A Familiar Feeling

Riverside, CA -- When the horn sounded on Saturday night at Wheelock Field in Riverside, the Citrus College Football team was left with a familiar feeling. Despite leaving it all out on the field and going toe to toe with one of the best teams in the State, the Owls were on the wrong side of the scoreboard, as they gave up a last second touchdown to the Tigers in a tough 51-50 loss.

In what was a wild game, it was the Owls that struck first, taking their opening drive 64 yards to the Riverside end zone. The drive was completed when freshman quarterback Larry Cutbirth connected with freshman Raphael Barr from nine yards out to make it 7-0. The Tigers answered with back to back scores, but the Owls would tie it up with seconds remaining in the first quarter, when Cutbirth hooked up with Barr again, this time for a 60 yard strike.

Riverside would respond with a field goal, which then led to the Owls second lead of the game. Citrus used just three plays to go 64 yards in 1:05, going up 21-17 when Cutbirth found freshman Brayton Newton in the back of the end zone from five yards away. The Tigers would kick two more field goals in the second quarter, but the Owls went into the break up 28-20 thanks to a one yard TD plunge by Cutbirth midway through the second.

In the third quarter, Riverside looked like they were going to pull away, scoring three touchdowns in the quarter, with only a 40 yard TD pass from Cutbirth to Barr keeping it close at 35-44 head into the fourth. In the fourth, the Owls opened up the quarter by pulling to within two after Cutbirth got the ball to sophomore Scott Calles for a 17 yard score that made it 42-44.

Cutbirth would find Calles again late, this time from nine yards away to give Citrus a 50-44 lead with 1:03 to go after Cubrith and Calles connected again for the two-point conversion. Needing a stop, all the Owls could do was watch as Riverside march 65 yards down the field in six plays over 55 seconds, scoring with eight seconds to go to hand Citrus the loss.

In the loss, Cutbirth was 23 of 33 for 366 yards and program record six touchdowns. Barr caught five passes for a total of 122 yards and three scores, while Calles had five catches for 68 yards and a pair of scores. Freshman running back Emmanuel Pooler carried the ball 15 times for 120 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball, freshman Charles Flowers had a team leading 11 tackles. Sophomore linebacker Jose Nunez had nine tackles, including 1.5 for a loss and a pass break-up.

With the loss, Citrus falls to 4-3 on the year and more importantly 1-2 in National Division Central Conference play. The Owls won't get much time to try and regroup from Saturday's loss as they host another formidable foe on Saturday when El Camino College comes to town. Kick-off is set for 1:00 PM in Citrus Stadium.