Nick Garcia passes for five TD;s in 50-42 Glendale win over Orange Coast Collegec
After some early season struggles, Glendale College freshman quarterback Nick Garcia has found a formula that has not only elevated his game but that of his team as the Vaqueros as he led them to a 50-42 win over Orange Coast College Saturday Oct. 23 at Sartoris Field on the GCC campus.
After sharing Southern California Football Association Offensive Player of the Week honors last week with teammate and receiver Nick Johnson, Garcia duplicated his five scoring tosses last week with five more against the visiting Pirates as he completed 20 of 27 passes for 342 yards to help Glendale maintain first place in the American Conference Metro League at 2-0 and 4-2 overall. OCC is 0-2 and 1-5 this season.
With three games left in the regular season and the likelihood of the season extending into a 12th week in order to complete any games postponed earlier this season, the Vaqueros racked up 430 yards of total offense against OCC with the passing game led by Garcia accounting for the majority of that yardage. He completed touchdown passes to four different receivers as Nick Johnson caught six balls for 113 yards and two touchdowns, Brandon Pena caught five passes for 107 yards and one touchdown and Caleb Snowden had seven catches for 105 yards and one touchdown. The fifth touchdown was by Artis Cole for three yards, his only catch of the day.
Another bright spot was running back Max Mota who led the team with 66 yards rushing in 16 carries and added one catch for 14 yards starting in place of Metro League leading rusher Kevin Armstead who was out with an injury. Defensively, the Vaqs allowed 42 points but their bend not break effort resulted in one defensive scoring play, a 30-yard touchdown return of an interception by Chuck Shull. The Vaqs caused three turnovers on the day, two picks and a recovered fumble and allowed just 302 yards of total offense for the Pirates.
Glendale hits the road next week for a 1 pm contest at Los Angeles Harbor College on Oct. 30. They play at Citrus College November 6 at 1 pm and host Santa Ana College November 13 at noon.