El Camino to Hit Road Again After Two Losses

You can’t blame the El Camino College football team for being eager to play at home again, but the Warriors will have to wait another week as they travel to Cerritos on Saturday for a Mission Conference Northern Division opener at 7 p.m.

It will end a three-game road stretch that’s been cruel to the Warriors, who had not lost two in a row since 1986, Coach John Featherstone’s second season at the school. That year El Camino finished 4-6.

After that, the Warriors lost only two games in three seasons. In 1987 El Camino won the mythical national championship with an 11-0 record, in 1988 it went 9-1-1 and in 1989 it finished 10-1 after losing to Riverside in the Orange County Bowl.

El Camino started this season by winning its first four games and earning a No. 1 national ranking by the JC Grid-Wire. It has been on a downhill slide since. The Warriors dropped to No. 8 in the rankings after losing to Riverside, 24-14, and out of the rankings after losing to Fullerton, 31-24, last week.

“We’re not happy with our losses, but we’re not going to fold our tents because we lost to two good teams,” Featherstone said. “We’re not a great football team. We’re good, but we’re not great this season.”

Cerritos (4-1, 3-1) has not defeated El Camino since 1984. The Falcons, who had a bye last week, are ranked 16th. Their only loss is against second-ranked Fullerton, the only undefeated team in the 16-member Mission Conference. Cerritos has defeated Palomar, Orange Coast, San Diego City and San Diego Mesa.

“They’re rested and they’re gunning for us,” Featherstone said. “Everybody is. I told the kids that it’s a new ball game. It’s the first game of our division and we’re off to a fresh start. The winner of the division is guaranteed a bowl game so we’re still in the running.”

Cerritos has a balanced offense that averages 383 yards a game. Quarterback Peter Montera has completed 47 passes for 781 yards and five touchdowns. Running backs Carwin Pinkney and Shawn Jones lead Cerritos’ running game. Pinkney averages 92.7 yards a game and Jones averages 70.

El Camino’s offense (436 yards a game) is second in the league to Palomar. The Warriors’ Anthony Daigle continues to lead the conference in rushing and scoring (13 touchdowns). The freshman tailback has gained 729 yards on 129 carries.

Quarterback Rod Harvey is second to Palomar’s Brett Salisbury in Mission Conference passing. Harvey has completed 113 of 187 attempts for 1,530 yards and 10 touchdowns. The sophomore from Morningside High has only four interceptions and Salisbury has 12.

El Camino’s defense will be hampered by the absence of strong safety Donavan Gallatin, who suffered a concussion in last week’s game. The freshman from El Segundo High had eight unassisted tackles, three pass deflections and an interception before getting knocked out. Featherstone said he’ll be sidelined for at least two games.

Saturday night’s Western State Conference game between Harbor College and Santa Barbara will feature teams with identical records (3-2, 2-2 in the WSC). The difference is that Harbor is coming off a big win and Santa Barbara is coming off a huge loss. The Seahawks are confident after last week’s 25-21 victory over West L.A., which snapped a two-game losing streak.

Harbor’s other victories are against Victor Valley and L.A. Southwest. The Seahawks lost back-to-back WSC games to Pierce and Santa Monica before their last-minute victory at West L.A. Harbor’s Glenn Baham ran for a seven-yard touchdown with less than three minutes remaining for the victory.

Santa Monica defeated Santa Barbara, 38-14, last week. The Vaqueros’ other loss is against top-ranked Bakersfield, the only undefeated team in the 12-member WSC. Santa Barbara has defeated West L.A., Pierce and Hancock.

Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Habor.

L.A. Southwest’s schedule presented a great opportunity for the Cougars to gain ground. The Cougars are in the midst of three games against the league’s weaker teams.

Southwest (2-3, 1-3 in conference play) snapped a three-game losing streak last week against winless Ventura and this week plays Pierce (2-3, 2-2).

Before last week’s home victory, the Cougars had not won since their opener against Rio Hondo. They have lost to Harbor, Glendale and 14th-ranked Moorpark.

Pierce fell, 35-22, to Glendale. The Brahmas have also lost to Santa Barbara and East L.A. Their victories came against Compton and Harbor.

Game time is 1 p.m. at Southwest.