“There’s some things we need to clean up,” Los Medanos College Mustangs football head coach Chris Shipe said following the teams 43-29 home victory over the Merced Blue Devils.
Strong showings from the Mustangs offense and defense helped fight off a late Blue Devil comeback attempt. LMC racked up 628 yards of offense compared to Merced’s 286, thanks in part to Brenden Bush throwing for 369 yards along with three touchdowns.
LMC has had difficulties running the ball early in the season, failing to gain 100 yards on the ground as a team in each of the first two games of the season. However, against the Blue Devils, the Mustangs ground game had a breakthrough rushing for 250 yards and three touchdowns.
“I was definitely impressed with our offensive line and our run game today,” Shipe said.
Despite the strong offensive showing from Bush, Shipe, at different points during the game, would insert backup quarterback Garrett Deatherage. On the day, Deatherage completed just one of two passes for nine yards.
“Garrett deserves an opportunity, not to say Brenden doesn’t deserve every rep because he’s playing really well right now. You never know so we just want to make sure he’s ready and prepared,” Shipe said.
The Mustangs defense helped set the tone of the game early, forcing three turnovers on Merced’s first three drives. LMC’s defense forced five turnovers, however the Mustang offense had trouble turning these turnovers into points.
From the five turnovers the Mustangs defense forced, only 10 points were scored.
“They played well in the red zone, we made some mistakes. We just have to continue to keep working on our red zone offense,” Shipe said on the offense’s struggle to convert turnovers into points.
By the end of the first half, the Mustangs held a slim 10-7 lead, but in the fourth quarter, the game turned into an offensive shootout. The two teams combined to score 41 points, more than the previous three quarters combined.
The scoring frenzy started when Bush hit receiver Jorge Hernandez for a 77-yard touchdown pass. That touchdown should’ve put the game away, however a blocked PAT kept the game within reach for the Blue Devils with the score being 30-14.
“That game should’ve never been a two-score game. It should’ve always been a three-score game and we didn’t execute,” Shipe said.
The teams traded touchdowns all the way to the end when Mustangs running back Dominick Tomlin ran 68 yards for the game sealing touchdown with under a minute to play.
Throughout different points of the game, it appeared that Merced had started to pick up on the Mustangs offensive signals and play calls. Despite this, it didn’t help the Blue Devils defense stop the Mustangs offensive attack.
“We put 43 points up on the board, whatever they were calling wasn’t working,” Shipe said.
