”

The Comets got underneath the skins of other players including safety Terry Pierce who was the second Mustang to be ejected from the game. An argument had broken out on the field after the  Comets had scored, which led to the refs kicking out Pierce. The Comets used that to their advantage to score twice in the first half and kept their foot on the peddle scoring four more times in the second half.

The third quarter of the game was a pivotal time for the Mustangs as it was their only chance left to make a comeback. Moments such as an interception by Heamasi Latu, an 80 yard kick return by Tre’ Pierce and the run defense stopping the Comets gave the Mustangs the chance to score, but they could not capitalize.

“We had some defensive guys playing offensive line and vice versa. I think everyone felt gassed by the second half. I think a lot of was fatigue going into it,” said Evitt.

One takeaway from this game would have to be the Mustangs defense. They may have allowed 335 total yards, but gave it their all with how much time they spent on the field. Run defense was a big issue the last time the Mustangs were home, but this week against the Comets they only allowed an average of 2.6 yards rushing and 111 yards in total.

“At one point of the game, we were told we were on the field for about 10 to 12 minutes,” said Latu. “It was very long and the heat was such a big factor.”

Shipe stated that being out there that long really put some wear and tear on the defense.

The Mustangs fall to a 3-4 record overall and a 1-3 in conference play.

This week the Mustangs will travel to Cupertino to face De Anza.