Untimely Turnovers Costly for Owls In Narrow Loss

Key turnovers and untimely penalties ended up coming back to haunt the Citrus College Football team Saturday vs Victor Valley College. The Owls opened up the game with a 67 yard drive, culminating in a 15 yard touchdown pass from Aaron Sandoval to Mason Mesina-Rowe, and looked primed and ready to hold Victor Valley off. But the Rams would answer back with a 4 yard TD run to tie it up after the 1st quarter. 

Although Citrus dwarfed its previous game's offensive production with 328 total yards (just shy of Victor Valley's 346), the goal line would prove to be evasive as multiple drives were stopped short, either on turnovers or defensive stops by the visiting Rams. The tale of the tape would be the third quarter. A field goal by Citrus kicker Diego Morales would shrink the Rams' lead, and an 18 yard interception run back by Jeremiah Vasquez would put Citrus in the lead at 17-14. But multiple turnovers and penalties plagued the Owls, and they would see the lead slip through their fingers as the Rams' Brent Halliburton caught a 30 yard pass which led to a tackle and a fumble only to be recovered by the Ram's for a touchdown just before the end of the quarter. 

Victor Valley would hang on to their lead throughout the 4th quarter, with both teams making threatening drives that all came up short. The stat lines for both teams were almost identical on the afternoon with all major statistical categories. Some standouts for the Owls were Quarterback Aaron Sandoval, who ended the game with 3 interceptions, but passed for 173 yards and completed 17 out of 36 attempts and a touchdown. Running back Devin Floyd rushed for 126 yards on 19 carries and Mason Mesina-Rowe caught 4 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively for the Owls, Jeremiah Vasquez piled up an impressive 11 total tackles on the day, an interception and a touchdown, with Eshon Gray chipping in 9 tackles of his own. 

Citrus falls to 1-4 on the season and looks to turn things around going into conference play next week at Antelope Valley College.