MARAUDER FOOTBALL SHOOTS ITSELF IN THE FOOT IN LOSS TO SAN DIEGO MESA

Photo by Bill Sobalvarro

SAN DIEGO - Marauder football head coach Perry Jehlicka can accept losing.

But when his own team beats itself, then that's the frustrating part according to Jehlicka.

It wasn't as if San Diego Mesa College put up extraordinary numbers. It wasn't as if the Olympians had a total and complete dominating performance. It was the Marauders themselves that left SD Mesa Stadium with an 0-2 record.

AVC led 7-0 at halftime, but once again just like in last week's loss at the hands of College of the Canyons, the Marauders played poorly in the second half and gave up 21 fourth quarter points as it remained winless on the season with a 24-7 devastating loss, Saturday night at the hands of the Olympians.

"We didn't execute offensively and we must get better play at the quarterback position. We were our own worst enemy," Jehlicka said. "A lack of discipline on defense in the first week cost us the game and today a lack of offense cost us in week two. We didn't finish drives and we didn't take care of the ball."

Usually when teams only give up 204 yards of total offense, they have a great chance at winning. AVC's (0-2) defense was nearly unstoppable, but the offense struggled to moved the ball. The Marauders allowed only allowed 116 yards through the air and 88 yards on the ground. In fact, AVC outgained SD Mesa (2-0) by 14 yards of total offense.

Still give credit to the Olympians which capitalized off two costly tunrovers late in the fourth quarter when the Marauders were only trailing 10-7. First, Jordan Gochenour intercepted a pass from Michael McPeek, who was leading the Marauders down the field for a potential go-ahead score, and returned it 76 yards giving SD Mesa a 17-7 lead with 3:29 remaining in the final quarter. Later in the quarter, Gochenour scooped up a fumble by McPeek and returned it 30 yards putting the game out of reach.

"Our defense played well enough to win," Jehlicka said. "The thing in sports you you usually beat yourselves. Sometimes a team is just better than you, but that's the unfortunate part of sports.That's what's so frustrating."

AVC led 7-0 at halftime, with the only score coming on a 61-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Armani Edden to John Johnson with 3:43 remaining in the second quarter.

So what's next for the Marauders.

"It's a discipline thing. Our quarterbacks our still learning the system," Jehlicka said. "We were inconsistent at times on the offensive line. But we'll still coach them and we'll still get ourselves better. They have the talent to get better."

Blake Verrett finished with eight receptions for 65 yards and Jordan Wayne had six catches for 51 yards. Edden finished the game 12-of-25 for 139 yards and a score but was intercepted two times.