San Diego Mesa College hosted the Patriotic Bowl on Saturday night and lost in a fourth-quarter shootout.
Mesa led 38-31 after three periods, but El Camino scored three touchdowns and a field goal over the final 13½ minutes to beat the Olympians 54-45.
Mesa (7-4) took a 45-41 lead with 7:01 remaining when Joshua Pisik (Lincoln) threw a 19-yard TD to Antwoine Ware. But in the closing minutes, a botched punt attempt by Mesa ended in a 33-yard loss and gave El Camino (7-4) the ball on the Olympians’ 14-yard line with 1 minute remaining.
El Camino used three plays to score, with Jerman Gotov running for a 9-yard TD to give El Camino a 48-45 lead.
The game ended with El Camino’s Jaylen Stewart returning an interception 48 yards for a TD.
Mesa’s Andrew Wimmer (21 runs, 85 yards) scored three rushing touchdowns. Pisik and Thomas Fishburne (Steele Canyon) split time at quarterback. Fishburne was 11 of 25 for 206 yards, while Pisik was 12 of 19 for 189, with two TDs and one interception.
Long Beach 20, Southwestern 16
With all the scoring coming in the first half of the Southern California Bowl at Long Beach City College, the deciding touchdown came on a Long Beach fumble recovery in the end zone with 1:25 left in the second quarter.
Southwestern (6-5) took a 10-0 lead on a 45-yard field goal by D.J. Del Fiero (Eastlake) and a 3-yard touchdown run by Omari Green.
Long Beach (7-3) scored the next 13 points, but the Jaguars took the lead again, 16-13, on a 49-yard from Joshua Owen to Davion Johnson.
In Southwestern’s 303 yards in total offense, Owen was 20 of 40 for 271 yards, but threw three interceptions. Johnson caught nine es for 210 yards.
