Antelope Valley Runs Out of Gas : 1st-Quarter Lead Crumbles Under El Camino Surge in 38-17 Loss

The Antelope Valley College coaches weren’t hanging their heads after Saturday’s 38-17 loss to El Camino on Saturday night.

Beginning the season with a young and inexperienced football team--only eight players returned--Brent Carder and his staff figured that they were overmatched against a Warrior team that went 9-1-1 last season and boasted 33 returning lettermen.

But Antelope Valley (8-2-1 last season) outplayed El Camino in the first quarter before being overwhelmed thereafter.

“We knew they would be tough,” offensive coordinator Gene Pagliaro said. “And they proved that tonight. This was a good time for a lot of our kids to get their feet wet.”

The Marauders led, 10-3, at the end of the first quarter, but El Camino--the nation’s second-ranked team by the JC Grid-Wire poll--began to dominate.

The Warriors outscored the Marauders, 25-0, in the second quarter to take a 28-10 lead at halftime.

Antelope Valley fumbled three times in the second quarter and El Camino converted the last two into 15 points.

The Warriors’ final score, with three seconds left in the half, broke the Marauders’ backs.

On second-and-goal from the Antelope Valley 30, quarterback Frank Dolce hit a wide-open Shannon Thompson, who juked defensive back Ed Addison at the five-yard line to score.

“That was a breakdown in coverage,” Pagliaro said. “Things like that happen with a young team in the first game of the season. . . . The second half might have been different if that hadn’t happened.”

A fumbled center exchange set up that score, and the Marauders also fumbled on their previous possession when freshman quarterback Cole Speer’s option pitch was batted down and recovered at the Antelope Valley 30.

El Camino struck quickly. Al Savea’s four-yard touchdown run four plays later gave the Warriors a 19-10 lead.

Eldon Niblett scored Antelope Valley’s first touchdown on a short run for a 7-3 lead and the Marauders extended their margin to seven points on John Ford’s 34-yard field goal after El Camino fumbled the kickoff.